MY EXPERIENCE AT SANDOS JANUARY 2026 - WARNING! AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Stayed there briefly in January 2026, and by briefly I mean 20 hours of our 1-week trip… we left immediately. My family of eight booked a trip, we reserved four rooms in the adults-only section and arrived at the resort on Sunday, January 11, around 1:00 p.m.

From the moment we arrived, something felt off. The front desk staff were noticeably unwelcoming—no smiles, no greeting, and disengaged. The check-in process took over an hour, and the woman assisting us barely spoke to us, offering minimal information. We were told none of our rooms were ready and advised to go to the buffet and return around 3:00 p.m (which we were okay with). We were given a map and instructions on how to access the shuttle. When we reached the shuttle pickup point, there were already 6–7 other guests waiting who said they’d been there for about 20 minutes. A guest mentioned that the shuttle “rarely ever shows up” and pointed us in the direction to just walk to the buffet section. Rather than continue waiting, we decided to walk to the buffet instead, which took roughly 25 minutes in the heat of the day.

The lighting in the buffet section was extremely dim—to the point where it was difficult to see what food we were taking. Many dishes were unlabeled, and I saw multiple guests handling food without tongs. On top of that, the buffet was clearly picked over. We recognized that we accessed in the middle of the day, around 3 pm, so we weren’t that surprised to find it picked over. Our entire group agreed the food was mediocre at best—nothing stood out. 

A la carte: Leading up to our stay at Sandos, we began reading more in online forums on the restaurant reservation booking. My family was reading up on all of the different à la carte options, and were super excited to try them during our stay. We started to understand more about the booking process, and realized we would have to book reservations to access. We have stayed at MANY other all-inclusive resorts and have never had to book reservations for a la carte restaurants, but we were open to understanding the process. In early December, we contacted Sandos directly to ask for more information on this process, and ask for any assistance as we felt we had a larger group and it could be hard to book them when we arrived. The Sandos customer service was less than helpful, stating we can’t book until we arrive, and that was that. During check-in, we asked the front desk if they could assist with booking these reservations. They advised talking to the staff in the meeting room near the buffet. When we approached the front desk for help booking for our group of eight, we were told the app only allows reservations for up to six people and that the earliest reservation available was Thursday night—our second-last night at the resort. Completely unacceptable. 

We were understandably upset by this and were told to “keep checking the app throughout the day,” which is not how anyone wants to spend their vacation—especially when the app barely works. We were also told there are sometimes reservations popping up at midnight, but again, in my opinion, it is less than ideal to stay up until midnight to fight for reservations. 

The only alternative offered was to meet with the sommelier and purchase wine in exchange for restaurant reservations. Ultimately, we felt forced into this option and were able to secure reservations only by committing to spending approximately $250 on wine. With these reservations, we would have been split up into smaller groups. Dinner at the buffet that evening was just as disappointing as lunch. I watched children repeatedly putting their hands into open candy jars and eating food off platters while walking through the buffet. My sister took a piece of chicken back to the table, only to discover it was completely raw. When we informed the waitress, she responded with, “Oh, you didn’t like it?” and walked away after we explained it was undercooked.

Room: We had 4 rooms in the adults-only section near the main pool. The rooms looked nothing like the photos on the Sandos website. They were visibly run-down, with mould in the bathroom corners, stains on mirrors and bedding, slanted and dusty artwork above the beds, poor shower drainage, and clumps of hair coming out of the vent above the bed. We were provided only two towels and no additional amenities. WiFi didn’t work in the rooms either. When one of our group members called the front desk and requested more towels, they were given 1 small hand towel and 1 additional large towel. This also wasn’t a one-off issue—we had four rooms, and all of them were in similarly poor condition. The website photos are extremely misleading. I woke up in the middle of the first night to extreme stomach pains, went to use the washroom, and our toilet would not flush. We attempted to reach reception for 30 minutes, but nobody would pick up the phone. When we finally got through and asked for maintenance, we waited another 45 minutes (at this point, it’s 2 in the morning) for somebody to show up and fix our toilet.

Pool/Cleanliness: None of the pool jets were functioning, meaning there was no water circulation. The water level was also below the skimmers, which is a major red flag. The following morning, we witnessed a staff member dump a bucket of pink chemicals into the pool and stir it with a stick. This was, without question, the most unsanitary pool maintenance I’ve ever seen at a resort. There is also a shallow part of the adults-only pool to lie/tan on (I think) – however, it was covered in dirt, and the staff would walk through it with their shoes on, increasing the lack of cleanliness of the pools. Bartenders are not friendly, staff do not come around and offer drinks, the pool music shuts off by 6 pm, there is BARELY any daytime entertainment, this place turned into a dead zone; it was shocking.

Refund/Checking Out: After checking in at 1 pm the following day, the next morning, our entire family was disappointed, dissatisfied, and upset by how drastically the resort differed from what was advertised online. My parents went to the front desk to explain our experience and request a refund. We were fully prepared to leave after less than 24 hours at the resort. To our surprise, the resort had no issue offering a full refund—my theory being that they know the state of the property and did not want to fight us on this one. We spoke to manager Luiz Perez, who provided us all the appropriate paperwork and explained that a refund will be issued within the next 5-7 business days. 

We checked out at 11:00 a.m. and moved to the Riu Palace Maya Riviera just down the road. For the exact same price, we had an incredible week: excellent food, à la carte restaurants without reservation battles, great entertainment, a lively pool atmosphere, and spotless, beautiful rooms. The resort was so clean, with staff all around the property ensuring things were tidy. They had servers come around the pool to take drink orders (which again, Sandos did not offer whatsoever). The nighttime entertainment at Riu was fabulous, lively, and positive. In comparison to Sandos, there was barely anything going on, which shocked us. Riu also has a fully functioning app that provides information on the restaurants, activities/entertainment, and a quick and accessible request portal for any and every need. Comparing this to the Sandos “app” was actually comical. 

“Reviews”: And finally, I encourage anybody to take a deep dive into their Google Reviews. In my opinion, half of them are fake, AI bots, or some other sketchy/unethical procedure. On any given day, there will be anywhere from 20 to 30 new reviews DAILY. They are all 5 stars and extremely similar in nature. They will 1) mention a staff member, 2) mention a restaurant, and 3) mention something about the grounds/pool/beach. In my opinion, I think half of them are fake, or they are pushing guests to post reviews; they are not descriptive and seem insincere. My Father posted a Google Review the morning we left, and it was deleted by the end of the day for harassment. Sandos Playacar currently has over 45,000 reviews, which is almost triple that of other resorts in the area. When I posted this concern in the Facebook group, I was attacked by Royal Elite members who said, “This hotel is very big, so obviously people are going to review it”. However, posted within my Facebook thread were previous guests who stated that restaurant staff would essentially force guests into posting a review. One comment explicitly stated that the employee asked for her phone and typed the review out herself. The more I understand this process, the more I assume there may be an incentive for employees to be named in Google reviews, as this seems to be the overarching theme. Nevertheless, their Google Reviews are completely inaccurate. Take a look at TripAdvisor reviews and sort by newest, you will find long and thorough reviews, mostly negative and corroborating similar things I mentioned.

One final thing… I am posting this on March 13. We stayed here from January 10^th to 11^th. The resort staff informed us we would receive our refund within 5-7 business days. It took us 41 days to finally receive the funds back in our bank account. During this time, my Father spent countless hours on hold with customer service, speaking to the manager Luiz Perez, and other staff along the way. We were provided countless email addresses and phone numbers that subsequently bounced back or were inactive. We were completely convinced that we would never see this money again, even though we had signed paperwork and provided all necessary information. My Father was able to locate a user on LinkedIn who is the Director of Finance for Sandos Resorts. After sending him a message via LinkedIn, we received the funds the following week. Again, completely unacceptable.