Five Riviera Maya hotels to compare for Christmas and New Year
The last week of December is the one week of the year when the rate you booked and the bill you get are most likely to diverge. Gala dinners carry supplements, minimum stays appear, restaurants fill up months ahead, and every arrival lands in the same three days. Here are five properties worth comparing, and the questions to ask each of them before you pay.
Ask for the program with dates on it
Christmas dinner, a New Year event and a minimum stay change every season, and the hotel knows its program long before it publishes it. Ask for the dated version: the supplement per adult and per child, the dress code, the closing time and how restaurant bookings work that week. Keep the answer with the reservation, because that is the document you will be holding on 31 December.
Meal plans differ more than people expect. Hotel Xcaret Mexico and Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya sell all-inclusive concepts. Fairmont Mayakoba lets you add an all-inclusive package on eligible bookings. At Maroma and Banyan Tree Mayakoba, read what the rate actually includes.
Five hotels for five kinds of holiday
Maroma, A Belmond Hotel
Formerly Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa: 19 rooms, 50 suites, three villas, three outdoor pools and a children’s club. Seventy-two keys in total, which means the hotel itself is the plan — you are not going to be lining up for anything.
Fairmont Mayakoba
401 rooms and suites, with named family categories and connecting rooms. The all-inclusive package has to be chosen at booking and comes with participating-venue terms, so it is not a decision you can make on arrival.
Hotel Xcaret Mexico
A family hotel whose concept includes dining, access and transport to the Grupo Xcaret parks, selected ferries and airport transport under its own conditions. It adds up when the group will actually use the parks, and does not when they will not.
Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
1,264 rooms in Puerto Aventuras, all inclusive, split into Hacienda on the family side and Heaven on the adults-only side. A mixed-age group needs the section that gives everybody the access they think they are getting.
Banyan Tree Mayakoba
159 villas and suites, each with a private pool. Two- and three-bedroom residences work for families; one-bedroom villas work for couples who would rather have space than a schedule of events.
They are not in the same part of the coast
Maroma sits north of Playa del Carmen. Fairmont and Banyan Tree are both inside Mayakoba. Hotel Xcaret Mexico is south of the city beside its own parks. Hard Rock Riviera Maya is further south again, in Puerto Aventuras. A short distance on a map is not a short distance on Highway 307 during the last week of December.
None of the five is in the walkable center of Playa del Carmen. If Quinta Avenida (Fifth Avenue) is part of every evening, compare a town hotel too. If the resort is the trip, the distance stops mattering. Context in the Riviera Maya guide.
A quick match
A family doing several park days
Hotel Xcaret Mexico — after comparing the rate against the access and transport you will genuinely use.
A family needing connecting rooms
Fairmont Mayakoba publishes connecting family categories. Get the connection written into the confirmed booking, not promised on the phone.
A couple wanting somewhere small
Maroma, with 72 keys in total.
Adults and children together
Hard Rock Riviera Maya has separate sectors. Check the access rules before choosing between Hacienda and Heaven.
A private pool
Banyan Tree Mayakoba publishes one across its current villa and suite inventory.
Arriving during the busiest week of the year
The last week of December concentrates arrivals into a few hours a day. Send the property the exact guest names, the flight number and the scheduled landing time. If transport is inside the hotel rate, follow that program’s booking instructions — and check it before paying for a second transfer you did not need.
Hotel Xcaret Mexico publishes airport transport within its concept and conditions. For the other four, the Cancun Airport guide covers the arrival and the transfer should be matched to the property, not to the region.
Traveler questions
Do Riviera Maya hotels include Christmas or New Year dinner?
Which of these includes park access?
Does Hard Rock Riviera Maya allow children?
Is Fairmont Mayakoba all inclusive?
When should I book the holiday week?
Sources
- Maroma, A Belmond Hotelbelmond.com · checked 2026-09-25
- Fairmont Mayakobafairmont.com · checked 2026-09-25
- Hotel Xcaret Mexicoxcaret.com · checked 2026-09-25
- Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Mayahotel.hardrock.com · checked 2026-09-25
- Banyan Tree Mayakobabanyantree.com · checked 2026-09-25
