The Fives Downtown Hotel and Residences

I would totally stay here again and can say that of the hotels I stayed at on this trip, was the better of the 3 (also stayed in Tulum and Puerto Morelos). The entrance, rooms, and rooftop pool are lovely. The food was fine but not great.

A few areas for improvement or cons for me:

• I had a particularly bad time at my hotel in Tulum so when I got there really wanted a refresh. That’s didn’t happen at check in. 1) I’m Hilton Diamond but because I booked to AmEx I was told I wouldn’t get any benefits, no breakfast, no upgrade. Of course, I’d have loved that but understood. Those are the rules and that’s how it goes. Or so I thought… my first two days I ate breakfast out of the hotel because I didn’t want to pay for a more expensive “resort” breakfast so I ate out of the hotel. The third day, I planned to stay at the hotel all day and just rest so I ate breakfast there. The check came and, lo and behold, a $0 charge for the meal because of Gold/Diamond status. I tried it again my last day and the same. How nice (!) except I could have eaten for free the first two days probably. Should I have even gotten those two for free ? I don’t know but there was clearly a miscommunication and disconnect between the actually policy and what I got.

• also at check in the charge a “resort fee” but no perks. Almost everywhere else I stay that has a resort or destination fees give you something — a food credit, a bike to ride, and discount to something, a f&b credit; nothing here. So just ignore the work “resort” and focus on the mandatory fee with nothing extra to show for it part.

• THEN, I get my room key, and I’m immediately hit up by someone trying to get my to buy into their club points system (“not a timeshare!”). I go through several round of “no thanks” and I’m already committed to another club that takes up my extra income so I can’t do another one etc, and then the sales manager comes over and keeps trying to get me to come to the meeting (30 min away at their sister property in Puerto Morelos —which I also stayed at and reeks of sargassum in low season because of it’s location on the playa) so ai said no again, explained again, and finally said, “No, I’m not interested. Please just let me go to my room.” They could see I was upset, and immediately backed off, but it was a little much for me at that time (and maybe for anyone immediately after check-in?).

Otherwise a lot of the staff didn’t seem that happy to be there — not terrible, but no great. My staff shout outs go to Alejandro at the roof bar who was nice and remembered what I liked, Alejandra who was nice, and Eder who had a good personality and actually hospitality and service and enjoyable interaction.

I would consider staying again and would have probably better time knowing what to expect.

Dear General Manager,

I recently stayed at your hotel for five nights in Room 419, and I had a truly wonderful experience. The hotel is brilliant, and I would like to take a moment to thank your fantastic team for making my stay so enjoyable.

Edaena, Catalina, and Taniya were absolutely brilliant and provided excellent customer service throughout my stay. Their professionalism, kindness, and attention to detail were greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank Mali at the spa, who was extremely helpful and made my experience even more enjoyable.

Thank you very much for a brilliant stay. I will definitely recommend your hotel to my guests, friends, and family, and I look forward to staying with you again in the future.

Kind regards

Residences by the fives was an ok resort with excellent staff except you cannot swim at the beach due to exchequer Fives Oceanfront and was a huge downgrade. The food was horrible and the rotting seaweed on the beach permeated the entire resort. I would never recommend it.