Hideaway at Royalton Riviera Cancun

Warning- super long, detailed review. I initially left a negative review but it turned around and here is why: This was our 3rd year in a row staying in the Cancun/Riviera area. We decided to book at the Hideaway Royalton based off of the reviews and 5 star rating. We stayed here mid march 2020 and booked hideaway diamond club presidential suite room 1406 with an ocean view and rooftop Jacuzzi . Upon our arrival to the hotel we were greeted by who I assume was a bell boy, he escorted us and another couple to the lobby that we needed to check in at (there are different lobbies for regular royalton, diamond club, and hideaway). We were told to follow the bell boy to our check in area which happened to be far away and downstairs (we carried our own luggage to the check in and to our room, nobody offered to assist) not a big deal just seemed unusual since any place we have stayed in has always taken our luggage to our room for us . When we finally got to our room we were blown away by how beautiful it was. We had 2 bathrooms, 2 Jacuzzi's (1 in bathroom, 1 huge one on the rooftop), our own bar, 2 mini fridges, a huge king bed and AMAZING views of the ocean. You honestly can't beat how beautiful the room was. We were later introduced to our butler Francisco who was super kind and tried his best to make sure we were happy during our stay. He mentioned that the rosé in our bar was missing and he would have someone fill it soon as possible. We requested to have the rooftop Jacuzzi cleaned as it seemed a bit dirty. Our butler sent in the request and we left the room for a bit to check out the resort and have a bite to eat at the buffet since we had a long day of travel and were very hungry. It was a huge disappointment - the food was cold, not luke warm but cold. It wasn't what we were expecting for a 5 star resort that is for sure. On our way back to our room we stopped at the hideaway bar for our first drink and we were "greeted" VERY rudely by Jorge; I had asked a simple question "hi, do you have any captain morgan and coke?" to which Jorge rolls his eyes and says no. No offer of anything else, no customer services skills of any kind just a flat no and eye roll. He seemed very annoyed by our presence and seemed like he couldn't be bothered.. we had been there all of 1 or 2 hours and get treated like that? We were not happy at all. Upon arrival back to the room the Jacuzzi was still dirty, we let our butler know and he made sure someone would come right away. Finally they came and "cleaned" the Jacuzzi. It wasn't cleaned very well but we left it at that. The next day we still didn't receive the rosé we were promised and our mini fridge was not restocked which it is suppose to be restocked every day. (I should mention our butler was sick this day so we didn't have anyone to assist us) We also went to have breakfast at Dorado and I ordered pancakes which took 45 minutes! My wife's food had already come and gone by the time I got mine. I was very unimpressed. Later on we decided to order room service which was cold every time we ordered it and the one night we were told it would be 45 minutes. It was 2.5 hours by the time we received the order!!!! When we got it, it was ice cold AGAIN (after 2.5 hours?!) we thought they just forgot and we were ready to go to bed. Super unimpressed at this point we left a bad review half way through our stay. The next day we get a knock at the door from the hideaway manager Oscar asking us about the review and what he could do to make our stay better etc he was very kind and took our concerns very seriously. After that is when our stay went from a 1 star to a 4.5/5 star. We were treated like royalty after we complained. The manager went out of his way to check on us everyday and to make sure we were always taken care of. Our butler Francisco and the manager always made sure our snacks were stocked with what we loved and always left extra treats for us. The cleaning services left us beautiful displays on our bed everyday and our room service was quick and warm. The restaurants were excellent!! Our favourite was Taj which serves indian inspired food. We also tried Hunter, Agave, Dorado again (this time for dinner) and they were all very very good. We had the buffet again on our second last night and it was actually very good this time, lot's of options and food was hot! On our last evening Francisco and Oscar surprised us with a romantic dinner on the beach which was amazing and so beautiful. The entertainment team (vibe team) was amazing and always made sure everyone was involved and having a great time. We had amazing bartender service from Josemiguel (royalton side) and from Caratamo (Definitely spelled that wrong but from the hideaway swimup bar) The hideaway pool was always super fun and lively, I found the diamond club pool a bit quiet and boring and the royalton pool was decent. The beach was very nice, a bit of seaweed/seagrass but nothing major. Not rocky at all so easy to swim in. Overall we had a great time and would recommend it to others.

We are currently here at the hotel, awful circumstances, coronavirus had struck and the hotel is currently shutting down, we are here until Wednesday. Hotel is amazing, staff are amazing, location a bit remote but until last Friday had no complaints at all. With this awful worldwide problem upon us, the hotel emptied with countries calling back their citizens. Nothing about this situation is normal, but I was shocked by the managements total lack of care, they closed all restaurants bar one without notice, closed beaches without notice, cleared swimming pools of all amenities without notice. Being in the hospitality business , where customer care is key, I am astounded by Royalton managements attitude towards the remaining customers, little gestures would have helped, a simple walk by explaining what was happening, an evening cocktail party to talk to customers. Shame on you Royalton management