Royal Hideaway Playacar by Occidental-Adults Only All Inclusive

OUr experience at Royal Hideaway was perfect! Everything about it was great, and we would definitely go back! If you want a relaxing, beautiful place to go w/ great food and drinks too, go to Royal Hideaway!!!!

Royal Hideaway is the ultimate in all inclusive resorts. The staff is exceptional in seeing to the needs of their guests. A most relaxing vacation.

I could not believe how wonderful the staff and amenities were! I did not have ONE complaint. I wish I could have stayed longer.

This is the first time I've experienced an all-inclusive resort, but I can't imagine a friendlier staff or a more beautiful location. There is not a single complaint!

The hotel really knows how to get things right. They consistently had great service, good food, the right ambiance and most of all excellent value for such a luxury vacation. Highly recommended.

Hotel and staff very professional. Enjoyed breakfasts at beachside 'Spices'. 10 minute walk into town for shopping. Would suggest formal restaurants focus more on authentic dishes versus trying to recreate 'americanized' meals.

This was our second visit to this resort . We had such an incredible time three years ago we were anticipating a near perfect experience and we were not dissapointed . The service at Royal Hideaway is the best of any Hotel we have ever stayed in . The attention to detail from your villa consierge to the attentive staff in all the restaurants is flawless. The negative edge pool that looks out onto the ocean is one of the most beautiful places to spend a vacation we have ever been .The food in all the restaurants is creative and very varied so you do not get tired of eating the same cuisine every day .They have five restaurants and by dining at them all you get a wonderful international dining experience you will not find at many resorts .The only warning I will give is that if you are looking for nightlife that is not a part of the Royal Hideaway . It's dinner , maybe a cocktail after and then off to bed . There are no clubs or nightime activities and that is really part of the charm of the whole place !We would highly reccomend this resort to anyone looking to be pampered and relaxed .The spa services are also very first class .

The beach and food are fabulous. The staff are not that friendly though...very snooty, and don't go out of their way too often to make things right for you. The hotel advertises all prices (spa, fine wines, excursions) in USD, but in the end, they don't accept USD, only want pesos, and charge you 10% exchange rate to convert.

We selected this hotel based on the fact that it was an all-inclusive with excellent reviews for the food. The breakfast buffet was great, with fruit, eggs, bacon and other traditional breakfast items. Lunch options are ok, but most importantly, The Deck is open all afternoon so you can eat when you want (the calamari was excellent). Dinner consists of two or three restaurant options per night. We ate at Azia (the sushi was much better than we were expecting), the signature restaurant (I forget the name) and Palazzo (which was my favorite). It's all fine dining with three courses and little appetizers in between to keep things interesting. The food really was excellent. We ordered room service as well, and were never disappointed (but the club sandwich is so small it's funny). The grounds are very attractive. The villas are nice and the concierge in each villa is a nice thing to have. The rooms are not huge, but large enough to be comfortable. The porch/balcony for each room is a nice touch as well. It truly is a quiet resort. You can hear the shows/parties next door at night, whereas here there is very little nightlife. One bar does stay open later (around 1am I think) but to be honest, we are a young couple and were not bothered by this. We did so much during the day that we didn't want to stay out partying all night. Our concierge set us up with an excursion to the Mayan Ruins. It was an all day event that left us totally exhausted, but was definitely worth the money. I've heard that there are smaller group or individual tours of the ruins you can book online. I would recommend looking into that. The large group outing was nice (free beer on the bus!) but you ended up spending too much time waiting for everyone to meet up when leaving the various sites. We got exactly what we expected. This was our first all-inclusive trip, so I cannot compare it to other all-inclusives, but in the end we left very satisfied. My only complaint is that they do not do a transfer service from the Cancun airport, however, with a little internet searching, we were able to find a company that provided a private transfer at a reasonable price. Oh, and I cannot forget, drink options other than wine are good. Corona on tap and tons of hard liquors (Johnny Black!!!).

I went to this resort for one week in February 2011 with a friend for some R&R. He was coming from NYC and I, from L.A., so we picked a spot in the Caribbean of approximate equal distance from us. We had a superb experience at the Royal Hideaway, which is known by the locals to be the best hotel in the area and referred by Playacar enthusiasts as "the expensive one" ;) It is truly deserving of its 5-star rating and inclusion in the Leading Hotels of the World category. The service can be described in one word: PERFECT. The staff is friendly, smiling, and attentive to every single detail. The rooms - cleaned twice a day - are located in one of the 10 villas, each of which has its own concierge. Great beach with pristine clean water and infinity pool. Plenty of activities (scuba diving, catamaran, jetski, etc) are available for a reasonable extra cost. The rooms are very spacious, comfortable beds with 3 sets of various sized pillows, marble floors, ample bathrooms with separate shower and whirl bathtub. The villas are separated by a luxurious vegetation and ponds, creating a Heaven-like atmosphere. But the most remarkable for this all-inclusive resort is the food. Unlike other establishments, the Royal Hideway offers not one but five gourmet restaurants, where guests can enjoy anything from Continental, Italian, Mexican, Asian (great sushi) or Mediterranean cuisine. Most of these restaurants offer spectacular, 5 to 7-course tasting menus, making each dining experience a delight in itself. The best of them is Las Ventanas, set in a modern chic decor. Make sure you bring slacks and a couple of dress shirts, as most of the restaurants have a dress code at night. My friend and I are both international travelers used to staying in a variety of hotels, and we agreed that this was probably the best we'd ever eaten at such a resort. Guests can enjoy delicious breakfasts every morning until 10:30 am, with anything from fresh fruit plates, custom-made omelets and eggs, a variety of cheeses, salmon, sliced ham or turkey, pastries and breads, waffles, pancakes, potatoes, fresh juices, etc, etc, at the pool-side restaurant directly overlooking the beach. Most hotel guests were couples in their 40's and 50's, so this may not be the perfect spot for you if you're a little younger and your primary goal is to socialize, but the center of Playa del Carmen is a 4-minute cab ride away and offers plenty of bars, lounges, and clubs to do just that. Cabs are abundant (you never have to wait for more than 30 seconds to get one) and the fare from the hotel to the center is 50 pesos or 5 US dollars (cash only). Cancun airport is about 45 minutes away, shuttle service from there to the hotel is about 32 US dollars one way and 48 both ways. Add to that a very decent fitness center, spa, complimentary paper in the morning, and various heated jacuzzis at night, and overall our experience was quite memorable. The only thing that could be improved is the four courtesy comupters in the business center and their quasi dial-up speed. But unless you plan on spending hours in front of a computer screen instead of sipping free cocktails on the gorgeous beach, this should be a negligible detail, especially since guests are provided with free wi-fi access to use with their mobile devices. We highly recommend the Royal Hideway and look forward to going back in the future!