Royal Hideaway Playacar All Inclusive - Adults only

Better than our expectations! The food was excellent, the beach was beautiful, the staff were very nice and helpful and the room was very clean. We will surely come back.

I stayed at this property back in 2012 when it was truly a deluxe 5 star resort. With the property changing ownership it has slipped from its former 5 star status to more a 4 star. It is still very nice and I would certainly consider it again despite the slipping rating. This is a very quiet small boutique property that has the appeal for those that prefer to not be in a crowd at a mega resort. The grounds are beautiful and the staff is very attentive. The menus are static, so for anyone staying longer than a week, the food will become boring. The food & beverage managers need to make sure that staple items in the bars do not run out (This happened several times during my recent week there). Better communication to the guests needs to happen when changes to venues occur, such as restaurant closures due to rain damage. There was a lack of posted notifications as to what alternate options would be available. There needs to be better posting of the evening entertainment. The only spot where I found the entertainment list was at the pool kiosk where you get beach towels. I really like the feel of the resort being so quiet and secluded amongst the mega resorts, but a few improvements could bring it back to a wonderful 5 star experience.

It’s gone down hill. Been there several times, but this was very much a disappointment. The Barcolo Maya folks have dropped the ball. Go to a newer property.

We will definitely be back

It may have been my expectations, but overall this vacation was a disappointment and it was all because of the resort. To begin with, we had paid for an upgraded room and were instead given a lower grade room, saved for people in wheelchairs ( which was awful to hear that if your disabled, you are not treated equally). They tried explaining that that is all they had left for us despite the resort not being full. No refund was given or any other compensation, even though we asked. The truly disturbing thing though was the constant lies told to us by the staff. On the first night, the manager gave us their card and said in the morning they would fix the mistake. They didn’t work for 2 days and the email and number on the card wasn’t functional. No one followed up to change our room, we had to continuously ask. After three days into our 7 day trip, they moved us but not to the upgraded room we paid for, to one of their standard rooms. It was an experience that tainted the entire trip. On the good side, the food at the a la carte restaurants was fantastic. The resort was overall quite beautiful. Some staff worked very hard (others could care less). And the beach at this resort is beautiful. It is also a smaller resort so felt like far less people and was much quieter than others next door. Things to be away of: - there are few bars. - room service can take up to one hour or more. - changes are made to where you can eat and what restaurants are open for breakfast and lunch without being told. Very confusing. No consistency. Staff didn’t even know. -long waits for breakfast and lunch for sit down meals. Find a buffet if one is open or you will wait a long long time. - Book into your evening restaurants asap or you will be eating at 9:00 pm while staff loudly clean dishes and close down for the night. - do not believe what you may be told by staff, often they said things untrue so they didn’t need to put any effort into helping you. (This wasn’t the case for all staff though, many staff were amazing and worked so hard. Seems to be a problem coming from the top as many staff were also unsure of what was happening but to appease you would tell you something made up). For instance: - sign up for all 1:00 activities when you arrive. They have very limited spots (10-12 people). We had been told to return in the mornings to sign up, which was untrue. Your concierge will not help you with this, you must find the towel person at the pool hut to book activities. The concierge will also not tell you this or that there even are activities. - they say every building has a concierge when you arrive so the main one you sign in with, doesn’t need to assist you. This is not true. Some buildings have a concierge and it is random if they will be there or available. - You will not be told anything about the resort or activities, what to do, where to eat, ect when you arrive. It is part of the mystery of the place you must discover on your own. The staff doesn’t even know and will give you conflicting information. - apparently there is snorkel equipment and beach toys like kayaks available at the back of the restaurant on the beach. No one told us until our last morning there. - not a lot of entertainment in the evening. - this is a quiet resort with senior-like activities like bingo (that is screamed over a bad sound system daily at the pool). low impact aqua aerobics and silent parties where you wear headphones of music playing. - none of the hot tub pools work despite staff saying they do. There is one main pool with one bar for service. They do have staff that serve people around the pool and beach but them coming by is random so you usually need to wait in line at the one bar open during the day. - the resort has a hierarchy system with lounge chairs around the pool. It creates a strange hunger games mentality among patrons. One is only allowed to sit there if they have visited the resort 15 times, or paid again another VIP rate which still wouldn’t guarantee you got a chair. - despite it being a private resort, random vendors walk up and down the beach selling everything from jewelry to cigars to drugs openly approaching anyone napping in a chair, and are pushy. - the downstairs bar Allegra is awful. Lighting is so bright it’s nauseating and there is an overwhelming dirty toothpaste scent that fills the space. It’s small and the service was horrible (except for one young man), but generally expect no service and no effort. No table service and the workers generally were on their phone. They don’t have proper tools or ingredients like a blender and other basic bar ingredients. The sound, when they had karaoke or a band play, inside the space is tinny and horrible. - large Mexican rats roam the grounds. The staff call them cute. They are comfortable with humans and expect to be fed. Not cute. Will enter your room if on the ground floor. Apparently this resort has been around a while. The prices for this one are much higher than other resorts. We were very upset to not be given the room we paid for and then no compensation given for that despite us asking. Although most of the staff were so nice, they would lie to your face over and again. I wonder how well staff are being paid as so many seemed to not be into their job, although on average the staff at the restaurants were top notch. Over all, while the resort is pretty, I wouldn’t go back. Being lied to over and again gives me a sense of unease. Too bad, was really looking forward to this holiday.:(

Beautiful property. But there are a lot of gaps in the overall experience. Not enough servers. Ordering a drink at the pool bar was a hassle and felt very 3 star. (Servers and waiters were fine, just not enough of them). The gazebo and waterway is nice….but the last half of it toward the beach was idle. No water. Really ugly. Not what you expect to see at this type of resort. The room was nice. The bathroom feels dirty due to old age. Our concierge was not there a lot of the time. We found assistance at another villa. We understand people have to be away. Again, just giving you my impression in case it’s helpful. The restaurants are exquisite. Dining service was overall wonderful, although the sit down breakfast was extremely slow on 12/17. Please understand: The servers were great…..but you generally don’t want to spend an hour and a half at breakfast. I had a very hard time finding a place on line to make dining reservations ahead of our trip. Our confirmation told us to make them 7-10 days out…..and showed an email address of xxx-xxx. Our couples massage at the spa was really nice. Gym was adequate. There was confusion at the gate on the evening we arrived. Guard told our driver someone with my name (Hunt) had already arrived. We waited for that to get cleared up. We even were questioned when we arrived for dinner….because someone with my name was also on the list. Being honest. A beautiful place. But needs attention.

Great resort. Highly recommend.

I loved that is nice, big and such a relaxing place.

Easy access to the beach, clean areas to either sunbathe or stay on the shade. Pool area is close to drinks , which were goood. Staff always willing to help, meals at different restaurants were tasty and fresh!

This is a Gem of a hotel with lovely rooms (slightly dated), but spacious and huge comfortable beds. The staff were more than 5* they cannot do enough for you, from your concierge, maid, the staff serving around the pool & beach and in the restaurants. Depending on your food taste, you will find it hard to pick a favourite restaurant (mine was Azia) it is nice to dress up in the evening and everyone else adhering to the dress code. The choice of drinks is endless and so much top shelf spirits and choice of beers. If I was to critic this hotel it would be only minor things The toaster in "The Grill", for breakfast needs changing and the coffee was hit and miss whether it was hot or not. Activities not highlighted enough to allow you to plan your day/week. I would definitely return to this hotel.