The Reef Coco Beach Resort & Spa — Hotel in Playa del Carmen

Starting at airport, bombarded with taxi solicitors because the private transfer paid for through the resort was not even there. We had to wait for him for 20 mins & didn’t once speak to us. At resort we were welcomed by a “travel vacation club” worker named Delia that showed hospitality greeting us at the arrival bus, taking us to the checkin desk, bringing drinks acting like she was “our friend.” In the end she wasted a whole day of our short 2 full day stay. At check-in they said we had to pay extra for top shelf liquor such as the known brands & if we wanted to eat at the hibachi we had to upgrade for $35 a person.I paid for the all-inclusive package so a little confused there was ANOTHER upgrade.We chose not to upgrade.Back to Delia, she started by telling us she can give the best discount for excursions.We were interested in the whale-shark or sea turtle adventure.She immediately downplayed it “You’re not guaranteed to see a turtle” “You’re not going to see a whale-shark” “I’ll give you free Japanese restaurant meal, massage on beach and cenote with shopping mall” I said “we don’t want to shop” she says we didn’t have to.While waiting hours for our room to be ready (we arrived at 11,they don’t let you check in until 3 & they mean that) she had plenty of time to con us.We agreed to accept her “freebies” BUT we had to have breakfast WITH HER and listen to HER presentation.i wasn’t interested so I was going to just tip her off & send her away cause she said she made $10 commission for signing us up. That went south.She says breakfast at 830 the next day, I said no 9, she said okay. Blew up the room phone by calling starting at 830. She called repeatedly until who knows how long cause we met her downstairs at 9.She immediately asked if we had our credit card.She took us to the table with someone else who then asked to see 2 credit cards,I said I only had one & they both talked loud and made an ugly face saying “you said you had 2!”so I dug in my phone to find one on my app.She then passed us on to a guy that we had to listen to at breakfast for 45 mins THEN took us to the upstairs to a scam room.These people are selling vacation club memberships for $40k-90k.We declined several times.He walked us to our room and never seen him again.Delia acted like we didn’t exist after that.Matter of fact, the only workers at this resort that were friendly was the buffet hostess & lobby worker named Victor.The room smelled like sewage and sulfur, beds were hard as a rock, pillows overstuffed with foam peanuts, one washcloth for several guest.At the bar, asked for a cup of water & were told no they are closed for another 20 mins. We weren’t asking for a mixed drink people.It was hot and we were thirsty. After the first night, the waiters @ buffet weren’t attentive as they were the first day.The only place to eat is the buffet or snack bar.Both had disgusting food.Alcoholic drinks were horrible, like sweet n low water.Burgers were more than likely soy. The hotdog was an oversized Vienna sausage. Couldn’t eat at the restaurants cause they all needed reservations & only took 6 people at a time. The free hibachi we got for listening to the scam, used fajita beef, glad we didn’t pay for that. No night life such as a bar or club. No entertainment other than 9-10pm. Back to the excursion with the free offer, we went to book it they said we have to do the shopping and tequila tasting & 20 mins at the cenote, the scammer lied again. We ended up booking our own 3 cenotes adventure. Excursions leave at 9am.the first full day was wasted having breakfast & presentations with them people. We booked our massages, glad we didn’t pay $135 for that. An incident at the elevator with my husband was offensive, he was waiting at the elevator with 2 women and a young child & a worker came & put his arm up in front of my husband after the women & child got on the elevator letting it close & then walked off. They scheduled our private transfer 6 hours before departure.There was nothing impressive that would ever make us want to go back to...

I stayed here with my 3 kids - Full board/package ! We quickly gave up on the following...: the remote control for the TV not working (we were not there to watch TV) The air conditioning was freezing whatever the temperature (we decided to sleep with the window open and not use the AC and it was fine) Eating in the restaurants (It was always full and the buffet met our needs so no big deal) Tap in the Bathroom which was going from right to left (the water was still coming out so no big deal).

Yes, for a +20 hour trip & for the thousands of dollars I paid for this trip, I would have hoped for better... but honestly, it did not spoil our stay... We were in holiday mode :)

The people working at the pool, beach, restaurants, cleaning, bar are all very friendly and helpful.... BUT... and this is my main point : "the people at the reception are a TOTAL DISATER" and for this reason only, I will never set foot in this hotel again.

Upon our arrival after travelling 20+ hours (door to door), the only thing we were told when getting hour keys, we would have to pay 25 dollars if lost a towel + that we would have to pay a tax the day we leave...

I went to reception 3 times during my stay ad I was always treated as if I was bothering them.

The day before I left, I asked if they had had any news for getting to the airport the next day. Their reply was: It's not through the hotel, we can't help you. I then asked if they could call the number, I got the same reply. For info - The trip was via a travel agency and the number to call was in Canucun.

That same evening, the kids and I were not feeling well... I called reception to ask if they had coke because we weren't feeling well.... I hadn't even finished my sentence, they replied "You have to pay extra costs"... and it led to nothing. (We all had a food poisoning for having had something to eat outside of the hotel)

Later that evening, I and the kids were feeling even worse than before. I called the reception and asked yet again for help... Coke and/or water. This time, I was told I had to go the the pool/beach bar. I then replied but we are all throwing up, I am alone with my 3 kids. I asked if he couldn't ask a colleague or someone to help/bring some coke. The reply was: "sorry, I cannot help". I then said: "I can't believe it; thank you very much". This person then replied: "you're welcome" and hung up. This time, I did ask for his name: "Enrique".

Although, I only got one name, I can guarantee you that all the people at reception were unhelpful, not friendly and all they were happy to help with was when I showed my credit card.

I don't care if you are 1 star or 10 star hotel, I am just talking as one human being to another, you should be ashamed of how we were treated. We did not even get a drop of water/coke... or anything in spite of me asking for help and explaining the situation.

To whomever reads this, I am not interested in any reply, especially not: "Dear sir, thank you for message and we are sorry bladdie blah".... Forget it but just SORT your reception out - It's a TOTAL DISATER how you treat people. I can tell you that other clients think the same but they won't take the time to write a feedback. It's a real shame because it spoilt the whole experience as the rest was fine +++.

Yes, you could just ignore this as you could not give a "monkey" about it. You are full, your rooms are used.... so frankly why would you care !

Do what you want with this message but I'm telling you people who work at reception either have it or they don't.... and your guys don't ! You don't learn to be helpful, welcoming, professional...

On a final note, I'd like to say that you have excellent members of staff, 2 of them in charge of the seating at the buffet restaurant. One man with glasses (in the evenings) and another lady in the mornings. These 2 people are FANTASTIC, straight to the point, professional, helpful and welcoming. Give them a pay rise, give them a promotion and put them at reception (or...

One of the worst hotels I have ever stayed at for many reasons let me explain why.

When you first arrive the hotel cannot do enough for you, taking your luggage to your room welcome drinks.. we arrived late so they asked us to come back in the morning for our welcome tour.

Our welcome tour started well they gave us some 2 for 1 coupons for excursions and a free trip to Tulum.. well that’s what we thought the welcome tour is a sales push for you to buy time shares for there company and when you don’t.. the whole hotel turns on you.

Premium wristbands are not worth the money as the barman only gives you the cheap all inclusive drinks and you have to beg for the premium brands.

The mini bar in your room includes two coronas a day… £300 extra pound for 2 coronas a day. Simply not worth it at all.

The food.. The buffet is absolutely disgusting, never hot only lukewarm and everything saturated in salt. The al a carte restaurants.. the Mexican & Italian are so so understaffed you wait almost in hour before being served drinks there.. the Japanese is different tended to every moment you are there that is one part I cannot fault. The snack bar again is awful always served reheated food and waiting times are a joke.

The staff.. are so rude! A lot of them refused to speak English which is a massive problem. I met 3 good staff members there Pedro who runs both al a carte restaurants he always served us with a smile and went above and beyond, Boris who runs entertainment actually is one staff member who gets to know you and helps you with your stay.. and ramon one of the barmen who did everything you asked including giving you premium drinks when you asked.

The rooms are really dated and the beds are like sleeping on bricks, the walls are paper thin and you can hear almost everything a lot of building works going on at the hotel so very noisy.

The evening entertainment is very boring and only lasts 40 minutes.. the sports bar is completely pointless with it opening at 6pm in the evening most of the sports events are finished so you do not get to watch them.

Moving back to the 2 for 1 tours they give you when they try and sell you timeshares for £15,000. The first tour we booked was a swim with the dolphins.. they claimed we had booked a swim with the dolphins and they gave us a $50 dollar off coupon.. when we arrived the operator explained we had only paid to pet a dolphin and we would have to pay $100 dollars more to swim.. which we did.

Next tour we did was the hotels free trip to tulum.. first you get taken to a jewellery store where the staff are so very pushy for you to purchase something, next was tequila tasting which again you get pushed into buying something, then the free trip to tulum we was dropped at tulum where we tried to enter the tulum ruins but what the hotel doesn’t explain is you need to pay to get into the national park because tulum ruins are in there so it isn’t a free trip at all.

Moving on to our 3rd and final tour booked with the hotel. A sunset cruise.. on the day the tour was booked the weather wasn’t great so we went to reception to ask if all was okay they explained the trip had been cancelled and they will rebook for the next day we asked for our money back but they claim we had to rebook.. next night was our last night and again cancelled so we went back to the travel shop owned by the hotel and the man claimed he would try and give us our money back!? Try.. when we wasn’t in the wrong at all the trip cancelled on us not the other way around. This tour came to €138 dollars but they could only refund us $88 as they claimed we used the $50 dollar coupon on this which was untrue, we had spent this on the dolphins so again the hotel scammed us.

I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to my worst enemy, they give you everything until you don’t want to be part of their timeshare and then they cast you out when you refuse.. this isn’t a 4 star hotel at all at best a 2 or 3. Do not book this hotel save your money and book...