Martina Beach Club — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

Overall a great experience but the waiters insistence on a above 20 percent tip really left a sour taste at the end. They have great drinks and the location is great. Amazing spot to lay back with a drink and watch the day go by stress free. I don’t have any negative comments from the facility or location but instead of our waiter. This waiter was great at the beginning and we didn’t make any out of the norm request. We were relaxed and were there for about 2 hours. Once we were ready to pay, which would only be the tip since they did charge us the minimum consumption at the beginning, the waiter immediately came with a white paper and card terminal and then explained the minimum tip would be: 18 percent for bad service/ 20 percent for good service and 25 percent for great service. He was being really pushy and when I explained to him that I had lived in Mexico city and knew that 10 percent was standard he insulted by saying “ this is not Mexico city here we only accept above 18 percent. My kids were there and did not feel comfortable the way he was speaking to me. I decided to tip him 20 percent to not argue and just head on with our day. He actually charged an additional 35 pesos than what was agreed. I confronted the waiter about the overcharge and he apologized and said if it was a big deal he would pay out of his own money. This really had me boiling as I know these waiters get a salary and tips are extra money in Mexico. I should have reported this with management but all I wanted to do was get away from the situation before I would go off on the waiter. If any one from management wants to get back to me regarding this incident just reply to this review with the information...

I was really disappointed by this beach club. They wanna seem like an exclusive, posh beach club, but they aren’t. I went there because I got vouchers for “free” beach chairs. Once you get there, they tell you that depending on where you wanna sit, there is different “minimal consumption” depending on where you wanna be (first two rows were 500 pesos, after that 300 pesos per person). Of course when you look at the menu, prices are really high (even for a place like playa del carmen). They put so many beach chairs everywhere, it is completely full. So no privacy. Nothing exclusive there. Several points which made me upset: they act like it’s so exclusive to go to the beach, but it’s just a public beach, other people are using the beach just for free in front of you. you’re not even allowed to have a water bottle with you if you don’t pay extra, you are not allowed to use the pool. This was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. Of course they don’t tell you when you enter. The pool area was completely empty when I was there, and since the sea had quite an unpleasant smell, I didn’t want to swim there, but wanted to make use of the pool. I wasn’t even in the water yet, there was staff coming to me, telling me I cannot use it, because I didn’t pay for it. I’m already supporting this beach club with my money (otherwise I couldn’t even enter, right?), so then I’m not even allowed to take a dip into the empty swimming pool? Thanks for nothing. Never...

As others have mentioned, the price is a bit steep. And, ultimately, our experience was poor. We were one of the first to arrive and had our choice of chairs at the front near the beach. As the day progressed and more people came though, it became clear the chairs were far too close together as, as soon as a neighbour opened their umbrella, it immediately covered the chair next to them in shade as well. We tried to shift our chairs to get out of the shade when someone sat next to us and immediately put up their umbrella but were told by staff we were unable to move them. When we tried to explain, we were told that we could move elsewhere. As there were no other chairs in the front row, this seemed a bit unfair as we had been there first. In response to this, the staff proceeded to move our possessions off the side tables and put them in to the sand (without asking) to try and shuffle our chairs together once the tables were removed. Not only were the chairs still in the shade, but we then had some very sandy drinks and clothing.

We ultimately moved chairs but had this happen several times and ended up having to be separated from each other if we wanted to lay in the sun. Sadly, it ended up feeling that once the club have your money the chair + minimum spend, they didn’t care about your experience.

My suggestion would be to skip this club, bring your own drinks, and join the sun bathers two feet in front of the front row on the beach and...