6/10 Okay
Chris P.
23 Jan 2019
Nice place with some weaknesses
The good:
This condo is in a great location in the beautiful "neighborhood" of Playacar. It is quiet yet close to a lot of fun and interesting activities along the gorgeous Riviera Maya, and many great restaurants are an easy walk away in Playa Del Carmen. The condo is spacious, sleeps many (with double bunk beds in one room, plus a pull-out couch), is pretty well appointed, and the A/C works. The pool area is OK, but nothing special.
The bad:
The biggest drawback is that, contrary to the listing, renters do *not* get (free) access to the Reef Beach Club. Reef access was one of the main reasons we chose this condo, and it was a major disappointment to be surprised by this when we arrived. (The Reef lets in only 20 groups of up to 4 people with "resident cards," so it fills up quickly -- and in any case, this condo does not even have a resident card for renters to use.) What's more, it turns out to be quite tricky to get to the beach: you basically have to sneak through one of the nearby hotels' private walkways, which are usually manned by security. We got lucky a few times, but were turned away just as often. Obviously, this situation is very different from what we expected from the listing, and it was a major damper on our vacation.
There are some other annoyances: the stove did not work at all, one of the toilets wouldn't reliably flush without constant intervention (the "flap" stayed up, preventing the tank from filling), and the toaster was flaky. Individually these are pretty minor issues, but all together they weren't insignificant.
Summary: while we enjoyed our time here and the condo is priced well, there were enough flaws that I might look elsewhere if I knew everything in advance. The lack of beach/Reef access is a major drawback.
Chris P.
Stayed 8 nights in Dec 2018
