Playacar Palace® All Inclusive Resort — Hotel in Playa del Carmen

We have just returned from an AMAZING experience at the Playacar Palace hotel - everything about it was exceptional!

Hotel Room: large room with great air conditioning which was greatly needed for relief from the hot weather. In the room, there is a large jacuzzi bath which was positioned by the balcony overlooking the beach. The bed was huge and really comfortable! We had a great minibar with bar large bottles of spirits and branded soft drinks which were replenished daily. The cleaning staff did a great job at tidying our room and making it comfortable for our return. Room also had bluetooth speakers in which were great to listen to music whilst getting ready.

Room service: this was the best room service i’ve ever experienced! We booked lots of early excursions, which often meant ordering room service for 5am. Great selection of freshly prepared juices, hot pastries and very delicious foods. Also ordered hot food at 4am in the morning after visiting cocobongo (much needed).

Bar/drinks: amazing selection of drinks. Each bar/lounge has its own drinks menu with loads of different cocktails to try. If drink you want not on there, all the staff are happy to make/research it. The staff are so attentive that they’re often collecting your next order before you’ve even finished the drinks - the lady who was serving us on the beach kept checking on us every 15-30 minutes whilst we were sunbathing meaning we didn’t even have to get up!

Food/restaurant: the food is brilliant! Best all inclusive i’ve experienced. There is a large buffet restaurant where the food is different daily. The quality is definitely more superior than your standard buffet as can be seen from the pictures. In addition to this, there are a selection of great restaurants- we particularly liked the Italian which is a little more formal. Live pianist and fresh food made to order. One guest with us was a vegetarian and the staff would go out of their way to make sure the chefs made fresh dishes specific to his needs. The quality of food was unbelievable - fresh steaks, fish, scallops, chicken, duck.. you name it!

Staff: this was the biggest highlight. We were made to fee special - they quickly learn your face and name and greet you personally in a way that you feel they are your friends. The staff are so attentive with great English and are well trained with waiting skills, knowledge of the foods and wines. Every member of staff walls past you and either smiles or says hello - it really makes you feel at home.

Spa: gorgeous spa facilities. You have to book and at first thought it was a pain, but could see why they do this. When you book in for your treatment, it’s so that it is timed so you have the spa to yourselves just before your treatment. Super clean, calming and relaxing. It has a huge jet/hydro pool, heated beds, sauna, jacuzzi and sauna. Couples massage was great and you can use the resorts credits! Bonus! I was badly sunburnt and the lovely lady used a special aloe vera blend instead which was thoughtful!

Beach/location: the location is perfect. Minutes away from the lively location of 5th Avenue, yet tucked away and quiet enough to not feel like you’re in the hustle. The beach is pretty nice but like with most of the area/Cancun, it is suffering from lots of seaweed. Nevertheless, each morning a team of around 10 staff members are out there picking up all the seaweed off beach to make it clean and presentable - great work!

Gym/entertainment: gym was great - fresh, cold bottles of water. A good range of equipment and fruits, towels and chlorophyll water. The entertainment was great - each night there was a live musical performance and then a ‘show’ - fire acts, acrobats - all sorts! Check the pictures!

Overall, i would HIGHLY recommend this hotel. For someone who would normally not like all-inclusive as I often like to get out and experience the local food, there really is no need in this hotel as there is plenty to choose from and all the food is of high standard. The staff with make you feel like you are their important...

My family stayed here over Christmas. We had 13 people. I wanted to like this place so badly, but the resort was underwhelming. To be fair, I had very high expectations based on other places I’ve stayed and it just fell short. (BEWARE the online photos of the resort are photoshopped!)

I will start with the positives. The service was great. Staff were kind and attentive. They remembered names and were quick to check on you once you sat down at the pool or beach. They are doing the best they can with what they’ve got. No complaints there.

Secondly, the food was good. The food at the buffet was hit or miss, but I was pleasantly surprised with most of it. Everyone enjoyed all of the restaurants. However, it was difficult to get reservations for a group of our size. We did have a few nights where several members of our party had upset stomachs from food, but we didn’t have a bad meal.

The rooms were just fine. The hotel is just a bit tired. Expect everything to be humid and damp and smell of mildew. My partner and I both slipped and fell on the floor from condensation. I brought a hair wrap towel from home with me and it was taken by the housekeeping and I never got it back. Several obnoxious things: the motion sensor lights in the closet come on in the middle of the night even with the door closed. There’s also blinking lights all over the room to the point that it felt like sleeping on an airport landing pad. We went to Walmart on the second day of our trip to buy tape to cover the lights. Beds were pretty comfortable. Water pressure wasn’t great but overall rooms were fine.

The pools were okay. Nothing to write home about. The shallow pool closest to the beach was cold, so we avoided it. The main pool was a better temperature, but the ocean is warmer. They won’t let you order food unless you are seated at a table outside the pool area, which is rather frustrating. I think I was most disappointed by the beach. While the sand is soft, the beach is very eroded and the waves come up to the sea wall in some areas. I suppose you need to prioritize what is most important to you. If beach or things to do is a top priority, like it was for me, this is not the place for you. If proximity to town and shopping is a priority, maybe you would feel differently. It’s right next to a big ferry drop off spot which means there’s constantly big boats going by and hundreds of people walking up right along your beach area. It does not feel like a private beach area. There are no cabanas available to rent and very limited chairs and space to lay out. Because of this, part of my group was harassed by a very rude and racist couple on the beach to the point that we left because they wanted our chairs. I’m sure at one point the beach was beautiful, but over the years it’s withered away. I worry about the future of the resort over the next few years if the erosion continues. My group enjoyed our time at the spa. Pedicures were good, massages were okay. But overall, there is not a lot to do besides the pool.

Aesthetics of the place were disappointing. There’s honestly zero wow factors. There was a lot of unutilized space. For example, the big open half circle area above the pool (photo attached) was empty. It blows my mind that this is not used as an outdoor lounge with chairs and fire pits. There is no other option for outdoor seating besides pool chairs or dinner tables. Made me sad that it was wasted. There were lots of areas that needed touch ups. They are in a saltwater environment so I know maintenance is difficult and constant, but it was kind of distracting.

To sum it all up, this place is not a necessarily a cheap resort, but sometimes it felt like it. The service and food were the highlights. But, would I stay here again? No. There are so many great options in the Cancún area, and this one just didn’t suit our needs or expectations. We still had a good Christmas, and with enough alcohol and excursions you can make any vacation fun. But unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend this place and I don’t anticipate them making...

We stayed at Playacar Palace in mid July. The transportation picked us up from the airport and everything went seamless. We were supposed to have a shared ride but it ended up being private. Upon arrival we were greeted and our luggage was handled. We love the room with marble on the floors and walls. The bed was very comfortable. We booked a partial ocean view and at check-in they tried to get us to upgrade for an additional charge but we declined and we could still see the ocean from our balcony. The worst part of the stay was the seaweed on the beach but we knew it was seaweed season when we booked. They would clean the beach but the water was still really gross. They did offer to move us to a property without seaweed but we declined. We loved all of the restaurants and did not have a bad meal while we were there. One part of the stay that we did not really enjoy was the sales membership pitch. We scheduled our sales pitch but they had to reschedule but they gave us $150 palace bucks which was nice. They offered day passes to the Grand Moon Palace with transportation provided, which is the only reason we agreed. The first woman that started the meeting was really nice and we loved conversing with her. When we told her we weren't interested she called her manager over. When we told him we weren't interested he then called his manager. Finally after an hour and a half we tell the last guy that we are not interested and he tells us to go downstairs to pick up our day passes. We are walking to the elevator and he sends some guy to chase us down and keep trying to sell us as we are riding the elevator down. He keeps us for another 15 minutes trying to sell us some great deal and we declined the forth person. Honestly it was exhausting and not my idea of a relaxing vacation when they keep us longer than the agreed time and this is after they changed our time to a later time. If I ever come back to a Palace property I will decline the sales presentation unless we are actually in a position to buy. We ran into a problem with the transportation for the Grand. The person who booked the transportation never booked our return trip, stranding us at the Grand. Guest services at the Grand were not much help at all. They just called a number and handed me a phone and said I need to talk to these people. After waiting on hold for 30 minutes and several phone transfers later that said I just need to pay for a taxi out of pocket and get reimbursed. We did pay for the taxi and we did get reimbursed in cash the next day at Playacar Palace. I thought it was really unprofessional and I feel like they didn't really care that they stranded us. It was quite an inconvenience and we regret even going to the Grand and attending the sales presentation. We were able to see Spider monkeys from our room which we were not expecting. The entrance to the outdoor mall and 5th avenue was super close and was very convenient. The ferry to Cozumel is right next door and an incredible convenience. We took the ferry to Cozumel and went snorkeling there. Crystal clear water with no seaweed in Cozumel. We visited the Cozumel Palace after snorkeling and they actually provide a complementary room for an hour so you can get showered up and changed. This is such an incredible thing that they do for Palace guests and made our day in Cozumel very enjoyable. Restaurants are also included if you are a visiting Palace guest. Cozumel Palace was also recently renovated and it is absolutely beautiful. We prefer Cozumel Palace over the Grand. Also we asked for a complimentary room while at the Grand and they said it was not available at the Grand. Overall it is a great property. I advise not going in the middle of summer due to heat and humidity as well as seaweed season. I would also recommend not doing the sales presentation unless you might actually buy. (They try to sell us again at check-out) It was really stressful and day passes to the Grand are not worth it. We can't wait to come back to Mexico! Thanks for the great stay...