Essence at the Fives Beach

Wow wow wow. I am a perfectionist and a professor and never give full marks. But this place is truly a 10/10! The resort is spectacular. Private beach. Phenomenal staff. Truly. Arturo our ambassador was a GEM. Perfecto! How lucky they are to have him work at their hotel. Rocio- was a dream. She cleaned our room as if it was her own. She is a beautiful person. Just lovely and made us feel at home. Antonio- he is also a gem. He booked our snorkeling tour. We had a private driver. We felt safe and taken care of and he brought joy to us. Thank you. The weather. Perfecto. The Thai and Italian restaurants- the ceviche on the beach- PERFECTO. Seriously. Go here. Beautiful perfection. Read less

Went with our children and grandchildren ( 3 yrs & younger) for a family friend's destination wedding. We had a wonderful time with family and friends who came in for the wedding. Overall the grounds were nice and well-kept, pools were large and clean, the property is huge and very pleasant. We stayed 5 nights and it took a couple days to figure out how to best navigate the property as there are no maps posted anywhere on the property. If. you did not have the map provided at check-in you were out of luck. We rented a 3 bedroom suite with a full-kitchen; however, the kitchen did not have any cookware, plates, utensils, soap, paper towels, or dishtowels - all kitchen drawers and cabinets were empty. if one of the grandkids spilled something we had to use a bath towel to clean it up.. We asked both our housekeeper and our designated ambassador for a roll of paper towels or dish towels the first 3 days of our stay and always got an "OK" or a response. On the third day our ambassador showed up with an 8"x8" microfiber towel which disappeared the next day. Yes a nice kitchen, but unusable w/o cookware, plates, or utentsils. Restaurants were below average compared to other all-inclusives. We had 9 in our group and had a difficult time booking a reservation for our whole group. We were able to book 1 dinner together at the Thai restaurant. My wife and I booked the French Restaurant, La Brasserie, on our second night and were told we had the last reservation available for that evening. When we arrived at 5:30 PM the restaurant was far from full; 5 of 25 tables were occupied during our entire dining experience - they could have easily accomodated our group but poorly managed their reservation system. I ordered the "Potato encrusted Grouper" for my entree which was not encrusted with anything and was definitely not Grouper. I took 2 bites and did not want any more; the manager was walking by and asked if there was a problem with my entree and I expressed my complaints. I forked the thinly sliced filet to show him it was not as advertised on the menu and he acknowledged it was not grouper. The tacos at the beach were good, the breakfast buffet at Flavours and LaBrasserie were identical - nothing remarkable. Sushi was edible but would not survive as a restaurant outside of this resort. Thai restaurant was the best dining experience on the property. Mexican restaurant was the best alternative for breakfast, but service was S L O W. Overall the service was poor to mediocre across the board. When making requests we heard a lot of "OK"s, but about half the time did not have our requests fulfilled. The one exception to this were the bartenders and the servers on the beach and pool, they seemed to have the best attitude and fulfilled our requests without repeating the request. Nonetheless, my son-in-law did ask one bartender for a drink and the bartender responded with a "no", did not offer an explanation and walked away. Service at the wedding on the beach was the best of the trip; food was also good. As stated earlier despite all of the above we had a wonderful time with family and friends to celebrate the wedding. Will not be going back and would not recommend. Read less

We were looking forward to our stay at the fives for almost a year. I found it very misleading and disappointing to say the least. Pros :Nice grounds, beautiful beach and views the Bellman and golf cart. Drivers were always courteous and helpful. Mestizo restaurant is the only excellent dining experience we had on the property from our handcrafted cocktail all the way through dessert and the service was top notch at Mestizo! Beds are comfy. Housekeeping was good excellent ac and wifi CONS: Front desk staff made us change rooms because it was at their mistake. They gave us the incorrect room which had a beautiful view, but the telephone was off-line. We had to repack our belongings and move to another room with no view again the front desk staff said it was their mistake, but we had to move, our room was clean upon arrival however, a horrible sewer smell developed after about the second day maintenance had to come twice I mean it was bad to the point of vomiting and becoming just ill sick front desk and the property take no responsibility for the flaws of the property and maintenance issues they referred me to make a complaint were with whoever I booked the vacation with which happens to be with a group many many family members . This property has zero accessibility. If you have mobility issues, do not stay at the fives beach resort there is not one single handicapped bathroom on that property. It’s a cobblestone walkway, which makes it very difficult to walk. If you are unsteady, the beach does offer two ramps to get into the sand but once you get into the sand, you are on your own. The golf carts are not accessible at all buildings. You will have to walk from one building to another building to catch a golf cart. and there is only one bench on the property to wait for a golf cart that is located at the beach .They do not reach every single building there. We went to lunch at the French restaurant they came to clear our plates. They said are you done they did not offer us a dessert. There were still three other families in the restaurant they were being served dessert, but they just completely ignored us they never came back to our table and then finally I saw one worker left in the restaurant I said, can we order dessert she said no we’re closed I said, but we’ve been sitting here all this time. Our waiter said, are you done with your plates? We said yes they picked up our plate and never came back, they did end up serving us a dessert just to get us out of there, but I felt very rushed overlooked and disrespected. We were ignored while the other families were served and they were only three families left in the dining room. It is very difficult to get a dinner reservation on the property. We opted for room service since it’s difficult to get reservations. It took three days for them to come and get the dirty dishes out of the room which by the way you have to eat on your bed because there is no table or chairs in the room unless you want to eat on the dirty patio furniture on the balcony risking a monkey to jump out of the tree and snatch your food, I called front desk three times for them to pick up the plates and told them they had been sitting there for three days. I told our no good concierge who was good for absolutely nothing in building number 19 he knew they were dirty dishes there no one ever came to get them no one ever told me hey just put them outside of the door and someone will pick them up . Flavors buffet is not good. Breakfast is good but please skip dinner go somewhere else tacos in the plaza in the morning or nice and fresh. The evening ones are dry and hard. They do not automatically stock your mini fridge as advertised. You have to call them and ask them what you want in the fridge or they will not come. You will have an empty refrigerator shower was leaking from the second floor see pictures included other dirty dishes left in the hall for days they not ours someone else’s. We had to request an ironing board and toilet paper and they were no washcloths in our room the whole eight days we were there. Bali beds are an additional $175 usd per bed perday . The beds on the pool deck are rotted out on the bottom and have rusty screws sticking out so please beware if you have small children, elderly people, or people with disabilities with you. You might need to lay towels down on the side of the bed to avoid injuries, the wait staff by the pool. expect to be tipped every time you order and come back with an order or else they have an attitude or they will stop coming to serve you even though you’ve paid $175 for a belly bed which comes with a bottle of champagne. We don’t mind tipping, but you have to come and take our order in order for us to tip you, one server stands out his name is Alejandro. He did a great job. Everyone else did not want to be working. As they said, in the beginning, we expected so much more from the fives beach resort we expected to be treated much better. We expected more as we work very hard and had to save a long time for this trip although it’s considered a modestly priced resort. If you can afford it go elsewhere for the offer superior service. That’s what we should have received superior service and unfortunately the front desk is horrible. They take no responsibility for anything that goes wrong there although that’s their Property, the weight staff at the restaurants are decent they hustle. We tipped them well we treat them well. Unfortunately we didn’t get that respect and treatment back. I’ve seen how hard they work I’ve seen the same servers working different restaurants every night I’ve seen the weight staff also getting up on a ladder at 9 AM in the hot sun to put up the decorations , and then I see them again at the pool carrying ice the same people they work hard I don’t blame the workers directly it’s the management it’s the vibe there it’s not positive. I wish I had better things to say about the fives but I just got back yesterday. This is a fresh review while it’s fresh in my mind and I’m including photos to back up when I’m saying and yes I have made a complaint with the front desk and they told me basically too bad so sad talk to whoever you booked with buyer. Beware I didn’t get the warning that I’m giving you , take your money and run go somewhere else. I was talking to other people at the airport waiting for a return flight and they raved about the places that they stayed at that they were treated so well that they had abundance of everything and that staff goes above and beyond For whatever they need that’s what should happen when you go on vacation not oh well too bad so sad this is all we got it wasn’t enough it was not enough. I would never recommend this hotel to anyone not even families on a budget I would recommend save a little more and treat yourself , this is not the place if you want to relax without any issues it’s one thing after another it’s one huge disappointment and lots of money down the drain. I wish I could say it was well spent, but it was not. This was my first trip to Playa, Del Carmen or Cancun area. I was not impressed and I will not be back. Read less

Our stay at the Fives was a traumatising experience at best, so I'll do my best to keep it as brief as possible... To cut a long story short, I contracted food poisoning a week into our stay. My symptoms were excruciating & medical attention was only provided once we agreed to pay - I was in so much stress & pain, I was willing to go to any length to ease my discomfort. I was in constant fear for my wellbeing. Other notable areas of disappointment include: FOOD & DRINK - Dubious food hygiene standards: I was very ill with food poisoning for the majority of our stay. No restaurant is safe at this resort & management are in blissful ignorance. - Terrible quality of food across all restaurants & eateries: Cheap ingredients, often defrosted, plated like slop & lacking in flavour - They advertise access to 15 restaurants. Expect a max of 4 to be open of an evening. Long queues, total unorganised chaos no matter when you placed your booking. On our first night, the restaurant that our 'ambassador' had booked for us wasn't even open! - No cocktail menu! Cheap, watered down spirits & dreadful 'resort' wine - unless you want to pay extra (of course) - Alcoholic drinks are mostly limited to frozen cocktail mix & cheap spirit. Always separated & unenjoyable to drink. - We were entitled to free room service with our 'Epic Package'. The food always arrived cold & inedible. - Familiarise yourself with UberEats, you'll need to use them for any medication you might require after falling ill from the nauseating food. MANAGEMENT & STAFF - A disorganised MESS with no structure & complete ignorance towards guest complaints. Before I was ill, I had complained TWICE about their lack of food hygiene standards. - Staff responsible for the above were Belen & Diana. They were both dismissive of my initial complaints, & when I got ill, they were very quick to rid themselves of blame for my condition. - Room service staff stormed out of our room on 2 separate occasions, leaving both doors wide open and cursing at us under their breath. This was because we didn't leave a tip... for cold, microwave pizza that had travelled less than a minute from the kitchen. TUI CUSTOMER SUPPORT - The TUI rep for the resort filed our complaints incorrectly, meaning we had to start the complaint process from square one once we had returned home. - Excursions are a complete rip off. Expect to pay £300+ pp for a £20 experience. - The website advertises the Fives as a 5-star Platinum resort, when in fact, the Fives is nothing more than a dilapidated 2-star. FACILITIES - Our shower, tap & sink water were running brown & yellow for the first week of our stay. Only once we were advised that this was completely unsafe to use, maintenance were sent. - The resort is generally grimy & unclean, this also extends to the more expensive rooms & the Spa. - Beach loungers are old and dirty. You can book a 'Bali Bed', if you're willing to shell out an extra £130 a day. But they are just as old and dirty. Waiters will serve you once every 2 hours if you're lucky & bar staff will always do their best to completely butcher your favourite cocktail. I tried to keep it brief but I felt that it is only right that I do my best to dissuade any potential guests to shop elsewhere. Trust me. This resort does not deserve your hard earned money & will not part with a penny when things go wrong. I'm now home, exhausted, still suffering from my bout with food sickness & out of pocket. But, for the first time, I lost weight on an all-inclusive. Every cloud ey. Read less