Royal Hideaway Playacar

We have just returned from our 2nd visit to the Royal Hideaway and, once again, feel refreshed, pampered and completely satisfied. The location is excellent, less than an hour from the airport, 20 min walk to 5th Ave and on a pristine white sand beach! Reception staff were efficient and polite when checking in, and rooms are more than adequate for our needs with comfy (firm) mattresses on the beds and L'Occitane toiletries supplied in bathrooms. Our A/C worked just fine and kept the room at a comfortable temperature. It is true that the new coolers in the rooms need looking at, as they do not chill the drinks in the minibar. Food and drink was once again excellent and we had no issues making reservations on arrival for the 9 days ahead with our concierge. Presentation of the food was amazing and all meals were tasty and flavoursome. One recommendation I would make is that in Palazzo and Las Ventanas especially, the food was served luke warm, I would have preferred for my dishes to be served hot! The Staff at the Royal Hideaway are outstanding and really are a credit to themselves and the hotel. Special Mentions to Ricardo Rivera, Daniel, Javier and Gennaro as they never let us sit without a chilled beverage at the pool and were always happy to engage in conversation. Christian and his team at the Deck also made us feel welcome and would go out of their way to ensure that we were always happy! Cannot wait to return again next year!

best all inclusive nice beach clear water very nice staff all was perfect pool temperature perfect 15 minutes to playa del carmen around 30 minutes to the airport we surelly want to comeback next year

The resort was flawless. The food at all the restaurants was absolutely delicious. The pools were great and never too overcrowded. The beach had an ample amount of seating with covers for shade. The service from every staff member was above and beyond expectation. We will definitely be staying here again. You will not be disappointed!!!

Back ground on us...we have been to the Riviera Maya 15+ times, and several times have been in the Playacar location as is the RHP. We love the beach in Playacar. We have always wanted to stay at this resort but was always out of our budget as it usually was $2000 usd/week with air pp, we had seen it on the Travel Channel years ago as a top destination in Riviera Maya, with that being said, I guess we should have went years ago...we saw a great price on this property of $1200/week with air pp so we decided to go. At the time of booking we did not know that this resort was recently bought out by Barcelo, which could be why the price drop and some other issues. We were disappointed...Here is why: 1. the grounds are not as nice as other resorts in the area 2. rooms were small, smaller than other resorts in the area 3. pools, super small, I mean really small, like backyard pools 4. there is no pool side music, nothing except pool aerobics 5. people at the resort just sit around, minimal engagement 6. they were out of towels for the pool and the resort had 3 full buildings of rooms closed, so nowhere near full occupancy 7. checkin was rediculously slow, we got there in the early afternoon with 3 other couples and took over an hour for check in and no explanation of resort features were given at checkin. 8. food...breakfast and lunch were good, dinners ok but were long and drawn out 9. no lobby to speak of, no lobby bar, so really nowhere to hang out after dinner, except the sports bar, which no one was really in while we were there as it does not have real seating, just a couple of couches and a few bar stools and some out door seating, but no entertainment while we were there 10. older property and is showing its age Things we did like: 1. service for drinks and food around the pool was excellent 2. beach, love the Playacar beach area 3. even tho super small we did like the endless pool concept 4. view from the main pool 5. service was great at the restaurants, even tho food was not very good, we were glad there was room service Overall, we were just bored at this resort, super bored...we knew it was a quieter resort and smaller, but we had no idea it was that quiet and small. To walk from the beach to the lobby, not even 5 minutes. Just too small for us. Definitely a boutique style resort. If the food was better and they had some type of entertainment for the people who wanted it, we would have liked it better. There are resorts that are just prettier and more tropical feeling with the opportunity to relax or have some entertainment, we wish we had the week to do over, but if you want to go somewhere and just lay around and have quietness and go to bed after dinner, this is the perfect spot.

The Royal Hideaway was the best resort I have ever been to! Adults only, not a party atmosphere, not overly crowded, very relaxing. Go to the pool very early to claim your lounge chairs if you want to lounge by the pool nearest the beach... by 7:30am at least. Truly all inclusive, including room service & top shelf liquor. But what made the stay exceed my expectations were all the staff that worked there... the staff were absolutely wonderful... i have never been treated so well by such friendly and welcoming people. Everyone was genuinely friendly and happy to help you. Especially Christian at the Grill (during breakfast & lunch)... if anyone from the hotel is reading this, please give this man a raise or bonus! He was so warm and welcoming, very friendly and you could tell that he genuinely cared about all the guests. Great bar at the grill, and great service everywhere we went. I love this place, and i can't wait to come back!