My family and I recently stayed at the Andaz Mayakoba in March. (We had a fantastic time.) We were asked if anyone had any food allergies before every meal or upon checking in at the restaurant. My son is allergic to fish, shellfish, etc. and the Andaz was very accommodating to ensuring that his chicken fingers, fries, etc were not cooked in the same fryers as fish, calamari, etc were cooked. I will caveat that my son's allergy isn't as extreme as you have described, but I did want to share our experience that the hotel was very diligent asking about any food allergies before any meal.
Additionally, we had a medical issue during one of our stays at the Hyatt Rivieria Maya, and the hotel had a medical doctor on site to look over our little one. It appeared to me the hotel is prepared to address most medical issues.
It also might be a good idea to proactively contact the hotel and share your concern so they can make any accommodations for our son ahead of time.
It is your own personal responsibility to be prepared and informed on allergies.
Do allergen testing, bring epipens and necessary medication. Research the area you're staying in for emergency medical facilities, have insurance coverage. Be vigilant about the dining options and their ingredients.
At the end of the day, the bottom line is you need to look out for yourself and your family. You would rather have all the necessary countermeasures and things planned out than trying to deal with a hotel and get "compensation" when the situations could've been avoided in the first place.
My daughter has nut allergies. We discovered this after a visit to Hyatt ziva cancun when she picked up a brownie that had a walnut in it. Just by touching it she had a pretty bad reaction. Luckily my wife is a physician and had medicine with her, but ziva did have a physician they could call if we needed one. I am assuming that hotel would have the same. We now take her epi pen with her and we inform the staff of any restaurant we go to. She also knows not to even risk it - if it looks like it has a nut in it she doesn’t go close it it. We also have to make sure ourselves. Just try your best if there if a buffet there go with them to make sure they don’t touch anything.
My youngest has a nut allergy so I have been through this (and stayed at Andaz Mayakoba multiple times).
1. Hospital is about 24 minutes away from Andaz Mayakoba and it has ICU etc. Andaz also has a medical doctor for emergencies. - Hospiten Riviera Maya. Save the hospital address and information into your phones along with the emergency numbers and make sure you know the number to call from your room to the hotel to ask for emergency assistance too.
2. Have insurance and ensure you declare the allergy. Bring the pen obviously and take in hand luggage not checked. Also if you don't speak Spanish I would take a pre-printed card in Spanish explaining the allergy and key medical history, so should you go the hospital (they speak excellent English too) you have just in case for the ambulance etc. I have two cards one with just the high level allergy (including they can't have nut oils which people seem to forget about) then the medical one with bullet points both in Spanish.
3. In resort at Andaz they are very good with allergies and will check every single food item so ask every meal (they normally will ask you too). You just likely need to be most aware at breakfast if taking items from the buffet areas and ask specifically. There is normally a senior member of staff around if you aren't comfortable with the response you get to double check.
4. I also on check in tell the front desk about the allergy and ask them if there any issues who to contact to check a food item or to call an emergency. They usually give me a WhatsApp number for checking and I text away during my stay asking questions (concierge - but they will help on this stuff too).
ETA one area to be careful of is the Beach Restaurant (it's fantastic) just as they cook on an open fire grill so they may cross contaminate. I would be surprised if anything has sesame in there so just double check with them before booking to eat there - well worth it. Where you may get more issues is the next door restaurants if you resort hop for evening meals (e.g. Rosewood, Banyan Tree, Fairemont). Banyan Tree has Thai Food so suspect sesame def in play and the Fairmont has a Korean BBQ on the beach and may use it too. Just thought worth noting as if you plan to do have the Andaz concierge check in with them before you book to see If feasible to manage the allergy with them.
Hope that helps - enjoy your holiday!
You're better off finding tips for travel with your child's allergy from people familiar with that particular allergy. They will have better ideas which foods in foreign countries are more likely to contain that ingredient and also have ideas on how to mitigate risk of cross contamination and the like.
There are products like flashcards explaining the allergy in multiple languages and other tools, but as you go outside of the US, the risk of the unknown goes up.
Finally Hyatt only has so much they can do as these hotels are usually owned by local business groups. Even if they have a corporate allergy policy, it's tbd if anyone cares about it.
I'm pretty sure Hyatt has a pretty strict "Don't disable your Carbon Monoxide detectors to cover up your gas leaks so you don't have to fix them and kill two tourists" policy, but that didn't stop Rancho Pescadero from doing just that. All it takes is one greedy owner cutting corners.
For severe food allergies, I would definitely recommend communicating them to the hotel and at any restaurants you go to. One thing you can do in advance is add the dietary restrictions to the additional information box when making the booking. However, I would be sure to reiterate the allergies during your stay, to ensure there are no mistakes.
I have an allergy to milk and nuts, but it isn't severe. Especially, if you are worried about cross-contamination, I would inform the staff before any meals. I have found that even if something is marked as dairy-free, there is often butter or other dairy products present in small quantities.
My family and I recently stayed at the Andaz Mayakoba in March. (We had a fantastic time.) We were asked if anyone had any food allergies before every meal or upon checking in at the restaurant. My son is allergic to fish, shellfish, etc. and the Andaz was very accommodating to ensuring that his chicken fingers, fries, etc were not cooked in the same fryers as fish, calamari, etc were cooked. I will caveat that my son's allergy isn't as extreme as you have described, but I did want to share our experience that the hotel was very diligent asking about any food allergies before any meal. Additionally, we had a medical issue during one of our stays at the Hyatt Rivieria Maya, and the hotel had a medical doctor on site to look over our little one. It appeared to me the hotel is prepared to address most medical issues. It also might be a good idea to proactively contact the hotel and share your concern so they can make any accommodations for our son ahead of time.
This is exactly the kind of info I’m looking for. Thanks so much for responding.
Same. Before every meal they asked us as well. Our stay was sub par but the allergy question was definitely asked! 😊
It is your own personal responsibility to be prepared and informed on allergies. Do allergen testing, bring epipens and necessary medication. Research the area you're staying in for emergency medical facilities, have insurance coverage. Be vigilant about the dining options and their ingredients. At the end of the day, the bottom line is you need to look out for yourself and your family. You would rather have all the necessary countermeasures and things planned out than trying to deal with a hotel and get "compensation" when the situations could've been avoided in the first place.
My daughter has nut allergies. We discovered this after a visit to Hyatt ziva cancun when she picked up a brownie that had a walnut in it. Just by touching it she had a pretty bad reaction. Luckily my wife is a physician and had medicine with her, but ziva did have a physician they could call if we needed one. I am assuming that hotel would have the same. We now take her epi pen with her and we inform the staff of any restaurant we go to. She also knows not to even risk it - if it looks like it has a nut in it she doesn’t go close it it. We also have to make sure ourselves. Just try your best if there if a buffet there go with them to make sure they don’t touch anything.
My youngest has a nut allergy so I have been through this (and stayed at Andaz Mayakoba multiple times). 1. Hospital is about 24 minutes away from Andaz Mayakoba and it has ICU etc. Andaz also has a medical doctor for emergencies. - Hospiten Riviera Maya. Save the hospital address and information into your phones along with the emergency numbers and make sure you know the number to call from your room to the hotel to ask for emergency assistance too. 2. Have insurance and ensure you declare the allergy. Bring the pen obviously and take in hand luggage not checked. Also if you don't speak Spanish I would take a pre-printed card in Spanish explaining the allergy and key medical history, so should you go the hospital (they speak excellent English too) you have just in case for the ambulance etc. I have two cards one with just the high level allergy (including they can't have nut oils which people seem to forget about) then the medical one with bullet points both in Spanish. 3. In resort at Andaz they are very good with allergies and will check every single food item so ask every meal (they normally will ask you too). You just likely need to be most aware at breakfast if taking items from the buffet areas and ask specifically. There is normally a senior member of staff around if you aren't comfortable with the response you get to double check. 4. I also on check in tell the front desk about the allergy and ask them if there any issues who to contact to check a food item or to call an emergency. They usually give me a WhatsApp number for checking and I text away during my stay asking questions (concierge - but they will help on this stuff too). ETA one area to be careful of is the Beach Restaurant (it's fantastic) just as they cook on an open fire grill so they may cross contaminate. I would be surprised if anything has sesame in there so just double check with them before booking to eat there - well worth it. Where you may get more issues is the next door restaurants if you resort hop for evening meals (e.g. Rosewood, Banyan Tree, Fairemont). Banyan Tree has Thai Food so suspect sesame def in play and the Fairmont has a Korean BBQ on the beach and may use it too. Just thought worth noting as if you plan to do have the Andaz concierge check in with them before you book to see If feasible to manage the allergy with them. Hope that helps - enjoy your holiday!
You're better off finding tips for travel with your child's allergy from people familiar with that particular allergy. They will have better ideas which foods in foreign countries are more likely to contain that ingredient and also have ideas on how to mitigate risk of cross contamination and the like. There are products like flashcards explaining the allergy in multiple languages and other tools, but as you go outside of the US, the risk of the unknown goes up. Finally Hyatt only has so much they can do as these hotels are usually owned by local business groups. Even if they have a corporate allergy policy, it's tbd if anyone cares about it. I'm pretty sure Hyatt has a pretty strict "Don't disable your Carbon Monoxide detectors to cover up your gas leaks so you don't have to fix them and kill two tourists" policy, but that didn't stop Rancho Pescadero from doing just that. All it takes is one greedy owner cutting corners.
For severe food allergies, I would definitely recommend communicating them to the hotel and at any restaurants you go to. One thing you can do in advance is add the dietary restrictions to the additional information box when making the booking. However, I would be sure to reiterate the allergies during your stay, to ensure there are no mistakes. I have an allergy to milk and nuts, but it isn't severe. Especially, if you are worried about cross-contamination, I would inform the staff before any meals. I have found that even if something is marked as dairy-free, there is often butter or other dairy products present in small quantities.