The Reef Playacar Resort and Spa

You will have a great time at this hotel and surrounding areas. My score is 3.5 out of 5, based on the cost I paid for what was delivered.

I went with my family with 2 kids aged 15 and 9.

There were very few English people at the hotel when we were, most people staying seemed to speak spanish. This is not an issue unless you were hoping to make friends with other people who speak the same language. We booked through Tui, which was fine, but we were disappointed to find that they send reps to all the other hotels locally, except this one. TUI did send over a rep when I requested this directly from one of the other hotels, but as this was later - we didn’t really get an introduction to the hotel and had to work things out ourselves.

We were greeted by a hotel rep when we arrived, who was friendly and gave us all a drink- but this was mainly to try and get us to agree to a timeshare promotion which we declined.

When the TUI rep did arrive days later after my request, I was disappointed that the hotel would not let them sit in the air conditioned area downstairs- as they are seen as a threat to the hotel selling their own trips. So as hotel customers who booked through TUI, we had to sit in the morning heat, upstairs in the empty (unattended) bar area, which was hot and uncomfortable. The TUI rep was also forbidden from using the hotel WiFi, and it did not work well upstairs and so this affected our experience as hotel customers, just trying to get information. I have never before experienced this in a hotel when I have booked through TUI and the hotel need to rethink this attitude as it was not fair on us.

The hotel representative (not TUI) told us to download an app on our phones for more information, but this did not work and we could not access the information. It would be helpful if they put some information in the rooms about how things work in the hotel. We had to find it out ourselves and had no proper introduction.

You can use towels daily and have to keep your towel cards safe, if you loose a towel you are charged 35 dollars.

The staff are mainly friendly, helpful and work hard. They are a credit to the hotel.

The buffet food is fine, quite tasty and I always found something to eat. It’s a bit repetitive and they could do with serving different types of fish - it’s the same white one every time. But the breakfast is good - omelettes, pancakes etc.

We used the hotel bikes whilst there and you can also use the paddle boards and kayaks free of charge if you are all inclusive.

The dive centre offer jet skis and this was approximately £80 for 30 mins, which was fun but expensive.

We were going to go on a snorkling trip with the hotel dive centre, but it was going to cost over £500 including the ferry trip to Cozumel. We instead did a similar trip for £260 including the ferry by prognosis of ourselves with a street vendor. So consider the cost as I found all trips expensive so it’s best to look around.

We visited chichen Icha which is about a 3 hour drive away - it was very hot and not enough time, but we enjoyed it. We also booked a trip to Isla mujurees.

The beach at the hotel is lovely and you can walk to the ferry and catch it to Cozumel. It’s about a 35 min walk. It was covered in seaweed but I still went in the sea for a swim, and it’s gradually reducing.

The pools are nice and I went in them Daily, but they are warm. They also need a good clean - I rarely saw anyone clean them. Occasionally someone with a net was seen but this is rare. I wonder how often the water is changed?

I liked the fact that the buffet times are generous, breakfast is until 11am, and evening meals are until 10.30 - so plenty of time.

The restaurant is nice but too small for the amount of people. The problem is, that only the inside area is air conditioned - it’s hot outside so not many people want to sit there - so you often have to wait 10 mins for a table in a Que. I would advise the hotel to extend the air conditioning part in the restaurant. No one wants to eat in the heated area when it’s humid and boiling hot.

The entertainment was good some nights. They have an area upstairs with a small bar area and a theatre - there were some really good dance shows - although this usually starts late at 9.30. Some nights it was just karaoke. There was no kids entertainment or kids discos - we didn’t mind but some people may prefer that.

Again the area upstairs with the bar is often too hot, it’s all outside so no air conditioning.

The cleaners always did a good job of cleaning the room, although they kept leaving us 3 towels when we had 4 people. The telephone in the room did not work. We didn’t report this but they could inspect the room to check this for guests? Also the TV channels did not work, only the promotion channel, so I didn’t see the point in having one in the room.

The beds were basic but the bathroom Was nice. They should put tea and coffee in the room for people who have all inclusive, not just for premium customers. It was expensive to come to this hotel and you would expect basics like that to be included. There was an iron and a hairdryer in the room.

There were cute animals roaming around outside and really nice ice cream is served between 2-6pm.

There wasn’t much entertainment in the day but this didn’t bother us. There is a basket ball hoop over one of the pools and I saw aqua aerobics happening in the pool one day. Other than that, it’s limited.

Overall we had a lovely relaxed time combined with a few trips that we booked.

I would just hope the hotel take my recommendations on board to make improvements - as I’ve noticed the same things being said on reviews over the past year about things like - cleaning the pools, the restaurant and air conditioning and it seems nothing has changed.

Over all a good hotel, and If some small improvements were made, it could be great.

Check in was relatively easy. We were then directed to a gentleman who explained the complex and special events available. We were certain that it would be an aggressive push to join the Vacation Club, but he was OK with me saying we would think about it and were not approached again.

As far as levels of rooms, we bought the Premium room. That included a bottle of wine, chocolate covered strawberries, robes in the room, and top shelf liquor. It also included 20% off any spa service. We are beer drinkers and don’t drink wine. If we come here again, we will not buy the Premium, but if you are a liquor or wine drinker, it’s probably worth it.

I’m not sure what all the complaints are about the food at the buffet. We never went hungry and there were always enough choices to satisfy us. Service in the buffet was mostly incredible. Very friendly and accommodating. It felt wrong not tipping the workers because they worked very hard, but it’s not feasible to tip three times a day for 7 days (by the way, we were only scheduled to stay 7 nights but enjoyed it so much, we added 3 nights).

Besides the buffet, there are Mexican and Italian restaurants. We enjoyed the Italian restaurant twice. The spinach soup and lasagna were excellent. The service was top notch. There is also a snack bar that serves burgers and tacos.

When we finally got to the pool for the first time, around 5:00 pm, the pool was very warm. Both pools sit in the sun all day. But until about noon, they are very nice and exhilarating. And there was often a nice breeze after getting out that was very refreshing. We didn’t go in the ocean as the sargassum made the water rust-colored. But it wasn't a deal breaker for us.

Some people complained that there are not enough lounge chairs due to people ‘saving’ them and not being there for hours. If you wait until after noon, there may be fewer loungers available, but we never had trouble finding chairs where we wanted to be next to the pool.

Housekeeping was there every day and did a very nice job. Our housekeeper made special towel cake with balloons for my birthday.

I got a massage at the Ome Spa. It was included in the Birthday Package. The massage was (literally) breathtaking. It was so good, I went back for another one. If you go, you should ask for Laura. She was amazing.

I had saved up about $50 in one dollar bills to tip the waiters who served us at the pool, but no one ever came.

I tried to request transportation to and from the airport through their Travel Shop. I have to have cancellation available because we have had too many things over the years happen to us that we needed to cancel at the last minute. The Travel Shop does not accept cancellations. If anything happens that you need to cancel, you lose your money. Instead, I booked our transfers through Happy Shuttle out of Cancun. They did have cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.

The associates at the Front Desk were incredibly helpful and didn't get upset at how many times I bothered them. I don't like to single out any one because they were all so helpful, but Jesus went way above and beyond helping us get to an excursion that we missed our transportation. Thank you Jesus.

The whole experience was very pleasant. My only negative was the lack of outlets. I’m glad I took my travel power strip that had three regular outlets, and two USB-A and two USB-C ports.

We are already looking forward to our next trip there.

The massage was wonderful, the service was very professional and the environment was so peaceful and beautiful. Laura, Cynthia and Teresa were amazing!