Playacar Palace

Derek Lorbiecki

Wonderful resort, location, staff, food, and rooms, would recommend to anyone without hesitation. My wife and I had a great time relaxing by the pool or by the ocean on the plentiful recliners, while the kids really enjoyed the activities and being able to sneak up to the coffee shop for sweets whenever they wanted! Beautiful, clean grounds, and the staff were incredibly welcoming and fun! I liked that it was smaller than other resorts I have stayed at and felt far more relaxed than others. Special shout out to the staff at the pool bar and grill who were hustling all day and to Sebastian, the resort photographer who gave us the best (and most fun) family photos we have had in 25 years together. We have already booked our stay for next year!

Jay Patel

This was a very disappointing experience and one I would not recommend to anyone. From the moment we arrived, things went downhill. Check-in took over an hour, which was frustrating, especially after a long day of travel. The property itself is quite old, poorly maintained, and has many slippery surfaces, which felt unsafe. The overall condition of the resort looked nothing like the photos online — those images are extremely misleading and make the resort appear far nicer than it actually is. As a vegetarian family, we were especially disappointed. This is an all-inclusive resort, yet the staff told us they could not really accommodate our dietary needs. That is unacceptable for a resort that claims to cater to international guests. Another major issue was the lack of direct beach access, which we did not realize until arriving. This alone was a dealbreaker, and again, the online photos do not accurately reflect this reality. We were so unhappy that our family of 12 decided to leave immediately and find another hotel. While the staff did help us check out, they were not accommodating or supportive in helping us transfer to one of their nicer sister properties and actively discouraged us from changing hotels. To make matters worse, we were charged a full night’s stay despite never setting foot in our rooms, citing a rigid and unreasonable policy. Overall, this was a very poor experience — outdated facilities, misleading marketing, lack of accommodation for dietary needs, and inflexible policies. I would never recommend this resort. Thankfully, we were able to book another hotel on our own — SLS Playa Mujerus — which was a true five-star experience with excellent service and was the complete opposite of Playa Car Palace in every way.

Amisha Gupta

We have been to different Moon Palace resorts and Playacar Palace is among few of our top favorites so far. Its a boutique style resort in Playa del carmen and has so many positives about it. The service here is unmatched. The staff is so good and does everything possible to make your stay memorable. Whether its the staff at the restaurants, or the staff at the pool side, bar, kids day care or at the spa everyone gave their 💯% and made sure we are having a good time and getting good service. The location of this resort is unmatched. As soon as we step out of the resort, we are at 5th Avenue which is filled with amazing shops , restaurants, a nice mall and ferry to Cozumel island is steps away as well. It felt like we are right in the center of all fun. Its so safe to step outside as its all touristy area and police presence is there in that area. Car rentals like Hertz were also steps away. So we were able to rent car and do certain excursions like cenotes ourselves. If you are planning to do cenote during the stay our favorite is Cenote Azul. We also did a day trip to Cozumel and visited Cozumel Palace through ferry which was also quite easy and fun. The restaurants at the resort were nice and the nightly entertainment was also good. Rooms were good size with jacuzzi and we had the perfect ocean view from room. The pool here was not as big as other moon palace resorts as well as not too deep to swim properly so that could be considered as a small negative. But we were still able to enjoy it fully. Again the swim up bar was great and the staff kept planning some activities at the pool as well. Hot tub was nice and everyone enjoyed it. Beach was really nice and to our surprise had no Sargassam when we visited. So we were pleasantly surprised with the nice Beach. Overall if you like boutique size resorts with amazing food and service, this could definitely be a place for you. Its perfect for couples as well as families that enjoy stepping out of the resort without worrying about safety as overall that whole Playa del carmen 5th Avenue area feels very safe and perfect for tourists. We will definitely be returning back again!!

Ajay Singh

Stayed for 6 nights and 7 days , the resort is really nice and small compared to Riu or Ibrostar but the smaller resort was not an issue for us as it made it easier to move around with kids. The beach is basically non existent (feel free to look at the pics ) Location is great with downtown PDC in walking distance. Massage prices are right down stupid I. $700 USD for couples massage. You can walk out the resort and get a couples massage for under $100 USD. You also cannot use the sauna or steam room without purchasing spa services. The resort credits are a joke and honestly because of this I did not purchase there time share which is not a time share. I honestly would have but because of the nuances with the resort credit lead me to believe the elite membership would have similar stipulations in the contract. The food at the restaurant is great but the buffet is mediocre. All of the restaurants have an upcharge of something could be wine or lobster or ribeye steak. I paid extra for the lobster and it was cooked really well... The staff was great. My kids loved the play area and we even hired an external nanny service for $18 USD / hour . The entertainment was better than most other all inclusive resorts.

Donnie Hodges

We are in our first day here and it has been subpar to say the least. Los Cabo Le Blanc was next level surface and the best experience, we figured we would experience something at least in the same ball park. Awful customer service, pool food is McDonald’s quality, and “public’s relations” just says too bad. Update: Nothing got better from our first day. We reserved a rollaway bed at the time of our booking back in August and confirmed 3 times by our travel agent. Apparently they did not have any available and at the time of check in, we were told we were put on a wait list. Well, that never happened. The first night we requested 2 more pillows because we were trying to get comfortable for 2 adults (I’m 6’2”) and 2 teenagers (boy at 6ft tall and girl) in 2 beds that were maybe full size, that’s why we asked for a rollaway and was assured at booking we would have one. We would have never booked if we would not have one because their beds would not fit us. Beds are always the first thing we check before booking any hotel. Anyway, it took 1 hour, 4 phone calls, and a trip to the front desk to get 2 pillows. Every time you talk to someone, they would always say it will be there in a couple minutes. EvERYTIME! We were supposed to stay Wednesday-Sunday, but the accommodations were so uncomfortable and near miserable with horrible customer service, we had to leave 2 days early. Our daughter was sick and the room was so uncomfortable, we had no choice but to leave. The dinners were great, but the pool is misrepresented on the website, there is no beach to walk on as advertised, and I can’t say enough on how uncomfortable the room was and how awful front desk staff was.