Ophelia Tulum Hotel by Gekkot Travel

A new hotel in Tulum, there are still details that are not completed, but this does not interfere with a quality rest. Very nice rooms, boho style, everything is high quality, new, clean, nice to be. Outside the hotel, a big contrast is the real life of the Mexican people. Sea from the hotel in 15 minutes by car! Drive along the main road towards the sea and turn left! there along the sea you free parking. Right turn! - path to bars, restaurants and shops. There is no sea, parking is paid. For the first time we see such a concept that hotels have been built along the sea and specially close the entrance to ordinary people. There are passages to the sea, but you have to find a parking lot, pay, find this narrow, inconspicuous entrance and somehow get to the sea. Strange approach.

Wonderful establishment with a beautiful pool. Centrally located (walking distance to the main street and close to the beach strip). Though the roads adjacent are not yet paved, the city is working on the project. The hotel staff is friendly and always available to tend to guests’ needs!

The staff was so friendly and welcoming. They didn't have wash cloths (might need to pack your own) but did have towels, hand and foot towels. The TV is programmed in Spanish but I was able to find a few shows in English. The atmosphere is beautiful , now if you go off side some of the roads leading to the hotel is a little bumpy but that's not the only access roads. I really enjoyed my stay there. Cabs are timely and will be there when they say they will. There was a dog with her puppy on site which was super cute they didn't bother anyone and were both friendly. The pool area is amazing I'm glad I chose this place for my birthday, it was convenient getting to things I wanted to do in the area. I tried a nearby club, I met up at the supermarket (Super Aki) for my excursion. I ate on the main strip and went gift shopping. It was an overall great time.

Just come back from Orphelia Tulum and thought i'd leave a long review to help anyone nervous about booking make a decision. We read some bad reviews here and almost cancelled but very glad we didnt. We loved it so much we stayed an extra night The TLDR: It's a taste off 5 star luxury but with a few negatives. But the price we paid (ave £100 per night) it was outstanding value. THE AREA An Important one to some, but let me clarify something that other reviewers have said. The hotel is on the edge of some have called a slum. Its just an area where poor people survive. You see workers come here in high viz jackets after work. Some properties are wood huts, some are brick. And yes the road is in terrible condition. But we discovered on our last day that THERE IS A BRAND NEW ROAD TO THE SOUTH. Big, wide, well-lit road going through a modern housing estate that connects with the main road to Tulum beach. Look at google maps to the south of the hotel. We walked through the 'slum' day and night and never felt worried. In 5 years time the slum will all be developed. You can see buildings going up everywhere, and quite honestly i'm glad i saw Tulum like this before it becomes wall to wall luxury buildings But generally, the location was excellent. walking to town centre and easy to get to the beach. I would happily stay here again THE HOTEL I cant quite understand that they have another hotel down the road but the design suggests they dont understand hotel design. The pool area is beautiful, palm and banana trees around and feels like a private oasis. What is annoying is that the sun deck doesnt get sun until around 1pm. yet behind the bar area is a massive area that gets sun all day that is planted with trees and is just a walkway. Its like its designed for vampires. And there aren't enough loungers even when the hotel is about 20% full. They serve a decent breakfast cooked at the bar in the morning, prices arent terrible. Anythign after that is delievered from the Copal Tulum 5 mins walk away. Quality is pretty good for western bar food THE ROOM We had a 2 bed appt and loved it.The most OTT air con ever with 5 units in the place. it was too cold, we just had one on low. Full kitchen with fridge/freezer. We filled with £1 beers from a shop on the high street. Beautiful balcony overlooking the pool. High quality fixtures inc metal sliding doors. Sat TV, netflix etc. What might be the dealbreaker currently is the water coming from the taps and showers. It's not quite fresh water. It has a very slight saline and chlorine taste to it. We brushed our teeth with bottled water. The shower didnt bother me at all, but i can imagine girls with specific hair care requirements might not be fine with it Bed and pillows were top quality and the rooms were cleaned every day, despite us telling them not to bother one day OVERALL All the negatives for me were little niggles and i kept reminding myself that it was the price of a travelodge for all this luxury. Remind yourself you're in Mexico and stop complaining They have obviosuly built on cheap land with an eye on the future. The area will be very different in a few years. But for now, if you get a room at the back your balcony will be looking out over some serious poverty The hotel isnt finished as some have said. The lifts arent working yet and you can see they have some problems with units on the ground floor. But I would advise you take advantage of this now as it will be quiet and the price is too good to turn your nose up at I genuinely loved staying here and I'm very keen to come back Oh and if you booked through expedia and are expecting $50 drink credit on arrival they will play dumb and then offer $50 off a $200 massage at their sister hotel. I'm going to complain to expedia

Great and relaxing place to stay. Highly recommend, other places you can rent are just a room. On-site free laundry, gym and pool.

Great spot. Worth the money. Pros: Free laundry facilities, amazing pool deck, gym, and common areas, free bicycles for use, AC, water pressure in showers, beautifully decorated. Cons: Dusty dirty roads to navigate (but safe), A tad far from the centre, reception staff are careless and sorta rude (most don't speak any English). Rooms lacked basic needs (dish drying wrack, towel hooks l, extra garbage bags, coffee, paper towel, pool towels) Overall worth it. I'd be back.

This is a great hotel with some great amenities. They have a great pool, beautiful landscaping and some great people working here. The bike rental scheme is fantastic , it would be great if they had more bikes as a few times a large group of guests would just book all 7 bikes leaving none for the rest of the guests. They have a mix of electric bikes and regular ones. They're all up to a good standard though a little old. However, there is the age old question of how clean is clean. Personally, I think if a guest has to clean up Doritos and bottle caps when they first arrive at the hotel room. It's not clean enough. The organisation needs to ensure that the work is done by the cleaners up to a good standard. The surrounding area of the hotel is very poor. The hotel and organisation should put pressure on the local government to clean the trash up, building trash and homewaste should not just be dumped in the street. This is an avenue where cars drive and also kids play. It results in very unsanitary conditions for the local people and guests to Tulum and to the hotel. Other than this, the hotel is very quiet and a very pleasant place to stay. The gym equipment needs some maintenance work, very simply just some oil to allow the cables to slide better. I did enjoy my stay here, it was like a home away from home. But there are some very clear problems with the local area and unfortunately I will not be returning until Tulum treats its local people better. Please see photos of the hotel and surrounding area.

I very rarely give reviews to the accommodation we utilize but this time I feel like this deservers a review. We travelled to Tulum as a family (2+4 kids 8yo to 10yo) we booked this hotel well in advance, then 1 month prior to travel I took the time to read the reviews on google. to say I was horrified after reading all the reviews was an underestimated statement. Based on what I read I made a decision not to come despite of not having a cancellation included in our reservation, my partner convinced me to give it a chance and we framed it with "we can always leave if we don't like it" so we gave it a chance, our arrival to cancun was in the middle of the night, based on the reviews this hotel has, we decided to spend the night in cancun and headed to Tulum the next morning. This was really an unnecessary precautionary measure we took, based on the reviews we read. 1. Apartment We had a roof top apartment with a view to the rural area behind the hotel. Apartment was perfectly cleaned, stylish and smelled nice. moderately equipped kitchen, but included coffee, water sugar, salt - much appreciated. Pool was a huge attraction for the kids however I was stressed about them falling over the edge of the pool ( 3rd floor) and did not allow them to use it much. Apartments have different owners but are managed by 1 company. Our concierge was Itzel - very responsive , kept in touch with us all the time making sure we were ok 2. Location Yes, the property is neighboring the rural area where locals live and people in the reviews call it a slum and dangerous. There was not one moment when I felt endangered at all. Having all balconies facing this area we got to see a lot of their lives and found it very interesting. it's a neighborhood where locals live in poverty. There was no sign of any violance, all we saw was them gathering with families, laughing and enjoying their lives, living ordinary lives, they turned on mexican music in the afternoons and evenings which added to the authentic experience we have had. We all found it amazing to watch.... If you are sensitive to dogs barking at night and roosters crowing in the morning, bring earplugs or avoid this place. We enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening and all of us peacefully slept the night. 3.Access to the hotel We rented a car and so we drived, never walked through the area but lots of tourists did. The access to the hotel is in a horrible state, road is full of holes, it's not even a road, you have to drive slowly. we had a large toyota van, adjusted the driving to the condition of the road and never had a flat tire nor any issues. The condition of the road didn't bother us, it takes 2-3 minutes to drive through this road and get to the hotel. There is a new road leading to the hotel and lots of people don't know about it, google will not lead you there. we found the access by pure coincidence, but never managed to find it once again :) After a while we gave up on this and just took the road that was most convenient. 4.Safety - last comment I'd like to make is that the whole area is being monitored by police, if you arrive at night, there is large light reflector that will turn on police type of alert lights plus it will light the road as well. I'm adding a picture of "police tower" that's how the kids named it :-) I've never seen anything like this before so not even sure what the name of it is. The hotel's entrance is guided 24/7 by 2 people, the complex is surrounded by large concrete fence. 5. Service We never utilized any of the services this hotel offers, but from what I saw, this is more an apartment complex rather than a "hotel" The pool was nice, lots of young people hanging out. We had lots of fun in Tulum and staying in this hotel was a nice experience.