Playacar Palace or Royal Hideaway

[jhender31]

I am trying to decide between the two and am just a little hung up. My wife and I are heading down in a few weeks and I would like some opinions on both the Hideaway and the Playacar Palace.
We do not typically stay AI but have several times so we sort of know what to expect in general.

I like that both resorts are smaller in size since we are planning this trip to relax after a very busy past year. We want good food and good drinks so we are happy both offer top shelf liquors and both get good reviews of the food.

We are kind of bummed there is no pool bar at the hideaway since we plan to spend all day at the pool and beach but not sure if it is a deal breaker or not. We do not want to be around a bunch of kids and we realize the Palace is not adults only, but are curious if that is an issue at the Palace resort. I get the impression that there will not be many kids, but not really sure why I think that.

Also we want to be close to town which is another reason we are choosing between these two.

Can anyone who has visited either of these or both of these resorts comment please? I can answer any other questions you may have but didn't want to weigh down the original post with too much detail. Basically we want a smaller resort that is very nice with better than average food and drinks without a large number of kids. We do enjoy a little socializing and do want to head into town nightly.
We like the intimacy of the Hideaway, but also feel that the Palace has more restaurants\bars as well as giving us better access to them (pool bar, beach bar etc..) without having to deal with a waiter each time we need something.

Thank You all for your feedback.

[Shammy]

I like Playacar Palace, a lot, but if not taking kids and choosing between that and the Royal Hideaway, no question for me, Royal Hideaway. There's no way to predict how many kids will be there, and why you think there won't be many I don't know either - you could be right but you could also be very wrong. If you're talking about a summer trip, that's peak family travel time so I'd expect kids and maybe quite a few. If it's during the school year, maybe there will be fewer school aged kids but you could get the younger ones. Palace resorts are very family friendly, especially since they offer a large resort credit and are big in the time share sector. Plus, if you stay at a different Palace resort, you can visit the others so people from Aventura Cove (which has no real beach) may come up to Playacar to enjoy the beach. And people from Cozumel Palace may come on the ferry and use the closest Palace resort to that ferry - Playacar Palace. People from Moon Palace coming into Playa might stop in as well. And their pool area is very small so if there are kiddies, they'll be tough to avoid. So there's really no way to know how many kids might be around at any given time, until you get there that is.

The Royal Hideaway does take kids 15 and up but it would be pretty rare to see any kids that age there.

Playacar Palace only has three restaurants open for dinner. Royal Hideaway has five, plus a dinner theater option and a Chef's Table option at Ventanas. Playacar Palace has one more bar than RH though.

Guess it just depends on how tolerable you can be if there are kids and/or how important it is to avoid them as much as possible.

[jhender31]

Thank You for the detailed response Shammy. I have read many of your posts and am glad to have your feedback. Good point about the Palace visitor from other resorts.
So if we decide we can tolerate kids, should we consider the Palace over the Hideaway?
I guess I would like to know if there are any advantages to accepting the fact that kids will be around. It is really not that big of a deal, just didn't want to be reminded of the guilt for not bringing our son.

[Shammy]

I can't say there are any major advantages to choosing the Playacar Palace - unless you would use that resort credit. I can say the disadvantage is the kid factor, which of course I mentioned already. Not sure what room category you'd be booking but the base room category (deluxe resort view) has no view and isn't that big. When I saw one of those rooms in Jan, it was facing another building about 20 feet away.




Now every one of these rooms doesn't face this way but many do. You need to upgrade to something above that room to have any kind of view - if that's important that is. Some of the upgraded room categories with views are super nice. Usually you can use the resort credit towards a room upgrade too, assuming one is available.

Also, it appears that there are two pools - one in front next to the beach and one behind that (see below). This is deceiving because that front pool is just a few inches deep, you can put your chair in it but it's not for swimming. Essentially, that leaves one rather small pool for everyone.




And don't get me wrong, I like the resort - the location and beach can't be beat. I'm just telling you these things not to talk you out of staying there, but to make you more aware of certain aspects of the hotel.


Royal Hideaway - There's no view at the RH either, from their base room (luxury room) but most face nice gardens. But I think the RH offers a higher level of luxury and service, as one would expect from a 5 Diamond resort. I personally like beach and pool wait service at resort, getting to know the servers and having them know me. Yes I can get up and get my own drink if I want to, and I do, but having someone wait on me if I choose to stay put is something I look forward to when I'm on vacation. It is considered a "luxury resort". I'm not sure I'd really say it was comparable to the Playacar Palace because of that.

So....up to you!

[mominplaya]

We haven't stayed at the Playacar Palace, but have been to the Royal Hideaway many times and we love it there. Close to town, no wrist bands, excellent food and service and the staff are great. We highly recommend this resort.

[rosecohen]

We are going to the Royal Hideaway for only one night for my birthday (staying at our house in Playacar the rest of the time). Which restaurant should we go to if we can only do one? Food is important but I also love sitting outside....

[jhender31]

The Grill is outdoors and you can get steaks, chops and grilled fish. All the restaurants were good in my opinion. If I had to pick one...maybe Italian.

[rosecohen]

Is the Italian outside or with view of water?

[jhender31]

I think the Grill is the only one that will be near the water. It is essentially the lunch restaurant converted to an evening dinner spot.
The others are near the mail building which won't have an ocean view. They should however, have some outdoor seating as I remember.

This is by best recollection of the layout. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

[mominplaya]

That is correct. The Grill is what the restaurant is called at night and during the day its called The Deck.

[rosecohen]

So which one is best for special occasion when we only have one night?

[mominplaya]

For a special occasion I would recommend Ventanas - very elegant and always excellent service as in all of their restaurants. In all the Royal Hideaway restaurants, you can order as many items you want from their al la carte menu.

[mominplaya]

Note, there is a dress code for the restaurants.

The resort observes a dress code for dinner of casual elegance. Men are required to wear collared shirts, long pants and closed shoes for dinner. Jeans only permitted at the Grill & Spices. Reservations are required.

[rosecohen]

Do tennis shoes count as closed toe?

[mominplaya]

When we have been in the Royal Hideaway Restaurants for dinner, the men we saw all wore men's dress shoes. You can receive clarification from
Monica Munoz, customer service manager, at services@mx.occidentalhotels.com