Hilton Playa Del Carmen, an All-Inclusive Adults-Only Resort

Our first all inclusive and first trip to Mexico. The Hilton PDC was chosen for what it offered as an AI, its location for a direct flight, and the cost. Overall it was nice. Beautiful view from our room. All of the employees very friendly and welcoming. Not thrilled to be asked over and over if we attended the welcome breakfast (which is just a trip to Spice buffet.) We did not do the welcome meeting our first morning there because that’s not how I wanted to spend my first morning. But we opted to do it the following day and it was longer than 90 minutes, really no hard pressure just constantly lowering the price and the amount of stays offered. I’m super curious if anybody ever does buy into these deals?? Food was great at Kalamata, M. Petrones, Asiana, and Rincon for lunch. Pelícanos was better at breakfast than dinner. Chefs Plate (up charge) was fancy and fun having a live piano player the night we went. But the food is not upscale. My honey-soy glazed salmon had non of those flavors and my husband’s steak was tough, we both experienced shells in the lobster. The other food or coffee/treat establishments were fantastic. Our biggest complaint is the drinks. A martini should have a bite if it’s made right. They tasted watered down. The tropical drinks are made with a sugar substitute, apparently a healthier alternative. The up charge tequila is Jose Cuervo. There’s only one bourbon, Jim Beam. Someone said Mexico is not known for its bourbon, but an all inclusive at a world known hotel brand like Hilton should cater to the traveler, not just its locale. And if they are up on thing’s they’ll know bourbons and whiskeys are where it’s at these days.

Nice resort with not much to offer. As other reviews have stated the food is meh. First resort I have stayed at where there is no menu at the pool unless you rent a cabana or Diamond member. If you want a snack at the pool, you have to walk to snack and even thats limited. Paid for ocen view room and did not get until Paula Souza a manager assisted me in finding a partial ocean view room. She was great helping us out. Room service for breakfast was always within 30 minutes hot and fresh. Go to Harry's on 5th Avenue for a great steakhouse. Do keep in mind bars at resort close at 11 pm so buyer beware. Not a bad resort but would not return.

Now the resort itself is a beautiful property with modern rooms, great variety of food and drinks, and overall great atmosphere. My 1 star review is all due to the hospitality aspect of this. I regret that I didn’t do any research about getting charged for my booking because I thought this was a regular Hilton but no….its not really operated by them. Please read the reviews on trip advisor about how they cancel bookings for “non payment” similar how they did to us. Read about how this one guy didn’t get charged until 60 or even 120 days after making the reservation …Also as Hilton members we have spent so much money in this business because we trust them, we travel for work, want to use point, etc, also who ever worries about simply booking ? Have we all not booked a hotel? When you try to book your stay either on the website or on the Hilton Honors App, you get a giant pop up that basically says hey, we will charge your card or have a hold on your card for this amount in order to book the stay. Okay great! After you book it you get an email which also states hey, your card have been charged for so and so amount. NOT TRUE. I didn’t know until 1 month and 19 days after making the reservation that it was CANCELLED 1 month and 13 days after booking because of “non payment”. We booked exactly 1 month and 13 days before they even ATTEMPTED to charge the card, with a cancellation policy stating a full refund within 30 days or so, how is the first attempt to charge it after 40? Now before you wonder about things, I work in hospitality , I understand how authorizations work, that banks may need to verify if it’s fraudulent activity, however after deep diving we learned … 1. There was never a hold on our card 2. There was never a charge on our card 3. There was never an ATTEMPT to hold or charge on our card despite receiving emails stating please update your “payment information”, “payment not going through”. We checked with the bank and there was absolutely nothing wrong on our end. Now we planned this for our honey moon and already had our flights and everything, you would expect when you get an email saying HEY WE CHARGED YOUR CARD, that they charged your card. The cherry on top was the concierge emailing me a day before they cancelled it asking if we needed airport transfer, great thank you for that. Despite our efforts, the only option was to rebook our stay which was almost double what it should’ve been even with out discount. Absolutely absurd and 100% trying to get money out of innocent people just trying to celebrate a marriage or have a relaxation(SCAMMERS) Will never be back here again and debating about all the time, effort, and money spent with the Hilton group . Hilton needs to take complete control of this property if they want it to succeed. I’ve been to resorts in Cabo with hotels trying to do similar things, charging cards well past the grace period to prevent a refund, I thought this side of Mexico would’ve been more honest.

Nous avons choisis le Hilton pour la proximité de la 5e avenue et de l'île de Cozumel, et pour constater les changements depuis...... Nous étions déjà venus à ce resort lorsque c'était le Royal Playa Del Carmen (Royal Porto Real Luxury) en 2006. Donc, près de 20 ans plus tard, on se doutait bien que cela avait changé .........mais pas à ce point!! C'est toujours un très beau site, très propre, très bien entretenu . Les employés ne finissent plus de balayer, laver, racler etc. Tout ça sous un soleil de plomb et une chaleur assez extrême . Ils travaillent tous très fort pour satisfaire les touristes gâtés que nous sommes. Nous les remercions chaleureusement d'ailleurs pour leur service exemplaire. Que ce soit au buffet avec l'accueil charmant de Sandra et Miriam. Toujours un super sourire à chaque matin et ou midi. Ça débute très bien une journée. toujours au buffet, le serveur Mario Puc entre autres est vraiment extra lui aussi et encore là fort probablement que tous les autres sont excellents. Cependant, Mario s'est beaucoup présenté à nous Le service de la plage avec Manuel est vraiment parfait. Celui-ci remarque dès le premier jour nos breuvages. Nous n'avons même pas besoin de redemander. Il le sait. Il est vraiment adorable ce Manuel. Les autres serveurs de la plage sont certainement aussi attentifs mais comme nous avons passé nos dix jours au même endroit .......... Les restaurants malgré le peu d'endroit sont tout de même assez bien. La nourriture est excellente et servie chaude. Le service est aussi parfait partout. Une petite remarque pour le Kalamata et notre serveur David. Celui-ci se rappelait de ce nous avons mangé le premier soir , c'est assez spécial non. Merci David :) Une mention toute spéciale aussi à Diana , superviseure de la conciergerie. Elle parle un peu français et se force vraiment pour nous. Elle s'assure que tout est parfait pendant notre séjour et vient régulièrement nous voir dès qu'on est pas loin d'elle. Merci Diana pour ton excellent service et ton écoute à notre langue :) En général , notre séjour s'est tout de même bien passé si on exclut les gens qui font le party dans les piscines côté "swimm up ".......Nous avons choisis une chambre côté jardin afin d'avoir une belle tranquillité de fin d'après-midi pour profiter d'un bon drink de fin de journée et lire en toute simplicité..........Malheureusement, jamais nous n'avons pu!!!!!! Tout au long de notre séjour, il y a eu des regroupements de gens dans ces piscines et le party poignait. Oui ils ont parfaitement le droit de se regrouper , ils ont payé pour cet endroit et sont en droit d'en profiter. Mais peut-on respecter les autres svp!!!!! Ça été très très désagréable. De plus, lors de l'enregistrement, nous devons signer une feuille qui dit de respecter les les autres et de restreindre la musique , le bruit etc. Personne n'a fait respecter ces consignes!!!! Dans le temps du Royal, le terme "adultes" était plus réaliste. Maintenant, la moyenne d'âge a beaucoup diminué et les partys times ont beaucoup augmentés En conclusion, tout dépend de ce que vous recherchez comme endroit. Si vous êtes du genre festif et que vous aimez crier, vous êtes au bon endroit. Si vous êtes du genre "on aime la tranquillité et le calme" changez vos plans. Nous ne retournerons plus à cet endroit, nous sommes rendus ailleurs dans nos vies. De plus, nous savons très bien que ça change encore de nom......alors .....que se passera-t-il maintenant??? Nous, on ne veut pas le savoir :) Bon voyage :)

Resort was beyond what we could have imagined! The staff , the experiences and the true hospitality was everything. Our room was everything , highly recommend the pool rooftop room for the best couple experience. The resort was constantly doing upgrades to the facilities and you could see how much they cared about everyone’s experience ! The biggest should out to our concierge David , the all star of our week! He should run the place with how special he made us feel