Overall the trip was very good. The hotel was beautiful, lobby and property well kept & weather was beautiful. Note-this hotel is EXTREMELY quiet and not for those looking to socialize. It's an easy walk on the beach to town (about 25 minutes)-which helps-but not for couples looking for a party atmosphere.

The pool and beach are beautiful, except for the seagulls. By afternoon they almost take over the property. On the first day we were "pooped" on 3 times. (They are even allowed in the infinity pool) It got frustrating, and all the pool covers have stains from the excrement. If you stay to the left and right edges it helps with the flyovers.

Food was very good-the Deck restaurant by pool and beach has an excellent variety and well as quality food. Service is top notch here, with the most friendly people who go out of their way to meet any need. This staff also handles beach service for both food and drinks and is exceptional!

Take the yoga class-I had only taken one before but loved Jesse. She is energetic and friendly,and makes everyone feel welcome. It's a nice eay to get early morning exercise.

The biggest downfall is the restaurant reservation situation. Reservations are required. I emailed the concierge days in advance, and was told we had to follow up on Saturday prior to our Monday arrival. On Saturday we were informed the "show" was Tuesday evening and that she would make Monday night reservations for us at 7:30 pm. Wen we arrived we found that the show was Thursday & the Monday reservations were never made. As a result we were forced to eat at 9:00 pm (or before 6 pm) for the first 2 nights. This was very disappointing and unexpected. Even worse was when we arrived at all pf our reservations the restaurants were empty.

Overall the hotel is beautiful, and the staff is friendly & helpful. December is a beautiful time to visit with the weather. Not worth upgrading to ocean view when it's mostly covered by trees...but is worth staying closer to pool & beach.

My wife and I just returned from a three night stay at the Royal Hideaway Resort. While the resort may have been very nice in the '90s, it is lacking in some very basic areas.

Rooms: They still use bedspreads. The pictures on the internet do not reflect what you will actually experience. The ironing board was very rusty. The hot and cold water never regulated itself. Either it was very hot or very cold, rarely warm. The mattress was not very comfortable. My wife did claim she was fine with it. She weighs 105#, I weigh 185#. Overall maintenance was lacking. We did receive turndown service each evening, which was nice. There are drinks in the room which included bottled water, Mexican beer, and a few cans of soft drinks. There is a coffee machine in the room, but the location inside the desk cabinet was not conducive for use. The walk-in closet was a nice touch. The A/C worked well.

FOOD: We ate breakfast each morning at the buffet. Overall it was what you'd expect. The one item that they did not have was oatmeal. (?) The other odd thing about the buffet was that it changed from one day to the next. For example, chilaques was on the buffet line on the second day we were there, but not the first or third.

There was a daily tea service which was very enjoyable.

We never ate at any of the other restaurants on site. Instead we went into town.

SPA: We each had two massages while we were there. The spa was very enjoyable.

BEACH & POOL: Both are nice. The beach was extra nice.

Overall, I judge a resort by asking myself would I ever go back. Well with this property, I'd have to say NO. Mainly because there are way too many other nicer choices for the same dollar. In all fairness, we stayed there because we decided to go two weeks out from the busiest week of the year. We did enjoy ourselves because we chose to not let the negatives overrule the negatives.

If I wanted to be surrounded by trash, I could have gone to Panama City Beach, Florida and at these prices? I could have had enough left over for a car! The other guests that frequent the resort have no class, are obnoxious and take away from the beauty of the surroundings. Every morning people place magazines on the pool chairs to reserve them, despite there being a no reservation rule, but only use the chairs around noon. Tasteless. Obnoxious.

Of course, it doesn't help that the hotel next door plays party music until the wee hours of the morning.

The servers are terrible as well. I have had better service at Chili's. Our drinks are empty far too often, and our food takes forever to come. But don't worry! They come to take your plate away in .5 seconds! You feel as though you are rushed out the door. And the desserts are terrible! Definitely not their forte.

The location is simply beautiful, the water is a tapestry of greens and blues that I wish I could take with me. The event staff is extremely helpful, and more than happy to help. Too bad theres nothing they can do about all the trash littering their facility.

If you're looking for a place where every need is met, the people around you make a courteous community, KEEP LOOKING!

My wife and i just spent a week at this lovely hotel. We had a great time and would recommend this hotel. Think Royal Hideaway nailed the important things like service, food and feeling of being on vacation. However, there were minor issues that kept me from giving a perfect score.

Good and bad below:

Good:
- service level was through the charts. Staff was extremely hospitable. Never seen this level of service anywhere (including viceroy, four seasons, etc). Specifically referring to dining staff (host/hostesses, waiters, activity staff).

- charming property with villa style rooms. This is not your typical beach resort. The rooms are divided into small/quaint villas.

- beautiful beach. This hotel's beach area was the nicest in the area. Far less crowded given the smaller size of the hotel. The hotel offers free chairs and canopies. If you arrive in the AM, there are people that help set you up which is great.

- great food for an all inclusive. Never expected good food at an all inclusive but got just that here. With the exception of breakfast, the dining here is not buffet style as it is at many all-inclusives. It makes for a more civilized experience. Food quality and presentation was top notch.

- restaurants - our fav one by far was las ventanas. Spices was great for bfast and an authentic mexican dinner. The grill was our go to for lunch. Was not crazy about azia (asian) or palazzo (italian).

Not so good:
- rooms/decor were dated. Small/cheap pillows and cheap bed quality made it harder to sleep well after a few nights. I may be picky here bc we have an amazing set-up at home but the I'm also using other comparably priced US hotels as a standard. The air system was probably my biggest complaint as it was a forced ait vent directed at the bed and on a low/med/high setting (vs climate control). Our safe broke several times and our phones were also so,ewhat malfunctional.

- no concierge at our villa. Each villa has its own personal concierge which makes for an intimate experience. Only issue is that, as we learned through other hotel staff, our concierge resigned. We were never told that we would not have our personal villa concierge and had to eventually figure out that we shared a concierge with another villa (located on the complete opposite side of the property...which makes no sense).

- pool scene not great. The hotel has many pools, some which are secluded and private. The main pool, while beautiful, offered an ok experience at best. The chairs were too close to one another and the water was not heated. There were also a ton of seagulls hanging out in the infinity pool which turned us off. Luckily, the amazing beach experience worked out well.

- very few ocean view rooms. The layout of this property is such that there are only a handful of rooms that see the ocean. Would have liked something closer to the water.