We've traveled to Playa Del Carmen many times as a family and stayed at other family oriented resorts. Now that our children our away at college, we decided to travel in a more 'adult' way and chose the Royal Hideaway Playacar. We initially selected it because of the adults only nature of the resort, but also appreciated the value offered and location. The resort is beautiful and well maintained. Despite the limitations on the number of guests during our trip, the resort staff were clearly still doing a great job of keeping the property in good shape. We saw others that were not as committed during what must be trying times for the industry. Our room was a nice room located very close to the main pools and ocean, but despite the proximity it was never noisy and was advantageous for our abundant use of the pools and beach. The bed was very comfortable and we regretted not spending more time on our patio. The service was exceptional; due to occupancy limitations, it often seemed there were more people waiting on guests than actual guests, but the staff was quick, courteous, and friendly, whether at the bar, the beach, the pool, lobby, and the restaurants. Each group of rooms is served by their own concierge in addition to the main lobby staff. There are 6 restaurants on the property, but because of occupancy limitations they only opened 2 for the evenings, rotating through them over different evenings. However, we felt like we were able to generally eat at the restaurants we wanted to, when we wanted to. The food is very good and one of the biggest differences from a more family friendly resort where chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and hamburgers rule the day because that's what the kids will eat. The location was good, a safe, walkable distance to the 'downtown' area and additional shopping and restaurants, the ferry to Cozumel, and more. There's also a small retail outlet very close to the resort for smaller scale shopping or to get your Starbuck's fix. My wife and I strongly recommend the Royal Hideaway Playacar and will probably return next year.

This hotel was absolutely beautiful! The grounds are well-maintained, the rooms are a good size, and the beach is huge with tons of palm trees and beach chairs. There are also tent/covers for your beach chairs so you can get out of the sun...and there is no charge. Or get a beach chair under the palm trees for shade. The service was great! There are servers constantly walking around the pool and on the beach taking drink/food orders I think until 6 pm every day. You could also go up to the bar to get food and drinks. And the servers are all very nice! Highly recommend tipping a few dollars or more (depending on how much you order) to them every day. They work hard. For dinner, if you don’t get a reservation, you can only get food via room service. Only complaints: - make sure to make dinner reservations via email BEFORE you get there. Otherwise you will be stuck with 9:30/10:00 pm reservation times for dinner. During the day everything is either buffet or a la carte. You need a place to go without reservations!! - fridge in room did not work and not stocked. Need to do a much better job with this. I read this was an issue on reviews prior to going. Not sure they plan to do anything about it since it is still an issue. Overall, loved resort! And would love to go back. Excursion: We did a day trip to Xcaret, which we booked through our apple vacation rep at the resort. Transportation was included. It is only 15 minutes from resort. Place was amazing and you need all day! Our favorite thing was floating/swimming down one of the 3 or 4 rivers. You are in the water about an hour. You go through a bunch of caves and see beautiful vegetation. A highlight for sure! And all your stuff is safe in a bag they give you and give you a key for. So your stuff stays safe while you are in the river. Also see the aviary and butterfly pavilion!! Amazing! Note: we felt very safe the whole time we were in Mexico.

Just returned from our 3rd visit to RH and we will be back ... soon! There is so much to love about this resort! We stayed in an ocean view suite, which was lovely. The view from the terrace over the pool to the ocean and palms is beautiful. The grounds are immaculate, with classy landscaping, benches, lighting and waterfalls. The restaurants are very good, our favorites being Palazzo (get an early table on the large terrace overlooking the resort) and Spices at lunch (again early table overlooking the ocean). We loved our couples massage at the spa, cocktails at Allegria, and even the shows. But the best part of the resort is the service. Our concierge, Miguel, was patient and helpful, our maid, Guadalupe, was prompt and left our room spotless and with roses one day, while the night maid left flowers on the bed. These little touches make the resort what it is - wonderful! Manuel to main porter is friendly and professional. Christian, at the pool based restaurant, works incredibly hard, with no task too much to ask. We had wonderful service from Jorge each morning and lunch! I would say the only drawback is the early bird chaise reserving at the pool. I am not sure what can be done about that! To snag a pair of chaises at the main pool an early morning wake up by 6 is needed! I now know where all the type “A” personalities are staying! But again, not sure what the resort can do about that. We will be back to visit Royal Hideaway soon! It’s a pleasure!!!