Royal Hideaway Playacar

Royal Hideaway is a beautiful property with lovely units, gardens and facilities. Most of the restaurants were delightful but we found the Mexican restaurant Spices to be a disappointment. I love Mexican food but found several of the dishes very salty (the salad) and unimaginative. Would love to see improvement. The location is perfect and an easy walk in to Playa del Carmen. Easy access to Tulum and other sites.

I’m writing this review as I’m still at the hotel. First impressions of this resort are lovely, staff is attentive and friendly. I’m staying in room 2931 and still have a couple of nights to go as of right now the room is flooding with water from the air conditioning, it’s been leaking since 10 pm last night and it’s now 5 am , I’ve been to the front desk at least 2 times and they are ignoring the problem as they don’t care that now the water is under the bed , come back at 9 am and maybe we will have a room . I can’t believe how ignorant and stupid they are when it comes to maintenance issues My clothes and suitcases are soaked with water Don’t waste your money here, go somewhere else

Our first visit to the Royal Hideaway Playcar, but certainly not our last! We travel to Mexico usually twice or more a year and have been for over 20 years, we have stayed at ERC & EPM 5 or 6 times, several Secrets & Dream resorts, Zoetry, El Dorados, VIM several times, Barcelo, Paladiums & I’m sure I have missed some, just to provide you with a bit of background. The Royal Hideaway is a beautiful resort, small, quaint, simply lovely. We had a luxury room, and it very nice. The location, building 31 was great, close to the beach, pools & the restaurants located by the beach. The only downside was it overlooked the pools at resort next door & was quite loud in the afternoon, but since we weren’t in our room often that time of day, it wasn’t an issue. The resort that is located on the east side of the Hideaway, has their pools located in the middle of that resort so I’m sure those rooms would be quiet. We enjoyed everyday room cleaning, and I never had to phone once to remind them our room required servicing. They also proved turn down service every evening. And the room & bathroom were spotless. The beach is gorgeous, there isn’t a lot of shade, other than the palm trees & these clamshell things, that just seem to trap the heat in, I wasn’t a fan, but we found an area with more trees & it worked quite well. The pool area, is Busy as many people have reported, and the lounges are very close to each other, so be prepared to get to know your neighbours, haha. Plus it seems many people are up before Dawn saving lounges, so you may be able to get one but probably not. They do have umbrellas but if it’s very windy they, of course, can’t be put up. And the pool area gets full sun all day, for many that’s a positive. The Hideaway has a nice assortment of restaurants, which all must be reserved for dinner, but a wonderful thing is that, you can email prior to arrival to book, which we did. Another fabulous thing is that they actually have real menus!!! No having to use an app on your phone!!! So much more classy! We thoroughly enjoyed Spices for breakfast & lunch and once for dinner. We also ate at the other options and we enjoyed them all. The staff is excellent every where, we were impressed that someone came around every day to enquiry if we had questions or needed anything. Overall, our experience at the Royal Hideaway exceeded our expectations. I’m sure we will be returning in the spring, we only arrived home today, so haven’t had time to book.

Everything about this property checked our boxes and needs. We came for an adult only stay to relax and "beach out". The accommodations, food and service were as much as one could desire. If you are looking for a lot of night life this is not the place. There is a nice selection of entertainment but most everything is closed by 1am, except for room service. Relaxing, quiet and great pool and beach. Looking forward to our return.

This resort is not 4.5 stars. The resort property is nice and well maintained. The main pool is beautiful, entertainment is so-so. With the exception of the theater shows, the evening entertainment is very boring. Most of the food is good BUT dining at the restaurants averaged 2.5-3 hours. Getting through to room service and wait times were a challenge. The rooms are dated, beds comfortable. The housekeeping was sub-par and a restock in the fridge or in room coffee was almost non-existent. We also encountered two issues with our room that resulted a fall (almost two). Issues were addressed within a day but our sliding glass door was left open by staff and we had a ground floor room. We would not return to this resort. The beach is beautiful but the are better options.