TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

The breakfast buffet was a highlight of our stay. Pools were plentiful but overcrowded so we did not enjoy them as planned. A lot of national tour buses arrived during our 3 night stay and apparently all jumped in the pools at the same time. The area around the hotel is enjoyable including fine silver jewelry shops with great prices. Restaurants like Panama are walking distance. Don’t miss their Guava cheesecake. Also at night you can enjoy the famous bacon wrapped hotdogs nearby. The hotel is located at the start of the miles long Malecón and a stroll or bike ride is an easy option. Public transportation with A/C is readily available and so are Ubers, taxis and open air trucks and converted VWs “pulmonías”

I hate leaving such a bad review, especially of a family run business, but I can honestly say the experience we had at this resort was the worst experience we ever had staying anywhere. The food was fine, we only really ate the breakfast, which was mediocre. The ceviche place was really good, and the snack bar was ok. The staff, specifically the bartenders and servers were great, but management was rude and condescending. When reading other reviews I saw people mention the bands on the beach and the noise, and I wish I had paid more heed to those reviews because, WOW. It was loud. All the time. No one was exaggerating the band noise, and if you think you will be fine with it, trust me after day two you will not be. The cherry on the top of the crap sundae was on our last night there we had put some items on our patio to dry off before packing them, and apparently we forgot to lock the patio door. We were on the main level, and at about 9pm a security person walked onto our patio and OPENED THE PATIO DOOR AND BEGAN TO COME INTO OUR ROOM. We were shocked and quite shaken up about the intrusion, and I went to the desk to tell someone what happened and I was literally shaking with anger/nerves. The lady I spoke with was nice and said she would speak with management, but the next day when we were leaving I just wanted so badly to get out of there so I never followed up on it. Hopefully they had a nice long conversation with the security about how absolutely inappropriate that was.

I'll start with the good then the bad. Playa's best qualities is the location, staff and cleanliness. Playa is located in a very nice and what felt safe area with stores and restaurants all within walking distance as soon as you leave the resort. Almost all of the staff I met were very very kind and helpful especially the waiters. The hotel was always clean from my room to the restaurants, the room service and maids kept this place clean. Now onto the Bad. This place was PACKED the whole time I was there, I am not over exaggerating. Every pool was full from opening to closing and had no where to sit or enjoy yourself while in the pool as it felt like you were shoulder to shoulder with the other guest. With the Pools being packed you'd think you could try your luck at the beach...WRONG, the beach already doesn't have many seats for Playa guests and with how over crowded it was there was no chance at finding an open spot to relax. This place also isn't packed with for foreigners or tourist instead was mostly locals and natives to Mexico so don't expect to see many tourist like you would at many other resorts. With the amount of pools that were there and people, they did not provide much seating areas around the pools so it was hard to find a spot to lay our stuff down while swimming. The pool bar near the adults only pool was closed and I suspect it has been closed for some time now as many reviews for the past few months have mentioned this, the issue with this is the pool that had the closed bar was the least populated pool so I spent a lot of my time there but because their wasn't a bar near by you'd have to walk over to get a drink from a different part of the resort making it less enjoyable then it already was(this pool was also very cold and not heated). I don't know if I just had a bad experience and went at the wrong time but I would not recommend this resort instead would stay somewhere else because even though I didn't enjoy the resort, Mazatlan is a gorgeous city and had so much to do.

Only give this a 3 star, because if you’re like me you weed out the 5&1 stars. When in fact I’d give this place a two star. Upon arrival (12 noon) we were told we could not have access to the facilities. No food or drink until 1 pm. Not a welcoming first impression. (Keep in mind that our departure was 6:45 am so we certainly were not “double dipping “.) The swim up bar/pool was closed for the season, that is something that should be communicated on their website. It wasn’t. I understand that we travel into Mexico we will have Mexican at our resort. Typically we love that, but when I say that it was >5 percent non native I am not exaggerating. Of course there are different rules for locals vs tourists. Also, very disappointing that the ‘entertainment staff’ didn’t even try to speak or translate to non Spanish speaking people. When I asked to explain I was told to “never mind “. Playa also allows cruise ships passes for the resort resulting in way, way over crowding. Multiple days a week. There are 3 kiddie pools and not one adult only pool (except for one Luke warm hot tub). 5 pools in total, yet not one dedicated to only adults. Yes, I repeated myself b/c I think it warrants this information. When you read reviews about the Mariachi band-believe them. 12-8 non stop. Multiple bands playing at once. It’s a lot of noise. The service and cleaning staff were very good. Good location. Would not recommend this place.

We have been visiting Hotel Playa MAZATLAN!!!!! for 25 years. We had not been back however since 2019 for a variety of reasons. We decided this year that we would go back and we’re hoping that it would be as wonderful as it had been 10 years ago. We were pleased. Overall, we felt that the rooms and service were good. We only had the European plan so the only food we had at the hotel was the buffet breakfast. The fruit was fabulous and the omelettes were quick and tasty. We didn’t eat most of the other foods as they were More geared to the nationals. We loved our time on the beach, although the loud bands can be disruptive. They were not always. I was able to read three books in the nine days that we were there. All of my reading was on the beach. I was disappointed in the quality of the cocktails that were served on the beach. Because we were not all inclusive guests we paid for our drinks and we’re happy to do so, but they were not good and seemed as though they were not made with care or quality ingredients. I did tell the beach area server that the drinks were not good. We also did have some food service on the beach and we were happy with our chicken nachos and our tortilla soup. It’s nice to be able to order something on the beach like that if you need a snack. In the future, I would probably just order bottled beer and order to know the quality of what I will be getting. So many of the staff have been there for all of the years we have been going. They were so appreciative to have American and Canadian guests as they feel that our media discourage us from going to MAZATLAN!!!!!. We will go back. To hotel Playa MAZATLAN!!!!!