Royalton Splash Riviera Cancun

If I could give this place a 0, I would. The utmost horrid vacation experience ever. This was my first vacation with my kids—something years in the making—so this trip was a big deal. The Booking: I was trying to book Royalton Splash through the Royalton website. When I clicked a promo, it redirected me without me realizing I was no longer booking Splash. I ended up booked at Riviera Casino instead. What am I gonna do with my little one at a casino property? I called several times—no answer. Emailed—no response. Finally, customer service told me they couldn’t move my reservation, even though they’re sister properties. Their solution? Buy day passes for Splash at $150+ per person. Had the booking gone where I intended, it would’ve been included. Clear money grab. Two Jr. Suites for four days cost me about $3,000. The Shuttle: I paid $80 for a private shuttle through the resort. It wasn’t there when we arrived. You ask for all my flight information but still have me standing outside waiting? That’s not private shuttle service. Check-In: There was one couple ahead of us, plenty of employees behind the desk, but only one person actually checking guests in. We waited over 30 minutes. While we’re standing there exhausted, the concierge immediately starts pitching us the “90-minute” membership presentation before we’ve even seen our rooms. The next morning I decided I wasn’t interested anymore. That’s when the pressure started. The concierge told me someone was already waiting for me and acted like I was obligated to go. Then, magically, she’s sitting outside my room the next morning after telling me the day before her desk was in the lobby. She walks us to her manager, who continues trying to convince us with coupons that still required us to spend money. That “90-minute” presentation turned into almost FOUR HOURS of my vacation. They start trying to sell memberships costing $10,000-$20,000, then work their way down to $299 packages when you keep saying no. We had literally just arrived and hadn’t even had a chance to enjoy the resort. The vouchers weren’t even worth it. The concierge failed to tell us the spa voucher had limited booking hours, and by the time we found out, everything was booked. We never used any of the coupons. Restaurants & Food: The website says you can make reservations in the app. Lies. Most reservations are blocked unless you go through a concierge or upgrade to a butler. In four days, we got into ONE reservation-only restaurant. The buffet was nasty. Cold food, hard desserts, pizza tasted like plastic, steaks were tough, and even the Pepsi was clearly Diet Pepsi being passed off as regular. Hunter Steakhouse was decent. Go there every day if you can. Managers even suggested slipping the host money to get into restaurants. One employee shrugged and said, “It’s Mexico,” like that somehow made it okay. Room service is limited and mostly buffet food. The bottled water in the room tasted awful. The Room: “Ocean View” is really a peek-a-boo view. If you actually want to see the ocean, book Oceanfront. The jacuzzi tub was filthy when we arrived. Housekeeping: They paid more attention to organizing my cellphone charger than actually cleaning. The jacuzzi was never cleaned, the sink still had shaving clippings after housekeeping came, and the refrigerator wasn’t restocked. Why would I tip for that? The Property: They push those expensive cabanas even though most of them sat empty. The free chairs stay covered in dirty towels and dishes, so you can’t even tell what’s available. They brag about food trucks—I saw one. Their “quesadilla” was a hard tortilla with nasty cheese. Straight violation, especially in Mexico. The property itself is dirty. Room service trays sit in the hallways overnight, raccoons come eat off them, there are spills everywhere, and the resort smells bad throughout most of the property. The only area that smelled clean was the lobby. Lastly, when I asked the concierge about a late checkout, I was basically told to go deal with the front desk myself. I guess once they realized we were leaving, it was just the hell with us. For the amount of money this resort charges, none of this should be acceptable. Between the misleading booking, constant upselling, poor food, lack of restaurant access, dirty rooms, bad housekeeping, and wasted vacation time sitting through a sales pitch, I would never stay here again or recommend it to anyone.

Waiter Alberto in Blueagave, Mexican restaurant, was a really top guy, he gave great service and tequila. A really great waiter and lovely guy.

Great entertainment service from Yesenia from Vibe team and waiter service Oliver pool side main.

The staff were very supportive and friendly. Enrique made sure each day he greeted us and sent us the daily schedule. He helped by reserving our meals and responded quickly to any questions or requests we made. He and Gabby supported us by providing information and checking on us to make sure we were enjoying our stay. Unfortunately the air conditioning was not working for our last days so this made sleeping and eating in hot areas uncomfortable. The cleaning staff was excellent. The servers at the restaurants were attentive and enhanced our dining experience. Diamond club pool was very busy and the chairs were always taken. The staff poolside were attentive and one staff member tried to help to make sure we could sit poolside.

Looks impressive online and from the entrance—but don’t be fooled. If I could give this resort zero stars, I would. We booked the Presidential One-Bedroom Ocean View Rooftop Suite for 5 nights, paying over $3,000. Before arrival, Royalton emailed us to select our room, but the website repeatedly gave errors. Reservations instructed us to email our preferred room location instead, which we did over a month in advance. Upon arrival, neither of our requested locations was honored, and the front desk showed little interest in helping. Before we could even go to our room, we were pressured to attend a timeshare presentation despite paying full price for our stay. We politely declined several times, yet the representative returned asking us to reconsider so she could earn points toward her monthly goal. The room itself was disappointing. It smelled strongly of sewage, had ants inside, cracked stairs leading to the rooftop, missing patio cushions, and a dirty plunge pool. Housekeeping cleaned the pool quickly, but when we turned on the jets, brown sludge shot into the water, making it unusable for the rest of our stay. The minibar was extremely limited, the Wi-Fi was unreliable, and we waited nearly two hours for bedding that still wasn’t enough for both sleeper sofas. Dining was another major disappointment. We arrived around 4:30 PM and were told every restaurant was closed until the buffet opened at 6:00 PM. All reservation-only restaurants were fully booked until the last day of our vacation. Room service required an app that frequently crashed, took well over an hour, and the food arrived cold with very small portions. Overall, I’d rate the food 3.5/10. The poolside food truck regularly opened late and closed early. Staff even yelled at guests waiting in line to “come back later, not ready.” The small coffee shop always had long lines, and the coffee was weak. Out of the 30+ employees we interacted with, only a handful were genuinely friendly. Most seemed uninterested or dismissive, which was disappointing for a resort at this price point. Although we booked five nights, we left after only two. We paid for a taxi, rented a car near Cancun Airport, and booked an Airbnb because we simply could not justify staying any longer. The most concerning part of our stay happened as we were leaving. We were presented with a document stating we agreed not to post a negative review about the resort. We refused to sign it and left without doing so. Being asked to sign such a document was deeply concerning. We’ve traveled extensively and stayed at many resorts, and this was by far our most disappointing vacation. The entrance and promotional videos create a great first impression, but our experience did not match what was advertised. For a stay costing over $3,000, the value simply wasn’t there. Based on our experience, I would not recommend this resort and would not return, even if offered a complimentary stay.