Essence at the Fives Beach

My husband and I just came back from a week long vacation at the Fives Beach Hotel and Residences, and it was average at best. As a couple who have stayed at true 5 star resorts (Dreams, Secrets, Hyatt Zilara) this one severely lacked in some areas, enough that I would put it as a 4 star resort at best. Mind you, if you have never travelled to an actual 5 star resort, and your standards are not that high than you might share a different opinion than us. Positives of this resort: The resort sits on beautiful grounds, with a cenote and boardwalk in the middle of it where you have the opportunity to see monkeys, coatis, other wildlife and just feel like you are walking through a lush forest. The servers and staff were always smiling, extremely pleasant, rushed to accommodate everyone to the best of their abilities, and overall made up for some of the downfalls that will be mentioned shortly. The beach is wonderful, with lots of space, there is a very lovely pier that you can walk on and gaze into the water, and there are break walls on either side of the pier which successfully stops seaweed and high tides from coming in. Negatives of this resort: 1) Food - the food was subpar to any true 5 star resort we have been to, starting from day one when we ordered a chicken sandwich with a side of fries from the French (La Brassiere) restaurant and the chicken was grossly undercooked, with pink raw meat shining through with just one bite, and the potato wedge fries also being served undercooked, where just one bite had you biting into a raw, starchy potato. During lunch, we found it hard to find almost anything to eat besides burgers and hotdogs, with many of the beach bars and grills serving undercooked food or food that has been clearly sitting out for multiple hours and bugs were finding their way into sauce bowls, sides, and whatnot. Many appetizers across all the restaurants were poorly seasoned and not to traditional standards. The soups all tasted like water to which no amount of salt and pepper could fix. 2) Wait Times - the resort a la carte restaurants follow the "first come, first serve policy" which apparently only applies to regular guests and not club members as we found out halfway through our trip. Restaurants open at 530pm and if you are not one of the first 12 people in line by 515pm expect to wait anywhere between 1 hour to 1 hour and 45 minutes to be seated. It was extremely frustrating to walk up to the maître d' at 535pm at the Italian restaurant after watching only 12 people go through the doors and be told that there is an hour long wait. To make matters worse, while waiting to be seated with buzzer in hand, you watch people walk up 40 minutes later and get seated right away. (We found out those were club members afterwards). Even more frustrating was finally after sitting and starving, waiting to be escorted into the restaurant, you walk through the doors and see that only 50% of the restaurant is full and the other half is empty just in case a club member shows up for their meal. We made the mistake one night of showing up at 7pm to a restaurant, thinking that we would be seated sooner and boy were we wrong! We were not brought up to the restaurant until 845pm! As stated in the positives, it was the smiling and kind waiters and waitresses working and running around like chickens with their heads cut off at these restaurants that made up for the frustrating wait times experienced beforehand. Lastly, the hotel must have had some sort of policy where bigger groups were seated before smaller ones of just 2 or 3 people. 3) Understaffed - we found that the resort was understaffed, which added to the wait times at the buffet or around the pool bar. With there not being enough people working the buffet hall, we would wait in long lines waiting to get in. I would watch as groups of people would leave the hall after eating, but the tables would stay dirty because the handful of waiters and waitresses were running around trying to get coffee and juice orders for those already seated. The maître d' standing at the podium would then have to run out and clean up a table and set it just to be able to seat a couple or group. Similar scenario was occurring by the pools in regards to the pool bar. The few poor workers were running around from morning to night trying to retrieves people's orders, which would lead to longer waiting times, and people having to have to get their own orders. (Which one might say that I expect too much, but once you have vacationed in luxury like I have these are issues that you do not run into). 4) Extra Charges - there were tons of extra charges that you do not expect when going to not just a 5 star resort, but also an "all-inclusive". For example: you want a specialty coffee throughout the day from the coffee shop or a dessert from the coffee shop? You have to pay for it. You are feeling like an ice cream? Besides chocolate and vanilla, you have to pay for it. Gelato? Money out of your pocket. Smoothie other than the few free ones, you have to pay for it. Fries by the pool side? Those are only reserved for people who pay $160USD for the daybeds each day. Steak or lobster at a restaurant? Extra charge (and much more expensive than one you would get at an actual restaurant in Canada or the U.S. 5) Restaurant Closures - the Sea Olive (Mediterranean) was closed for our entire stay (7 days). It did not seem as if they were any closer to finishing up construction from the first day of our vacation to our last. This impacted the dining experience on a nightly basis as different a la carte restaurants are closed on certain days, with Sunday being the worst. On Sunday, 3 a la carte restaurants are closed, as well as the buffet. This makes room for the Mexican food truck vendors that they bring into the main plaza where everyone is mainly expected to eat. Downfall? The main plaza is not meant to host that many people trying to sit down and eat. Therefore, many couples and families were seen aimlessly walking around in circles trying to find a spot to eat. Not interested in eating Mexican that night? Your only other two options are the Thai restaurant or the Sushi restaurant. Wait time on that day you ask? 2+ hours... and to return back every 30 minutes to see if they even have a buzzer available for you. 6) Public Beach Right Next to Resort - there is a public beach and public beach entrance right next to the resort, resulting in everyday beach goers setting up their chairs, and umbrellas, and tents all in front of the resort chairs, and blocking ones way of getting in and out of the ocean. These regular beach goers were bringing their own alcoholic beverages (in both cans and glass) which were being left behind after they left the beach, with some of the bottles breaking and sharp glass being littered on the sand for anyone to step on. 7) No Entertainment - lastly there is no auditorium for any nightly entertainment to take place. If you are used to watching a fire show, or magic show, or dance off of some sort when going to Mexico do not expect one here. They do not have any space for it to take place and therefore it does not. The best you get is a different nightly singer and guitarist combo. Hope this review helps some of you in making a decision of whether or not this is the resort for you. Read less

We had a great stay at the Fives from Nov 3-11 with our family and friends. The weather was great. Some rain, but never all day. It was always very nice and warm. Ocean and pools were warm. Hotel is very clean; very quiet, the service is top notch! When you arrive, you are getting treated with water and wet towels for your hands. Always linen napkins at the restaurants. They walk you to your table at the buffet and they walk you to your lounge at the beach holding your towels. No towel cards were great! Loved all the wildlife, the jungle, the space to spread out. The food was amazing, delicious and so many options! The beach was beautiful. Pools are perfect, grounds well taken care off. Casa Del Rosa was a fun experience. We got it for free fir attending membership sales presentation (1-1.5 hours). Some of the negatives for us: The beach It would be nice to get some music and dance lessons, aqua size, Zumba etc. every day at the pool by the beach where all the action is. It got a bit too busy and very crowded on the beach by the water as it got completely covered with the umbrellas, tents, chars, and blankets when the locals came with their music and alcohol. Was not much room left to get to the ocean or even sit and play in the sand. The room. Rooms are on the smaller size, with 2 double beds and 1 night table. It would be nice to have bigger beds, another night table and a dresser as there is not much room to spread your belongings. Please consider installing a wall in the bathroom area and adding some hooks, shelves or chair for the clothes. Shower and toilet have a glass door that does not lock. Not much privacy or sound insulation at all. You get into the bathroom area as soon as you open the door to the room. As a family of 4 people with two teens we found it was hard to even find a private space to change. Also, not much place in the bathroom area to hang towels or lay down your clothes when you are taking a shower. We really enjoyed being able to open our room with a bracelet. Coffee/tea There is no coffee machines or tea at any of the bars. Sure, you can get a cappuccino or tea at the buffet; however, it is not always open. Some a la carts have coffee or tea; however, you need to get a table to get it served and usually there is a long wait. It would be nice just to be able to walk to any bar at any time of the day or night and to get a free cappuccino or tea without having to get a table at a restaurant. The Food. Sometimes there is no buffet at night. It is nice that you don’t need a reservation for a la carts (and the food is amazing), however, most nights you may have to wait 1-2 hours to get a table if you are not there from 5:15 to 5:30 as there is not enough restaurants for the current demand. Buffet would be a nice alternative or to open more a la carts. As a vegetarian, I found that food is not clearly labeled if it has meat (unless you are ordering from the menu at the a la cart). Overall, it was a great experience, and we loved our stay, except for some small negatives that could be easily fixed by the hotel management. Read less

It was our first time here and we were very happy to choose this hotel. Ignore the bad reviews as no hotel is perfect! We got the rooms a little bit late after 3 PM but we were surprise to see how big the rooms were! We were lucky that the weather was nice, just a tiny little bit of see weeds comparing to other time that we were in Mexico. The biggest surprise for us that there was no mosquitoes at all! Very very surprise as the hotel has a cenote like a jungle! Restaurants were very good. The Sea Olive restaurant was closed when we were there, how ever most of the restaurants were good! The only negative point was the restaurants are not big enough and the first come first serve system is sometime not convenient! The hotel has two buffets for breakfast only and with the size of the hotel, they are small comparing to other hotels. As said before, no hotel is perfect but the people there are working hard of their best! We will come back for sure! Read less

Overall it has been a splendid stay. The staff is lovely and the hotel is absolutely beautiful. To highlight the bell team, specially Vertin and Erik, they were very helpful and friendly. On another note, I would like to share that we changed rooms two times due to the condition of them both were not up to date, very dull and details on the bathroom, the tiles were quite damaged. Also the wardrobe and the mirror in the room. The first night, when we moved to the second room there was one light that would not turn off but we were too tired from the long travel to change rooms again or to fixed the issue. Apart from that, in the first room, the layout was quite not the best as the beds were blocking the access to the balcony which was shared with the next door guest room. However, the following day Juan Carlos (from the front desk) was very helpful and kind to show us a different and upgraded room that we moved to due to the inconveniences. They showed us that they care about their guests and wanted to solve the situation fast and smoothly for us. Another part of the trip to highlight was the activity to visit Chichén Itzá and enjoy the maya cuisine and culture. This was absolutely awesome. Alex helped us book the best activity for us and the tour guides, Angel Kauil and Sergio Mo were fantastic ! Also, the different restaurants and the animation/activities during the day were amazing. So much variety and full of flavours. Regardless the first day, we will definitely choose the same Resort for our next trip back to Mexico. Read less

What an amazing hotel. It is honestly something special. The grounds are so well maintained and the private beach is spectacular. The local wildlife make plenty of appearances much to our delight. The staff are all extremely friendly, Miguel, William and Alfredo at the high energy pool treated us like family, Enriques from entertainment is so engaging and made everyday special, Israel from Flavours buffet offers the best service we’ve ever had. The hotel Manager is so lovely and accommodating, if you have any issues on resort please go speak to him. Honestly devastated to be leaving, can’t wait to return. Read less