Riu Playacar All-Inclusive Resort, Playa del Carmen Centro

My friends and I stayed at the Riu Playacar in July 2012. The hotel is actually 3 star not 5 star. But, the pool, beach and food are great. The staff and guests are very nice also. I especially liked that there were palm trees on the beach instead of beach umbrellas. The hotel's alcaholic drinks are not watered-down like the disco's in town. The air conditioning in the room is not so great. The chamber maids are cheap with the soap. They want you to use your old soap from previous days. Its not fun to go out and beg them for more soap. The thing to look out for is that the scuba diving company wants to be fully pre-paid in advance, before they train you for it. They will not give a refund if you can not actually go on the scuba diving trip for medical reasons, or if you don't like the starter class. They do their best to avoid a refund. They are not like American companies that give refunds to maintain customer satisfaction. Before the scuba diving is paid for, they are so nice and friendly. But, if you want a legitimite refund, suddenly, they become all about the money and not so friendly. So, as far as the scuba diving is concerned in this hotel, its "Buyer beware!"

First trip to Mexico. Beds are hard but you can ask the front desk for a matress pad. This made a world of difference. The help is very friendly. Bartenders were friendly and funny. Short walk to the beach. We walked the beach to Yukatan and across the street to Tequilia. Both are nicer but Tequila is not on the beach. The pool bar was nice but again Yukatan was better and they had 3 bars compared to only one at Playacar. Lobby bar was very small also. People all seemed to enjoy themselves. Overall for my first trip down it was an OK place to stay. Not fancy but nice. We made reservations for the steak meal. It was OK. Steak better back in U.S. Also did the reservations for Mexican. Very good overall trip. Great beach!

small rooms with rock hard beds. good entertainment, No pool service. No pool or ocean view not sure how sunquest can rate this a five star, only worth three in my opinion.

The beach & pool areas were beautiful & well tended. The weather was beautiful. The shopping was convenient. We arrived around 3pm on Wed., checked in & proceeded to our room. We were expecting a large room with 2 queen beds & sofa bed. We were assigned a room with 2 full beds! We contacted the front desk & were informed they were full - but would send up a roll-away! We were wall-to-wall bed! The door was difficult to unlock because the key didn't fit right. And only one key to the room! We froze the first 2 nights & roasted the last 2 nights. I think they turned the cool part of the air conditioner off & left on the blower. We wanted to make dinner reservations for the steak house but they refused because it was after 4pm & reservations had to be made between 7 & 10 am. We walked by the steakhouse at the 6:45pm seating - there was a party of 2 seated, not even close to booked! We did eat dinner from the buffet, food that should have been hot was cold. We we liked chips and salsa, that was the best part of the meal - except for the coconut ice cream. Thursday morning we were at the buffet when it opened for breakfast & made reservations for the steak house that evening. There were already 4 spaces filled on the reservation book, we were the first ones to make reservations that morning? Once again the food was fair. Omelets, fried, & poached eggs were pre-made & setting on a warmer. The edges were dry and cracked. Lunch was fair - we ate - we were hungry! We were unable to get ice for our room - the ice machine in our building was off. When we requested ice we were told "Sorry. The drinks were weak & flavorless. The steak house was fairly good, the shrimp was not fresh, no steak sauce! Service in the steak house was good. Friday meals - see above, dinner was from the buffet, same as lunch. Saturday - repeat from Thursday. We tried to make dinner reservations for Mexican food & were told they would not be open & there would be an Interntl Buffet in the main dining area - same as lunch, nothing different. Chips & salsa were good & the coconut ice cream was good.Saturday afternoon clean-up before dinner - NO hot water, we didn't run out We had to beg for wash cloths & extra towels - 3 guests 1-2 towels. Sunday was a very special day. We had our usual breakfast & wanted to spend some time on the beach. All the beach chairs were stacked & stored. When asked the staff said "We close"! When we got the to beach all the lounge chairs were stacked against the fence & once again "We close". We walked the beach for a while & other resorts were open & had good crowds. We made our way back to the resort & the lunch area was dark, chairs were up, no one was cooking - once again "we close". We were told lunch would be served in the main dining area. We stopped by the room to clean-up & pack. Hot water was back? We checked out & wanted to have lunch prior to leaving for the airport. Lunch consisted of sandwich items! We were offered a taxi to the Yucatan but did not have enough time to get back for our transfer to the airport. Airport transport was late so the desk called Oliver (we had seen no one from the Worry Free Vacation group to this point). Oliver said late was not a problem in Mexico & that he would send the driver. The driver was 45 minutes late - not his fault - he was told to pick us up at the Yucatan.We made the airport in plenty of time & had the best meal of the vacation at Bubba Gump's.We paid the price requested, risked the Swine Flu, & planned to enjoy our time in Playa Car. You can not compromise service and decrease accommodations on an already planned trip. Things happen that are out of our control - combining resorts is a great answer to decreasing overhead when times are slow but not when it affects your service. We will not go back. The resort did not offer any compensation toward a future trip to help offset this one - too bad for them.

our room had a mold mildew problem. we got another room, same problem. the air did not work, the water smelled when you took a shower the towels even smelled from the water. the staff were friendly and helpful. food was just ok. drinks were of poor quality and brands. for what you pay it is not worth the value.sorry just being honest. would not recommend this hotel. try an upgrade to the palace, better quality and value. i would give the hotel a two star rating, but your program will only let me give a three. we had a good time once we left the room.

The front desk personnel started a great time down there. All smiles and fun. The rooms were very nice, the beds were a little hard, though. I like hard beds, so it worked for me. It is a very family-oriented place to go. Just large enough to provide your fun time, and small enough to make it where there arent mobs of people in the way. The beach was right off the resort...no walking through streets or going through the entire hotel complex to enjoy. The entertainment was very fun. It isnt world-class entertainment, but my goodness do you enjoy it. There were activities throughout the day to keep you occupied and away from the beach the entire time. The swim-up bar was cool, too. The food was excellent. I gained weight eating some of my favorite foods. I made a lot of friends there and exchanged a lot of emails, and that includes with some staff. I always felt safe in the resort area and nearby shops and streets. For those that need one, there is a sports bar on one of their sister properties within 5 minutes walking distance. If anybody has any questions, feel free to reply and I will answer them to the best of my ability. It helps if you know a little Spanish, but by the end of speaking with the smiling, and mostly bi-lingual staff, you will learn it before you leave. I look forward to returning and visiting a place that grew on me rather quickly.

fab hotel room watch the step out of the shower. food fab. entertainment great if you like dancers every night. the bars close at twelve. [really] lovley little shops outside the hotel. the big let down for us was the beach or lack of it. the sight that greets you at the beach is huge black bags in the water to stop the sea washing the sand away they are the full length of the beaches lovley wedding photos

Just got back on Sunday 22nd June 2008. It was our first time to the caribean and we were possibly expecting too much, but more of that later. Upon arrival at the Riu Playa Car we were welcomed by the reception staff who we all very friendly. The rooms were comfortable and clean but there is a real mosquito problem in the resedential blocks and the rooms so take plenty of things with you. They are also a real problem in the evenings at the various bars. My wife had 20 odd bites in the first couple of days, most evenings we had to go on a killing spree before we could go to sleep. Each room shares and entrance with another room and this alley way is swamped with mozzies, open the door too slowly and they're in!! I would recommend you taking a little fly killer spray out with you just so you can spray the area before going into your room. The Beach............ Well disappointingly for us there isnt really a beach at the hotel. Okay you can use the Yukatan beach (about 5 minutes down the beach) but that is often full and the beach there is slowly getting washed away. Our beach in the first week was non existant. They are working so hard to repair it with massive sand bags and backfilling. The second week there was enough room for one row of sunbeds on the beach. The bags are very unsightly with pipes and wires everywhere. If you want the beach then you will be disappointed, however, the pool areas are plent big enough. The Nightlife........... Some of it was excellent, some of it was awful. The entertainment team were very good but some of the shows were amateurish in the extreme. There are only 2 bars at night, one closes at about 11:30 but the lobby bar is open until 07:00. There is only one choice of beer (Corona) and after a couple of days I couldnt drink anymore but was happy to go through the cocktail menu! The Tequila Hotel had much much better entertainment as did the Yukatan, but remember you cant eat there at night. The Food.......... Highlight of the holiday really. The choice is impressive as is the quality, you can get snack until 11:30 at the Torqusa bar, this consists of almost everything you can think of and if you miss dinner is very welcome. You can also get snacks at the Tequila hotel all night, burgers and hot dogs, sandwiches, which you microwave yourself. The Location............ A lot of what's going on in the area is in Cancun, and it's a real pain getting there and back. On one trip it took us an hour and 40 minutes to get back. Playa Del Carmen is only $5 in a cab and worth a visit, some decent bars and restaurants if you want the chnage from all inclusive. Organised trips............ We decided to use Thompson for our trips, mainly we were worried about the travel shops ripping us off. This was an expensive mistake. The exchange rate from Thompsons was a joke, you actually get penalised for using Peso's as they cost trips in dollars. An example was that we paid $546 for a couple of trips but then he converted it at 11.1 meaning we had to pay 6060 peso's, when the actual rate should have meant only paying 5460 pesos. Speaking to other holiday makers they advised us to use the independent travel guy in the hotel, they did a same trip as us and saved £20 per person on one trip. Weather.................... Be careful when you go. We arrived to relative sunshine but then for four days had sever rain, thunder storms and gales. It cleared up eventually and was baking hot, but this time of the year is Hurricane season so be aware, it's a lot of money to sit indoors.... I hope this is not seen as being too negative, it's my honest opinion.

My husband and I stayed here in sept. 2001 for our honeymoon. This place spoiled us from every staying in a non-inclusive place again. The staff was very attentive. The food was great...especially the fruit. Like most buffets you did learn there are certain foods you do not eat. The shows were entertaining. The beach and pools were gorgeous! The rooms were always cleaned and the mini-bar restocked beofre we would get back from the beach. Always had a cute little towel animal to great us too. Why I would go back to this place? Besides the overall great experience...we were there during 9-11. So needless to say are departure was delayed. The resort did everything to help us get back home and even gave us a discount for the extra days.

After reading some of the negative reviews on here, I was a little nervous about going on our vacation to RIU PlayaCar. We were going for our 5 yr anniversary and also we went with another couple. We booked the trip with a travel agent and this is the trip she pulled for us based on our departure date and budget. The agent had not been there herself so she could not give us any great information. So needless to say we blindedly booked it and hoped for the best. Well we were pleasantly surprised. From start to finish we had a great time. Even at the airport, it was smooth sailing thanks to our Apple Rep. I think that also helped a great deal because we always had someone to consult with and help make things run smoothly. The hotel is beautiful and VERY CLEAN. These people at the resort work so hard and you can clearly see that. Upon checking in they had a fresh drink waiting for us, and then we were on our way to a relaxing vacation. The room was not the most glamourous, but it was clean and cleaned very well every day, in fact my nap was interupted one day because the cleaning ladies were moving the furniture around and were in one room for a good 45 min. We had a little surprise on our bed every morning. The bar was indeed stocked in our room, although we did not get a lot of use out of it. The towels were fresh,and anything you needed was a phone call away to the front desk. We met with the Apple Rep and booked our excursions for the week. The buffet was delicious and the snack area in the afternoon was great as well. When we go back, I will not waste my time at any of the sit down dinners because the buffet has all the same food and you do not have to wait. We do not like to consider ourselves picky, but our friends usually label us as such. So take my words this trip was fabulous, there are so many other great things to share with you, but then I would ruin the fun of taking a vacation and getting to explore another culture and place. You will have fun and you wont have to look very far to have it at Playacar.