Sandos Playacar - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

25833 reviews

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  Rough Experience at Sandos

  We came here for a family reunion over the holidays. There were about 11 of us, but could have been more. It was a mix of young adults, elderly and kids. We initially picked this place for price, safety and multiple activities/restaurants. In summary, there were highlights to the resort (beach is beautiful and the weather was nice), the buffet is really good with multiple selections, they do pretty good evening production, and the staff work very hard (i.e. Etyar, the head of concierge did his best everything to help us each day for reservations or support), but there were three major concerns noted 1. The resort was severely understaffed given the holiday season. a. Check-in was over an hour long, with only 1-2 people available for the check-in. Also at check-in, limited instructions were given about the hotel and how to access our hotel rooms via bands due to the shortage of staff and increasing guests being checked in. Also they did not mention anything about our group concessions as we booked through a travel agency and were allowed certain perks (none of those were provided upfront or at all) b. When a family member called the guest services, no one picked up. This was noted on multiple occasions. Luckily I had the direct contact of the head concierge when we had a potential medical emergency. c. Activities scheduled throughout the day (i.e. Zumba at 1:00pm) did not occur, because no one was there. d. All on-site restaurants were booked up for reservations, prior to our arrival, even though the restaurants were 50%-60% capacity at all times. They would not take walk-ins. I had to work and follow-up with head of concierge each day for available reservations to secure for our family. 2. Safety Concerns, especially for the elderly a. An older family member (mid 70s) had a fall due to lack of lighting during an evening concert. Luckily, she was only scrapped badly, no broken bones, but when my cousin tried to contact guest services, no one picked up. Luckily the (head of concierge) did respond immediately in case a paramedic was needed. b. In early mornings, there is no lighting in the hallways. It is pitched black and an iphone or flashlight is needed to walk around. This presented as a hazard for anyone walking around in the late evenings/early mornings. c. In our building, there were only two elevators, one was not functioning for the whole trip, and on our last day, the second one was also not functioning. Luckily my cousin and I were able to carry our check-in suitcases down and our elderly family members were able to still walk certain distances, but if they were unable to travel, without the use of an elevator - that would be a handicap issue. 3. Missing group concessions discussed via e-mail a. There were agreed upon concession with our travel agency and Sandos, but those were either only partially fulfilled (after follow-up from myself) or not provided at all. b. In addition we requested each family be located in the same building (there were only be 5 rooms needed), but this was not done and one family member ended up in a different building and another one had to request to be changed out. Overall, the staff work hard to do there best (especially Etyar the head of concierge), but they are understaffed, which is leading to larger concerns of safety, maintenance, and quality of service.

  Dec 28, 2025
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  Great Asana Experience

  The food was tremendous, the quality and presentation were terrific as well. The service was top notch. Alan was very good and very informative. We were taken care of very well. I would highly recommend it and especially Alan.

  Dec 28, 2025
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  Disappointed.

  I was very disappointed that for the 5 nights we were here all restaurants were fully booked leaving us to have to eat the same food night after night at the buffet. They should have a different system for dinner at a resort this large.

  Dec 28, 2025
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  It was good!

  We stayed at Sandos playcar for 10 days, Nov 24 - Dec 6. We stayed in the family section, although as far away from everything possible we did have a pool and swim up bar which turned out to be great. This is a really big resort! Rooms and resort are very clean. Food at the buffet was great! We tried most of the ala carte restaurants with the French one being the best!! Service and food was excellent! They have an app where you can book your ala cartes. Start the day you get there. You are only allowed to book 4 days in advance. So check everyday and you will get something. There are carts (cars whatever you call them) that drive around the resort that pick you up and drop you off at certain spots. They are busy and people can get very rude about getting on them. From the family section to the beach is about a 15- 20 min walk. So we used the trolleys alot because I have bad sciatica. Go to the buffet at 9am or 6pm or you will be waiting as there are alot of people. We ate lunch at the buffet at the beach and it was awesome. The monkey would come to visit there and wait for a snack. There are coatis everywhere, which we enjoyed but some people found annoying. The pool in family section is quieter than the main pool. The beach is beautiful. No service on the beach but the bar isnt that far away. Cab rides anywhere from here were extremely expensive! And they rip you off. If you are from Canada book your excursions before you go either through your booking agent or expedia... I used expedia and saved ALOT of money. Even though it shows Xplor is close to the hotel the cab ride is $150 so pay for the transportation when booking. 5th Ave has gotten so expensive for tourists. We did the catamaran excursion to Isla Mujeres.. it was very overwhelming the first part of isla mujeres but the second stop at the private beach was phenomenal! We also booked the golf cart tour for the second part I highly recommend that if you like to see the place. We would stay at sandos again however we would not take kids and we would stay closer to where everything is, but with kids the family section is the place to stay. Staff weren't overly friendly but they weren't rude at all throughout the resort. Oh one more thing the spa people are walking around trying to sell massages which includes hydro therapy and use of facility. However they didn't tell me you had to be 18 to use the facilities so when I bought 2packages one for me and one for my daughter she wasn't allowed to use the spa facilities so I did not use it either... I was a little disappointed with that. Secret little gem... the cupcake café! Awesome and staff were great there.

  Dec 28, 2025
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  Awesome guest service!

  Loraine Moreno is a wonderful guest service attendant. She is so kind, warm and helpful. Seeing her everyday made our day! She greeted us and helped us with everything and made sure we were comfortable. I would give her 10 stars but Google doesn't allow that!

  Dec 27, 2025