The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences

Before arriving, I was genuinely worried after reading several negative reviews — long dinner waits, non‑members being ignored, holidays “ruined”. I even considered changing hotel. After two weeks here (8th July onwards) with my family and two teens, I can confidently say our experience was nothing like those reviews.

Check‑In & Rooms We originally received two rooms in different villas (14 and 19), despite requesting adjacent rooms via the TUI app. At check‑in we were told that they had no notes about that, the staff immediately helped and moved us into the same villa and floor within 10 minutes — a great start.

Our rooms (14242 & 14243) were modern, spacious, and well‑designed. One had twin beds, the other a super king. The bathrooms had double sinks and separate shower/toilet rooms, which is ideal for families. Plenty of wardrobe space, a daily‑restocked minibar, and a coffee machine included in the all‑inclusive.

Grounds & Pools The resort grounds are immaculate — lush vegetation, wildlife, and no “concrete jungle” feel. Each villa is tucked behind palm trees, giving a peaceful, tropical atmosphere.

There are many pools, though the main one is by the beach. Sunbed reservation rules aren’t enforced (which is a shame!) , but there are always plenty of shaded beds on the beach. We often booked Bali beds for convenience; pricey, but worth it if you want guaranteed space.

Service & Staff The staff were outstanding — friendly, hardworking, and attentive everywhere: beach, pools, even while you’re swimming. We never felt treated differently as non‑members. We barely tipped (maybe 2–3 times total), and service remained consistently excellent. For an all‑inclusive, this is genuinely one of the best service experiences we’ve had.

Restaurants & Waiting Times We loved the sushi, Thai, and Italian restaurants. For lunch, the air‑conditioned seafood restaurant was our go‑to.

Waiting times varied:

Most nights: 30–40 minutes

A few times: seated immediately

Twice: around an hour

We usually joined the waiting list around 7:30–7:45 and ate at 8:30. The WhatsApp system works well — you can relax with a drink or watch the evening show while you wait. For large groups (5+), waits may be longer, maybe that is where most of the complaints in review come from? A useful improvement would be allowing guests to join waiting lists via an app and see how busy each restaurant is.

Drinks & Extras Initially disappointed with mojitos (unbranded alcohol), but once I figured out which drinks used branded spirits, I was happy — margaritas and whiskies were great.

The fresh juice bar in the mornings is excellent, with smoothies and juices included unless you add protein powder.

The ice cream shop serves high‑quality ice cream as part of the all‑inclusive.

Breakfast buffet is good, with fresh eggs and table‑served drinks.

Entertainment & Activities Entertainment is average and mostly aimed at younger kids. Teen activities are limited — we ended up buying balls for pool games (expensive in the hotel shop). There are tennis and basketball courts, but not any activities for teens.

The main pool can get noisy with families, but early mornings and early evenings are quieter.

Excursions We booked through the hotel ambassador (cheaper than TUI).

Highlights: Xplor — teens loved it Swimming with dolphins -loved it Isla Mujeres — beautiful but very busy and touristy

Beach & Location The beach is large with plenty of shade, but the sea isn’t the clear turquoise you might expect — sargassum or not, the water stays murky.

The hotel is about 15 minutes from town, with nothing walkable nearby. Construction of new condos is visible when driving in/out, but not noticeable inside the resort.

Playa del Carmen itself wasn’t for us — very touristy. We did enjoy El Fogon for lunch, a bit outside the centre, for authentic Mexican food.

Overall I was genuinely surprised by how good our stay was. None of the issues I worried about materialised. Even while staying there, I read reviews from guests on the same dates having completely different experiences — which I honestly can’t understand.

For us, it was a very good holiday, and the hotel staff provided great service, cleanliness, food quality, and overall atmosphere. There are things that can be improved like entertainment but overall we were very happy!

Stayed here for two weeks and I can honestly say it is paradise. The team here our just wonderful, every member of staff goes out of their way to make it amazing as possible. The management team, led by Carlos is fantastic, you can tell this by the way the team tries to anticipate your every need. We enjoyed all the restaurants and found a lot of choice, even for our slightly picky teen. We have 3 with allergies, these were catered for and taken seriously. The complex and rooms our spotless, with a team of staff making sure they stay that way everyday. Our room was huge and very well appointed, housekeeping were very friendly and efficient. I tried a lot of the classes and they were great, especially Ricardo at Pilates. Evening entertainment who good every night, really enjoyed the fire group. This place is paradise, and the team work very hard to keep it that way. Special mention to our ambassador Omar, he’s fantastic we helped us with everything and helped us booked some great excursions. If you want to go on trips go to the beach and speak him, he’s knowledgeable and a really nice guy. Carlos the GM who I met while getting breakfast (yes he’s on the floor making sure everything is running smoothly) was fantastic. You can tell the leadership at the hotel is great by the leader himself. Thank you to every amazing member of the team we met you made our holiday great.