Casa Palma Hotel — Hotel in Playa del Carmen

24-26/1/24 Room 11||||We three middle aged guys from London had booked a hotel online from Birmingham where we were flying from to Cancun. We were intending to stay a couple of nights.||||On arriving the hotel found that our booking was 'cancelled'* so recommended we stay in an unlisted unreviewed hotel out of the centre. Finding it on Gglmps it was next to a sex shop. Luckily we had not paid as the system is to pay on arrival in cash...||||*The receptionist said that our credit card could not be verified (csv incorrect) so the booking was 'cancelled'! This has happened before with Bkg.c and an email has arrived to tell us... unfortunately we were on the flight, Cancun Airport was busy and chaotic with no functioning wifi or SIM shops. The roaming charges are exorbitant. Oh well.||||Using the hotel's internet I looked up TA to find this place a ten minute walk away. We were desperate, laden with our carry on small rucksacks and it was hot & humid! Gglmaps showed it was on the busy road but we were desperate for a budget place. We reserved it immediately.||||We walked down the Ave 10 to find it quite easily and on entering the friendly male receptionist found our booking and took our 1800mex$ for the two nights. He then locked up his office and took us to the room on the first floor.||||It was a reasonable size, firm double and single bed with clean sheets.||||A large fan controlled from the bedside blew our spare notes around. A small led tv was mounted above the single bed as was a mirror and fold out table. The single bed was freestanding in effect with to the pilllow by a ledge under a clothes rack. The only (120v) electric socket was above to the foot of the bed, (not very convenient) so our multiUSB plug called in handy for most of our devices. ||||A window onto the corridor had a curtain over it and intact mosquito netting. Another mirror was between it and the door.||||The shower room was clean and bright with a netted high up window to 'balcony'. A proper toilet and sink (but no plug or overmirror lightbulb - I bring my own for budget travelling!). The room had a lined bin for the loo paper. Signs instructed users not to put anything (other than our waste) down the toilet!||||The small balcony had a chair in it overlooking an unkempt 'garden' with a large tree in it. It was quiet though except for some building work next door which is innevitable nowadays in Playa. An electric socket did not work unfortunately so one less useful socket to charge devices. A ceiling light worked though. The door onto the balcony has an intact mosquito net as the windows to the outside did not.||||Overall there were not quite enough surfaces, hooks or ways to dry washed clothes for three people. A washing/drying line in the balcony would help. I 'repaired' the dropdown shelf over the single bed so it functioned for devices to be left to be charged on. The traditional two flatpin sockets were flimsy as usual and our adapters struggled to keep in so charging failed at times...grrrr. The British solid three pin earthed plug is so much more secure and solid albeit bigger and heavier! ||||Our first night was peaceful as we are set off the road away from noisy motorcycles, car stereos and lorries. We were exhausted though after the flight, getting there and the trauma of the 'cancelled' booking! It was 05:00 London time when we hit the sack!||||The beds were comfortable and we did not need the sheet provided as it was so hot even with the fan on.||||Up the road into the mainland the main banks were present, the best and cheapest ATM was Inbursa ten minutes walk away and worth the $mex 20.4 per transaction if you can understand the misleading instructions! ||||Local taco places were generally cheaper and popular with locals.||||The beach was only five minutes down the main road to the ferry. The locals' narrow beach is through the pier (past Senor Frogs) to the south.||||In the morning we got up early, showers were hot early but tepid later it was 26degC anyway at 07:30! On return mind from the beach at 19:30 the water was hot.||||The cracked sink has a wobbly but functioning tap and the pressure was just enough to jet out a razor. A bar of soap was supplied which was useful for the rest of the holiday we hoped!||||During our stay the wi-fi and internet was patchy and overall slow but enough to do the basics, including updates, TA reviews and gglmp searches. ||||On our first day there was no water after 10:30 which was unexpected so the toilet was left unflushed. It was back on again when we returned from lunch.||||Overall the stay was fine...

24-26/1/24 Room 11||||We three middle aged guys from London had booked a hotel online from Birmingham where we were flying from to Cancun. We were intending to stay a couple of nights.||||On arriving the hotel found that our booking was 'cancelled'* so recommended we stay in an unlisted unreviewed hotel out of the centre. Finding it on Gglmps it was next to a sex shop. Luckily we had not paid as the system is to pay on arrival in cash...||||*The receptionist said that our credit card could not be verified (csv incorrect) so the booking was 'cancelled'! This has happened before with Bkg.c and an email has arrived to tell us... unfortunately we were on the flight, Cancun Airport was busy and chaotic with no functioning wifi or SIM shops. The roaming charges are exorbitant. Oh well.||||Using the hotel's internet I looked up TA to find this place a ten minute walk away. We were desperate, laden with our carry on small rucksacks and it was hot & humid! Gglmaps showed it was on the busy road but we were desperate for a budget place. We reserved it immediately.||||We walked down the Ave 10 to find it quite easily and on entering the friendly male receptionist found our booking and took our 1800mex$ for the two nights. He then locked up his office and took us to the room on the first floor.||||It was a reasonable size, firm double and single bed with clean sheets.||||A large fan controlled from the bedside blew our spare notes around. A small led tv was mounted above the single bed as was a mirror and fold out table. The single bed was freestanding in effect with to the pilllow by a ledge under a clothes rack. The only (120v) electric socket was above to the foot of the bed, (not very convenient) so our multiUSB plug called in handy for most of our devices. ||||A window onto the corridor had a curtain over it and intact mosquito netting. Another mirror was between it and the door.||||The shower room was clean and bright with a netted high up window to 'balcony'. A proper toilet and sink (but no plug or overmirror lightbulb - I bring my own for budget travelling!). The room had a lined bin for the loo paper. Signs instructed users not to put anything (other than our waste) down the toilet!||||The small balcony had a chair in it overlooking an unkempt 'garden' with a large tree in it. It was quiet though except for some building work next door which is innevitable nowadays in Playa. An electric socket did not work unfortunately so one less useful socket to charge devices. A ceiling light worked though. The door onto the balcony has an intact mosquito net as the windows to the outside did not.||||Overall there were not quite enough surfaces, hooks or ways to dry washed clothes for three people. A washing/drying line in the balcony would help. I 'repaired' the dropdown shelf over the single bed so it functioned for devices to be left to be charged on. The traditional two flatpin sockets were flimsy as usual and our adapters struggled to keep in so charging failed at times...grrrr. The British solid three pin earthed plug is so much more secure and solid albeit bigger and heavier! ||||Our first night was peaceful as we are set off the road away from noisy motorcycles, car stereos and lorries. We were exhausted though after the flight, getting there and the trauma of the 'cancelled' booking! It was 05:00 London time when we hit the sack!||||The beds were comfortable and we did not need the sheet provided as it was so hot even with the fan on.||||Up the road into the mainland the main banks were present, the best and cheapest ATM was Inbursa ten minutes walk away and worth the $mex 20.4 per transaction if you can understand the misleading instructions! ||||Local taco places were generally cheaper and popular with locals.||||The beach was only five minutes down the main road to the ferry. The locals' narrow beach is through the pier (past Senor Frogs) to the south.||||In the morning we got up early, showers were hot early but tepid later it was 26degC anyway at 07:30! On return mind from the beach at 19:30 the water was hot.||||The cracked sink has a wobbly but functioning tap and the pressure was just enough to jet out a razor. A bar of soap was supplied which was useful for the rest of the holiday we hoped!||||During our stay the wi-fi and internet was patchy and overall slow but enough to do the basics, including updates, TA reviews and gglmp searches. ||||On our first day there was no water after 10:30 which was unexpected so the toilet was left unflushed. It was back on again when we returned from lunch.||||Overall the stay was fine...

The staff and owner were extremely rude and bad when it comes to customer service. We had a problem with our payment because their pos didn't work ( ah yes, the WiFi doesn't work in there indeed! ). Our bank took the payment however they insisted they didn't receive the money. We checked the issue with our bank and they confirmed to us that the money was "pending action" (accept or decline) with the hotel and they couldn't withdraw it. Thus we asked the owner to check as well with her bank to verify where the money was seating before proceeding with another payment, to avoid paying twice. Her response was "It's not my problem but yours, I am not going to contact my bank. I don't have the money and you must leave if you don't pay again".

We left. Very, very bad experience! It wasn't hard to handle it, we just needed them to verify the status of this payment with their bank!

If you go there make sure to pay cash and try to avoid any issue they won't help...