El Dorado Seaside Suites

Luis Manuel Balam was an amazing server and made our experience so special, recognizing our bachelorette in the sweetest way!

The worst all inclusive we have ever visited in the region. The old saying you get what you pay for is exactly right. We are regular visitors to the region (1-2 times per year for the past 10 years). We paid a lower rate than what we usually do for Secrets, Joia, Valentin, Unico, etc but this resort is old/worn out, room service is non-existent, food is nowhere close to what you get at the other resorts I mentioned above. The one shining light at this location is the beach bar. The staff at the beach bar was nice/helpful and very accommodating. When we checked into our room we immediately asked to be moved (see pictures of greasy headboard, tv ripped off the wall with holes where it used to be, mold/mildew and broken items). We were told it would be 24/48 hours before we could be relocated. Unacceptable! We spent a single night at this resort, we called a taxi and relocated to another resort where we were provided the service we expect for an all inclusive for the money we spent.

Carmen at the spa was wonderful! She was so kind and easy to talk with, and she was excellent at waxing and the haircut I received. She is great, I'll be asking for her again the next time I go to the spa. Very professional, and I feel so relaxed and happy with the services. Thanks Carmen!

We had an amazing, relaxing trip. Everyone was great to deal with, from Maria, Jesus and all the rest of the activity leaders, to Karla and Carlos, the personal concierges, and all of the staff at the lobby and the restaurants! The rooms were very clean. The food was very good. The more exclusive actives were a great plus. We loved our visit and can’t wait to return to see and do even more!

I was confused as to why there are so many 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor when this has not been our personal experience. This became clear on our final day when we were approached by a certain well known member of staff who requested that we leave a 5 star TripAdvisor review, explaining that unless we gave a 5 star review, their manager would not read the reviews. When asked why this was important, they explained that they get certain benefits and bonuses if they receive a set quota of good reviews with their name mentioned. I then saw this member of staff take the guests phone and write a review on TripAdvisor on their behalf! This explains why so many reviews mention the the names of staff specifically and why some appear to be written by a non-native English speaker. As a result, I would take some of these 5 star reviews with a very liberal pinch of salt! In relation to the restaurants, the maps and TUI app provided completely different opening times and it was hit or miss as to whether the restaurant you wanted to attend would be open or not. Likewise the restaurants Mia Casa (Italian) and Klay Talay (Asian) are described as having an additional fee or charge on the TUI Blue app, however these are actually free - you just have to have a reservation which you have to make in advance with the concierge, and you can only attend each of these once per week during your stay. Unfortunately each week has to be booked separately, so you can't book the same restaurant for both weeks in advance if you are there for a fortnight. They do book up extremely quickly however, and despite attempting to book on the same day that reservations opened, we were only ever given the option to book slots at around either 5pm or 9pm. It's unfortunate that the snacks bar and grill (which is called the Sandwicherie) only serves food for a few hours each day as in my experience of all inclusives, these are normally open a lot longer for when you are hungry. You can get pizza, hamburgers, burritos, hotdogs and nachos at the Sandwicherie however towards the end of the holiday we also discovered that they also serve ribs and fish and chips, however these aren't advertised. That being said, if you're hungry then room service can be ordered 24hrs a day, although whether it arrives warm or not is a completely different matter! We only ate at the buffet once during our stay as we preferred the a la carte restaurants where we found the food to be of a better quality, however the poor quality of the food in general was a complaint that we heard from numerous couples during our stay here, with one couple actually opting to move hotels not long after arriving as a result of the food. If you want a beach holiday then this hotel probably isn't for you. The sea can only be accessed from one side of the hotel, with a low seawall surrounding the majority of the hotel preventing direct access to the sea. The beach wasn't particularly scenic either as it contained numerous bags of sandbags in various states of decay along the shoreline in order to prevent erosion. This year (2025) has seen record levels of sargassum seaweed in the Carribean and this has affected a lot of different hotels in the local area. To give them their credit, the hotel did have work crews and a JCB clearing the beach each day, however the only time I actually saw the beach completely cleared of seaweed was when they had weddings at the hotel. At other times the smell of decomposing seaweed was extremely unpleasant. Hawkers selling cigars, hats and sunglasses along the beach weren't particularly aggresive and would leave you alone unless you initiated conversation with them, however we were offered drugs on multiple occasions from one particular hawker who hung around near the hotel beach volleyball court; and the hotel staff seemed reluctant to remove this person from the property. I'm not entirely sure why, as from what I understand, this is a privately owned beach. Oddly enough it was the hotel itself with its constant upselling of massages which was the main issue here. Especially when we were being approached during breakfast when we were trying to eat. This occured multiple times a day and eventually became a little tiresome. The grounds within the resort are beautiful and well maintained and there are plenty of Bali beds available free of charge and this was one of the very few great things about the hotel. Tipping is absolutely huge here and you need to budget for this, otherwise you'll notice a massive decline in the level of service that you're offered. Guests (mostly the North Americans) would tip each time they ordered drinks from the bar, and this meant that they would be served first, regardless of how long other guests had already been waiting. Likewise, I observed staff only taking drinks orders from certain guests around the pool whilst they ignored others. So if you want any form of customer service, be prepared to pay for it. Tipping is expected everywhere, including at the swimup bars, at the snack grill buffet and even at the grill. This soon adds up over a two week stay and unfortunately this quickly begins to erode the concept of an all inclusive holiday. Despite advertising it as such, this is not a 5 star hotel. We were able to get a good deal at a reasonable enough price point, however had we paid more for the holiday then we wouldn't have been very happy with the standard of the hotel. TLDR: Ultimately I wouldn't recommend this hotel to family or friends, nor can I say that I would stay here again. Consider very carefully whether this hotel is for you as there are likely to be much better options elsewhere in the Riviera Maya.