TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

First off, I’d like to say I’ve visited El Dorado Royale 3 times and love this resort. I’ll share resort pros and cons, followed by a wedding specific review. Pros: Good food, lovely staff, stunning resort, fun activities! Cons: The regular suites are starting to become outdated. Many of our guests stayed in these rooms and they looked very plain/stale and the color scheme does not present luxury resort. Most guests described the rooms as “okay” and we felt slightly embarrassed to have them in those rooms. Luckily our travel agent @TripGuy Mitch Toren upgraded our room to one of the rooms for members only and wow it was stunning! I strongly encourage the resort to update their rooms, it would really elevate the resort as a whole. Wedding: We fell in love with the wedding venues on this resort, and it was an easy decision to book a date! We had an early mishap and our wedding date was double booked so we had to select a new date. They were kind enough to include some services into our package to make up for the issue, and we moved on from that happily. We were told the planning process began 9 months before the wedding. My husband and I were excited and eager to start, but the lack of communication was actually alarming. We didn’t start planning the wedding until 2.5 months before the date! I understand that they are a well oiled wedding planning machine, and honestly 2.5 months was enough time to plan everything (luckily I had the time to dedicate), but had they just been transparent and told us that the wedding planning process starts at 2 months prior, then that would have saved us 7 months of stress feeling like we’re being ghosted lol. A few weeks before the wedding we were introduced to our wedding day coordinator, Cecilia, and she is AMAZING. Super responsive and kind. We love her and the wedding went PERFECT. Every detail my husband and I wanted, was executed. Our guests were stunned by the beauty of the ceremony and reception (extra shoutout to the gorgeous florals). We received comments about how well the day flowed and that the food was outstanding. The DJ took our playlists and really understood our music choices and the dance floor was quite literally never empty. We are beyond happy with the end result.

I checked into this ‘hotel’ after an 11hr flight. I had booked us a swim up. Ocean view suite, and was so looking forward to it. That was short lived. Upon check in, we along with another couple were told that we would have to have pizza or burger as all the restaurants were full. Luckily ( or so I thought ) I managed to book Santa Fe ( the steakhouse ) for 9pm. We then went to our room (205) in much need of a shower and a change of clothes before dinner. The room was filthy dirty. The toilet was dirty with what looked like sticky urine on it, along with short dark curly hair that I can only assume was pubic in nature. The bin next to the toilet was splashed, covered in dirt of an unknown origin, but you can use your imagination. The shower had a cover over the drain that was held on with one screw but it didn’t have the cover in place. This left an open filthy drain. There was a liquid that had been spilt next to the bed and left. The chairs and sofa were only fit for the rubbish tip. They were old and badly stained. The table where you were supposed to sit at with the dirty chairs was just as dirty. It had sticky old food remnants on it. I picked up the phone to ring reception, and that was also dirty. The lighting is poor ( but not so poor you can’t see the filth ), the decor I suspect is still the original from when it was first built, and it has no USB ports. If you’re from Europe make sure you dig out your old travel plugs. After reception initially refusing to send a manager over to our room, Katherine arrived. She was polite and professional and was in agreement that the room wasn’t fit for purpose. We then moved to 305, which was cleaner ( not hard as 205 was filthy ) It felt like a cheap nasty motel that you see in the movies. The type the fugitives hide out in. No time for a shower or change of clothes we set off for dinner. We ordered steak. One medium rare, the other medium. The medium came out badly burnt around the edges. Both ‘steaks’ were just a huge chunk of nasty fat that I wouldn’t give to my dogs, let alone a human. The following day we met with Giselle, who was duty manager and Sergio from guest relations. Both were again as professional and polite as Katherine had been the night before. They listened, and agreed they had fallen short on their standards. Whilst we stayed in 305 for the rest of the holiday, we had the contact details of Giselle, Katherine and Sergio if we needed anything. They went above and beyond to ensure the rest of our stay was as it should be. We mostly used the pool bar by Casitas’s 25. Eduardo was the bartender. Excellent cocktails, and always had a smile no matter what. Habb the Indian restaurant was in our opinion the best. The service was excellent as was the food. We went twice and didn’t feel rushed, but were allowed to enjoy the food at our own pace. Roberto was attentive in a subtle way, and very in tune with all the customers. We ate lunch at Kick, and Angel was there. He was also part of the breakfast team. Again, a lovely member of staff who genuinely took time to ask how your day was. We went to Fuentes one night. The group was small ( about 24 ) The food was excellent and it was lovely to see the cooking demonstration then taste the food. Some people spoke all through the demonstrations taking no notice of the chef, which is rude. One thing I found off putting was when the food was served, the waiters came out dancing to music. It was like a badly played out scene from the film, The Full Monty. It really isn’t needed. One day we spent at the casitas by 31. We had the pleasure of Alberto serve our drinks. He was lovely, accommodating and professional. All with a smile. We were talked into getting a massage by Victor ( great selling skills ) I had Irene and she was excellent. I recommend her to everyone I spoke to who were contemplating a massage. However, I will say the spa staff have to be more vigilant. My niece and I walked into the female changing room to find a naked man in there who’d just gotten out of the shower. There were two ladies in there, equally as shocked as we were. When told to leave he said he thought it was mixed facilities and he’d just be a minute getting ready!!!!!! We told the staff who were shocked, but didn’t do much. In fairness, I think they were as shocked as us. The people driving the golf carts on the whole are a blessing ( especially when your feet are hurting ) We had one who’s name we forget but he would shout tequila to us ever time he drove past or picked us up.. he was so funny and chatty, but always professional. One day he picked up some guests when we were on the cart. They were rude. No please or thank you, just a sense of entitlement. We witnessed another guest tip him 3 pesos ( 12p ) How insulting and disrespectful The grounds are immense, and beautifully kept. I love nature and was so pleased to see that the hotel look after the wildlife that have made the hotel their home. There are feeding stations for the stray cats, and native raccoons?? . There’s even an alligator called Freda they look after and feed. The part of the hotel we were in I suspect is the old original hotel.. very dated rooms. You then have the casitas and Generations which is obviously built this century as it’s very modern.. Please take the time to acknowledge the staff. Remember, please and thank you cost nothing. Whilst you’re on holiday enjoying yourselves, many staff are separated from family so they can earn a wage. I’ve mentioned a few staff who went above and beyond to make sure we had the holiday we should’ve. That said there were far more. Would I return to the hotel.. for the staff yes, for the room type we were given, no.

Just got back from a 5 day trip at El Dorado Royale with the more inclusive package! I definitely enjoyed my time there and would recommend it to others. We did book through a travel agent to make the process of booking more easier on ourselves Plenty of pools throughout the resort to swim in or lounge by. Sometimes seating could be tough as it was first come first serve. People tend to leave their towels on their chairs when they’re finished with it so it made it hard to judge whether the seats were actually occupied or not. The beds by the pool you have to rent out in advance for an additional cost. We were able to get seats everyday probably based off luck but also saw others struggling to find a spot at times. Usually if you can’t find a spot by the pool there would be one open on the beach The beach was nice to lay out on. The chair situation is the same as the pool, first come first serve and you have to rent the beds out prior. However it was a little less crowded than the pool when we were there so easier to find seating. The beach itself to go in the ocean was not the best as it is a rocky area and lots of seaweed in the water (just a location issue). We chose to go to the Maroma Beach Club as well as snorkeling there which was included in the more inclusive package and worth it The food was good!! Plenty of options to choose from for what type of cuisine you want. Small portions but hey-you can order more than one thing. Breakfast and lunch you’re able to walk in anywhere without a reservation. If you want to go to a restaurant for dinner you just need to make a reservation through the app. I would recommend making a reservation for every night that your there on the first day you get there as spots can fill up fast. The only down side of dinner is that alcohol was not included and did cost extra. I’m not sure if this is just to have a faster turn over for seatings or what. Not a huge deal but kinda a bummer. The staff was so friendly and as helpful as they could be. My only con was they put us in one room number while it was listed differently in their computer system. Made the initial room service difficult as well as trying to check out. Nothing major but not as smooth as I would like. The rooms were fine. We stayed in the cheapest one as we knew we would not be spending much time in there. Nothing fancy but nothing to complain about. The room was cold and the blanket was thin but we were able to be sent extra blankets the next day when we asked My biggest con was that the app was not super user friendly and took some patience. It will work-just takes some time. But they should try to upgrade it in the future for a more user friendly interface. A second con was there was a screaming match outside of our room one night. My friend called security and it took them about half an hour to get there (yes the screaming was still happening when security arrived). Obviously loud guest aren’t a fault of the resort but I felt like 30 minutes was a-little too long for security to arrive to handle the situation A good tip is to book all the excursions you’re interested in on the day of your arrival as those spots can fill up fast too. Overall I had an excellent time and would not hesitate to go back.

My husband and I went here for our anniversary and it was horrible. I’d give it negative stars if I could and I currently am demanding a refund for how poorly it was. We have been in contact with the hotel and they are blaming us for our bad experience not themselves. We stayed there last week my husband and I for our anniversary. It was by far the worst experience ever. We booked through cheap Caribbean who had been in contacted with you and you have given them a poor excuse for a reason not to refund us. First we went there for our anniversary and leading up to the trip I was emailing the hotel about what we can be provided with for our occasion and it was stated since we didn’t book through El Dorado site directly they could not provide us with anything. When we got to the resort the front staff told us we needed to download an “app” and book our dinner reservations. When we tried to book there was nothing available. When there was something available it was at 9:45 at night and if we missed it we couldn’t walk into any other place for dinner. The concierge (hilgerbo) ( located at building 3) tried to make us dinner reservations and also saw that everything was booked or it was late times. I also told him my father is a member and the reason why we booked through another site was because it was cheaper. He went to his manager to ask if there was anything we could get for our anniversary or because we paid a cheaper price on a different site and his manager stated” no they didn’t book through us so we will not provide anything.” Every night we had to order room services with a limited menu. The tub did not work properly in the room and there was construction going on on the resort which was always loud and never seems to stop through the night. The entertainment staff never announced anything going on accept for volleyball. There was tyedye one day and when I went up to do it they said it started at 2pm and they only had 10 shirts. ( I was in the pool and did not know the time. It was 2:30 when I went up) There were several times we went to complain to the concierge but they were never at the desk. If they are supposed to work from 8-4 or 10-6 then they should be there besides their lunch breaks. But no one was there till 6 or 4. Everytime I went there no one was there. On our last night we tried to find a place to eat and no restaurant would accept us as a walk in. They stated they had to wait for their reservations to come first. Every single restaurant was empty! We finally went up to the front desk where we spoke to Yael who stated “ no one obviously explained how to use the app” he tried to say because it was only entered as “412” and not 0412. That’s why we could do anything. When we continued with our complaints all he said is” well you can go to generations to eat and we will look into everything else.” At least at generations the staff was polite and welcoming and we could eat breakfast at the palms. This is a poor way to treat people. Especially people with family members who have memberships. I will continue to reach out until a refund is issued . I went there to celebrate my one year wedding anniversary and was not treated as though it was a special occasion Do not go here or recommend. I will be constantly reach out to them regarding a refund as this is unacceptable.

Had a great honeymoon here. The food is amazing and they are accommodating for Gluten free individuals. Special thanks to Gustavo, Alex, Hoza, Dichu, and Josue! All of the staff is great too. They are very fun. It is a very relaxing place to go.