Hotel Playa La Media Luna — Hotel in Isla Mujeres

Allow me to preface this with we stayed in Isla Mujeres for the first time in December 2017. We stayed at the Bahia Chac Chi just moments from the Ferry Terminal. What a fantastic hotel, staff and experience. Playa de Media Luna was nothing like this. We stumbled upon Playa la Media Luna as we walked along the north shore beach towards Playa Norte. We waited and watched to see if an ocean front room would become available in our time period. Eventually one did and I booked at a C$700 premium over the Bahia Chac Chi. However this looked like an upgrade, a better hotel…. and reality bites as alas this was not the case.

Our room was not ready till past 3pm. We were placed in Room 7. What a disappointment. The room was recessed way back, as far back as it could be and we had 4 balconies to our left and 2 to our right that were obstructing our view before we saw the beach, the ocean. We asked for a room upgrade and were told nothing was available. Fact. Disappointing.

Wi-Fi was available only in the lobby. Not in the rooms. This was tough to deal with. When one went to the lobby you had every other guest fighting for Wi-Fi access. The network was super slow as the bandwidth was stretched. A simple upgrade of repeaters to bounce and boost the signal down the hallways would mean we could all access WiFi in our rooms; at our convenience.

Generally the staff spoke little English. For a vacation destination this was surprising and disappointing.

This privately owned hotel has family and staff living there too and they come with an abundance of kids, cats and dogs. Occasionally they would let the dogs free from the room unsupervised and a certain pug would lift it's leg and urinate on the furniture in the upper lobby. Not something we would have expected.

It rained so much that we were confined to our cramped quarters and had to revert to watching TV. We found 1 channel, channel 63 that showed English movies in the evening and channel 72 that sometimes showed English Discovery Channels older episodes. Limited was the option. Back to Dec 2017 were Bahia Chac Chi showed an abundance of English language TV.

We tipped the room service daily and generously and were generally well pleased. We did however return without our Serengeti shades and wonder when they disappeared from the room. Never noticed until our return and they were not left in the room.

We loved Isla Mujeres so much that we returned in less than 14 months, The love affair I am afraid is over. Playa la Media Luna ruined that and we will not return to this special island. There is more to experience, more to see and fall in love with, Nice Island, the 2nd hotel sucked; big time; but hey ho...

Starting with the good.. the view is fabulous! There are 3 pools (1 is hidden) and a beach that you basically have to yourself! You can’t swim in it as it’s very rough waves and rocky but there are little pools of water that form around the rocks that you can wade in and see little fish. It is very close to Playa Norte and Hidalgo Street which I liked. The beds were very comfortable best pillows I’ve had at a resort. The bad..we reserved The room with a Discover card (over a month in advance) that we planned on paying with, only to be told they don’t take Discover once we arrived so we had to put it on our Debit/Credit Visa card. You’ve had our card, a quick phone call or email and we would’ve been prepared for $800 coming out of our main checking account! Then they require a $200 deposit for room issues but don't take “debit” cards so there went $200 of our cash we had to pay as all we brought were Visa and Discover. Figured 2 major credit cards was fine! Then we rented a golf cart from the front desk, we paid about $50 more than anyone else on the island! They just called an island rental for us (not the hotels own carts). Told we could pay cash or Visa only to be told later by a different front desk person that it HAD to be cash! You get 2 beach towels and was told you can change them out anytime however every time we went to change them out, they were always being washed. Very frustrating. The hotel is very dated but that’s to be expected on a island and unless you talked to staff, nobody went out of their way to say hello. |In all it was fine but make sure wherever you go on the island you make sure what form of payment they take. And bring tons of cash! A few other minor issues but nothing huge. It’s great for the price at the end of the day just wish we were told about all the forms of payments expected since they DID accept our Discover for the...

I have wanted to stay here for years as the location seemed so quiet yet so close to all the action and North beach. First off the good things. Our room was basic but super clean! And our patio overlooking the pool and amazing ocean view was fantastic. Housekeeping was great and never disappointed us. They seemed to run out of bedspreads half way thru our week long stay and we ended up with an old brown blanket for a bed covering for the last half of the week. Our door had a large gap under it so I used a towel in the floor to stop any creepy crawlies from coming to visit.|Air conditioner, fridge, coffee pot and shower all worked great and the water pressure was fantastic.|Why I won’t return had nothing to do with the room and everything to do with the ambiance. The staff (excluding housekeeping) seem bothered that you are even there. I have never felt more unwelcome as I did with the staff of this hotel. Not a welcome, or a hello, heck even when we checked out not a thank you or hope you come again. Everywhere else on the island people are friendly but not at this front desk. The ‘continental breakfast’ does not exist, the room now seems to be used by staff as a lunch room (although there is a coffee urn you can use) .|The outdoor areas show major signs of neglect. The wooden walkways and stairs to the rooms remain unswept. The walkway to the beautiful pool included a hole with an old piece of plywood over it and an abandoned mattress leaning against the wall. The outdoor bar is rotten and the wood veneer is peeling. Such little things BUT it certainly would be easy to fix. I wait all year for my visit to this lovely island but felt like an unwanted guest...