Royal Hideaway Playacar

Overall I'd say our stay was solid. The room and pools were nice and relaxing, although our room did not have functioning AC (and was not fixed even after a handyman came) and our shower was quite small as well. The room service took about an hour per order which felt excessive, and the food generally was not the greatest. On our last day my partner and I both got sick because of it. Additionally, most of the staff were kind, but often did not remember our requests and also were not the most competent. For example, one morning my partner and I walked from the last cottage to the lobby in poring rain during the storm and when we reached the lobby we asked the front desk representative if they could give us a towel to dry off a little, to which the representative immediately replied, "sorry we don't have towels here." We then continued asking, "where can we find one? there's really nothing nearby?" and then the woman responded "maybe you could try downstairs somewhere?" We then walked downstairs where we found the whole spa and grabbed a towel very easily! It was astonishing to us how the woman at the front desk was so fast to deny us assistance when there were towels so easily accessible.

Stayed June 7th 12th 2026 rooms 2922 and room 3114 The hotel was very clean, the staff were friendly, and the pool area was good, service in all the restaurants was very good, and the food was very good as well. One downside was the sunbeds being reserved from as early as 5am, which made it difficult to find available loungers later in the day. The air conditioning was also not adequate. Our first room would not cool below 25°C “75F”so we had to switch rooms. The new room reached 21°C, which still wasn't ideal, but it was manageable and we made it work. Overall, we had a pleasant stay but unfailingly we had a bad experience with a manger, and the AC was just awful, for these reasons we will not be back. As for the issue with the Manger We upgraded to the Honeymoon Suite, but the air conditioning in the room would not go below 75°F (26°C), forcing us to change rooms. While we paid a $330 premium for that suite, the process to receive a refund was incredibly unprofessional and unsettling. I was required to provide a physical copy of my Visa card and write down the full number, and the manager failed to explain why this was necessary, leaving me feeling very uncomfortable. Furthermore, when I signed the refund paperwork, the manager repeatedly accused me of forging my own signature, despite my insistence that it was correct. His dismissive and confrontational attitude was the reason we will never return to this hotel.

We have recently returned from a few weeks at the royal hideaway and to say it was not the experience i expected is an understatement. I need to be clear that if you are expecting a 5 star resort i would look at booking elsewhere. Its certainly showing its age with many functions in our room broken or damaged including bath taps, shower hoses that don’t work and furniture that is in need of replacement. As many other guests have commented the air conditioning fails constantly and we had a 4 day stint during our stay which was unbearable. The staff and management were less than interested in sorting this issue and our concierge admitted it happened all the time. It took over 3 days for us to eventually speak to a manager despite multiple requests and when we did our impression of the resort only got worse as there was absolutely nothing to put the situation right other than the offer of a late check-out which they tried to say was “compensation”. Made worse i was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement ( which i did not) - what kind of hospitality establishment asks you to do this unless they are trying to cover up the poor service that they deliver. We found the restaurants to be a mixed experience with the Italian probably the most enjoyable and with the best food. The Deck & The steakhouse is by the far the most disorganised with service verging on rude by some of the staff there. The maitre-de at spices looks like she has been forced to work there and could not crack a smile if she tried. Having been to mexico quite a few times i can say this is not the norm. I have always found them to be top Of there game with service and hospitality so the resort is clearly a outrider in this capacity As many other guests have commented you are unlikely to find a pool lounger without the 6am scramble and i refuse to take part in this type of thing when on holiday! - they also reserve many of the chairs which then seem to sit empty all day - odd Although this is in no way the hotels fault - the beach was un-useable during our stay as the seaweed being washed up was a battle no-one was going to win. They tried their best to keep clearing it but i think mexico is struggling in general with the volume currently. Unfortunalty it leaves a foul sulphur stench which is not pleasant if you want a beach day. Again i know others have mentioned this in many reviews. On some positive points we found the waiters in the mediterranean & Italian restaurants to be very good with food to match. In general the food was good and with a varied selection and i did like that not everything was with fries as it so often is on this side of the planet. Sadly Though this in itself would not see us return to this resort and overall it did not meet our expectations on quality, service or that of any 5 star hotel or resort. Check out other reviews before you book / go. The same themes keep Re-occurring and its clear the hotel’s management are not taking note or putting in place an action plan to fix it.

It was a good trip however the beach this time was basically non existent due to seaweed. The air conditioning was horrible. We got moved rooms at 11pm because we couldn’t sleep. It worked for a day and then it was back to baking. We didn’t want to move again and everyone else was complaining about the same thing. This was our second time there, it’ll be the last.

We enjoyed a 4 night stay at Royal Hideaway Playacar. It was quiet, relaxing, and fun. The food was delicious and the workers were all so kind.