TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Fantastic family holiday service is excellent in particular cafe Del Mar staff Roberto and Manuela very attentive and super super impressed by their attention to detail friendly smiling helpful all the time to cater for the kids Silvia at the pool was very attentive to all our needs Thankyou all at playacar for making this a memorable experience food was excellent clean atmosphere drinks choice wide variety and Roberto in the cafe Del Mar even taught us about the different spices he was always so attentive in making the kids the best morning healthiest fruit smoothies highly recommend

We just returned from a 7 day stay at Playacar Palace a few days ago. It is a small, clean, and well maintained resort. It property does need some work (outdated but well maintained) They have floors that become extremely slippery due to condensation in certain rooms. Be cautious if you are travelling with children. We ended up upgrading to a full oceanfront suite that suited our family. The beds are comfortable (even the roll out beds), rooms are clean and well refrigerators are well stocked. I didn't get know all the names of the staff but the staff here go out of their way to make sure that you have everything you need. The beach at this resort is small and with public access but nice white sand. Not really an issue for our family. The hard working staff at this resort are excellent for making the stay fantastic. From the bell hop staff, restaurant staff, lobby bar, poolside and entertainment deserve high accolades for their customer service skills and hospitality. Special thanks to Leticia at the lobby bar for her genuine service and Carlos at the pool. There are three main restaurants for families and one exclusively for Adults. All three restaurants Madremia, Momo, and Trattoria serve great experience and food. We had a great time and exceptional meal with Chef Jonathan at with the Teppanyaki experience at Momo. As well as the Madremia (food was amazing, great seafood choices), their wait staff do an amazing job explaining the menu and making recommendations. A shout out to our waiter Alfredo and other wait staff (didn't get all the names). The buffet restaurant Cafe del Mar had a variety of choice for breakfast and lunch. Sweet and Coffee is also a great place to cool off and get a varieties of coffee and pastries (again friendly staff). The app makes it easy to book restaurants, room service and see the schedule for the day. I can't remember all the names of the staff that work at this resort. But they are at the heart of making this resort a vacation destination. Thank-you to all the staff for making our vacation a wonderful experience!

I visited Playacar Palace for the first time this August for 5 nights with my husband and two of our children, ages 20 and 17. My husband and I have been to Mexico many times over the years and are long time Palace members, but we have always traveled without kids to adults only resorts, with Sun Palace and Le Blanc being favorites. We didn’t think that Playacar would be able to compare with these resorts, but we were wrong. Our stay was not perfect, but most of our issues were addressed quickly and with genuine concern, and we very much enjoyed our short stay here. As others have said, the staff is what makes this resort such a standout. From the moment we arrived, we felt welcomed and cared about. We had booked a standard partial ocean view, and about a week before check in I called to request a king and two rollaways instead of two doubles— with two adult children, there really wasn’t any way to make that work comfortably. Our request was noted on our reservation. When we arrived, it was explained to us that the room category we’d booked would be very tight with the two rollaways, so we were offered an upgrade to an oceanfront for a small fee, and we were even able to see both rooms before making a decision. In the end, our friend at the front desk was absolutely correct, and we decided to upgrade to the larger room which was spacious and comfortable with a beautiful view. The resort itself is intimate and very easy to navigate, but with enough space for meandering and exploring. We enjoyed finding the small open courtyard and all of the lovely water features throughout the property. The spa was excellent, and while not as large as some of the other resorts, we found it very relaxing and the treatments (Holistic massages for my daughter and myself) were very, very good. Mercedes was a wonderful hydrotherapy guide and we loved the sauna, steam room, cold plunge and hot tub. Every restaurant was top notch, in fact my husband and I agreed that our restaurant experiences here were among the best of ANY resort we’ve ever been to with Madre Mia as a standout. The food and service there were both outstanding, and the cocktails some of the best we’ve had. Our waiter, Alfredo made our meal so much fun and made us smile throughout. And what amazing and inventive cocktails! These drinks could hold their own at some of the best cocktail lounges in NYC. Think Death and Co.— THAT good. Our other favorite was Momo, which we went to twice and were luck enough to have Olivia as our server both times. What an absolute gem this woman is. We just loved her kind demeanor, her lovely smile and adorable sense of humor. Even though we ordered almost everything on the menu, she brought it all with a smile and made us feel so welcome. Palace, take care of this lady— she’s wonderful! Our meal at Trattoria was also excellent, and we really enjoyed every dish with the beef carpaccio as the real winner— so good! Our only complaint was that our pastas and main courses were brought at the same time— it would have been nice to enjoy the pasta course first and not feel rushed to eat both together. We did not get the opportunity to eat at Lahna since our 17 yr. old was with us, but it looked like a lovely and intimate setting. We also did not eat at Cafe del Mar for dinner since this is where we ate all of our breakfasts and most lunches. The food at the pool/snack bar was very good, and we had excellent service with a genuine smile from Andres both times we ate there. We enjoyed pre and post-dinner cocktails every night at the lobby bar expertly made by Joel (ask for a Mezcalita Raincoat— so good!), and even though there is no AC, there was always a lovely breeze coming through. More intimate lighting would have made this space even better. After seeing pictures of no beach or a beach overtaken by sargassum, we didn’t have very high expectations, but we were so pleasantly surprised that the beach was wide and clean with very little sargassum, and the water was clear and beautiful. We swam in the sea every day. By comparison, the pool, while beautiful, was like getting in bath water. I understand that there’s little the resort can do about water temps in August, but the pool being less than 4 feet deep definitely didn’t help (we expected to at least be able to get in up to our chests)— just something to be aware of when traveling in the hotter months. Even though the pool wasn’t as refreshing as we had hoped, the staff made up for it. We had such a great time with Ana (who always left us with her hands made into a heart and a “thank you, family!”) and Eric from the entertainment staff participating in everything from water aerobics to water polo to volleyball. Our son had a blast playing every day and made friends that he hung around with the entire stay. We also appreciated that there was very little of the towel game going on here— we were able to get seats at the pool every day even when getting down in the late morning. We loved the proximity to 5th Avenue and enjoyed an evening there shopping and taking in the sights, and we appreciated the easy access to the ferry to Cozumel and Cozumel Palace which we were lucky enough to visit just before they closed for renovations. We also were able to obtain day passes for The Grand, but found it to be very much not our style. Even though we had planned to have dinner there, we actually couldn’t wait to get back to Playacar, so we returned early to have another amazing dinner at Momo. We only encountered a few negatives. First, I do have to say that the resort was not as clean as I have come to expect from Palace. Our room sliders were very dirty when we arrived with face and nose prints all over, and caulk smeared on the glass. Someone came to clean them when we requested, but why the caulk wasn’t scaped off when it happened is a mystery. We also noticed the same fingerprints and smears (including someone’s initials written with a greasy finger) on the inside of the elevator doors the whole time, so they were never cleaned the entire 6 days. We noticed similar fingerprints and smears on many of the glass doors throughout the resort. Our room air conditioner was not working properly for one evening, but that was taken care of the next day thanks to our wonderful concierge, Jesus. One mention and maintenance was there fixing it and it worked beautifully for the rest of the trip. What did not work beautifully was the AC in Cafe del Mar. Most days it was tolerable, but one day at breakfast it was completely not functioning. The servers actually had sweat running down their faces, that’s how hot it was in the restaurant. With open air hallways and lobby, we really looked forward to the small respite that dining in the restaurants afforded. Luckily this only happened at one breakfast. The last issue we dealt with was that there was no running water in the resort from 11pm on Tuesday night until 6am Wednesday morning. This wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if we had been informed, but it was never mentioned, and my husband happened to be in the shower with soap and shampoo everywhere when it just stopped. When we called to let the front desk know, the response was, “oh yes, they’re doing maintenance and all the water is off”. Palace, PLEASE let your guests know ahead of time if you intend to turn off all the water! This could easily have been a non-issue. Despite a few snafus, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Playacar Palace. The people who work here are simply amazing, and we were all treated not only like valued guests, but like family. There is something uniquely special about this resort, and I can see why so many consider it their favorite Palace property. With just a few tweaks, I believe it could become ours as well. P.S. A huge thank you for keeping your word by applying our Palace dollars and refunding our room upgrade fee after check out. We’ve heard some horror stories of promises like this not kept, and we truly appreciate this honesty and integrity. Just another example of how this company values its guests and members, and another reason why we will continue to come back to Palace in the future. Until next time!

We just got back from Playacar palace and we had a beautiful vacation! We went to many resorts in Mexico but Playacar palace really stands out. It’s a very small resort and right away the very professional staff make you feel at home. They really go out of their way to make your vacation special. The food is good, there’s a nice variety and everything tasted fresh! The wine is good, the coffee at the coffee shop was excellent and the beach was one of the nicest we’ve been to. There was no seaweeds, the water was calm and very clear with beautiful white sand. We were able to take long walks on the beach every day. There are 3 restaurants and we found overall the food to be good in all three of them. We had lots of sushi at the Asian restaurant and they were delicious! I want to thank all the nice people that work there every day, always smiling, happy to help you and make sure we had everything we needed. SILVIA at the beach was so sweet and attentive, and provided an excellent service!! Special thanks also for our waiters at the buffet DAVID, JAIME, and RIGOBERTO , they were the best, they were very attentive. LETICIA also at the bar was AMAZING, she took great care of us, always bringing us our favourite drinks as soon as we sat down. MIGUEL our waiter at momo the Asian restaurant was extremely professional, very polite and helpful!. And also the girl at the coffee shop( I’m sorry I forgot her name) but she made me an amazing americano every morning, she was quick, efficient and always smiling??Thank you to all of you, you really made a difference in our vacation, we will be back!

Just got back from Playacar Palace, and what a find. We have stayed in several hotels in the Cancun area and this is by far the best. The Management Team should be congratulated on running such a welcoming and relaxing hotel. The room was spacious and very comfortable, the food in each restaurant was delicious with a lot of variety, and the whole hotel was spotless, I never saw one bug - and being in a hot environment, I fully expected to. As for the staff, they can't do enough for you - nothing is a problem, and in saying that I'd like to call out two delightful people Ricardo (pool area) and Yesenia (Cafe del Mar) both of whom were very attentive, always smiling which really added to the experience.