The Fives Beach All Senses Inclusive

Three times at the Fives This was our third visit to the Fives over the space of 4-years. We’ve always loved this place, especially the people. There were some changes this year, some positive changes and some less positive sadly. The main issue during our stay from 8-22 May was the restaurant situation. Due to occupancy, the hotel has closed 2 restaurants & merged the Thai with the Sushi and also merged the French with the Mexican. So, that’s 2 restaurants closed then on top of this, flavours buffet was also closed. Only opening for breakfast. This led to the 3 restaurants, Thai, Braserie & Arezzo being really busy. That in itself was not our issue. The issue was the fact that we needed to queue for over 30 mins to register our name & request a table. Then we were given a buzzer or advised we would receive a message when there was a table available. We then waited over 2-hours for Arezzo & 1 hour for the Brasserie & Thai. Again, this is not our issue. The issue is the fact there were always, in every situation, free tables in every restaurant, especially tables for 2. Each time I would ask about the available tables to be advised they were reserved. Now, if a table is reserved & the diners don’t arrive within 15-20 mins, why are they continuing to hold these for over an hour? This is an appalling policy & one which left us feeling really dissatisfied. The fives are literally scoring an own goal by turning families away when they have tables available. I must add, when we returned to 2 of the restaurants after our wait, we were shown to the tables which were empty when we first put our names down. I raised this with the overall restaurant manager who quite frankly seemed disinterested. Breakfast was great at the Brasserie each day & there was a huge choice for lunch. This hotel has it nailed for lunch options & availability, we ate at all restaurants, BBQ & Pizza places & could always get a seat in the shade if we needed it. Our faith was restored by the amazing staff who are customer facing every day. The service offered by waiters, bar tenders, cleaners, gardeners & the beach ambassadors was fantastic. These are the people who make this place what it is, these are the people who go the extra mile to make your experience more pleasurable & enjoyable. Without them, there would have been a serious complaint made. They are a real credit to this hotel but the owners/managers need to take note. In addition, this year there have been lots of amazing activities at the spa. We done a number of the free activities including the sound bath, temazcal, macrame, couples massage and meditation. The entertainment is also much improved. We want to highlight some specific staff who have been fantastic during our stay. Marcos at the spa who facilitated a number of workshops we attended. He was so calm & patient & ensured we left relaxed. Omar, Beach Ambassador - what a genuinely wonderful guy. He listened to our problems & tried to support with solutions as well as being honest with us about an excursion we wanted to book. Saving us money in the process. Always made time for the guests & offered a fantastic service. Alejandro - Bar Tender in the gin bar. He remembered the ingredients to a bespoke cocktail he made us 2-years ago. Impressive! Great service & cocktails & never without a smile on his face. Then we have Rocio who was one of our Pool Waiters at the infinity pool. Again, she was the friendliest, kindest person with the biggest infectious smile. She always took care of us and has such a beautiful soul. Lastly but by no means least was Pablo who was our waiter on the beach. Both Pablo & Rocio have worked here on our previous visits & hold a special place in our hearts. Pablo works his socks off yet always made time for us & ensured we were taken good care of. He is such a special guy & will go out of his way to make your holiday special & memorable. In my opinion, this is not a 5* hotel, it is not perfect, there are flaws & issues. However, as indicated earlier, the staff really do make this place, the grounds are beautiful as is the weather. If they can sort out the mess with the restaurants & bookings I’m sure we’ll return.

We stayed at the Fives Beach Hotel last week for a week. Seven of my girl friends, two kids, and two babies. We were all really happy with the resort - the food and drinks were really good and had lots of options. The hotel and its grounds were really well run. We loved the different activities and events - such as aquafit, macrame, the taco party, and the mexican fiesta. My daughter also really liked the kids club and we even used their staff for child minding one evening. We were assigned an ambassador - Luisa who took care of all our needs. Highly recommend the Fives and will be back. Thank you!

We recently visited the Fives for a family vacation with our four kids ranging in age from 9-14. The experience exceeded our expectations. I am not going to lie, I was a little nervous after reading through TripAdvisor reviews of this hotel. The reviews are pretty hit or miss. Our experience was a home run. We booked the Penthouse sweet. It was three separate bedrooms with 5 bathrooms and a rooftop balcony. We had views of the ocean from the rooftop, and the tennis courts from our room balcony. The hotel has a ton of nature and wildlife. We say capybara's, spider monkeys, coatis and lots of iguanas wandering the property. And we saw a stingray while swimming in the beach at the hotel. The water was so clear and warm. The service at the hotel was amazing poolside and with our ambassadors. The waitstaff at the buffet was very attentive, but we did struggle a bit with service at dinner. The staff seemed annoyed and they were quite slow. Luckily, we were on vacation and were not in any rush to finish dinner. Our kids loved the silent disco night. We also watched a bit of the fire show, though it was a bit amateur and made my daughter very nervous, so we didn't stick around until the end. There was also karaoke night and live bands in the evenings for entertainment. We kept it pretty relaxed with the kids and they were pretty exhausted by 8pm after being at the poool and beach all day. We also loved the pool activities and participated in in some games and water aerobics. I would definitely recommend this resort if you are planning a vacation in the Playa Del Carmen area.

Currently on the last day of a two week stay at The Beachfront adults only hotel next door ( part of the Fives group) , which gives access to all amenities at The Fives family hotel. We've dined at the restaurants at The Fives and thankfully are able to book our dinner reservations beforehand so no long queuing for a table like the guests at The Fives.. Last night we visited SEASONS restaurant which is open to club members and guests from The Beachfront hotel. We've visited before without problem, but last night after being seated, we endured a huge wait to be served. Then another huge wait for water, Then no wine served. Then an even longer wait for our order to be taken. The same goes for our starter and soup. The waiter ( who had glasses on) simply left us. More interested in the large table of guests seated along the side of the restaurant, taking photos for them and generally making sure they had all courses in good time. As we sat there, there were other guests coming in after us, who were all given their courses in good time by other waiters. Fortunately a different waiter we'd had previously, recognised us, and tried to help instead. He had his own section to service though bless him, so had to make sure they were OK first of course. The sign of an excellent waiter. Why should he have to do the work of our waiter ! He was the only guy who cared so big thanks to him. Eventually we got up and left after losing patience ( still waiting for our mains !) Disgraceful service from what's supposed to be the hotels top restaurant. Then to top it all please read our separate review for The Beachfront by The Fives adults only hotel, where we endured an even worse experience whilst staying here. Supposedly adults only, peaceful quiet hotel ! ! ! Quite frankly not good enough and we shall be strongly complaining on our return home.

The Hotel, grounds and rooms are amazing. The staff went above and beyond to make my stay so special and I can’t thank them enough. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere where the staff are so happy courteous kind and will go so much out of their way for customer care. Of course there’s always some people you can’t please ( I sometimes wonder what they expect versus reality!) but this hotel was amazing in every way possible. If you want 5 star this is the place, if you want something more then bear in mind you get what you pay for. This is one place I’d come back to in a heartbeat. Thank you team for making my stay so special. Rather gutted Im typing this while waiting for my ride to the airport.