Secrets Preferred Club-Is It Worth It?
Looking to experience the ultimate luxury at an all-inclusive Secrets resort? The Secrets Preferred Club is the key!
From sipping cocktails by a cozy firepit at night, enjoying a private beach area, and indulging at a beach club featuring an exclusive food and drink menu, this upgrade offers an unparalleled experience! Let’s dig in!
Table of Contents
What is Preferred Club?
Preferred Club gives you elevated concierge service, access to the Preferred Beach Club and lounge, spa access, private designated areas around the resort, an upgraded suite in a premium location, AND enhanced room amenities.
How to get Preferred Club
When you book this resort, you will have the option of purchasing a club-level room. These rooms will automatically give you access to the preferred club amenities. They will be around $150 more per night than their non-club rooms. You also have the option to upgrade to a club room upon arrival if they have availability.
They will send an email about 1-2 weeks before your stay asking if you would be interested in upgrading if they have availability. At this time, you can reply and receive a quote for the upgrade. I have also seen them advertise upgrades on their Instagram page if you want to look out for this!
Hyatt Awards
Guest of Honor
You can get automatic preferred club status with Hyatt awards. A Guest of Honor(GOH) award is what I applied to my reservation. A GOH award will give you all the perks of being a globalist for your entire stay, up to 7 nights. If you are not familiar with the Hyatt loyalty program, Globalist is the highest status you can get and it will give you the most benefits.
A GOH award is earned once you reach 40 Qualifying nights or 65K base points. You can use this award yourself, or Hyatt allows you to gift it to another Hyatt member. You can use this at most Hyatt properties as long as it’s before the expiration date.
Club Access Award
This is another award you can earn as a Hyatt member. Apply this to your booking and it will give you automatic Club Access. I don’t have first-hand experience using this at a Secrets Resort, but there are data points if you apply this you receive the preferred club amenities, but you might not receive a preferred club room. If you have a CAA to use, I recommend emailing or chatting with the resort to ask what benefits you will receive.
It’s easiest to apply the awards when booking, but you can also chat or call Hyatt customer service and have them apply the award after you book. I received my award after I booked, so I reached out via the Chat feature on the app and had them apply it for me.
I also took an additional step and reached out to the hotel about a week before my stay to confirm my reservation and make sure the GOH was applied.
Preferred Check-in
Ok, let’s get to talking about the Secrets Preferred Club experience! When we arrived at Secrets Maroma Beach, we were immediately picked up on a golf cart and given cold towels for our faces and necks. What a nice welcome!
We left the main entrance and went to the Preferred Club Lounge. We were told to leave our luggage at the main lobby to be picked up and transferred to our room when it was ready. Upon arriving at the Preferred Beach Club, we were offered a drink from the bar and appetizers that were available on the buffet.
We sat for maybe 5 minutes until someone came over to check us in. We were originally in a tropical view room, but since we had the GOH award applied, we were upgraded to a junior suite ocean view room in a preferred building!
We arrived around 1 pm and check-in time was 3 pm, so our room was not ready yet after we checked in. We were told we could go to the Preferred Beach Club to eat and then it should be ready after that. Look at these amazing pichana tacos we had! They were one of our favorites! We went back to the lounge after we ate and our room was ready!
Preferred Club Suites
The Preferred Club suites are going to be in the buildings closest to the beach. They will have the best views of the ocean and nearby the club, lounge, and all daily activities. Since they are closer to the beach, that means that are farthest from the main lobby. If it’s more important for you to be near the main lobby, buffet, theater, and restaurants, I would advise not to be in a preferred building.
Preferred Room Amenities
The amenities below are included with a Preferred Club Junior Suite.
- Pillow menu
- Our menu was on the tablet, and we had 3 options: Orthopedic, feather, and firm pillows
- Outdoor soaking tub
- Only preferred rooms have an extra soaking tub on the balcony. See the picture below of our balcony.
- Upgraded mini-bar
- We had a bottle of sparkling wine and glasses in our room when we arrived. We also had a piece of paper included where we could request a bottle of liquor. The choices were White Rum, Aged Rum, Vodka, or Tequila.
- Secrets Beach Bag
Preferred Club Balcony
Preferred Club Beach Bag- Enhanced Mini Bar
- Bath
Preferred Club Amenities
Preferred Beach Club & Lounge
There are two exclusive areas where preferred guests can go to enjoy premium drinks and snacks. Preferred Beach Club has a bar, but it also serves breakfast and lunch. You check in at the front with your name and room number, and then you’re seated and can order from the limited menu. You can also walk in and just go to the bar and order drinks. They had a special cocktail menu you couldn’t find anywhere else!
We found ourselves here several times, whether it was for breakfast in the morning, grab a drink when we were at the pool, or for a cocktail before dinner. We found this area to be one of our favorite parts of having preferred club status!
The Preferred Lounge has a bar where you will find specialty cocktails and some seating to enjoy a more private scene. They also serve afternoon hot and cold hors d’oeuvres. The access to this saved the day in that window between the end of lunch and the start of dinner.
- Preferred Club Dining
- Preferred Club Crepes
- Preferred Beach Club Cocktails
Hydrotherapy Circuit
The hydrotherapy circuit is in the spa and inclusive with preferred status. You need to have a reservation, so we had our concierge call for us and book an appointment. You can do this daily if you want to, but we only did it once. I wish we would have taken advantage of it more because it is a relaxing way to start or end your day.
The circuit starts with entering your locker room and changing into your swimsuit. They also have a selection of water, tea, and chlorophyll to drink.
You then go outside and sit in the sauna for about 20 minutes, then you go into the steam room for 5-10 minutes, depending on how long you can last, and then finally you go out to the pools. There is a cold pool, then you go to the cool pool, then the hot tub last. You can do all this at your leisure and stay as long as you want!
Preferred Beach Access
Preferred Club guests at Secrets Maroma have access to an exclusive beach area right off the preferred beach club. All the drinks you order from the beach will come from the Preferred Club bar with exclusive liquors and cocktails! You can also order lunch on the beach!
We didn’t use this benefit a lot as we found ourselves at the pool most days. If you are a beach person and like to lounge by the beach, this may be a good benefit for you! This beach area was not much different than the non-preferred side, other than there were more loungers.
Pro Tip: They have massage tables on this side of the beach, so if you book that service, keep this in mind.
Final Thoughts
So, is the Secrets Preferred Club upgrade worth it? In my opinion, YES! The Preferred Beach Club access and daily hydrotherapy at the spa make it worth it to me! This upgraded experience at Secrets Maroma Beach makes it the perfect choice for travelers seeking a more personalized and luxurious stay!
Looking for a full review of the resort and not just the preferred benefits? Check out Ultimate Review- Secrets Maroma Beach Resort.
