Riu Lupita Hotel

My husband and I decided to take a weekend trip to Cancun. The hotel selected by the company was the Caribbean Village Playacar. We became concerned after reading the comments from the person on (August 20, 2003). We almost cancelled our trip. I must say that the hotel was excellent, food and activities were great. The grounds were beautiful and the beach fantastic (white sand). The trip was worth it. Sure the hotel was not a deluxe property, but I did not book a 4 star hotel expecting a 6 star service. I would recommend this hotel to others, for the money is excellent. I am planing to go back this year.

The best advice I can give to anyone considering staying at this resort is please don't waste your vacation and your hard earned money!! No offense to those who wrote glowing reviews but, are you crazy? My husband and I were there August 2003 for 5 long days. This is the first vacation that I couldn't wait to get home from! Some details to help you make up your mind about going- we arrived at 11:30am and check in is at 3:00, not a minute earlier, even if your room is already clean and ready (which ours was), so here you are with nothing to do for most of your first day. They say they have changing rooms but only if you consider that to be a stall in the toilet. And even if you do change into your swimsuit you have no safe place to store your cash and documents while you swim. Anyway, after we finally checked in, we were surprised to find our room to be very basic and beds on concrete slabs. No drawers in the entire room, no chairs, not even a pad of paper, and one small bar of soap. The room was so mildewed and musty it was almost unbearable and just in case you want to use the safe it is $1.50 a day for the key, and no you can't pay when you leave, so save yourself the extra trip and bring your money to pay up front! The room looked nothing like on the Allegro website and your golf course or pool views could be like ours was a view of a chainlink fence covered by various weeds and vines. I had only one hot shower the entire time we were there and some days we took two a day! I could go on all day, but let me list other complaints for you 1-The food is awful!! Breakfast is OK, but lunch and dinner are disgusting and the same thing everyday 2-Snack bar is gross, watered down nacho cheese and mushy french fries and later at dinner you'll see the leftover pizza! 3-Our door lock was broken and had the staff two times leave our room unlocked when we were out 4-Telephone was broken and they never fixed it 5-We asked for wake up calls two days in a row and didn't recieve either (they promised since the phone was broken that it is policy if the wake up call isn't answered that they come knock on your door) 6-Pools are not clean and they close whenever they feel like it for maintenance even if its not closed hours 7-Beach towels are NEVER available, we got them once and could never turn in for a claen one 8-The staff is either plain rude (front desk) or just really couldn't care less (bars and restaurants) 9-Beer is really watered down as are the mixed drinks 10-No bottled water provided and it is grossly marked up in the gift shop ($5/bottle) 11-The shows at night are ridiculously poor and usually are just the guys and girls who handed out towels all day asking guests to come up and hula hoop 12-The reception area is constantly packed and you will wait 5-15 minutes to speak tosomeone even to ask a simple question 13-The beach is most definitely walking distance as is advertised on some websites We talked to several groups from the US Canada and all were not happy, most were outright enraged!! We would never go back and I wouldn't send my worst enemy here! But if you do go to Mayan Riviera and stay somewhere else you must go on the tour to Xel-Ha, it was so beautiful and lots of fun. Make that a full day trip because in the morning it is so quiet before the people get there that were on the trip that goes to Tulum in the morning and then gets there. Please take my advise, most people get so few vacations and it is definitely sad for us to have wasted ours on this hell hole!!

Both myself and my wife stayed at the Carribean Village on the 10th July for 2 weeks. Having read Nicola's review (Nottingham) I was feeling quite apprehensive about the holiday but I can truly say we had a fantastic time at the resort. Yes, the rooms are basic, but if you book a 3 star you get 3 star services and we were quite happy with the room, especially considering we were'nt planning on and did'nt spend a lot of time there!!! Yes, the hotel isn't on the sea front, but so what?? The journey to the beach club and the Carribean's own private beach took 10 mins and ran every hour and also enabled you to stop just outside Playa town if you wanted to do a little shopping. The beach area is fantastic and we spent most of our days there. As for the food at the hotel, if you could'nt find something you liked at the breakfast buffet there would have to be something wrong with you, they cater for all tastes from a slice of toast up to a fully blown fry-up!! We did'nt sample any of the lunch menu's as we were usually at the beach, but some friends we made said they were excellent. Evening buffet was fine also the only complaint being that the sweets on offer were a little samey and if you had young fussy eaters you may struggle. We enjoyed sampling the Mexican food on offer and never had a bad meal while we were there. The staff were always friendly and trying to get you involved in activities, and the night time entertainment changed every evening. Having spent a day at the Sister hotel in Cancun we felt we had made the best choice. I would argue that Cancun has more in common with Majorca with it's built up areas and commercialised malls. It all depends what kind of holiday you want...if you want full on nightlife and a standard beach holiday choose Cancun...if you want a more authentic and easier going nightlife choose Playa. We would certainly go back to the Occidental Carribean Village Playacar...it does exactly what it says in the write up. Brian & Vicki.

Aug 2003 Geat Food, Friendly Staff, Very Clean. Rooms are average. (who stays in their room on vacation?) A good value. Great golf course.

It's an hour to Cancun city & "The Hotel Zone", but for about $5 Canadian, you can take a luxury bus into the Cancun city centre or to the "Hotel Zone".You can take a luxury bus almost anywhere! The tourist parks are AMAZING!!!! LOVED Mexico, loved the FOOD the most, go to the local's eating spots and you'll find amazing deals. The food at the resort was great too!I would definitely come to this resort again.

Booked an allocation on arrival minimum 3* holiday to 'Cancun' and had the misfortune to be placed in this resort by Thomson through MyTravel. Felt I had paid for a Mexican resort and got a Majorcan holiday instead. If you are happy to be put in a room that has a slab of concrete with two matresses on top for a bed, a breeze block and slab of wood arrangement for a table, sub-standard food and no beach on-resort then this is the holiday for you. Lets face it everyone wants to 'catch a bus' to the beach don't they. We stayed for the first night, complained to our Rep who excused everything for us going 'allocation on arrival' fantastic customer service from Thomson and shall endeavour to travel with them more often in future (NOT)!! Spent the whole of our second day on holiday taking buses to Cancun (2 hour trip in total from hotel to Cancun Hotel Zone) and booked ourselves into a Condo for the remaining five days of our holiday. The staff at the hotel were very good it has to be said, I have no qualms with their friendliness but this resort was just not good enough, there was no way I could have stayed there every evening for 7 days and you couldn't go out the hotel at night because there's nothing there. If you are going to Mexico you need to stay in the Cancun Hotel Zone and no where else, our new hotel 'Solymar' was fantastic, staff brilliant, facilities great, room fabulous and clean and we had our own private roof terrace overlooking the whole of Cancun - amazing!! Buses are brilliant on the hotel zone only 60 pesos (50 pence/60 cents) and every 2 minutes and run til 11pm. Taxis are reasonable but expensive at the airport, cost us $60 (£40) to go from airport to hotel in Playacar but only $17 (12) from Cancun to Airport when returning home. Apparently there are different tax reasons why there's a difference. Brilliant holiday, will go again and will go back to Hotel Solymar or if the budget is there would love to stay in the Hilton or Marriott hotels, they looked fabulous!!

We had read some reveiws of this hotel and was not quite sure what to expect. We stayed there May 17-24,2003. I have to say what a wonderful hotel! The staff is great, they go out of their way to make sure your having fun. From the front desk to maids they great you with a smile everytime! The nightly entertainment is not broadway but is pretty good, great dancers and funny shows. Get there alittle early, grab a drink and enjoy. We don't drink so the bar has all these nice non-alcohol smoothies, which i got hooked on the mango one!! The food was great, alot of variety and plenty of it! Breakfast was the best for us and sitting outside basicly was great and you would think bugs but not one bothered us. The rooms are clean and comfortable but if you want to spend alot of time in your room don't expect alot here. (no mini-bars,etc.). The nosiey air conditoner was our only complaint here. The shuttle ran every 1/2 hour to beach and town. The security was great here also made you feel safe. The tropical setting was very well kept up. The price wasn't too bad either! All in All A GREAT hotel with a staff that trys to take of as much as they can for you so you can relax and have fun!! We will go back to the occidental carribbean village!

My first trip to Mexico was spent at the Caribbean Village Playacar. Upon entering the airport, I was astounded at how friendly the porters and drivers were. When we got to the resort, I was very surprised to see how beautiful it was. I was dissapointed that there was no beach on site, but a short 5 minute bus trip (provided by the hotel) made all of my fears dissapear. This was a VERY beautiful and SPOTLESS beach. It was huge and never seemed too crowded. There was a snack bar on the beach serving very good food also. The food at the resort was horrible, but you learn to find what you like and deal with it. What's the use of complaining in Mexico? The shopping downtown was awesome and the deals are great. The other guests at the hotel were Europeans, and as we Americans know, they are very different. I lived in London and Paris while attending University, so I was used to the differences. In short, be polite and they get less annoying and seem more friendly as time goes by. The pools close very early which sucked, but if you offer the lifeguards a cigarette or a dollar, they turn the other cheek. I wouldn't stay here again as I would prefer a 4 or 5 star hotel, but for what it is, it's very enjoyable minus a few problems. Make sure you go to the Mayan ruins and MOST OF ALL, take the day trip to Xel Ha. You won't believe your eyes! It's stunning!

We took a last minute trip and landed at Caribbean Village. The trip was everything we were promised and more. We met lots of great people, including, Judy and her family from Ohio and Rick from Cananda. Monica and I would love to hear from you. I highly recommend this place to everyone and we will definitely be back...hopefully this summer.

We really didn't know what to expect. First time in Mexico. The resort was beautiful. Not too big, we didn't have to walk ourselves to death like in larger resorts. Food and service was more than we could ask for. Grounds were well kept and beautiful. Our room had a musky smell but not too much. The beach was pretty and not too far. We would return to this resort.