The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences

On the whole, we had a really good stay, with plenty of positives, but definitely a few areas for improvement:

• We had a 2 bedroom penthouse suite - my partner and I in the main bedroom, two teenage boys in the 2nd bedroom with two king beds and then teenage girl on the double sofa bed. More than enough space for all us, plenty of room to chill out and lots of storage space. There was a serious lack of coat hangers, but we requested some from our 'ambassador' and these were dropped off at the room within the hour.

• The room was well stocked with beverages - water, soft drinks and beer (we were on the all inclusive package) and these were re-stocked every day. The room was impeccably cleaned, so a big shout out to the cleaning staff. We did have a couple of issues - once when the 2nd bedroom hadn't been cleaned and once when the full suite hadn't been cleaned. Clearly just an oversight, and whilst frustrating at the time, a quick whatsapp for the former and visit to reception for the latter led to the room being immediately cleaned. When the suite hadn't been cleaned it all, it was 6pm when we noticed, having returned from a day trip to Chichen Itza, but someone was at the room within 15 minutes of us reporting it to sort it out - great service in dealing with an issue.

• The penthouse had a fantastic outdoor space, but was lacking any shade/umbrella/parasol. It made sitting outside during daylight hours nigh on impossible for this pale Yorkshireman!

• Staff are incredibly friendly and our two ambassadors went out of their way to help. Appreciate that they are there to sell tour packages as well as support you during your stay, but never felt pressured to buy anything and any requests were promptly deal with (thank you Alejandro and Aldo).

• Food was good and we had no issue with restaurant availability, except one evening when unable to get into the Thai restaurant. We do like to eat early-ish (6-7pm), so whilst other reviewers have made reference to having issues getting seated, we didn't. At the Italian restaurant, if you are willing to sit outside (which is actually covered, and very pleasant early evening), then you are likely to get seated quicker. We preferred to have breakfast in the Brasserie rather than the Buffet (Flavours), same food, but a much more chilled atmosphere. If there was an improvement that could be made, would have liked a couple more options for dinner (or lunch if not from Yorkshire!). Seemed to be limited to Hot Dogs, Burgers or Pizza. Ate once at Lizzards, which was nice, but limited menu.

• The Saturday BBQ, hosted near the beach, was fantastic.

• Drinks were plentiful (thank you all-inclusive!), and measures were generous. Branded drinks were available, whether that was Jimador tequila, Jonnie Walker whisky ... never struggled to choose something to drink. The resort would absolutely benefit from having drinks menu's though, there weren't any to be seen (except for Premium wine in the restaurants).

• There's plenty of pools to choose from, but as other reviewers have stated, the hotel suffers with people reserving sunbeds early and then going AWOL for hours. It's incredibly frustrating and selfish. The hotel says that they have a 15 minute policy - if beds are 'reserved', but not used, then towels and belongings will be removed... but this was never, ever applied in the 2 weeks we were there. You would see 3-4 sunbeds 'reserved' with a couple of towels and a book and stay like that all morning/afternoon. This is a societal problem, but hotels need to sort this out as it immediately provides negativity on a holiday. We resisted the urge to be one of those families to do the same, but it was very tempting! (if you can't beat them, why shouldn't we join them?).

• The beach was pretty much a no-go, but tbh, we knew that before we went. The seaweed issue all along the coastline is a problem and the look and smell is an instant turn-off. We did get sunbeds on the beach (near the main pool) a few times which was fine. Had we been looking for a 'beach holiday', we wouldn't have booked the Mexico coast.

• There is entertainment every night in the Plaza, which was mixed. There were some great nights and some not so great nights. It's definitely each to their own as to whether you would like it ... the kids enjoyed it (Mexican night, Silent disco, Karaoke), but it wasn't really for me.

• Kids loved the mini jungle, cenote and wildlife within the resort - coati's, turtles, monkeys and iguanas.

• The shop on site is criminally expensive. If you need suncream, or an urge for a packet of crisps, chocolate bar etc, I suggest a short walk to the Oxxo shop (approx 10-15 mins)

On the whole, I would recommend the resort. If they can sort out the issue with the sun loungers, food at dinner (lunch) time and provide some shade on the top floor of the penthouse suite's, it's a 5 star resort.

We have stayed at Azul The Fives four times — in 2018, 2019, 2024, and most recently in August 2026. Unfortunately, each visit has felt like a decline from the previous one, but we still had generally good experiences and continued coming back. After this trip, however, we will never return and would absolutely not recommend this resort. The difference in quality compared to our previous stays was honestly shocking.

From the moment we arrived, there were problems. Our room didn’t even have basic toiletries like shampoo or body wash, and we had to complain three separate times just to get them. The mirrors and walls in the room had noticeable black stains, and the overall cleanliness and upkeep were nowhere near what we remembered from previous visits.

The food situation was probably the worst part of the entire trip. Half of the restaurants seemed to be closed, leaving guests with almost no options, especially during lunchtime. By around 7:30 PM, many of the restaurants that were actually open were already at capacity. One night, we waited two hours just to be seated, and another night we waited an hour and a half. When we finally went to the buffet for dinner on another occasion, there weren’t even plates available for a while. It genuinely felt like the resort could not accommodate the number of guests staying there.

The quality of the food itself has also diminished substantially. The food was consistently disappointing, and the desserts were genuinely some of the worst we’ve ever tasted. The empanadas served on the beach tasted like they had been sitting frozen for weeks.

And room service was HORRIBLE. The food tasted like cheap frozen food that had simply been reheated, and I genuinely don’t understand how the quality could be that bad at a resort like this. What makes it even more ridiculous is the new $9 room service charge every single time you order. When we stayed here in 2018 and 2019, room service was included. In 2024, they introduced a $4 charge. Now, in 2026, it is $9 per order — while somehow the actual quality of the food has gotten significantly worse. Increasing the charge from free, to $4, to $9 while serving food that tastes frozen and barely edible is honestly crazy, especially at an all-inclusive resort.

There were problems outside of the food as well. The power went out several times, the Wi-Fi was horrible throughout the entire trip, elevators frequently didn’t work, and the beach was not well maintained. These aren’t minor inconveniences when they are happening repeatedly throughout your stay.

What makes this especially disappointing is that we know what this resort used to be like. We came back four times for a reason. Our experiences in 2018 and 2019 were completely different, and even in 2024, despite noticing some decline, we still enjoyed ourselves enough to return. August 2026 was by far the worst experience we have ever had here.

For the amount of money guests are paying to stay at an all-inclusive resort, having barely any food options available, waiting up to two hours for dinner, paying additional fees for terrible room service, dealing with poorly maintained rooms and facilities, and receiving food of this quality is unacceptable.

Sadly, this was our fourth and final visit to Azul The Fives. The resort has completely diminished in quality, and after this experience, I would never return or recommend it to anyone.

So this hotel was recommended by my best friend who had been here the year before so had high hopes

I mean it's not cheap right? you save all year for what of course is more than your average week in the sun in Majorca

We booked a penthouse suite for 4 people.....so a double bed, and a sofa bed....how on any dimension did they expect 2 children to fit on that I have absolutely no idea!!!!

Mattress was about as thick as the sheet on top of it...

They then provided us with another bed alongside it

Positives- loads of exotic animals roaming freely, staff were amazing, ice cream and smoothie parlour and I would say the beach food was the best I had had for snack food....

So heres the thing....

It is advertised as having 14 restaurants.....I have no idea how they do the maths...I am thinking they count the lunch time burger bar as one, the lunchtime pizza bar as one and so on and so on....

In my world they are not restaurants...

But the main plot twist is....we discovered they were closing for 2 weeks early september....no notice on this just word of mouth...

so essentially when people were leaving not being replaced....so then in summary this means out of the blue they started closing restaurants...

we arrived to 4 evening restaurants only which by the end of our visit was down to 3!!

It might well be their end of season but certainly not mine!

Flavours the main one with the buffet food was out and out right rank....after our first visit we vowed we would never go back.....not a problem as they closed that one anyway

So with the 3 remaining there was no booking system......queues out the door, and you were placed in a virtual queue....with around 9 families infront of you....so you would be looking at a 2 hour wait......

a 2 hour wait to eat on holiday?????

and then you are just stuck in this cycle of the same 3 restaurants....the only saving grace is the food was fantastic.

Now my sticking point is my youngest is a type 1 diabetic so this doesn't work for us...he needs to eat

and when I spoke to the head of catering...his response.....get room service for him ...and then us 3 eat later??? and he watches us eat???? you go figure?? as if he doesn't feel excluded enough with a hidden disability!

I would never go back to this place......everyone and I mean everyone was complaining...and all the manager could do is point at the TUI website and say it does mention is low season certain restaurants may close......but how do we know when that is??/ if they wrote mid August some restaurants may close then perhaps you would avoid then???