Don't stay here, the management is HORRIBLE. I can't comment on the hotel rooms/amenities themselves because we never got the chance to stay. The hotel told us they were overbooked when we tried to check-in at 2:00 in the afternoon (an hour before their posted check-in time) for our reservation that had been pre-paid and made almost 3 months ahead of time. Telling us they're overbooked even as they continued to check-in other guests as we sat in the lobby waiting for some 3!!!!! hours while they tried to move us to a different hotel was infuriating.

Well, being that it was a high season weekend, guess what, there was nothing else available anywhere for our 4 night stay so we finally ended up at the Holiday Inn Express. Not exactly what we had planned on for our relaxing, adults-only getaway - a hotel wedged between an airport and the main highway, not within walking distance to town or the beach (it was a nice, clean hotel at least).

The management staff was absolutely terrible. They obviously knew they were going to "bump" us before we even walked in the door which I well understand can happen in the hotel industry, the point is that they were completely unprepared to put us anywhere else and didn't have the authority to even start calling other properties until the manager arrived onsite which was an hour after we arrived. I could go on and on, but just suffice it say I would be veeeery wary about booking here. You just might get stuck at the Holiday Inn Express on the highway with kids running around everywhere, no bar or restaurant and having to take taxis everywhere. Sounds reeeallly relaxing huh, it ruined our entire vacation!

OVERALL:
My boyfriend and I really enjoyed our stay at this hotel. It was small, intimate and had a boutique feel to it, but it was literally minutes away from the awesome night life of Playa Del Carmen. One minute I felt like I was in a desolate oasis while relaxing in the beautiful courtyard and then by simply walking out the front doors and down the street two blocks I was taking in the hustle and bustle of restaurants, dancing, parades, laughter – it was great!

ROOMS/ACCOMODATIONS:
The first night we stayed in a room on the second level with a thatched roof, the sound of traffic kept my boyfriend up all night. Not to mention this room did not have any overhead lighting. We moved the next morning to a room on the first level without a regular ceiling. It had excellent lighting and the modern design of the room was great! It had a safe which I loved. I nice little refrigerator, flat screen tv, nice sized shower. The private patio with hammock was wonderful! The bartender even delivered drinks right to our patio. I loved it!

POOLSIDE BAR:
Amazing drinks. We had a complimentary welcome drink. Try the ceviche if you like fish, it was great. Pass on the tacos. One thing to note they were adding a tip/service charge to all of the drinks we ordered and charged to our room. We essentially double tipped the staff.

BEACH CLUB:
Loved it. We didn’t spend much time at the pool because we enjoyed the walk down to the beach so much and then just chilling out by the ocean. It was so much fun. The guacamole and drinks at the beach club were great. The beach club is about a five minute walk from the hotel.

BREAKFAST BUFFET:
Yum. We ate here every morning and they had everything. Fresh squeezed juices, American breakfast favorites and traditional Mexican tamales and other specialties. I usually went with the sugar coated French toast, some bacon, fruit and scrambled eggs, but there was plenty more to choose from.

This hotel is newly remodeled and is beautiful. The bed was so comfortable it was unbelievable. Had it not been so extremely noisy we would have slept great. The noise isn't from the hotel it's from the surrounding area but it really affected our sleep every night. We had the palapa roof which was awesome but did make the noise worse. This location was by far the nosiest during our three week stay. I think for the money you can find a nicer resport that's much quieter!

The pool area is really nice and the grounds are well kept with grass and nice flowers.

The breakfast that is included was pretty good too.

I think it's a little spendy considering we left there and went to little cabanas right on the beach for 220 a night and that included breakfast and awesome dinners every night.

This hotel isn't beach front but it's an easy walk to the beach and it comes with a beach pass to a nice beach that serves lunch and drinks.

The maid service here was awesome, they were so on top of cleaning and providing towels and a nice turn down service at night.

Great stay overall but with all the options in Playa I wouldn't go back to this hotel.

We stayed at Magic Blue for the first time in January 2008 for eight days and enjoyed it very much.

The location could not be better. It is just one block away from all the shops and restaurants on Quinta, the main street in Playa del Carmen. Quinta runs parallel to the beach, so Magic Blue is only two blocks from a beautiful white sand beach.

Magic Blue is pretty easy to miss from the street. The sign isn't big or obvious. But once inside the hotel is very distinctive and beautiful. It is constructed as an open courtyard with a pool, and the rooms surround the courtyard on three sides. There are lots of tropical trees and greenery in the courtyard, and a nice little open air bar that's open until midnight where we enjoyed going and meeting fellow guests from different countries.

The lobby of the hotel is a large bright room that separates the street from the open courtyard of the hotel. The friendly attendant took us up to our room and showed us how everything worked. There is an in-room safe available for a slight fee and well worth the peace of mine.

We were offered a free, "welcome", tropical drink of our choice upon checking in, and room service brought them up quickly.

Our room was on the second floor, with a rustic set of outdoor stairs leading to our porch, which had a nice little couch on it. We requested they add a hammock like we saw other rooms had, and it was put up immediately and at no extra cost.

The room was clean, attractive and modern, with a huge vaulted roof made of pretty, native palapa and beams. The room had free wireless Internet which we used with our laptop even out on our porch.

There is no phone in the room in the traditional sense. Instead they give you a cell phone to use during your stay, which is pre-loaded with about $20 value. You are free to take the phone with you outside the hotel to use as your own during your stay. It was a fantastic system for us, and though we used the phone, we did not manage to exceed the value loaded on it. Where other hotels will charge you for outside calls, Magic Blue actually enables your calls, and being able to carry the phone with us around town was so wonderfully convenient.

The hotel is adults only, no kids at all. There are relatively few Americans in Playa del Carmen, compared with Cancun just up the coast 40 miles. That was true at our hotel, too. Most of the guests were Italian, German, South American or English. Most of the staff spoke English which was very convenient for us.

The hotel has a large bar and club with a separate entrance just next to the hotel lobby entrance. Like most clubs, it's open to the air under a huge palapa roof. We were never bothered in our rooms by the sound of the club, but there's a nightclub a half block away that doesn't open until about 4:00am. Yes, 4:00am. That place plays music loud enough that we could occasionally hear it in our room. It was loud enough to wake us on a couple of occasions, but only because everything else was so quiet by contrast. You will also occasionally hear people in the street calling out to one another. Yes, you can hear outside noises, but they were few and far between. Mostly it's a quiet place.

The hotel provides a free breakfast buffet at the restaurant next door, and it was wonderful. There was an extensive selection including several juices, hot and cold cereals, various fruits, scrambled eggs, Mexican rice dishes, ham and more. Though it is a buffet, the people handling the service were very friendly and attentive.

Although the hotel is not on the beach, it is affiliated with a beach club just two blocks away. Just show your Hotel Magic Blue card and they let you right in. We forgot our cards one day, but they let us in anyway, because they recognized the beach towels we were carrying, which you pick up on your way through the hotel lobby on the way to the beach. Every time we arrived at the beach, we were greeted by Miguel, who took excellent care of us and made sure we were well looked after. He's all about service and making you feel welcome and pampered. The beach club offers free use of cabanas, chez-chairs, and has a full bar service and food menu. There was even a pretty masseuse on duty for beach front table massages. The sand is clean and powdery, and the water is just 50 feet or so away, so it's easy and fun to take frequent dips in the ocean.

From the moment we got up each morning we always saw the hotel staff busy scrubbing, cleaning, raking, gardening; keeping the place clean and neat and fresh.

We felt we got excellent value for the money at Magic Blue and the service was excellent and the people friendly. We are already talking about how soon we can return for our next stay there.

James