The Fives Downtown Hotel - Curio Collection by Hilton — Hotel in Playa del Carmen

If you are a five star hotel regular, then I would highly recommend this hotel. What qualifies me to make this recommendation? The fact that this is a destination hotel. People actually pay for a day pass to come to the hotel.

When I arrived at The fives I was led into the reception area and up to the front desk. The first thing I was told is that the gentleman talking to me would be my personal concierge. I had no idea what that meant? Of course I had heard the word, but it’s definition………… ? He explained that he would be my “personal butler” for the duration of my stay. It turned out that a concierge is a very handy person to have at your fingertips. Or should I say at your beck and call through WhatsApp.

The Fives is a very well kept Hotel. Everything is polished all the windows are squeaky clean, and there is no smell whatsoever in terms of too much perfume or anything much for that matter. The room, as you will see in the pictures, are also very well kept and very well thought out.

Up on the roof is the gem of this wonderful Hotel. There is a rooftop Infiniti pool. Two actually. Overlooking the Caribbean ocean. There’s a five star restaurant up there named “ Lola” and a well stocked bar. There’s also a hot tub and a spa to top things off. This is the place people go when they buy a day pass to this hotel. There are plenty of loungers to sunbathe on and service is impeccable.

One of the more important things I wanted to touch on is the fact that, I realize no matter where you are things can go wrong, but it’s how they are handled that shows me the quality of the place I’m staying at.

For example, I had gone at this time of year so that I could attend “ The Fives” Super Bowl party. I won’t get into too many details, but let’s just say it fell well short of my expectations. Basically, they put out an itinerary of what was going to happen during the five hours of the game and they didn’t follow it. That threw a lot of us off because we were planning around that itinerary.

I was very disappointed and made a point of asking that the manager contact me. Which he did the next day. (Shout out to Otavio.)

Instead of just texting me, he wanted to meet in person and address my concerns. ( classy) When I expressed my disappointment at the Super Bowl party, he apologized and said they would make it right. It was over already, so I’m wasn’t sure how he was going “to make it right”. He offered me a free ticket to the Sunday brunch that was coming up on the roof. Not realizing just how big a deal that is, I was less than overwhelmed. I then told him that there were a couple things in the room that would need attention. He immediately wanted to come with me to the room and see them. I brought him to the room and showed him that the showerhead sprayed in a few different directions because it had some calcification on it and that the glass wall between the shower and the toilet area leaked water underneath. He asked if it was OK if he got people to work on that right away. Within 10 minutes, Maintainance was up there, removing the caulking and re-caulking it and housekeeping had cleaned the showerhead. As he stated “ they can’t address concerns if they don’t know about them”. Fair.

Being a holiday and kind of guy I just never thought anything of it until he was asking me if there was anything else he could help me with.

The bottom line is, things do go wrong no matter how nice the place is. It’s how they are addressed that makes it for me. I couldn’t believe how quickly these issues were taken care of. No delays. No “ we’ll get to it right away.” and then you don’t see

As stated at the beginning of this review, I would easily stay here again. Happily.

The Brunch on the roof is spectacular and well worth attending.It did make up for the Super Bowl.

Everything was not perfect, but they went out of their way to try to make it so and that’s all that matters to me. I’ve never stayed in such a luxurious place where you are the most important person to them. One could get used to...

Rudest and most unprofessional hotel we have ever had the displeasure of staying! It is a shame because the property is on the nicer end and well located. The front desk folks do not all speak English and we had to use google translate to discuss basic items like where is the nearest ATM – this might be presumptuous but this is an international chain Hilton. Customer service is not high on their list – everything we asked for was a flat no, no rooms near each other, no late check out, no, no no. We were left feeling that they were doing us a big favor to let us stay here. And they NEVER pick up the front desk hotel phone – it took 9 calls on 3 different occasions for them to pick up once – whatever you need to speak to them about, they do not want to hear it. Well located near the ferry and at the end of the main strip. There is no parking so it’s really difficult for taxi’s to drop off or pick up – there a small spot around the corner of the entrance. Upon arrival check in takes 20 minutes and this does not include wait time, it’s the actual time to check in (not exaggerating as we have photos with time stamps). The front desk guy had to explain every little detail about the hotel including a bunch of useless coupons to try to get you to spend more money at the hotel, even though it was 10pm at night and we were obviously tired. They asked if we wanted our minors to be permitted to have alcoholic drinks but told us that they could not get their own room keys – so the hotel wants to make money off selling liquor, but they’d prefer that minors pass out in the hallways after the hotel gets them drunk. Speaking of our rooms, we booked 2 rooms and did not give us rooms near each other – on different floors! The complimentary breakfast was quite good but there was no protein like bacon or sausage. We did wish they’d open earlier than 7am because if you have a full day activity with the standard 7am pick up, you are out of luck. The hot breakfast is on the better end – wait staff but otherwise a buffet with good scrambled eggs, pancakes, French toast, fresh fruit and roasted vegetables. Basket of breads brought to the table wasn’t great – the chocolate croissants were stale. The wait staff were nice enough. Despite the reviews, we felt the complimentary breakfast was good and were not dissatisfied. The highly boasted roof top pool bar/restaurant was ok. The rooftop pool has panoramic views and is fun to swim for a half an hour or so. It is open to the public and we did not feel that as hotel guests that we got priority. Getting a lounge chair is pure luck and the waiters are very aggressive about ordering drinks or food. At one end of the pool is a private section of the pool for a penthouse room. Now here comes the final insult – upon check out, we were hit $70 of unexpected fees (not room charges but fees) on top of over $1,300 for the 2 rooms. If they could improve their total lack of customer service and basic poor attitude we might consider staying here again as the property was pretty good. This is in stark contrast to the other half of our vacation stay at Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe All-Inclusive Resort where we were treated...

Review:|We’ve stayed at The Fives Downtown at least twice a year for the past five years. You’d think that level of loyalty might earn a bit of recognition, a familiar smile at check-in, or a note in the system that says, “Welcome back.” But every visit feels like the first—in the wrong way. The hotel has no memory of us. No record, no relationship, no awareness. It’s like shouting into the void with your wallet open.||And that’s a shame, because this place could be special. The rooftop is still visually stunning, the location ideal. But the disconnect between intention and execution has grown harder to ignore.||Arrival & First Impressions (3.3/5):|Check-in was polite but impersonal. As returning guests, we were met with the same transactional script we’ve heard every time. No “welcome back,” no “nice to see you again.” Just a room key and a sales pitch for a timeshare. The lobby is forgettable: dim lighting, stale scent, nothing to stir anticipation.||Room Quality & Detail:|The bed was comfortable this time—a noticeable improvement from a past visit where it sagged into a soft crater. But once again, practical issues ruined the vibe. Outlets were few and oddly placed. Lighting design was more about mood than function. There’s no good space to work, and storage felt like a design afterthought. It’s a room that photographs well but lives poorly.||Bathroom & Cleanliness (3/5):|Functional, not flawless. The kind of bathroom that looks clean until you catch the light on a smudged mirror or glance up at the dusty vents. Maintenance seems to be done on a surface level—just enough to get by.||Health & Clean Air (3.7/5):|Thankfully, the air was clean and fragrance-free. No overwhelming artificial scents or lingering humidity issues—just neutral, breathable space. A small but important win.||Food & Beverage (2.5/5):|This rooftop should be a highlight, but it’s undercut by inconsistency. Drinks varied wildly in quality. Some food came out cold. Service felt scattered. One night the bartender was brilliant, the next they didn’t know how to make a basic margarita. There’s no rhythm to it.||Beach Conditions:|The hotel isn’t beachfront, but the beach is just blocks away—and it’s hard to ignore. The once-beautiful shoreline is now choked with seagrass. It piles up in soggy, rotting mounds, making the water appear murky and uninviting. Walking the beach no longer feels like a reprieve. It feels like the ocean is sick and in need of a good doctor. This isn’t something the hotel controls—but it deeply affects the experience of staying in this part of Playa del Carmen.||Departure (1/5):|We left the way we arrived: unnoticed. Checkout was chaotic and indifferent. No offer to help with bags. No request for feedback. No goodbye. Just a printout, a plastic smile, and the subtle suggestion that it’s time to leave.||⸻||Final Thoughts:|The Fives Downtown has every opportunity to become a beloved favorite. And for five years, we’ve kept hoping it might get there. But the truth is, the hotel has no relationship with its guests—no memory, no nuance, no follow-through. We keep showing up. But they never...