サンドス プラヤカル ビーチ リゾート - オール インクルーシブ (プラヤ デル カルメン)

This is essentially an expensive scam to get you to buy into their members only royal elite program which they throw in your face whenever physically possible. If you do not have this membership, they absolutely do not care about you. Upon arriving to the hotel, the MOMENT we checked in, we were immediately ushered away to be shown a "map" of the place. Lie. It was a "concierge" who was attempting to schedule us on a tour of the Royal Elite hotel rooms and explain all their amenities to us. They called us EVERY MORNING AT 8:30AM asking if we wanted a tour of these areas. We told them no every time and kept asking them to stop calling. They did not. I called one week prior to our stay to make dinner reservations. I was told we would not need them and would be able to walk right in and sit down. I re-confirmed this during check in. Any time we tried to eat at a restaurant, they told us the tables were reserved for ROYAL ELITE MEMBERS, they had no tables, or it would be a 2 hour wait. They make sure to filter everyone to the disgusting general buffet. Furthermore, my room was directly facing a LOUD CONSTRUCTION SITE!! Nowhere did they say they were under construction. I was woken up by loud banging every morning and it lasted until 6pm every night. The front desk staff was absolutely useless and INCREDIBLY rude when we tried to approach them about all of the issues. They truly only care about the royal elite members. Everyone else is secondary trash to them.

Several restaurant options but not the best quality. Understaffed in every restaurant which meant long waits, food at the a la carte restaurant came out cold, and very hard to get an intimate experience(but suppose that is what to be expected in an all-inclusive). Some areas of the hotel closer to the beach (adult area only) were well maintained with nice gardens but the family area needs an update. Generally, we had a good time and enjoyed our stay. Several entertainment and options for the kids was nice to have but probably won't be repeating.

The food & drinks were less than impressive, out of all their restaurants the buffet was better than all of them that had table service. Rooms were bland and we had construction on either side of our room throughout the entirety of our trip.

Of course, the weather and ocean were amazing. However, the lay-out of this place is not convenient. It takes almost 10 minutes to walk from the rooms at the far end to the ocean. They have shuttles, but they come about every 15-20 minutes, so it doesn't make sense to wait unless you are exhausted. Forget something in your room? That's a 20 minute walk in the heat. Want to eat before 6 p.m. and return to room - 20 minutes walk in the heat. The food was average.

The property is well maintained. All the restaurants are buffets and were not very good at all! The suite we had was good and newly constructed. Huge hotel and there are a lot of people. The beach was not great.