TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

If you are looking for a place to party- Royal Hideaway is not for you. But, if you are looking for a restful holiday ,to be on a beautiful beach with a blue clear ocean, a hotel with terrific food, friendly staff, then this is the place.We had a wonderful 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year We must give mention to our absolute gem of a concierge- Gabriela Puente.I had some health issues ( nothing to do with hotel), which required a visit to the hospital. Not only did she arrange this, but, afterwards she translated all the prescription instuctions into English and typed them out for me. She went way over all that her job required.

I cannot believe the audacity of the team at the Royal Hideaway to dismiss the unsanitary and disgusting conditions to which they exposed us for 2 days on our vacation. Toilets full of urine and feces and they have commented about hand sanitizer. This was planned by the city and the Royal hideaway knew in advance there would be no power or water for 14 hours over 2 full days during the day and did not one thing to provide the guests with portable washrooms and handwashing stations at the very least. They let us pay in full and have no where to go to the washroom, wash, bathe, brush our teeth, let alone everything else that comes with no power. The Barcelo Group should be ashamed of their lack of consideration and upholding the Diamond standard which is touted by this hotel. Disgusting and disgraceful. They have yet to reply to my emails or phone calls.

After much research and review reading my husband and I stayed at the Royal Hideaway the end of November for a week. What began as a relaxing, beautiful and serene vacation turned to a nightmare on the fourth day. We were advised the power would be out from 10:00am to 12:00pm and we thought little of this interruption. We were very wrong. The power was out from 10am-5:30pm our fifth day and 10am-6:35pm our 6th day. This meant no air conditoning, wifi, fans, lights, fitness centre... BUT also meant NO WATER. There were no flushable toilets or water to bath, wash your hands... all day for 2 days. The servers at the restaurants used the same bathrooms, in the dark, with toilets full of urine and feces as they guests. Furthermore, there were no handwashing stations or hand sanitizer at the buffet right beside the restaurant. This must have been an emergency problem you think, right? Absolutely not. Moises Trejo the assistant resort manager assured us it was PLANNED by the city to take 14 hours and they had no choice. The team at this beautiful, DIAMOND resort arranged NOT ONE THING for its guests, to accommodate this unsanitary, unsafe, unhealthy, disgusting and revolting event of 2 full days. They took our payment in full for 7 days and let us live in this sickening state for 2 days. Moises looked at us and apologized and said there was nothing they could do. Unacceptable reply. Unacceptable resolution. Unacceptable service. DO NOT think your vacation here is guaranteed and safe. We did and look what happened to us. Look at all of the reviews. Book elsewhere.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time at Royal Hideaway Playacar. The staff members were extremely polite and pleasant, especially in the restaurants. In terms of our room, we had some frustrating struggles with getting a room with two beds. We were traveling as a mother and two daughters, and we knew when booking that asking for two beds was a "special request," but our first night had all three of us in one king bed without a cot provided. We also had a leaky toilet, but our concierge, Alan, worked to fix that promptly. We were especially impressed by the dinner restaurants, all of which had varied menus and exceptional service. It felt very safe to leave the resort and walk to downtown Playa del Carmen, though we enjoyed spending most of our time lazing by the beach or the pool. The breakfast buffet was mediocre, but the poolside service of food and drink was great!

Accommodations, service and staff were great! Several restaurants to choose from - only set back was you had to book daily and wait until after 4 pm for a time. We would still highly recommend. The Italian restaurant was our favorite. Food and service was excellent!