Royal Hideaway Playacar

Best service, food, room and amenities! The staff are so accommodating, friendly and polite. The food is like fine dining everyday. The rooms are super comfortable and clean. Why go anywhere else when you've experienced the best there is! We

My entire stay was absolutely wonderful. The resort has three-level buildings with terrific, very clean rooms, each with its own concierge. The landscape is like heaven, with abundant shaded chairs, numerous small pools, and two larger ones. One of them is heated. The service of drinks and snacks is excellent around the pools. I took advantage of the on-site DIVING shop. The staff was very competent and super nice, led by a lovely woman, Sol. A slight inconvenience was picking up the boat from the beach rather than from a pier. This would in no way discourage me from returning. I dived with an excellent dive master, David, in a nearby cenote. It was my first type of dive, and I’d like to do it again. This resort has no fewer than six restaurants. I visited only three and can vouch for the quality of the food and service at all of them. However, the highlights of this day were the nightly dinners at VENTANA. The evening manager is Victor, an expert at what he does and how he runs the place. The menu and food quality were superb. Several nights I had the SETAS (mushrooms) and the ZABAGLIONE, but I tried almost everything else on the menu and am convinced there are very few places where the food is as well prepared and presented. The place also offers Tawny Port, which is not a common find even at fancy restaurants in Mexico City. I doubt you'll find any left after my visit to Ventana, though. Overall, I had one of the best stays at a resort, and I strongly recommend you come here too—like I definitely will again. Andrei Vermont, M.D.

Showers in rooms SUCK - temperature roller-coasters from freezing to boiling hot in a second, low pressure, sunflower shower heads are terrible. service is invariably slow. food is good but not great and very repetitive. not a single hot tub worked anywhere, rooms or on property. communication is mediocre.

Beautiful setting, but standards have dropped alarmingly We have visited Royal Hideaway Playacar previously and always held it in very high regard, which makes this latest stay all the more disappointing. To start with the positives, the resort remains spotlessly clean. The grounds are beautifully maintained, and both pools are crystal clear and inviting. The beach is also stunning, with excellent loungers and cabana-style covers. The housekeeping and grounds teams deserve real credit—if the wider management operated to their standard, this would still be a superb resort. The owners and management need to look at themselves, they are residing over declining standards, and their failure to address criticism is appalling, watch this space to see what I mean. Unfortunately, beyond this, the experience has declined significantly. The rooms are now showing clear signs of age and poor maintenance. Our bathroom had double sinks that were mismatched, with loose taps that were literally coming away. In addition, parts of the sink setup were missing altogether, which only added to the impression of poor upkeep. The shower door hit the shower head when opened, the worktops were cracked and worn, and the toilet flush was loose and unstable. The bathtub itself was visibly rusty. These are not minor issues—they point to a lack of maintenance that you would not expect at this price point. The most frustrating issue remains the sunbed situation. A large number of loungers are marked as “reserved” from first light—apparently for apartment owners and timeshare residents—leaving a real shortage for hotel guests. One morning we counted 40 beds reserved out of 100 at 06.30am. This is not disclosed anywhere in the hotel’s advertising and feels misleading by omission. It is also a widely reported issue on TripAdvisor, yet management responses consistently avoid addressing it directly. Dining is another area where standards have slipped noticeably. The breakfast room almost always had queues, despite there being empty tables visible, suggesting poor organisation and staffing. The orange juice was weak and diluted, there were no teaspoons available, and service was slow and often inattentive. The coffee was consistently either cold or lukewarm, and the single coffee machine was slow, frequently out of milk, or not working at all. To be fair, the food quality itself remains good, and the staff are generally friendly—but they are clearly overstretched. The à la carte restaurants were also disappointing. The Italian restaurant, Palazzo, which was once a highlight, is now a shadow of its former self—understaffed, with food often served cold and very slow service (on one occasion taking over two and a half hours). The Mediterranean restaurant, Ventana, was similarly frustrating, with a 20-minute wait to be seated despite having a reservation and very few guests present. Service across the resort, including around the pools and beach, is inconsistent and clearly impacted by staff shortages. The bar areas feel dated, unwelcoming, and lacking atmosphere. Small touches that you would expect at a premium resort—such as complimentary snacks like crisps, nuts, or pretzels—have been removed, which feels like obvious penny-pinching. Even the welcome drink on arrival—a glass of sparkling wine—was very poor quality and not in keeping with the premium image the hotel tries to project. What is most disappointing, however, is the apparent attitude of management. Responses to reviews focus only on the positives and repeatedly fail to address the real issues being raised, offering no meaningful solutions. At times, these replies feel generic and dismissive—more like automated responses than genuine engagement. It is not unreasonable to question whether guest feedback is truly being taken seriously. Overall, while the resort still charges premium prices, it no longer delivers a premium experience. The cutbacks and staff shortages are noticeable throughout and are clearly impacting the quality of the stay. There is still a fantastic resort here at its core—but until management and ownership match the standards of their hardworking staff, it is difficult to recommend. We will not be returning.

The facility was lovely and clean. The staff was welcoming and amazing. The entertainment crew was awesome! Mariana has the best energy! Daily crafts and activities made you want to participate daily.