Dune Boutique Hotel Tulum

“Incredible Wedding Weekend Hosted at Dune”

We hosted our wedding weekend at Dune and booked the whole place out from Thursday to Sunday and it was even more perfect than we could have envisioned. The food was some of the best we’ve ever eaten (as foodies and avid travelers), the staff and service was exceptional with incredible attention to… more

We hosted our wedding weekend at Dune and booked the whole place out from Thursday to Sunday and it was even more perfect than we could have envisioned. The food was some of the best we’ve ever eaten (as foodies and avid travelers), the staff and service was exceptional with incredible attention to detail, the room and decor was vibey and gorgeous. We had 27 guests, including 2 children, 4 guests who were vegan / had food allergies / intolerances. We ate all of our meals at the hotel, all attended the included trip to Casa Tortuga, participated in the free yoga class, held a trivia night and relay games on the beach for our guests, and hosted the actual wedding ceremony and reception on the rooftop. All of our guests stayed at Dune from Thursday to Sunday as well. We’ll break down our review into sections, but TLDR; Every aspect of Dune was 5+ stars out of 5 with the exception of the yoga, which was a 0 out of 5. Wedding Planning with Michelle 5+/5 We worked extremely closely with Michelle, the event planner at Dune. It’s difficult to put into words how incredible it was working with her. Michelle went above and beyond her job duties and took a personal responsibility to making sure not only our wedding ceremony and reception went smoothly, but that every meal, every activity, and everything throughout our stay was an incredible experience. Michelle was extremely easy to work with and we knew right away that we could trust her in executing our vision. For the past 8 months, we shared back and forth emails, WhatsApp chats, and Zoom calls to coordinate the details of our wedding weekend. We are located in California and had never been to Tulum before, but Michelle’s enthusiasm, positive energy, and extreme attention to detail always put us at ease throughout the planning process. She would answer our 15 question long emails with detailed explanations, follow up anytime she didn’t know an answer, and ask clarifying questions. She would Zoom call us and show us around the hotel and send pictures of things whenever we wanted to see different angles. Michelle’s English was also excellent and we never struggled to communicate or understand each other. We were also able to make payments easily through international wire transfers. Once we arrived, it was like meeting an old friend or a pen pal. Her energy and personality is so vibrant and welcoming. She immediately became part of our friends and family circle, as did the rest of the staff. Throughout the stay, she was always on site and available for questions or adjustments. Her attention to detail continued to shine as she verified details and asked clarifying questions about upcoming meals, seating arrangements, and schedules. She was also very accommodating with any changes once we arrived, including pushing dinner back or changing our breakfast to a buffet to accommodate our schedules. We communicated constantly via WhatsApp or with impromptu meetings during or after meals. For the wedding ceremony and dinner, she even offered up her personal decorations to ensure that we had everything we needed for the wedding. She went above and beyond, even though her own birthday was the Sunday after the wedding and stayed past midnight to make sure that we had everything we needed as we wrapped up the reception. We would highly recommend anyone to book a wedding or event with Michelle. We would also highly recommend Michelle as a wonderful human being that you can trust and become friends with. We were so grateful to have met her! Food 5+/5 The chefs at Dune are truly magical. The food was absolutely phenomenal. The presentation of each dish was thoughtful and artful and their portions were extremely generous. We are avid travelers and people who love good food. Our guests are also foodies, chefs, home cooks, food content creators, etc. so we all love good food. People told us throughout the weekend that Dune’s restaurant consistently created some of the best food they’ve ever had. When we booked this hotel to host our wedding weekend, we hoped that the food would be good because the restaurant had good reviews, but we weren’t expecting anything to blow our minds, just because a beautiful hotel, a detailed and super friendly event planner, and mind-blowing food was probably just too much to ask for. But, Dune’s chefs completely exceeded our expectations. Every meal, our guests would just look around in shock at how wonderful everything was. If you’re reading this review and you’re considering just eating here for dinner, please do. After eating here for 3 days, we were still being surprised by what the chefs were cooking up. Isaias, the head chef, explained that ingredients are sourced locally and fresh daily, the chefs cook with love, and imbue their cooking with their Mayan heritage and that is why everything is so fantastic. It is 100% apparent that they are talented at their craft and are passionate about good food. Thank you so much to the rest of the kitchen staff, Angel, Jorge, Alexis, and Dolores. We also had a few guests who were vegan, had food allergies, and dietary restrictions and they made sure that there wasn’t any cross contamination in the kitchen, made adjustments to the menu to accommodate, and even created a vegan version of our tres leches wedding cake. They were all so incredibly thoughtful and everything was still delicious! A few of the highlights: - Fish tacos: perfectly fried with a seasoned batter that’s not greasy - Mixed ceviche: incredibly fresh seafood, people raved particularly about the octopus which was perfectly cooked and not at all rubbery - Tuna tiradito: melt in your mouth tuna with the freshest herb dressing - Seafood risotto: you might not think to order risotto, but it some of the best risotto. The seafood, particularly the octopus, was some of the freshest and best cooked seafood we’ve had. - Grilled octopus tacos: incredibly well seasoned octopus (can you tell we like octopus?) - Picanha a la Parilla: such a well-cooked, high quality cut of steak. Highly recommend the Robertina sauce to go with it. - Fillet of flank steak: beautiful cut of steak with an incredible side of creamy nopales, poblano peppers, onions, and roasted corn. - Eggplant wishes: this dish converted eggplant haters in our party. Grilled eggplant in a bed of gorgeous tomato sauce topped with broiled cheese. Wow. Clean plate club across our party. - Citrus salad with goat cheese: candied walnuts, slices of grapefruit, flavor-wise and texture-wise, a masterpiece. - Mixed salad with mango dressing: Dune is not messing around with their hydroponic lettuce. We were all marveling at how their lettuce is so buttery and soft and truly the best lettuce I’ve had. Mango dressing was incredible. - Chicken supreme: The crispy breaded chicken filled with cheesy spinach was better than we imagined and I really loved the sweetness from the tamarind sauce. - Warm salad with vegetables: The magic of a well-seasoned grilled vegetable can really transform a dish and this is a simple concept, but perfectly executed. Drinks 4/5 We ordered a lot of cocktails and mocktails throughout the weekend. All of their drinks are made with real fruit juice, so no concentrated or fake flavors. Favorites included the passion fruit daiquiri, mojito, spicy mango margarita (very spicy!). The only comment we heard from our guests was that the drinks could have been stronger and sometimes the passion fruit mojito was a little too sweet. As for other beverages, we started off every morning with espresso-based beverages, which were lovely, and a green juice, which was freshly made with whole fruits and greens. Rooms 5/5 The rooms were beautifully decorated. The beds were comfortable, but on the firmer side. The pillows, blankets, and sheets were all very comfortable. Each room had 1-2 air conditioning units, to keep the room cool and act as a dehumidifier. The shampoo and conditioner was also really high quality! Staff 5/5 The staff were incredible. They were all so friendly and attentive. Most of the staff were also fluent in English, but we had a few of our party who could also speak Spanish. Everyone was always there to greet us with a smile and support us if we needed anything. Their hospitality and kindness were always palpable! In the restaurant, Roberto and Carlos became part of the family. They remembered our orders, remembered any allergies or dietary restrictions, remembered our names and room numbers, and made everyone feel very special. Everyone really went above and beyond. A special thanks to Damian and Mara for making our stay really wonderful. For dinner shifts, Abraham and Silvano organized all of our group dinners, including the table set-ups and made sure everything was going smoothly, drinks were flowing, and that everyone received the meal that they pre-ordered. An extra shout out to Sarahi, who folded cloth napkin arrangements for every dinner and drew chalkboard signs for the wedding weekend and the ceremony. In the front desk, Cooper led everyone to their rooms with a tour of where each activity was going to be held and helped people with their luggage. Thank you to Anthony and everyone else who was a part of the staff that was making sure our weekend ran smoothly. The housekeeping staff kept the rooms beautiful and made sure our air conditioning was on before we entered the rooms so it would be nice and cool inside. Every morning, the maintenance staff was out on the beach at 7 am, laying our the beach furniture, raking the sargassum, and sifting the sand in the hotel to make sure our guests wouldn’t step on debris. The attention to detail of sweeping sand off the staircases and cleaning the flora and fauna didn’t go unnoticed. The entire staff at Dune worked together to make us all feel so pampered and special. We really felt the 5 star boutique hotel experience. Whether in the background or interacting with guests, thank you to everyone on staff at Dune. Combating the environmental challenges (sargassum and mosquitos): 5/5 A few things in the environment were out of anyone’s control: sargassum and mosquitos. We had our wedding weekend late July into early August and it was peak sargassum season. The ocean was a chocolate milk color and consistency and not possible to swim in. However, the team raked and cleared the beachfront daily to make sure we had a stretch of clean sand with no seaweed. This is something they can’t control, but they made sure to do what they could to alleviate the impact. Also, the mosquitos were rampant! We all waged wars with mosquitos every night and compared bites in the morning. OFF will be your best friend! Dune provided OFF and lit a mosquito repellent smoke at every meal to ward mosquitos away. Similar to the sargassum, this is something out of the hotel’s control, but they did everything they could to make our experience better given those circumstances. Casa Tortuga 5/5 Our stay with Dune included a free trip to Casa Tortuga, one of the cenote tours located about 30 minutes away from the hotel. We paid for our own shuttle service to and from and spent about 3 hours in an incredible cenote excursion. We saw 5 different cenotes that included swimming in underground cave structures, seeing bats, experiencing crystal clear water, and learning so much about local culture and geology. It was an incredible experience and went way beyond our expectations for a free tour. Yoga 0/5 Given all of the rave reviews of Dune, it may be surprising to see a 1 star. It was a shock for all of us as well, as this is truly the only exception to Dune’s perfection. Dune offers free yoga courses a few days a week, so we all attended the Saturday morning class, led by Sabine. She was rude, unwelcoming, and unprofessional. Her class was also not a yoga class. She spent the first 15 minutes of the class monologuing about negativity and judgemental energy, which is not the way to start a yoga class on someone’s wedding day. She complained about the humidity, the other staff members, the wifi connection, and the last minute changes multiple times each. Besides a few yoga poses, we spent the majority of the class doing somatic breathing exercises, talking about stress from sitting at desks, and doing “I can do it” chants that she usually leads “high powered CEOs” with. This was extremely irrelevant to us, as the majority of our guests were teachers, doctors, and nurses who do not sit at desks all day, but she never asked. Overall, her yoga class and her attitude was so far below the standard that the rest of the staff and the rest of the experiences at Dune have set. Truly, shockingly bad and I would 0/10 recommend attending any class she’s teaching. Overall, Dune was a magnificent place to host our wedding weekend. It was a beautiful hotel, staffed with the most magical humans who prioritize making every part of our stay special, memorable, and joyous. The vibes and energy of everyone was so happy and festive the whole weekend and I truly could not recommend this hotel and the staff more.

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