Clean room, comfortable very large bed. Desk staff understood enough English to help us. Nice selection of food for breakfast which was served from 7 o'clock. Pool a bit small. Coffee maker in room if you like black coffee. Safe in room. No fridge. Ice from reception. Free wi-fi in lobby. Not far from Xcaret by car.

I didn't see the point in paying for an all inclusive expensive hotel for our first few days in Playa Del Carmen as we were out and about sightseeing so I booked the first 3 days at HIE Playacar. I secured a good price on the Holiday Inn Express website for less than £50 per night. The hotel was as expected, clean, comfortable and functional including TV with some English channels. Breakfast was OK; fruit, cereal, toast, pastries, scrambled eggs, tea, coffee, juices and some Mexican dishes. There is a small pool area with 6 sun beds and a few tables and chairs with shades. The pool area was never busy but was a pleasant enough area to relax in after a day out. It also has a gym but I never used it or saw anyone in there. The hotel provides a one way shuttle on the hour 8.30 - 1.30 and again at 4 & 5 pm to 5th Avenue and Beach Clubs; Senor Frog and Coco Maya. It is a 10/15 minute walk to 5th Avenue along a paved sidewalk. We walked back in the evening and it was perfectly safe - maybe take a torch as it was a little dark as there are few street lights. There is a small express supermarket 5 minute walk away and a very large supermarket situated on the main behind the hotel. Some extras the hotel doesn't really advertise is the fact that they have bikes available for guests to use free of charge on production of ID. Also complimentary coffee and water is available throughout the day in the breakfast area just off Reception. All Reception staff I spoke with were helpful and spoke good English. Complimentary Wifi available in Reception area only. I have no complaints and don't think you can really go wrong at this price.

The hotel was fine. Ok room, good bed and nice albeit smallish outside pool. The problem was that the hotel charged my credit card for two extra nights and hasn't admitted their scam/error. They didn't answer my e-mails about this extra charge at all before I asked the IHG chain for help, then they answered that they had all the right to charge this extra even thou they of course did not.

Now they once again don't answer my e-mails at all. I have made a dispute and my credit card company will try to get the extra money back and hopefully succeeds but because of this scam I can't recommend this hotel to anyone. A hotel should not try to steal a customer's money.

To be honest I'm still not totally sure whether this was a deliberate scam or an honest mistake that they for some reason won't admit. Difficult to say when they don't communicate with me at all and whether it was a scam or mistake they don't care about, my money is gone all the same.

We visited this hotel January 2 2013. My group reserved 3 rooms we were six adults and one child. We loved this hotel as a base for our travels in Playa Del Carmen (Tulum, Xcaret). We went to a Holiday Inn Express chain hotel expecting good service, a clean bed and a reasonable price and is exactly what we got and more. This is a great hotel who gives you more than you pay for, the included breakfast was good, nothing fancy but exactly what you need to get your day started: Fruit, juice, eggs, chilaquiles, toast, milk etc.

The place is located near the entrance of Playacar, there is an Oxxo nearby and public transport is plentyful.

The only issue we had was a buzzing noise throughout the night (almost like a cell phone on vibrate mode, it was probably an AC?) every 5 minutes, it was faint but still there. It wasn't enough of an issue for us to request a change (we did not even notify the hotel), but it might be for someone else.

We had a pleasant stay and would not hesitate in coming back.