We just returned from our 7 days honeymoon in Playa del Carmen at the Illusion Boutique Hotel.
We got a Deluxe Balcony room, spacious and impeccably clean, we had a balcony with a view of the beach.
The maids were very friendly and attentive, they made beautiful and different figures with the towels everyday.
The bar on the roof was great but only opens from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and the pool is really small.
About the breakfast service, they could improve the quality of the continental breakfast ( the pastries seemed old ) and the restaurant staff did nothing to improve the experience.
The guys at the Front Desk made every effort to ensure we had a pleasant stay , especially Miguel, always with a smile and a suggestion to improve our holidays, from how to save on an excursion to the most incredible places some of them almost unknown to tourists, to suggestions for the best restaurants and bars in town .
The location of the hotel is perfect , just steps from the beach and the allways festive Fifth Avenue with all the restaurants, bars, and shopping stores.
We are looking forward to our next vacation at this hotel.

The Illusion Boutique Hotel is in a great location just off 5th. Nice and quiet, comfortable beds, very clean with a wonderful staff. At the reception desk Migel was very helpful and a bit of a jokester. Poolside and at breakfast you will find Javier. Have him fix you a drink and enjoy a good conversation with him. He's quite lively! Our room, 406, was up by the pool and overlooked the ocean. It was lovely and we would surely go back.

The Illusion Boutique Hotel was a wonderful experience. The staff was friendly and very helpful. When we needed to book a tour and a taxi, they took care of everything. When we needed to reschedule our vacation, it was no problem. The room was perfect, the AC very cool, plenty of room for our clothes, a hair dryer and ironing board. We felt as if we were treasured guests! The gratis breakfast was very nice, with many breads to choose from, and coffee and orange juice. Nice, modern Mexican music. The location was oh, so convenient. Half a block from the beach, half a block from Avenue Quinta (the shopping, restaurant district). We would go back in a heartbeat!!!! Beautiful views from the rooftop pool!

We were mostly pleased with our choice of this hotel.

We (3 women late 20s/early 30s) stayed at the Illusion Boutique Hotel in April of 2008 and were in a Luxury Suite room with a king bed and a futon.

The room had a king bed, futon, mini refrigerator, microwave, and sliders that opened up on to the rooftop patio area where the bar and the pool were; we loved this. The bar closed at 6 or 6:30, so there wasn’t noise issue at night. Note that the pool is really more of a wading pool – it’s about 2 ½ feet deep. Good for cooling off, but not for swimming.

The pictures on the hotel website do a pretty good job of showing what the room looks like. The bed and futon were both very hard, but we were ok with that. As other reviewers have mentioned, by the end of the week, the bathroom did have a bit of a musty smell – probably from the wet bathing suits. There was no real closet in the room (there was hanging space in the bathroom), nor was there a good place to keep the suitcases. It did feel a bit crowded with 3 of us in there, but we didn’t spend that much time in the room.

The staff at the hotel was very friendly – Javier is great; make sure you get Byron to show you his dance moves. The other guests staying at the hotel were also very friendly; it was a fun atmosphere. Because it is a relatively small hotel, there is the opportunity to get to know the other guests.

The hotel offers massages in little cabana rooms on top of the hotel. The massages were very good and affordable ($40 for 50 minutes; $10 off if you book one within a day of arriving). You could still hear the music from the bar and the construction noise in the cabana rooms, so that was a bit distracting.

Breakfast left a little to be desired. Toast and mediocre pastries were free. It was $5 a person to “upgrade” to include fruit, cereal, and a made to order omelet. They used too much oil in the pan so the eggs were really greasy. Most days we would eat elsewhere. We found a great little bagel/coffee shop on 5th avenue.

The location of this hotel can’t be beat – it was steps to 5th avenue and to the beach, and there was a cheap internet café across the street. 5th avenue is a pedestrian street filled with bars and restaurants and lots of shops. We could walk everywhere from Illusion.

The beach was great – crystal clear warm water, soft sand, and wait staff bringing you tropical drinks (try the Kaluha Kolada!). It was $5 a day to rent a beach chair.

One negative is that there was quite a bit of construction going on across the street. We couldn’t hear it too much in the room, but it was annoying lying out on the rooftop deck by the pool. Some days they blasted music at the bar to try to cover it up, so it wasn’t exactly quiet and relaxing, if that’s what you’re after. You couldn’t hear the construction at the beach though, which is where we spent most of our time.

Overall we really liked this hotel and would recommend it.