WALDORF ASTORIA Cancun, Mexico 🇲🇽 4K Resort Tour & Review 🇲🇽 Wrong Brand, Insane Prices

Watch this video if you want to know what it’s like to stay at the ultra luxury 5-star Waldorf Astoria Resort in Cancun, Mexico which opened in the past year. Waldorf is certainly known for their luxurious offerings, but what we need to talk about today is whether this new property has missed the mark, in fit and finish and in name.

🎥 In this video:
-Beautiful Common Areas
-Pools & Beach
-Peacock Alley
-Ja’o Restaurant
-Chaya Restaurant
-Two Room Tours
-Master Suite Tour
-Location Info

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💸 Rate Paid
Room Rate: $592.30
Category: Booked Ocean King, Upgraded to Master Suite
Inclusions: $100 F&B Credit, Breakfast, Upgrade, Early in/Late out

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➟ “Endless Love Stories” by Endless Love Stories
➟ “Thai Chi” by Tarante Groove Machine
➟ “Saturday Night in Afikim” by Marcelo Nami
➟ “El Baile De Los Andes” by Al Final de la Tierra

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↪ Video Chapters ↩
0:00 Resort Preview
00:56 Arrival at Resort
01:34 Resort Entrance & Lobby
03:05 Peacock Alley & Lobby Impressions
04:27 Resort Location
06:21 Resort Grounds & Pools
09:28 Beach
10:27 Plunge Pool Room
11:47 King Ocean View Room Full Tour
18:11 Master Suite Tour
19:50 Gorgeous Views & Balcony
21:18 Dinner at Ja’o
23:54 Resort by Night, Sunrise
25:57 Breakfast at Chaya
27:04 Final Thoughts
29:03 The Flip Flop Score

This is NOT a promotional video. I pay for all of my flights and hotels (and I always tell you how much!) so I can be as honest and impartial as possible. I do not receive any special treatment that wouldn’t otherwise be publicly accessible, in fact, the hotels and airlines have no idea about my visit and that’s the way I like it!

#waldorfastoria #cancun #resortreview

This, like any Waldorf Astoria, should be a magnificent resort. But there are two things holding it back that wouldn’t have me surprised if two years from now, it’s operating as a different brand. We’ve got a deep dive today. Welcome to Cancun.

Before we get into it, let me welcome you to the channel if you’re new here. My name is Kevin and I am the Flip Flop Traveller. I’m here to give you honest content about flights, hotels and trains and cruises.

I paid for this trip out of pocket and the price I paid is in the description below, as always. Waldorf Astoria had no prior knowledge I’d be filming and I didn’t receive any compensation from them. Everything in this video is my personal opinion based on my unique experience.

The rest, I’ll let speak for itself. Let’s get started. As we drive a bit south of the hotel zone through a mangrove forest of sorts, I want to read you something that I wrote while I was staying here, having already stayed next door at the equally new Hilton Cancun.

“This Waldorf is the Lexus to Hilton’s Toyota. The Waldorf is fancier, more upmarket and certainly more expensive, but at it’s core, it’s still a Toyota.” This is not a plug, but even if you are considering a stay at the Waldorf but have no interest

In the Hilton, which is literally attached, I highly recommend you watch my Hilton video linked above and below. Many of my thoughts about the Waldorf stem from the fact that the Hilton is just so unbelievably similar, and all inclusive, and half the price.

Designed by HBA San Francisco, the same designers as next door, it is certainly a beautiful resort- I want to stress that, it is gorgeous, but in a slightly city center kind of way. Located at the far end of the Hilton complex, the entry way is understated and as sculptural

As it is linear in design- a theme that continues as we walk inside. HBA is a powerhouse of a design firm which has worked on every luxury brand you can think of, from Capella to Park Hyatt to Jumeirah to One & Only and the list continues.

Their hand, specializing in restrained luxury, is evident throughout the common spaces and 173 rooms. This Waldorf opened in November of 2022 and it’s design is said to be a “unique interpretation of Cancun’s natural wonders, creating an other-worldly sense of place where every element

Feels symbolic, every design tells a story and every space has a meaning. Textured glass, inlaid pearl shell accents, metal trim, cove lighting, and illuminated crystal are among the details creating a refined luxury haven. As always, Waldorf has a few nods to it’s New York namesake with the custom clock in

The middle of the lobby and Peacock Alley. Besides the bars that are within the restaurants, Peacock Alley is the only place to grab a drink at night, since the pool bar closed down before sunset. I should mention if you didn’t know already, this is not an all-inclusive property.

Before we head outside to explore the two pools and the beach, I want to talk about the first of two problems that I alluded to. The first one has two parts which quite a few others reviewing the property have noted as well.

The Points Guy said: “With limited dining options and on-site amenities, it feels more like a contained, luxe city hotel than a world-unto-itself resort.” This is especially pertinent since the resort is absolutely isolated from anything else, besides the Hilton. The second point was a comment that I read a while back on Flyertalk.

I’m paraphrasing here, but it essentially said, I can understand why Hilton saw an opportunity on this site for a family resort- but I cannot for the life of me understand why they thought a Waldorf Astoria would also be appropriate. I share those sentiments. Let’s look at the location.

Today we are staying in the northern part of the greater Cancun region, but we will still be south of the Hotel zone in an area of coastline which is largely undeveloped- you’ll see why in a moment.

The reason I say the Waldorf is so isolated though is because not only is it a 20 minute drive south of the hotel zone, but it’s a few miles just to walk to the main road. This structure is the Hilton and Waldorf together, with this being the Walforf proper.

If you’ll believe it, I had three rooms while I was here, the locations of are indicated on the map for your reference later on. Now, you might be saying, but sometimes isolation is just what the doctor ordered- and I couldn’t agree more, but this simply isn’t that type of resort.

Take a look at the new St. Regis a bit south of here in the Riviera Maya- now that is the kind of resort which does well with isolation. It’s sprawling, has eight food and drink venues and actually has less rooms than this Waldorf.

I haven’t actually been there, but I think you get my point. On the left here is the outdoor area of the Malpeque restaurant which was closed while I was there and was undergoing renovations inside. This is the resort’s signature restaurant which centers on an open-flame grill with a focus on seafood.

(PENALTY) In front of the lobby area now is a beautiful outdoor lounge space. I will compliment the resort for it’s outdoor seating areas. Both in this area, around the pools and near the beach, the seating options are varied, some with more privacy and just prevent the space from feeling a bit cookie cutter.

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Thanks very much in advance. So let’s go for a walk around the pools. They are positioned one in front of the other with a few hot tubs dotted around. Both pools are heated and are especially beautiful at night. For the full story about transport at the hotel, I’ll reference my Hilton video, but

In a nutshell, Uber is very difficult to get around this area, but even if you were able to book one, the gate on the main road- shared with Hilton- will do everything they can to prevent your driver from entering. If you were already in the car, that would be okay.

So, you are at the mercy of the exorbitant Cancun taxis while here which take around 15 minutes to reach the hotel if they’re not on site. You can expect to pay around $60 one way to get to the hotel zone. Here is the nicely designed Pool Bar.

If you have seen my Hilton video, you are surely seeing some similarities so far, both in the lobby and out here around the pools. Heading to the beach now and this is the primary reason this part of the coast isn’t fully developed and is also the thought behind the Flyertalk comment I mentioned.

This part of the coast gets a ridiculous amount of sargassum seaweed. You’ll see it up and down the Yucatan, but in most areas it is able to be managed. Here though it is so prevalent that it turns the sea water into an unappetizing Black iced tea lemonade.

The beach itself, the sand I mean, is nice and clean and I saw them cleaning the seaweed from the sand while I was here, that’s not a problem at all. I’ll note that as you probably expect, the marketing photos always show beautiful blue

Or turquoise water and I myself cannot say how it looks year round. I’d encourage you to look at the most recent photos from Google reviews for an idea of what to expect. Just looking through the past six months of photos now, I can say it’s a very mixed

Bag of colors ranging from turquoise to milky jade to the weird yellow I had to straight up coca-cola. It is safe to swim though. While this surely isn’t a resort targeting loads of families there are some activities available, but the schedules are not posted online. Let’s go to my first room.

I booked through Amex Fine Hotels And Resorts and upon check in I was upgraded from a standard oceanview room to a plunge pool room. When I got into the room immediately I felt something on the floor. To this day I have no idea what it was.

Imagine you spilt olive oil- everywhere- and wiped it up really well, but never used soap. That kind of residue is what covered the floors everywhere in the room. Likely, it was floor wax that wasn’t properly buffed out.

It’s hard to see on camera but you might be able to see the lines from my flip flops. Here I am putting outward pressure just to show you how there’s something there. When it’s dry it’s not a huge deal, but considering it’s a plunge pool room and

The same was in the bathroom, I was worried about when it got wet. I called and asked for housekeeping to come clean it. Was told that it was just condensation and to check to make sure my exterior door was shut. Explained it wasn’t condensation and they said ok, they’ll send someone over.

We will head over to my next room now but I’ll just continue the story. Forty minutes later, no one came. I walked to reception and just asked for a new room. The same category wasn’t available. I told them I have no problem going down to my original category and so that’s what happened.

10 minutes later I was in this room, which was notably smaller- like, both the smallest room I had on this entire trip- and the most expensive one. The dimensions are the first thing I didn’t like about the room.

The space to pass between the end of the bed and the tv table is just 22 inches. Between the upright and coffee table and between the coffee table and sofa was just 10 inches on each side. That’s tiny and makes absolutely no sense for a new build luxury property like this-

Everything just felt out of proportion. Let’s take a look at the Extra Bits while I tell you what my three favorite things were though. The design in general I think fits very nicely. I does have a slight big box city center luxury vibe to it, but I think not too much.

I also love the Chihuahua artwork by Victoria Villasana. Third thing I enjoyed which you’ll see in a bit was the gorgeous ombre tile wall in the bathroom. While the bathroom does extend the full depth of the room, it is still tight in there because of the closets.

With the closet doors open, there’s just 17 inches between the vanity and the closet door itself. Again, just needlessly small. The shower was a very nice size though and every single room at the resort has what they’re calling a soaking tub on the balcony.

That’s fantastic, but I cannot believe that in each and every one of these rooms, there is no guard rail or ledge or something around them. So after I filmed here I went for a walk around the grounds. Let me mention, I was fine with the room.

Again, it was small but I had no reason to complain and would be scoring that room as any other room, they fixed the swim up room problem and that is that. While walking, one of the managers approached me and essentially apologized that they downgraded me.

I said it was fine, it was actually my suggestion. She was away at the time and mentioned it shouldn’t have happened and offer the Master Suite on the top floor instead. I chuckled and basically said, honestly I am fine in that room, but I’m also not dumb

So I definitely wouldn’t turn down the master suite, I can be ready in 10 minutes. Here’s the master suite. Honestly, it is not a room I would ever book, I ended up setting up my work station in the

Bedroom itself- I just don’t need all of this space, but it was very nice to have for a night. Woke up the next morning feeling a bit like the prince of Cancun as I strolled past my pool table to make my coffee.

The bathroom I believe is exactly the same size as I showed you already, though the bedroom is a bit longer and wider. The real masterpiece for this suite is the wrap around and around balcony though with truly the best view on property. And there’s my insurance liability- sorry I mean my soaking tub.

Watch out for that raised tile. I swear I was very cognizant of the tub itself and still managed to almost trip into it because I didn’t see tha tile. This balcony should have a breathalyzer. Tipping, similar to noise bleed in rooms or accessibility and many other things I could

Mention in every video are in a group which I only mention if something is off. So, if I don’t mention anything about noise bleed, that means it was fine. If there is a noisy room, I’ll explicit talk about it. Same goes for tipping.

In nearly 300 videos, I think this is the first time I’ve had to mention it. So, I’m American and I worked in the restaurant industry for a couple decades. You can guess my thoughts about tipping. I generally follow whatever the local customs are.

But, when I’m filming for a review, I always do one tiny thing to test for tipping. Even if I plan to give a tip, I wait a beat. See what the staff does. This is the first hotel I’ve been to in years where I’ve seen such an obvious hunt for tips.

Have you seen Home Alone: Lost in New York? The scene where Kevin is brought to his room at the Plaza and the bull hop just stands at the door rubbing his fingers together, waiting for a tip? Yeah, it was almost at that level, sans fingers. In

The beginning of the video, I mentioned there were two big problems I saw with the resort. We talked about the location already- and now that tipping comment is bringing us to number two, the absurd food prices. Since the primary restaurant Malpeque was closed, I went to Ja’o for dinner.

Here you can see the menu, which has slightly changed since I was there, but it’s mostly the same. The space, meant to be a Mexican cantina with an extensive local spirit collection is vibrant and charming- as was the service.

I ordered the Yucatan Lechon Pork Tacos as a starter and the Catch of the Day as my main. One nice touch was with my water, I was offered slices of lime, lemon or grapefruit- which was a nice surprise. Now, don’t get me wrong, these tacos were delicious, really delicious.

Each one was two bites and I have one question for you. We are at the Waldorf Astoria in Cancun, Mexico- as in the home of tacos. There is also another Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives. Which resort do you think has more expensive tacos? HERE!

My three small tacos were $38, with tax, excluding tip. The closest item to them on the Maldives menu- Maldives by the way are known for exorbitant food prices since you’re such a captive audience- in the Maldives the Waygu Beef Tacos were $35 with tax, excluding tip.

I’ll also point out that a tip of between 18-22% is suggested on the bill. With tip, those tacos were $7.60 per bite. Next up I had the catch of the day, said to be served with “Mexican Rice”.

This was $42 without tip, the second cheapest main on the menu- and was served with parboiled rice with frozen vegetable medley. I was dumbfounded. I asked for anything else and was brought a bowl of grilled and steamed vegetables which were basic, but at least they were real and cooked food.

My bill, without tip was $95. I had a bottle of water to drink. Let’s let all of those Lechon juices sink in as we have a look around the resort after dark, when it was really beautiful.

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The next morning after a beautiful sunrise and golden glow, it was time to head to Chaya for breakfast. Chaya is another beautiful space and this is their all day dining venue, said to only use hyper-seasonal ingredients, unique products and small scale producers.

With my booking, my breakfast was included and I was presented with a menu card without prices. I ordered a fruit plate, 2 iced Americanos and the Chilaquiles, which are essentially Mexican breakfast nachos, a favorite of mine but by no means an extravagant dish. The pastries and juice were proactively served.

It was a stunningly beautiful breakfast, that fruit plate specifically. At the end of the meal, two things surprised me. First, I was brought a bill which I had to sign, with prices. Now, when you have a benefit which includes a certain price limit for your breakfast needing

To sign for the bill is 100% customary, especially since in that case normally tips are not included and the credit often can’t be applied to the tip. But this was different, this was just an included breakfast, full stop. I was given the check, very clearly, so I would tip.

Want to know how much my breakfast bill was? $92 without tip. On the bill I was also overcharged for what I ordered and was also charged for the pastries. Of course, I’m not paying it, but if you’re inflating my bill and expecting a tip based on the inflated amount- that is no bueno.

It was not accessible without an appointment, but I should mention there is also a very large spa with 21 treatment rooms- that’s massive for a hotel with 173 rooms- and of course a fitness center. So, I default back to the two comments I read earlier.

First, the scale and scope of the resort feels like a luxe urban hotel. To think while I was there there were only two restaurants open for dinner and if I wanted to venture out anywhere else I’d need to pay for a $120 round trip taxi- that’s the

Only way the hotel’s prices seem reasonable. Second comment was also spot on. This location, this scale, this beach, they are fine for a big box family resort where most of the attention will be on activities and pools and family- hell, I gave the Hilton

A pass for the beach since their prices were so reasonable and the food was so good- and included. But a brand new Waldorf Astoria resort in Mexico should be a pristine tropical sanctuary, on a scale or in a locale that you’d only previously dreamt of and this Waldorf- well

This is just a beautiful hotel on a crappy beach. There are many brands that would fit this hotel, but Waldorf, I think, simply is not one of them. All of that said, I really do hope you enjoyed this video today, if you did, please be sure

To click that like button and subscribe with notifications on so you don’t miss out on any of my twice weekly videos. I’ll see you next time in Emirates First Class from Dubai to Muscat, a short and sweet gem of a flight. Oh and as always, thanks for watching until the end.