SHORT SUMMARY:

My wife and I planned this trip to be away from the resort all day exploring Mayan ruins and snorkeling, so all we really needed was a place to have some drinks, shower & crash at night, and have breakfast. I was looking to spend about half what we usually spend at our usual mega-swank resort north of Playa. Online, the Real appeared to suffice for that, and the price was reasonable -- about the same as alot of Playa's decent hotels without any inclusive package. I read alot of reviews on Trip Advisor & other web sites, and decided the complaints were things I could live with for the price. I also knew from the reviews that I could upgrade to the Gran Porto Real if I got there and was not happy. I knew it was not in the middle of the 5th avenue party zone, but it was several blocks north on 5th avenue, and quieter. So I booked it through Worry-Free Vacations and away we flew. Total booking price for my wife and I for four days, Sun-Thurs, was less than $900 including round-trip air from Texas (got lucky with the promotions & discounts) so clearly I was not going to be really picky about the accommodations. We wound up upgrading to the Gran Porto Real for a little extra money -- not entirely because of the Real Playa, see details below. The staff at both hotels were very accommodating regarding the change, and since we changed hotels about 10:30 at night, I was really amazed at how well things were handled on both ends

DETAILS:

We arrived about 11:00am and had to wait till 3:00pm for our room -- not the end of the world but our luggage (and everyone else's) stayed relatively unguarded & unwatched by the bar. We left and came back several hours later, and nothing was missing. There's a little mall-looking shopping center across the street with a coffee shop, but nothing else -- looks like it's still being finished. the beach is about a 5 minute walk, not bad at all. There's a free shuttle to take you to the Real's beach club near the Gran Porto Real, or anywhere else you want to go, but we didn't take it. The 24-hour snack bar was not well stocked -- some chips, dips, very little meat & bread, but the Corona keg tap and a soft drink machine seemed to flow well enough. We ate at the ala carte lunch restaurant (Albatross I think). It looked nice and the staff was attentive. The food looked great but was bland - no flavor at all. Even the hamburger I had was boring (but not unacceptable, I still ate it). The best piece of food was a little pecan pie looking thing that appeared to have praline gooey stuff inside and strawberries on top -- that was really good.

When we got our room key cards, there were no bell boys around to tote the bags -- odd for Mexico, they must have been really busy or maybe they've become so Americanized they were in a value-added process improvement meeting - HA! So after waiting through my beer & wife's mixed drink from the excellent bartender we got our own bags and set out for the room. The grounds were really beautiful, well marked for finding things, and well kept. The pool was nice and clear, had a few leaves in it but not bad, and since there are trees all over the place this is to be expected. There's a nice spot with a bunch of hammocks (hammaccas?) by the pool. The grounds are completely walled/gated with people at the rear gate to let rent cars in but keep non-residents out. Bicycles were also available at that gate. First 3 hours is free, after that it was $1 USD per hour or $7 a day if I remember right. Overall the grounds and staff were excellent.

We got in our room and were a little surprised at how small it really was. "Well, those reviews were right", I thought to myself, maybe I should have booked a suite instead. The standard room was about half the size of a Holiday Inn room in the US. There was one desk and nowhere else but the bed to open up another suitcase so with two suitcases, one of us would need to unpack & put things on a shelf. I did that but the bed was so close to the closet it was very difficult to open the doors and get in there. One surprise was the brand new safe -- no key to mess with, it had a digital keypad & reader for the room key card. you swipe the room key card and then enter a 4-digit code of your choosing to lock it, and that same swipe & code unlock it the next time. Easiest room safe I've ever used, and no dang key to mess with.

The AC was not on when we arrived so the room was hot & stuffy. No big deal, I turned the AC on and the room was cool by the time I had unpacked and figured out the safe. I was fine by this time, but my wife killed two small gray spiders on the wall within 5 minutes of arrival, and looked through the sheets for anymore -- she found none. We took a little nap on the hard bed (fine by me, but wife didn't like it) and woke up being bitten by some mosquitos. I looked for where they were getting in, and the bathroom window was open. It wouldn't close all the way but it slowed the mosquitos down. The bathroom itself was OK, but not great. There was a musty smell and the towels felt damp. Shower curtain had some discoloration at the bottom but then again so does mine at my house, so I blew it off. Wife didn't like it in a hotel though. I checked out the fridge and it was typical for the Yucatan peninsula hotels I've stayed in -- cooler than the room, but not what we would call cold here in the US. Wife & I are used to that in Mexico, so no big deal. After all, it had beer in it, how bad can that be?

We set out for supper but did not eat at the hotel since we are used to Playa and have our favorite spots we like to hit (especially La Parrilla). After a few hours of walking, my wife stepped wrong on her ankle somehow (NOT at the Real) and hurt it so bad we had to get her a cane to walk with (for the next couple days it tuned out). I want to be clear about this -- This was NOT the Real's fault at all, but that meant we would not be walking ruins all day like I had originally planned. All of a sudden I wanted a nicer place to stay and eat, mainly for my wife who was in pain, and we upgraded to GPR. We've had some questions from TripAdvisor readers on how the upgrade took place, so read on if you're detail oriented (or OCD like me).

HERE'S HOW WE UPGRADED TO THE GPR:

We walked (slowly) through the Gran Porto Real and the Royal, both owned by the same company as the Real Playa. The Royal seemed way swankier than we had the money for on this trip, so we asked the GPR check-in staff how to upgrade from the Real. They confirmed they had rooms available in standard, suite, and ocean view but told us we needed to start at the Real where we had originally booked the stay.

At the Real Playa, I told the check in clerk I wanted to upgrade to the GPR. He asked if there was a problem, and we told him about the wife's ankle that was not his fault, the spiders, mosquitos, and the room size being smaller than we wanted. He called the GPR to confirm vacancy, and informed us the upgrade would be $60 USD total per night (not $60 each per night). Seemed reasonable to us. He gave us a Real Resorts voucher for what we had already spent booking the Real Playa, and called the GPR to tell them we were on the way. He even called for a cab and paid for it to take us to the GPR, which I was not expecting. This was 10-10:30 at night and I thought it was extremely good customer service. We chose a standard room at the GPR which was about the same size as a Holiday Inn room in the US but much nicer. We were happy and I later posted a separate review for the GPR if you want to know how that was.

The Real staff also worked with Worry Free Vacations to let them know we changed hotels so the van to take us back to the airport would pick us up at GPR. I had a rental car coming to the Real, and they referred that to GPR as well. Again, I thought this was good customer service especially for somebody who obviously wanted to be in a nicer place.

Would I go to the Real Playa again? By myself, yes, absolutely. With the wife, no. We'd stay at GPR or ElDorado Royale instead (our usual spot).