Outstanding !

This was an amazing resort from staff , grounds , rooms , entertainment , landscape , food and facilities . I have been 8 times to Mexico and this was a resort that left me impressed , I absolutely have not one complaint . The staff was very friendly fast and efficient , the beach was stunning as well as no seaweed . The kids club is definitely worth it if you have kids , staff very kind and friendly and just impressive all around . I can’t express how pleasantly I was jmpressed by absolutely  [... read more]everything . We traveled with my 17 month daughter and I felt very comfortable with everything they had to offer for families . I would recommend this place to anyone who wants a fun yet relaxing vacation with out without the family as it can cater to both and yes the beach and night entertainment is the best I have seen so far in the Caribbean , always music , games and waiters at the beach ready to make your experience a memorable one

Better than OK

Food was good and as long as you headed to dinner before 7, was ok to get into all of the a la carte restaurants. Beach was fabulous but the Elite Club took over the section closest to the resort along with the main pool so everyday we had to walk past to get to and from. The pool in the family section by the beach was nice but they didn’t have a proper food offering there so you had to leave the beach to eat lunch. Pools were also not heated so getting in was “brisk”. Rooms were a goo [... read more]d size and sufficiently appointed but not luxurious. We were with our (almost) adult children and their room was close but they didn’t give us adjoining rooms which was irritating. Staff was uniformly pleasant and helpful and it was a short trip into Playa del Carmen if you wanted to venture in. The town is very built up and touristy so not much authentic Mexican culture to be found there. Overall it was a very good vacation and we definitely enjoyed ourselves and we would go back, but would probably look at other options first.

Fantastic Resort!! :D

A long review but hopefully helpful. :) I visited this resort in November for 7 days with my husband and 2 other couples.We booked here to celebrate my 50th birthday. I cannot say enough about the service we received! A huge shout out to Lizeth,(she is the web relations person I spoke to before we arrived). As she went above and beyond to help us have the perfect vacation. First,she responded promptly to my email before we arrived, then she called our room on the day after we arrived to  [... read more]make sure we enjoyed the decorations they had placed for me.(They had many balloons decorating the walls and ceiling, as well as a towel cake complete with confetti on our bed. Beautiful!!!! ❤ On the table sat a fresh fruit tray,a bottle of tequila,a bottle of sparkling champagne with 2 flute glasses,along with chocolate covered strawberries! Who could ask for more?!) She also called on two other occasions to make sure we were comfortable and had everything we needed to make our vacation perfect. Sandos is very lucky to have her as their representative on the web. Thank you so much Lizeth!! 😘😍 Extremely professional and attentive staff in all other areas of this resort as well. We stayed in the Select Club area which was changing to the Family area during our week.The rooms here were spotless and we had a great view of the pool from or second floor balcony.It is about 11 mins to walk from here to the beach but there is so much to see on the way that it feels much faster. They have a cat cafe which is a fantastic idea,as well as a rescued donkey and sheep.There were also many inspiration quotes carved into wood that were a pleasure to read on the walk. The grounds are beautifully maintained so this helped make the scenery a joy here. Our maid was Liliana and she made beautiful towel art every day as well as kept our room clean. Thank you Liliana! 😘 We loved the adults only breakfast buffet and the choice to use the main buffet if desired. All of the food was great.Many options.We ate at the Italian a la carte twice,The Asiana,the Steakhouse and the French.All were great but our fave was the Italian. We loved having the chance to visit the Palm Bay resort next door that was under construction during our stay. Their water park and pools are fantastic and it will be great once finished! All the bartenders were friendly and smiling but we loved the premium bars the most! Great top shelf liquor as well as service. We also loved the Cupcake cafe,you have to try it....awesome desserts and fabulous coffee/espresso/latte options. Yummy!! The shows were great! We LOVED the AC DC tribute band as well as the Michael Jackson and Shakira shows. Lastly,the beach is GORGEOUS!!!! Clear blue water,wide sandy area where you can walk for miles! Also many activities for all to enjoy! I know I have forgotten some things but this review has to stop at some point. I never visit a resort twice but this is definitely one that I will make an exception for. This was our first experience with the Sandos hotels and it was remarkable!! Thank you Sandos Playacar!! We will definitely look for more Sandos resorts for our next vacation!

The resort was really amazing. I will go again!!

The hotel, service, food and staff were so great. Our room was kept very clean and the condiments and bathroom supplies were replenished daily. The food at the various restaurants was really good most of the time. Some evenings the restaurant staff seemed overwhelmed by the crowd of guests and the food suffered on these evenings. My only complaint was the staff and charges from the Spa. Spa staff walked around the pool area requested we buy services such as pedicures, manicures and massages. The [... read more]y assured us if we called #39 and cancelled we wouldn't be charged. Surprise, as we checked out we were charged for all Spa services even if we called to cancel them. The reception staff were able to sort things for us but it was anxious times as we tried to check out.

Nice resort, well maintained gardens

Nice greens and well maintained by gardeners. Drawback for resort is a massive construction( resort is building additional rooms, over 300 of them but this information is not available during the booking. It is dishonesty and unfair to people booking vacation. Resort and Tripcentral should have this info posted. We ended up in the room with view on construction. Our balcony and partial ocean view was useless because of construction noise. Other bad experience: resort made changes of building l [... read more]ocations for families and adults only, but didn't manage to get all information maps on the resort grounds and printed maps in the rooms to up date with all those changes. Shame!!! I would not recommend this resort until all construction is completed

Disappointed.

I was looking for this resort couple years to book./ The price sometime high for my budget/. It always was good feedback, and people satisfaction. Then we come on Dec. 3.2018 and get negative feeling. It is excellent room, even far from beach, but we do not mind with husband to walk or drive. Good buffet, food, entertainment. Nice ocean, and sand. Just the location of new beach is terrible. As someone tell me, it was changed just on Dec 1. 2018, then we was unlucky. All family with chil [... read more]dren, elderly, who has regular booked trip, was directed on the new beach, that located quite far on the Right side, from central area. There was noisy contraction, just sand, with many umbrellas, but any trees, palms. Two days was windy, and sand was in the air, you not able to stay there. Also security not allow regular customers to cross area on the middle of resort to exit to the beach. Only for Royal Service. And staff was quite rude, when I ask one time to go through , for some urgent matter . I feel offensive , because main beach, that include 2 big part with many schezlongs, was empty on the 75%. But it was no place for other people. We share out feelings with other tourist from England, Russia, USA. Some of them already was in Sandos before, and come second, third time. But tell: will not come again. I am not like new rules, and service changed. Not advice to go there, at least you can afford Royal service for self. There is a lot of nearby Resorts, that not divide customers such in 2 very visible, different groups. Management has to warning customers, that it is changed in location of beach. Then, if I buy vacation with warning I will have no issue.

Missinformation around staus of hotel during construction and beach access.

Great hotel once you upgrade to Adult only section ( at a cost). The beach area for families and others is well down the beach from the resort, thus if you want to remain near the resort and take advantage of the mature shade trees and cabanas you must upgrade to Adult only.

Thoroughly enjoyed the resort...very nice

Loved the whole area, restaurants were great. A bit of trouble with room service ie cleaning but we worked it out. Lovely rooms . A bit of confursion getting on our ride to the hotel but it was very busy so was expected. All in all had a great time

It was a beautiful resort.

The hotel was amazingly huge, lots of greenery, walking pathway resting places and lovely decorations everywhere. The food was lovely and the alacart restaurants were amazing, all the bars and coffee shops were in the right places and the staff and their service was lovely. I loved the room and all the pools, beautiful beach, lobby shops I am definitely going back some day soon.

2nd visit .. 25th anniversary

Sandos playacar resort 2nd visit in 2 years There were pluses and minuses to this trip this time Pluses Food was great everywhere! Housekeeping was fabulous We appreciated the added security at beach that kept the locals from being to pushy with their goods no was no and they were told to move along Bartenders were great! Minuses The spa staff...you are constantly spoke to about spa packages, some are.good they recognize you and carry on but the one thing that really got me is you are  [... read more]constantly seeing them at the beach and at the pool but for them to come in the restaurant when your eating breakfast that was just over the top for me I understand they are promoting and more than likely getting a commission from their "sale" but there needs to be boundaries. The adult pool last time we were there there was usually 2 bartenders 1 server and in the afternoon would be entertainment/games and some good music - it's not this way anymore there were no games etc the bartenders are absolutely fabulous love them to pieces they are doing then work of many people having that added entertainment guy certainly helped last time he helped keep control over the pool this year many "pool rules" were constantly broken and you can't expect the bartenders to see & stop it... we like to have a good time games and entertainment add the fun aspect not just pounding back as much booze as humanly possible and unfortunately for us this was lacking this trip, we very much missed David E (congrats on your promotion) The shuttle service from adult side to main area by beach - sometimes it's good often times it's not, it is a long walk definetly room for improvement with the much needed service but much appreciated when we were able to use it. A heart felt thank you to Fabian, Mario, & Luis for their excellent service & spanish lessons at the adult pool LOL!

Huge Resort

This was a very huge resort. We stayed at the adult only which was the furthest from the beach. It’s a nice walk when the sun is not beating down on you. Lots of seedweed so we spent our time around the pool. The rooms are spacious and comfortable. The food was very disappointing We found we were better off eating at the buffet. Staff were nice and friendly. Barely makes a 4 star. Unfortunately we won’t return. Plus side we didn’t gain any weight, food was not good and we walked so muc [... read more]h. Lol

Great Resort !

The architecture, grounds and gardens are very nice. The restaurants and food are very good. The pools and beach are excellent with lots of thatched umbrellas that provides a choice of sun or shade. We had a great time.

Beautiful beach and great food - a few annoying things

Positive: beautiful beach (resort is on a wide and very long stretch of sand, crystal clear water), lots of shade and lounge chairs in the adults only section of the beach, great food, lots of restaurant choices, attentive and friendly service, we stayed in the old section of the resort which was the closest to the beach and the room was more than adequate although a little dated. Negative: insufficient frequency and capacity of shuttle service within the resort (which can be a problem for a re [... read more]sort this big with 1000 rooms), they have a beautiful spa but the jacuzzi is always lukewarm instead of the 32 degrees they advertise, there is no wi-fi in the rooms and very poor wi-fi in the public areas, the minute you arrive they book you for a presentation to try to sell you the resort membership program (in exchange for attending the presentation we were upgraded to a "golden" bracelet which gave us access to the adults-only section of the beach), this is a family resort that caters to children so there were lots and lots of kids everywhere, we did not have access to the "members only" areas of the pool and the beach which was annoying.

Good value family vacation

Our family of four spent a week at the Sandos Playacar at the end of November. The Playacar Beach is fabulous, and we have previously stayed at other resorts in this area, without kids at the time, so our priorities for resort were different this time. Sandos Playacar was good value for our family vacation, with good quality food in both the buffet and a la carte restaurants. It is a very activity-oriented resort, with entertainment staff keeping things going on the beach from 10 am to 4 pm e [... read more]very day of the week, every day with a different themed beach experience. Other travelers might have loved this, but for our family of four, we would have liked having a quiet day on the beach, or a shorter program where there are a couple hours of sunlight available where it is quiet by the beach chairs. There was always music, games, and noise right in front of the section of the beach set aside for families, which got tiresome after about day 4. The beach section rooms are very conveniently located right where the main pool, beach, and buffet restaurant is, and from previous reviews, we knew they were tired and worn out, so it was something we were prepared to live with. Our boys (aged 6 and 8 years old) liked the arcade games. Overall a good choice for our family vacation.

Amazing Resort

This resort is beautiful, the room was very clean and the staff was beyond amazing!!!! I loved the fact that there was so much to do on the beach for activities! Highly recommend this place!! We can't wait to visit again !

Better than last time!

The resort improved it's food, took away the annoying reservation system, improved it's shows and the show location. The beach and pools are amazing! Drinks and staff awesome. Only complaint: the rooms in the beach section are getting a little tired.

Very big Resort.

This resort was HUGE. There is usually only one trolley going at one time so there is sometimes a wait. The food was a little disappointing. At the Asianz and french restaurants the food was very good and, more importantly, hot. In the other ones the food was usually lukewarm, not hot. The rooms were ok, a little tired but clean. Some of our linens had rips in them and stains on the duvet. The staff was great and Fabian the swim up barkeeper was great. He remembered what you liked to drink  [... read more]and had it real for you. The adult only section was ok but there was only about 15 feet from the family rooms. It was ok but you could hear the kids sometimes.

Amazing stay once again!

This was our second stay at sandos playacar and it didn't disappoint. The layout of the resort is incredible with a little something for everyone. The beach is unbeatable and the staff are absolutely fantastic! Highly recommend.

Wonderful staff!

The hotel itself is lovely, no different from other resorts we have stayed at. The beach is lovely and the entertainment was good. The best part for us was the friendly staff. They really made the difference. We went with our almost one year old son and the staff was so great with him.

Beautiful Resort

Very nice place had a great time!! Rooms are nice big and clean. Resort is big nice walk path to beach, would take about 10 minutes. Beautiful beach. They should improve on the night entertainment shows are not great. The service and food was very good.