The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences

Good Very nice Job cleaning We are so happy

My family and I recently returned from a stay at The Fives Hotel & Residences in Playa del Carmen. Before discussing the issues we encountered, I want to recognize the many positive aspects of our stay. Overall, the resort itself is beautiful, and the vast majority of your staff were truly outstanding. The bartenders, restaurant servers, poolside waitstaff, housekeeping staff, and every other employee we interacted with were consistently friendly, professional, attentive, and eager to help. They deserve to be commended for the exceptional level of hospitality they provided throughout our vacation.

We were also extremely impressed with the quality of the food. Every meal we had was excellent, and the resort offered an outstanding variety of dining options to accommodate every taste. On evenings when we preferred to relax in our suite rather than dine out, the room service was another excellent option and was both convenient and enjoyable. These aspects of our stay reflect very positively on your resort and the employees who work hard to create a great guest experience.

Unfortunately, despite these many positives, a series of significant issues ultimately overshadowed what should have been an enjoyable family vacation. I have outlined our experience in detail below so you have a complete understanding of the concerns we encountered and why they left us so disappointed.

Our stay was from June 20 through June 27, 2026, in a three-bedroom Penthouse Suite with rooftop access and a private hot tub. We are a family of seven traveling for our summer vacation, and I paid an additional $850 USD to upgrade to the penthouse accommodations. We were initially assigned Rooms 1535-1, 1535-2, and 1535-3.

On the very first day of our stay, my daughter and her boyfriend went to the rooftop to use the hot tub. As my daughter stepped onto the wooden deck surrounding the hot tub, the decking collapsed beneath her, causing her to fall through and suffer an injury to her leg.

Your staff responded promptly by providing medical assistance and repairing the damaged section of the deck. We also requested to be moved to another three-bedroom penthouse and were relocated to Rooms 1735-1, 1735-2, and 1735-3.

Unfortunately, because of my daughter’s injury and the resulting open wound, we were forced to reschedule one of our planned excursions.

To compensate for the incident, the Front Office staff offered us a $120 USD resort credit, which we were specifically told could be used at the resort gift shop. In addition, we were offered complimentary use of the poolside Bali beds for two days, which we were informed had a value of $150 USD per day.

We coordinated our Bali bed reservations through our ambassador, Luis, who assured us that everything had been arranged. However, when we arrived on the first scheduled day, we were informed that no Bali beds were available despite our reservation. We rescheduled for the following day, but the only available option was a standard bed with an umbrella rather than the Bali bed we had been promised. Although this was not what we expected, we accepted it and made the best of the situation.

Throughout our stay, communication via WhatsApp was consistently poor. Responses were often significantly delayed, and on several occasions we received no response at all.

Our next major issue involved the air conditioning in the third bedroom of our new penthouse. Despite setting the thermostat to 19°C, the room never cooled below 24°C. The other two bedrooms maintained the desired temperature without issue, making it clear that this room had a mechanical problem.

We reported the issue numerous times through WhatsApp. Our messages were either ignored or met with general assurances that the problem would be resolved, but it never was. Maintenance personnel attempted repairs on at least three separate occasions. During one of those visits, a maintenance employee entered the room while my daughter-in-law was getting dressed, creating a very uncomfortable and inappropriate situation.

By the final three nights of our stay, the room had become so unbearably hot that my son and his girlfriend could no longer sleep there. They were forced to sleep in the main living area, and we had to request two rollaway beds to accommodate them. This completely defeated the purpose of paying a premium for a three-bedroom penthouse when one of the bedrooms was essentially unusable.

Throughout these issues, our ambassador, Luis, initially appeared willing to assist us because he believed we were interested in attending the Epic Travelers presentation. However, we are already members of Interval International and politely informed him that we were satisfied with our current membership and were not interested.

Luis also informed us that he had made dinner reservations for us at Seasons Restaurant. When we arrived, we were told that no reservation had ever been made. After declining the Epic Travelers presentation, we noticed a significant change in Luis’s responsiveness. Communication ceased almost entirely, and we no longer received assistance with the issues we were experiencing. Whether intentional or not, this left us feeling that the level of service we received changed after we declined the sales presentation.

I also intend to provide Interval International with a detailed account of our experience, including the repeated communication failures and numerous promises that ultimately were not fulfilled.

Finally, on the last evening of our stay, we visited the resort gift shop to use the $120 USD resort credit that had been provided following my daughter’s accident. To our surprise, the gift shop staff informed us that the credit could not be used there, despite that being exactly what we had been told by your Front Office staff. As a result, we were never able to use the compensation that had been offered.