Sandos Select Club

I have visited this resort many times and have always had a wonderful time. The property is large and jungle like. The grounds are clean and well maintained. There are a lot of wild animals to see- for example, peacocks, racoons, monkeys and cats etc. The monkeys visit the Select Pool on a daily basis. The food. and drinks at all of the resturants and bars are delicious. This is our "home away from home". The Select Area is for adults but there are lots for families to do eleswhere- for example, Kids Club and Aqua Park. [Details]

All round a good experance [Details]

Great location, great beaches. Way too much push to up grade to the Royal Elite Club, would not leave us alone. No up graded beverages in the premium club bar. No Canadian whiskey any where. The resort has down graded in the past two years. Very little Mexican theme entertainment. Would not return here. [Details]

The location is superb. The hotel is situated in forest like gardens with it's own cenotes. Very close to Playa del Carmen and has enough space for everyone and every interest. If you have kids, they will have great time here. If you are a couple and stay in Select Club section you'll have a quiet, wonderful pool surrounded by trees. But although the beach is nice the sea is not swimmable because of the rocks everywhere. And if you have a sensitive nose stay away from this place since the big cenote has an awful smelling that surrounds the main buffet. The buffet restaurant is such a dark, boring, school canteen like place you feel like going back when you enter it, yet the other restaurants don't count as a solution since other than the Brazilian the food they serve is so bland and tasteless that you end up eating at the buffet. The second 'so so' choice of restaurant is the Argentinian. Stay away from the Mediterranean. Oriental was the worst, but it was about to change location and move to it's new building so maybe the change in the menu and tastes will follow. And it's a pity that although they have a Mexican buffet, they don't have a good restaurant that resembles the rich, regional cuisines of Mexico. [Details]

Second time at this resort. Enjoyed the new Kid Club location and ping ping tables at the far end way better. Good move there. Select Club still very nice. [Details]

I can only say this was a lovely resort.The staff were friendly and helpful.The grounds were always being tended,I rarely seen garbage anywhere.The rooms were clean and everything worked.You could always find something to eat 24 hours a day.The resort is very large so if you enjoy walking as I do you will do alot of it.You can call for a cart to come and pick you up to take you to the beach, if you do not like to walk.The beach is not the best I've seen ,but nice.I would recommend this resort to anyone.For the price, it was well worth it.It is also worth the extra cost of upgrading to the select club section it includes alot of extras like mini bar,fridge stocked daily,access to private pool,private area on the beach and other extras. [Details]

I can't write enough good things about this trip and this amazing resort. We travelled Thomas Cook Airlines and I was surprised with the ample leg room, friendly service and, a hot meal. This is refreshing due to the new "no frills" service with our airlines today. Although we did not pay an additional fee for seat selection, Thomas Cook takes the effort to keep group travellers together, which is another added bonus.

Now to the resort. I travelled with five other adults, two of them being 18 year olds. Needless to say, there was something for all of us. Although we did not have children, this is the place to bring them, as they have so much to offer such as a water park, an enclosed play area/jungle jim stuff. The resort also had two "new release" movies playing each night in the Sports Bar at 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

The resort was lovely and well manicured "breath taking" like most resorts. This is the ninth all inclusive resort I have been to and the staff at this resort were the happiest I have met. I also over heard a woman serving drinks on the beach telling a gentlemen that this resort treats their staff very well. This is good news to my ears because I believe that all people should be treated well. I certainly like to spend my money at a resort that respects not only their patrons, but all of their staff. I visited a 5 star resort in Punta Cana and I quickly noticed that the staff were the unhappiest people I ever met. This did not sit well with me. Needless to say, I would never return to a resort under this name.

The only negative comment I have is that the staff at the lobby are obviously trained to say key phrases to guests that placate for the moment. This continued for me and my husband for the entire week. My entire group booked the Select Club and at the time of checking in, we learned that the resort was over booked. My husband and I were down graded, and the young gentlemen checking us in tried to deny it. This is the first I ever heard of people being down graded to the most basic, the resort has to offer. Finally, by midnight of the our last night before returning home, we received our complimentary alcohol that was a "welcome gift" of the Sandos Select Club. My husband and I had to pressure various staff members, every single day, to receive the "welcome gift." We never received our bathrobes to use for our trip though. I don't drink; however, it was the principle and being shrugged off started to get to me. At checkin time, I asked when I could be placed close to my 18 year old daughter's room. I was advised that I could return in two days. Needless to say, I went to my Sunquest Rep the following morning and my Rep got me a new room, in the Select area, that day. The room was immaculately clean and new, which I like. We had a great big shower with lots of hot water. The marble floors added a nice touch to the ambience. Although the down grade experience was frustrating, everything else at this resort made up for it.

The food was excellent and high quality. There is less selection at the buffets than other resorts I have visited, but again, the quality in the meat made up for smaller overall selection. We went to two al a cartes, which were the Brazilian and the Oriental. The Oriental was fabulous. All of us loved the food at this restaurant. We were freezing with the air conditioning,but thoroughly enjoyed the food. The curry chicken was delectable. The chicken had a butter like texture. Needless to say I ate the whole plate. Every meat dish that I had, was the same. I am not much of a meat eater, but I had more than my share during this holiday.

The entertainment was excellent, the drinks were refreshing - we did miss the straws though. I love my coffee and found the best coffee to be first thing in the morning at the buffet. Also, the lobby and Select Club on the beach make an amazing Mocha coffee, which is like a cafe late with chocolate drizzled on the bottom. This is listed on their drink menu - try it.

The pools and beach. The pools are lovely; however, the beach is about a 2 out of 10. There's a lot of rocks in the water and we wore water shoes. It cannot compare to other resorts I have been to. I stayed at Playcar area last year and the beaches there are a piece of heaven.

I have a lot more to say, but do not want to bore you. Overall, I highly recommend this resort. It was particularly nice having the animals around. We never had time to do the nature trails, or see the Cenote on the resort. There is still much more to see and do on this resort and with the excursions, which is why we want to return next year, and stay for 10 - 14 days. This is by far, the best trip I have had to date. The Riu Tequila in Playcar is a runner up. Oh, by the way, we liked the beds and the lumpy pillows are great. I wanted to bring one home. Enjoy and what I have learned is that your trip will be what ever you make of it. We have to take the good with the bad. These resorts really try their best to please us. I have never been to a 5 star resort in Canada or the U.S, so my ratings are coming from a completely subjective place with the reference being my heart and spirit with a touch of humility. [Details]

We were in the Select club area of the resort. The rooms are identical to the other rooms on the resort, the Select Club upgrades are the welcome fruit platter & bottles of alcohol..nice gesture. It also includes the select club area at the beach with its own bar & snack area and the upstairs area with 3 computers & internet for free use, pool tables and a wifi area if you have your own laptop. We were also able to book our 3 a-la-cartes very easily at the Select Club desk. The select club also had its own pool area with snack bar, we enjoyed lunch there on 2 occasions, it is a sit down lunch and you order from the menu. the fajitas were great. You can also exchange your towels at this pool so you don't have to go down to the main pool..all nice extras.
We were very happy with this resort, it had 3 buffets, the international which is the largest buffet and the Italian and the Mexican. We visited the Italian and the international, both very good. Although the food selection wasn't as large as where we went last year (Riu Tequilla), I felt the food tasted better over all. The beach is nice however, the water is rocky in areas when you go in. You can either take water shoes, solves the problem, or go down a little ways in either direction and can go in without the water shoes.
We liked the rooms, spacious and clean. The bathroom was big and had the shower area separate so 2 people can use the b.r. at one time. We were on the 1st floor and our room did smell a little musty, but you are in a country with high humidity. I bring the sponge 'odour absorbers' which you can buy at Canadian Tire and leave one in the closet area and one in the room and this helped a lot.
The only 'down side' for some of our group was the lobby area. Other resorts we've been to all had large opulent lobbies where we spent time hanging out. This lobby was small, somewhat plain lobby with a small bar area. No music or much happening overall. We did make our own fun though, we played some dice games while enjoying cafe mocha's, cafe lattes and drinks in the bar / lobby area.
Overall we were very pleased with the resort and would recommend it and go back again. We're already planning for next year. Oh yes..we had two 18 yr olds with us who found enough to keep them busy, they met other young people and although at first didn't like it as much as the Riu Tequilla, decided it was better than the RT and want to go back again next year. [Details]

We enjoyed our time there was lots to see and do our room thou was very far away and by the end of the day my legs were killing me! The food was good lots if different resturants. I was super dissapointed with the kids club zero supervision [Details]

Stayed here about 3 years ago and brought some friends due to the fact you could go where the action is or sit back and relax in other areas. Wasn't impressed with the "Lazy Pool" being converted to a water park for kids. Great for the families. Food was good as expected, entertainment was mixed as usual. Experienced Playa Del Carmen's 5th Avenue at night and had a great time with some of the bar entertainment. Some of the resorts may want to take in some live music and book them in the all-inclusives. [Details]

We have stayed at this resort four times now, and each year we see more changes, some not for the best. While the food selection four years ago was outstanding, it is simply good now. That might not be a detriment to someone coming for the first time. The biggest complaint we had was the accessibility to the restaurants. In previous years we never had to wait to go into a restaurant. This year we almost always had to wait in a line-up, sometime for ten minutes or more. We would be told by a staff person positioned outside the restaurant that it was full, but when we finally got in, only half the tables were occupied. The problem appears to be that they have reduced their wait staff, and cannot clear and reset tables quickly enough to accommodate diners. The overall impression is that like so many other businesses they are trying run more "efficiently", i.e., getting by with fewer people on the payroll. [Details]

This hotel could be much better, if they change the management. Reception is very unorganized, it took us 2 hours to check in. Requests are not being regarded. As soon as you start complaining about something, they pretend not to understand you. service at the restaurants is slow, and the same thing if you are not happy about something, all of a sudden they don't understand you anymore.
This resort is great for the kids and the natural surrounding is really great. [Details]

They made a couple of changes this year and it was a bit hard to get oriented around the new stuff... Otherwise, the beaches were fantastic (including the select club bar) and the wildlife is unparalleled on sea land and air, even though this is our second year that we have not seen a toucan -.-" Great resort. I recommend it. [Details]

Good experience at hotel as this was our first time at an all inclusive. Staff were excellent, friendly, courteous and hard working. Food was good and well prepared with lots of selection. The only downside was they only served two kinds of beer (draft). [Details]

Some construction going on during our stay but you could barely hear it. Our travel agent *did not point* out that the main pool was closed and there are no sea views for the Select Club, in fact there are about 5 pool view rooms in Select Club. Because of the renovations going on and the main pool being closed reception was sending regular paying customers to the select club pool which is rather annoying since we pay more to get exclusive services, other than this glitch, the trip was fabulous. Loved every minute of it. If you have kids under the age of 12, they have a fabulous pool for them. [Details]

We really enjoyed the Hotel...The food was excellent. The staff were very friendly and they couldn't do enough for you. The Hotel was very spotless and the beach was clean.
We would recommend this hotel to anybody [Details]

We were not told that the hotel was under renovation. Not all restaurants were open because of this. It was quite a long walk to the beach, and hard to get a golf cart...we called twice and had to bring our luggage by hand to check out to avoid missing our bus.The food was ok, and the staff really tried their hardest to make our stay a good one with what they had... [Details]

Great hotel - lots to do - way to many people on spring break who were drunk and abnoxious - management did not do enough to address problems created by this. Main pool was to small. [Details]

This was a good value resort... [Details]

We decided to choose this vacation spot as we were on more of a budget this year. We will NEVER compromise on the resort again.
This was our 8th trip to Mexico (3rd to the Mayan Riveria).
The overall layout of the resort was nice, very natural. However the dated and small rooms as well as the horrible food at the buffet and open air eating areas just couldn't make up for the beautiful surroundings.
We had to rush through our meals because we were sweating so much (and we LOVE being in the heat). An air conditioned buffet is essential for enjoyment, especially when you factor in mosquitos.
The alacartes were quite good, but again open air with the exeption of the asian.
The girls at the kids club were spectacular. I can't way enough wonderful things about them. The new aquapark as well went over really great with the kids.
Overall, I would say if you are travelling on a budget this is a good choice. However, I would recommend spending the extra money and staying somewhere else if you want to truly enjoy every second of your vacation. [Details]

beautiful location and arhitecture.Not bad but the hotel is very old !Beautiful beach ,large and white sand but they drop in to the blue ocean some "HUGE CONCRETE SALAMIS" look bad and very hard to pass if you want to go in wather deeper than 2 feet.Very good food special on the ITALIAN BUFET which was full all the time.The ORIENTAL a la carte very good to.The others so so..
The rooms old but VERY CLEAN.I will go back on Maya Riv. today but not at the same hotel.:):) [Details]

Fantastic vacation. We went with our five and four year olds and it was everything we expected. Super service, excellent choice of great foods, wonderful grounds. We would definitely go back. [Details]

Over all very good [Details]

good location,close to Playa del Carmen.Taxi cost 10 dol one way.Excellent excursions to Tulum and Chichen Itza.Staff great,helpful and very nice. Eccology resort,quiet but if you want activity there is plenty to do.I was surprise that you did not have to have reservations to some of a la carte restaurants.Great resort! [Details]

first time in mexico for us, so nothing there to compare to.Older resort but very clean and organized. again the staff made it all worth while. the restaurants were o.k. but we like spicy so we had to do it ourselves. the piano bar rocked every night ( well for us older rockers ). the main entertainment was pretty good too! lots of pool space...but those man made sand bars really took away from the natural beauty of the beach ( too slimey to get around them ). great for small children tho...alot of shallow water for them.
always something going on if you like to stay busy. lots of forest around but very few bites. 10 minutes and a 100 pesos gets you to Playa del Carmen ( worth it...bus too long )must do 5th ave shopping takes all afternoon and thats where you ll hear...almost free senor!~. the ruins are an all day thing...prepare for lots of walking. the last day we had a couple of personal items go missing from the luggage room, but once the staff was notified they literally sprang to action and recovered the items almost immediately and apprehended the person responsible (it was not a staff member! ) we were blown away with this...kudos to Darwin and his staff [Details]

Great quality resort for the price! Would recommend for families. Large water park for kids and kids club. Great food at A-la-cartes and buffets! Always service with a smile! [Details]

We liked the hotel and its low profile. Our room was away from the entertainment area. The enhanced package gave us access to a quieter beach area which also suited us well. It was a relaxing holiday, which was what we were after. [Details]

A great holiday resort with excellent food. [Details]

This hotel was wonderful! Plenty to do and very friendly staff. The rooms were clean and everything was in working condition. Animal life was everywere from turtles, peacocks, crabs, lizards and kittens! Food was another hit! The 24hr food areas were great and always had variety! I would absolutly visit again! [Details]

Not a bad facility. Long way in the inclusive club to go to the internet area for lap tops. Alacart was pretty good. Main restaurant was average food wise but effort was made to make you feel welcome. I got sick here on two different trips from something I ate, but then that's me. Others in my party were OK but we all ate different things. Would not go back to this resort [Details]