Riu Playacar - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

8676 reviews

• 

  Relaxing holiday

  We have now been to this hotel 4 times and we are planning our next holiday to the same hotel for next year 2026and extend to 3weeks. The staff are great they recognise us when we return there food is fab the beach is on the door step u couldn’t get a better experience with the hotel if want a relaxing holiday this is the place to go to

  Jul 11, 2025
• 

  Great location & clean, not 5 star

  Very clean hotel perfectly located. Reception staff were efficient and helpful. Rooms were spacious and clean with large beds. The filled fridge & optics bar was handy if you like what was supplied. A few little touches/additions would make it nicer such as better quality shower/hair wash, extra toiletries, towelling dressing gown, sink in the same room as the WC and night light at the bedside along with more charging points. Staff were polite and constantly busy. Service for drinks or a clear table could have been better in the buffet restaurant. Food was lovely with plenty of choice in the buffet. It’s ia shame that the menus in the a la carte never changed & there was not many options on it. Asian restaurant is a “help yourself” not a la carte as described. The entertainment staff also worked very hard, were constantly on the go despite the heat & were always very friendly. The pool areas were clean & plenty of sunbeds were available which also spread out to the beach. There was no quiet pool area if peace was wanted though. The drinks served at the pool were not branded as advertised, they were fine for daytime drinking but if you wanted to get merry then you’d have to drink a LOT! Extra occasional live music, ice creams, pina coladas in a coconut & mangoes on a stick were lovely unexpected additions. I would recommend this hotel apart from to those with young children and adults wanting a peaceful daytime sunbathe. It definitely isn’t 5 star but certainly isn’t any less than a 4 star & I wish I was still there

  Jul 10, 2025
• 

  Not what we expected

  We booked Mexico as had not heard a bad thing about it, wanted the kids 18/20/21yo) to experience a caribbean holiday & to have a relaxing time but it wasnt what we expected. The hotel was too ‘party people’ for us. We wanted something a bit more settled & relaxed & it was sold as the quieter/better standard hotel out of playacar, Yucatan and tequila (which we could also use). We thought the kids may enjoy the party atmosphere…. The hotel was ok, clean, but a little dated & needed some bits doing up (rusty shower, chipped paintwork) but the air con and fan were a blessing. NO LIFTS IN THE RESORT, so be aware if have mobility issues when booking a room. The staff work hard to keep things looking nice and drinks/food flowing. Staff were always friendly. We had an issue with a light not working then flashing in the bathroom & they came and fixed it within an hour. We did have to regularly ask for bottled water replacement for 3 adults sharing, as it wasnt really replaced often enough. The beds were comfy but very small for 2 adults in 1 bed (small doubles). We shared the room with our 18yo daughter and there were 2 small doubles pushed together so we had to separate them & shift furniture round when we arrived. Our son and his gf said they found the beds weird too as they had 2 small doubles pushed together in their room as well - too small to sleep 2 in but they didnt like sleeping in separate beds… The pools consisted of a pool bar that was full of loud, drunken adults by mid afternoon, saw 1 lad having to be dragged out by 2 friends more or less unconscious, put on a sunbed where he promptly threw up. This pool was known as the ‘piss pool’… The other 2 pools were just standard pools, one family one and one activity pool. They were sadly like getting into baths by midday. It wasnt nice when you normally get into a pool to try to cool down. We ended up using the showers to cool down, my daughters bikini and sons shorts changed colour from being in the pool, I dont mean from sunscreen - it was defo the pool as it was the entire shorts & bikini that changed. Not sure what they use to clean the pool with(!) The entertainment team work hard. The foam party was a spectacle to behold…. The evening shows were the best Ive seen at an all inclusive, particularly liked the tribute acts. The neon party was feral tho, defo not for me, left after 10 mins. Even the kids (18/20/21) didnt stay long. As we were walking towards the tequila hotel for the party, saw quite a few coming back towards our hotel - obvs wasnt for them either! It was like Benidorm on speed, we have been to a white party before at another resort and it was much better with a live band playing great music & relaxed vibe. The food was ok as all inclusive holidays tend to be, nothing spectacular but I loved the idea of being able to use the different restaurants whenever we wanted. The sargassum let down the whole experience for us. The whole idea of a caribbean holiday was the chance to walk out into the sea & snorkel with the fish, this was no doable at this resort due to the sargassum, we knew about it before we went & were aware it is 40% worse this year than any other but it was too late to change the holiday at that point. There are a team working constantly to shift the sargassum with tractors but its a dire situation which they are losing. The smell is terrible at times. If they dont come up with a solution to keep it away from the shore it will eventually kill their tourism. We did try to swim/snorkel on a better day but you cant go out beyond the buoys & its too shallow/no fish. We were disappointed. We looked at excursions to snorkel (we didnt want the magical mystery tour & being dragged round to places we didnt want to go) but we couldnt find anyone who would just do the snorkelling with fish/turtles, there was always an add-on stop. So we gave up looking. The kids went to xcaret & said it was good. Outside the hotel is a little shopping market, you are constantly shouted at from the vendors. Prices are stupid, all selling same tat. We got a taxi to walmart expecting it to be selling all kinds and it was basically an asda with a few extras. Dont waste your time. We didnt do 5th ave as passed by and it didnt look anything great. Watch the coco bongo reps at the poolside, they approached my daughter saying they were looking for ‘top models’ to go to coco bongo for privileges, also overheard a pretty young lady saying she went & was separated from her friends & taken to a different area by the staff. Watch out for your female relatives/friends. Would we go back to this resort? No. The party attitude was too much for us. Would we go back to mexico? Sadly No. The flight was too long for nothing more than a pool holiday in an average hotel.

  Jul 09, 2025
• 

  Just being honest

  First time at Riu Playacar and a first visit to cancun. Although the hotel was great, it wasn’t the Caribbean scenery we wanted. The seaweed on the beach is awful and although they try to clear it each morning, they are fighting a losing battle. Not only does it look disgusting and the red flag flies for you not to enter the sea, the SMELL will stay with us forever, it’s a mix of fish and sulphur and it hits you in the pool and sometimes all the way up to the lobby. However, Riu Playacar was lovely & the staff couldn’t do enough for you. They are constantly cleaning, you never pass a gardener or staff member without them greeting you. The food was very good too with loads of variety. Rooms are big and cool, loved the shower. The entertainment staff were brilliant and altho the shows get a bit repetitive, there’s lots of dancing shows, the entertainment team are full of energy and bring the Mexican vibe. We particularly loved Tina and April for their energy. Booked the Tulum, Cenote and sea turtle experience with TUI. Tulum and the Cenote was brilliant, we will never forget the Cenote experience. Swimming with the sea turtles was very stressful as the person in charge at the venue kept shouting at us and mocking us, my daughter had a panic attack and I ended up swimming into the shore with her and again having to face the disgusting seaweed. TUI very quickly sorted the sea turtle experience part, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t want to swim face down in the sea with a cheap snorkel mask, if that makes you claustrophobic then it’s not for you because you are not allowed to stand in the sea. TUI flight on the way out was great, we had a bigger aircraft, so more toilets and the food and cabin crew were great. The way back however was a different story, absolutely miserable cabin crew bar 1 young girl, the breakfast was disgusting! An apple flapjack, rock hard and cold brioche and strawberry yoghurt, I didn’t eat it and nor did my son. People were throwing up and coughing and sneezing the whole 9 hours, it was gross. The rubbish and food on the carpet all over the aisle was awful, I was ashamed of the other customers that did that. Same films on the way out as on the way back. Felt like the longest flight ever! Lastly, the cost of gifts at the shops opposite is phenomenal, we were told to take dollars and they rip you off for using dollars, best to take Pesos for those kind of purchases. They do not leave you alone as soon as you walk over there, it gets too much. I ended up not buying anything from there, thought it would be better at the airport but no, even in the sweets part of the duty free they are trying to sell you things, they pester you until in the end you just leave the shop! They are also over priced for items like bracelets and fridge magnets, the normal things you buy as a cheap token of your trip, none of it is as cheap. Hotel shop charges me $20 for a bag of salted Lays and a small Milka bar! Nowhere is cheap! Overall, the hotel was great, beach was a no go. Be prepared to spend on silly things and be strong with your telling the shop people NO!

  Jul 05, 2025
• 

  Excellent will not disappoint

  Ideal location, feel very safe out and about. Starbucks, little shopping precinct, an outside bar, lots to do if you want to wander from the hotel all within a 4 minute walk. Recommend for families. We had a great time. Only draw back was no lift to room and on 3rd floor but they will help with luggage, we just dragged them ourselves. Large family room was fab. No doubts about returning. Have been to Tequilla before and we felt this was a much better set up at Player car. Overall nicer and not as much greenery so not as many bites as we had at Tequilla which is 5 minutes on the same road.

  Jul 04, 2025