TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Pros - beach is beautiful - rooms are decent and clean - pool is good - staff is good (Erik at buffet is awesome) Cons - food is unbearable (not exaggerating) we left the resort 4 times to eat somewhere else. They served my son raw chicken and not one manager came to apologize. The guy that cooks eggs is miserable. - no pool bar…you have to walk upstairs to the beach bar for drinks. It’s quite far, I assume it’s strategic on their part so you don’t drink as much. No waiters at pool or beach. - WIFI is terrible. Couldn’t use it in our room.

Our stay at the VAW was pretty average. Our room was on the 3rd floor above the bar/entertainment area which was hard to sleep some nights. No elevators, so if you have a hard time walking the steep incline may be an issue. Ask for a first floor room. The beach and pool are were really nice. People did put towels early on the chairs which was annoying since I never really saw anyone come back to them during the day. Pool was very warm but it was 95 degrees out. It was clean though. The bartenders at the pool were great. Rodrigo was amazing. We were a group of 10 and they all served us pretty quick. We brought Yeti's and Stanley's to fill up which I recommend since it's so hot there. Rooms were good although it took a long time to get it cool. Downtown area was a quick 10 min car ride and there is also a shopping area a 5 min walk across the street. Always felt safe. The resort is in Playacar so you have to have cab drivers check in to the area AND the resort which I liked. There are little critters running around the resort which was fun. My husband and I got a couples massage and were both happy with the service. Now the bad....the food. Not great. The specialty restaurants were good but the buffet was almost unedible and we are not picky eaters. They do serve food at the pool bar also but it was the same stuff. I do suggest downloading the Viva app and making reservations for the italian and asian restaurants. We made the best of our trip but I wouldn't stay here again because of the food.

Just returned from a restful week at this facility which happened to include hurricane Beryl. The week had called for rainy weather when we were going but we had 6 glorious days of sunshine and only the hurricane evening of rain. Some pluses, the hotel is a hurricane shelter, which was helpful with the hurricane. While other hotels and parts of playa del Carmen suffered some damage, the hotel held up and never even lost power (likely have generators). They provided us with meals for breakfast and lunch in advance otherwise we were asked to quarantine in our rooms. We felt the communication of information could have been a bit better. The hotel is small, and not loud like many other chains for us this was a plus. They had filtered water available on each floor and all through the resort..We were able to dine at 3 restaurants including porto fino in the Mayan. Depending on time of year you can eat at more than 3, if capacity is low. The buffet offered a great variety for all meals, and we were able to try new things all the time. Super bonus unlike other islands, no tourista…On the eve of the hurricane and post it, the buffet was the only dining option. We did a Catamaran ride with Jose and made use of the gym daily and yoga…Mauricio was the best yoga instructor, a number of them weren’t even doing the moves correctly and didn’t know the names of moves which was worrisome. As well, times were inconsistent and one day it was cancelled with no notification. We are a little ocd about cleaning, and would say this place is clean, they take it seriously. However, it can be a challenge to communicate with cleaning staff and dining staff as many only speak Spanish. Charlie at the bar is stellar. We booked an excursion to Chichenitza and the Cenotes via the hotel, we chose this option after a bit of research and realizing that the external companies don’t include the fees for entry to the sites, and for safety. This was the highlight for us and we recommend it. Overall, this was our first trip to Mexico and we enjoyed our stay and would recommend this place. We never felt unsafe, we did daily walks along the beach including to the public side and also off resort. Vacations are what you make them, had read several of the negative comments on here prior and glad they didn’t detract us - few complaints, but we also didn’t go in expecting 5 star diamond service as that’s not the $ we paid.

Amazing restaurant service! Great food and wine and our severs were fantastic. We also loved the pools and the beaches I recommend you go to Bamboo and try the dumplings and curry chicken and banana ive cream. A great time overall! Woohooooo

This is a three star hotel. Yes, it’s conveniently located close to downtown but that’s the only positive. It’s an older hotel so there is no elevator. Only three a la cart restaurants but you can only reserve two. This leaves you eating at the buffet most of the time. The food there was tasteless, and cold. As a mexican myself I was expecting spectacular food. Huge disappointment. There is a lack of activities and at night there is some entertainment but the music is really loud. You can hear the music in your room until late making it hard to sleep. Most of the staff is friendly and helpful. However I will not be returning to this resort!!