El Dorado Casitas Royale

To be upfront, I have been an Exotic Travelers member for the past 15+ years. I have seen the membership and the resort go through A LOT of changes. In my opinion, not too the better. From arrival to my departure I had nothing but issues with Staff from check in service for members, concierges, butlers, and sales personnel. Check in was a state helter-skelter. Exotic Staff were requiring members to sign an itinerary of activity page noting a $100 charge if the member did not attend the signed for event. Members were required to check in for the event even though there were no check in areas for the events. I wont go into all the issues I was confronted with over 10 days but it was tiring and frustrating. It seemed like every day there was something new. My well needed vacation turned into the worst vacation at this resort. I left with a sour taste in my mouth for the resort. It appears the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. So much miscommunication , if any, between departments to correct VERY MINOR at times issues. Rooms are definitely showing their age. It appears that the supposed renovations do NOT include The Casitas. The stairway's top rail at 27 literally fell apart from rot in my hand almost causing me to fall to the ground. I would like to say all the bellman were excellent. Most of the wait staff were good. Concierge and butler service needs improvement. I would like to give a thank you to Marilyn who I believe is a Housekeeping Supervisor. She was VERY HELPFUL. I was last at the resort 2 years ago and I must say the food has definitely gone down hill. Some of my favorite dishes at the resort are no longer great. My least favorite restaurant this last trip was Rincon. I couldn't even eat the meal. I know this is my opinion, but I know how this resort has been in the past and how it is now. Will I return, probably, but with great apprehension. I would rate this holiday a 3.5/10.

As a former fan of El Dorado Royale and Casitas, this was my third visit to the property, having last stayed here in 2023. Sadly, the strict attention to detail that used to define this resort is completely gone, and the property is suffering from noticeable neglect.

On the positive side, the food at most of the restaurants was still good, but not quite as good as I remember, and the service and attitude of the staff was still above average for an all-inclusive in Mexico.

Unfortunately, the buildings and landscaping feel increasingly dated and ignored. Most of the iconic thatched roofs are in serious disrepair. During a rainstorm, the roof at the Guacamaya Bar leaked so severely that they had to shut down the evening entertainment show early. Compounding the sense of neglect was the sargassum (seaweed) on the beach. It was incredibly bad in both appearance and smell, and unlike my past experiences here, the resort was doing almost nothing to combat it. It was obvious the property was running at about 10% to 20% capacity at most, despite the staff claiming they were at 50%. Seeing it operate like a ghost town makes sense given how much the quality has dropped.

Furthermore, as a member of the Prestige Travelers Club for several years, an "update" meeting was triggered by the club's recent split from Exotic Travelers, which removed this property for us to receive our usual VIP member benefits when visiting (we were only told this upon arrival). Because of this corporate breakup, both parties have lost half of their respective resort portfolios, severely diminishing the value of the original membership, and sadly, the pitch to buy into Exotic to patch the gap was entirely unappealing, and we declined.

Adding insult to injury, to get us to fill out a survey after sitting through the nearly 4-hour sales pitch, which had been billed as a 60-minute update, they handed us a faded black and white printed $100 certificate in "Exotic" cash. The sales representative explicitly told us to just charge our resort shop purchases to our room and present the voucher at checkout for credit.

However, when we went to check out, the front desk flatly refused to honor it, claiming it had to be presented at the point of sale. We waited for nearly 30 minutes while they made some calls but did absolutely nothing to fix the situation. We finally just had to give up and pay the bill in order to catch our transportation to the airport. Apparently this is a somewhat common tactic: the sales team knowingly lied and gave us "money" counting on the fact that guests checking out have a flight to catch and will just pay the bill. For me, it's less about the $100 than the deceptive tactics. I know, I should know better.

Between the structural decay, the uncleaned beaches, and the dishonest, predatory marketing tactics, El Dorado Casitas has lost its charm. We will not be returning.

Visited w/ my gf and my sister and her home girl. We had a great time… No complaints except the one night when it rained a lot, the room did flood in the casitas.. but service is great, alcohol choices are great, and the food overall was very good. It was an all-inclusive, so not everything is perfect, but will definitely be back. The rooms at the casitas are very nice, the one night wasn’t gonna ruin our whole trip.