Malish Hotel & SPA - Luxury Edition by MAO Hotels — Hotel in Playa del Carmen

Tldr: CONSTRUCTION ALL NIGHT AND HOTEL MANAGEMENT UNHELPFUL

Before providing a cautionary tale for anyone planning to stay here for the next 9-18 months (the date today is December 17, 2024), I’ll start with the good: a well constructed property (the rooms are nice and quite aesthetic), its located fairly centrally, and Maria Jesus (the cleaning staff) is incredibly kind.

Now for the cons: the first and most important thing (that you will not be warned about) is ongoing construction immediately adjacent to the property. There is only a single brick wall separating the property from a new major construction site, meaning you hear and FEEL the reverberations and constant noises of the construction crew. They were in the process of excavating a deep foundation while we were there, so things will be going for a long time, again I’d estimate 9-18 months. The crews shifts while we were there were 7am-5pm, AND THEN THEY START AGAIN FROM 10pm-5am!! We went and spoke with the crew and they plan to continue like this. Another review said that Maria was able to stop the construction crew working, but that review overlapped with our first night at Aalada and there were heavy rains throughout the night, so really it was more likely this rain which impeded work instead of Maria being able to do anything about it. The hotel owners said it is “outside of their control” to do anything and refused to provide us even a late check out. As a matter of fact, they charged us an additional $400MX (they tried to charge us 50% of a whole day at first) just for that late check out despite us being wide awake until the construction crew completed work at 5am. In a normal circumstance, we would understand charging for a late checkout. But given they knew of the construction prior to our arrival and did not warn us, and knew other guests had complained, a free late check out is not an egregious ask in our opinion. Particularly as a night of absolutely no sleep ruined our experience the next day. We even provided hourly updates throughout the night so the hotel knew we could not sleep and the construction was ongoing. We recorded noise of 70dB WITHIN OUR ROOM. Clearly the builders are going to continue this as there will be no repercussions for them. Police drove by and did nothing regarding the excessive noise level.

Additionally, while I was capturing footage of the construction through the night, a local waiter flagged me down and asked for the hotel owners info to get the outside camera footage because his motorcycle was stolen. So, clearly not a very safe area.

Until construction is complete, this property is practically uninhabitable given the nonstop noise. It’s a shame, without the poor management and the construction, I’m sure this would be a...

I had read the reviews beforehand and seen so many positive reviews saying how “quiet”, “peaceful” and “tranquil” the hotel is so I was very surprised by how noisy it turned out to be.

Now that I am back from my trip, reading reviews again I noticed mentions of the noise levels. There are other reviews talking about the music from the nearby bars and clubs (the very popular Coco Bongo is only a 2 min walk away). I wish I had seen those reviews beforehand. Like other reviews have mentioned, the hotel provide earplugs meaning they obviously know this to be the case. I am a very light sleeper and unfortunately the earplugs didn’t make much of a difference to me.

It’s a shame really, as everything else about the hotel is GREAT. It’s clean, the rooms are spacious with everything you could possibly need, including internet, Netflix and air conditioning. The design and styling of the whole place is on point - it’s very tastefully decorated. The location was convenient in that you can walk to many places. The pool area was gorgeous too - it was all really very fantastic. However unfortunately the constant bass and background music until 3am every night ruined it for me. Such a bummer. However if noise doesn’t bother your sleep or if you’re someone who plans to be out partying until 3am every night, this hotel will be perfect for you.

(Also, not as important, but personally I did miss having...

This place has a great location! If you are planning to do excursions frequently, this is the place for you. It is 3 minutes walk from Coco Bongo which is the most common pick up place for organised excursion. We were out pretty much every day all day and when we returned, we were very tired so having restaurants and bars at walking distance from the hotel was amazing. We never needed a taxi.

There is no service at the place. You feel pretty much on your own. Maria Jesus is the lady who cleans the room and she is amazing!! Very friendly, hard working and always available to help you. She doesn’t speak English so if you don’t speak Spanish you need Google translator. If you need assistance, it will be via a WhatsApp number. THERE IS NO RECEPTION.

During the night you can hear the music from the nearby clubs until 3-4 am so if you are not happy about it, this is not the right place for you. When you enter in the room, they actually give you ears plug. I read this on previews reviews but I thought it wasn’t a big deal. My husband didn’t like to hear the music so don’t ignore this 😛

I believe that it was too expensive for the quality of the rooms but overall we were happy.

It is a nice place for couples and for small group of friends. Very relaxing environment.

Everyone is expecting tips in Mexico so be prepared to spend a bit more...