TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU WANT ANY PEACE AND QUIET UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR DIAMOND CLUB - SEE BELOW! I am here currently with another 9 days of this purgatory to endure before i can finally head for home never to return. Good points first. The food in the a la carte restaurants is good. The whole place is very clean and tidy. The staff are all very friendly and helpful. Coffee shop excellent. Gym very good. The bad: "Royalton Hideaway" sounds like it would be an oasis of calm to come and relax in the sun for a week or two, with an adult only environment to enjoy some down time before rejoining real life and all that entails. The reality is very far from that. The hideaway is exactly that....it is hidden away from the rest of the resort because it is like a Zoo contained in a disco. There is non stop loud music around the pool from 10am until 5pm interspersed with loud obnoxious pool games ....it is utterly relentless and means we are unable to enjoy our swim up facilities for most of the day because you literally cannot hear yourself think. The pool must be mostly urine because it is full of drunk humans who never leave the water for hours whilst drinking continuously from early am until the bar shuts at 7pm. We have turned into refugees in the day and are having to go to the families area where there is a relatively quiet pool....the kids are better behaved than the adults in the "Hideaway'. The "Diamond" part of the resort is very relaxed and quiet but at considerable extra cost. The main part of the resort is busy but not as loud as the Hideaway and the families part is nice for families and estranged Hideaway guests after some solace from the incessant racket of the Hideaway pool. The beach is nice but unfortunately full of Sergassum which the hotel are trying to deal with but without much success. They are fighting a losing battle but are doing their best under trying conditions for them. I have a lot of sympathy in this regard but it is out of their control. The evening entertainment is good and varied around the main pool area and the bars are nice too. It is such a shame that our whole holiday will have been ruined by the atmosphere of the Hideaway part of the resort. You are also effectively an economic prisoner in the resort during your stay. The main road is 2 miles away and Taxis are not allowed on to the property unless you are already in them....the only option you have is for the hotel to organise a taxi for you.....which. you would think would be OK. However (without a single ounce of hyperbole) the cost to go about 20km to the centre of Cancun from the hotel is $90 EACH WAY!! That is US Dollars ( not Pesos which also uses the $ sign). So approx £150 for s 40km round trip. If you think you have been ripped off before in life, come here and dare to try to go and see somewhere else. If you could get your own taxi it would be about 400 Pesos...around £20 each way...still fairly expensive but not extortion. If you could get to the main gate this could be a viable option but it is a 2 mile walk to t he security gate by the main road in 30 odd degrees c which is OK for some but not all. And talking of rip offs....you won't believe how much a packet of crisps (chips) is in the shop. For 150g bag of Lays salted crisps $22 - yes £18 for a packet of crisps. Lastly, at every opportunity people are trying to sell you expensive Spa treatments, excursions ( your only chance to get off the property in reality), photos and other things. Spa treatments for example range (US Dollars again) from $239 for a manicure and pedicure to $517 for a couples massage with a bottle of tequila thrown in, presumably so you can drown your sorrows after paying over $500 for a massage! Don't bother, go somewhere else if you want anything other than what I describe above.

We’ve visited here before and so wanted to return for a special anniversary. The hotel is clean and the food is good, make sure you book the restaurants to break the monotony of the buffet. We had no problems booking restaurants at all. We stayed in the hideaway and the breakfast was amazing, shout out to Maria! The pool was less desirable. Music way too loud, to the point I couldn’t hear my own EarPods. People openly smoking with butts in the pool. Not one person was picked up on it - but hey they were prime customers. On whole the staff are very friendly and welcoming. The problem we encountered was on our anniversary the hotel put the least effort in. My husband had arranged with guest services something in the room etc to celebrate the day. We had one rubbery piece of cheesecake left in the room all day in the open. No door banner, nothing else. I brought this up at the Hideaway reception but they said they couldn’t deal with it, went to guest services and they said if I wanted something different then we’d have to wait until the next day - pretty useless when it’s the day of the anniversary. We eventually got a door banner which felt like an afterthought to be honest. Speaking to other British guests they had the exact same response to special occasion requests. I’ve visited Mexico 6 times and I know how lovely the people and country are. I felt the hotel have shifted the focus and you’re only important if you’re diamond club or prime. I think the hotel has gone downhill for the price and wouldn’t return.

Excellent hotel and overall service. Our Butlers Benny and Edurado always went the extra mile

We stayed at the Royalton Riviera Hideaway in Cancun from May 30th onward, and overall, we had a lovely experience. When we first arrived, our room on the ground floor had a bit of a musty smell. We mentioned it to the staff, and they were incredibly friendly, accommodating, and moved us the next day to a much nicer room on the second floor, which we actually preferred. We really appreciated how quickly they resolved the issue. The standout part of this resort was definitely the staff. Everyone we encountered was warm, welcoming, and genuinely seemed to care about making our stay enjoyable. I’m personally not much of a buffet person, but there was a huge selection and plenty of variety for those who enjoy buffet dining. One of our favourite spots was the café. My boyfriend and I absolutely loved the coffee, and the ice cream and pastries were amazing as well. For breakfast, we highly recommend Dorado. We chose to eat there most mornings because we could sit outside, feel the ocean breeze, and enjoy beautiful views of the water right from our table. It was such a peaceful and relaxing way to start the day. The lobby area is also beautiful, especially in the mornings. Sitting there with a coffee, feeling the breeze, was a good way to reset. There was quite a bit of sargassum on the beach during our stay. While it was still possible to go into the water, we chose not to. We did spend time on the beach watching the sunrise and relaxing by the ocean, which was lovely. However, if having a pristine beach and swimming in the ocean is a priority for you, I would avoid travelling during sargassum season. The Hideaway pool had a fun and lively atmosphere. One recommendation we shared with the entertainment team was to incorporate more Latin music into the daytime playlist. Since you’re in Mexico, it would enhance the experience to hear more music that reflects the local culture. Much of the music played was 80s and 90s soft rock, which at times felt more like a Florida resort than a Mexican getaway. The evening entertainment was enjoyable. The Michael Jackson show was well done, and White Night was a highlight of the trip. Everyone dressed in white, and there was a fantastic light show near the Royalton pool area that created a really fun atmosphere. The à la carte restaurants were a pleasant surprise, and overall, we were very impressed with the quality of the food. Agave, the Mexican restaurant, was delicious, and Zen Teppanyaki was both entertaining and enjoyable. Hunter Steakhouse was also very good. The beef brisket was especially delicious, and we enjoyed the steak as well, despite hearing mixed reviews from other guests. When we visited the Italian restaurant for lunch, the pizza wasn’t quite what we had hoped for. We had requested it well done, but it arrived quite pale and floppy with a heavy amount of cheese and oil. That said, we were in Mexico, not Italy, so we took it in stride. Finally, my boyfriend’s biggest disappointment of the entire trip: no churros! We both expected that a trip to Mexico would include fresh churros somewhere on the resort, but unfortunately, there weren’t any to be found. Our suggestion to the resort would be to add a churro station, even if it’s just at the buffet. We think it would be a huge hit with guests. Overall, we had a wonderful stay at the Royalton Riviera Hideaway. The exceptional staff, beautiful resort grounds, great entertainment, and excellent à la carte dining made for a memorable vacation. We would definitely return and recommend it to others, especially those looking for an adults-only getaway with a lively atmosphere.

Gina was absolutely amazing and couldn’t do enough for us on our stay. She went above and beyond what we imagined and checked in with us daily with everything we needed to make our stay special! Even arranged for our favourite drinks to be in our room when we came in from the beach. I cannot thank her enough.