Thompson Playa Del Carmen Offers Urban Mexico Sun And Fun Luxury For Under $200

If you love Mexico but yearn to combine a lazy resort experience of hanging out by the pool with an urban setting of lively streets, shopping, dining and clubs just outside your door, Thompson Playa Del Carmen Main House with its rooftop pool deck, sister property on the beach blocks away, and location in the middle of the action is a perfect fit.

Thompson Hotels is one of the many brands that can be categorized as lifestyle, and the once indie group has been part of Hyatt since 2018.

In Playa Del Carmen, the hotel’s small lobby opens off a pedestrian street, so make sure to let your taxi driver know he or she can take you to the front door. Our driver wanted to drop us off about a half block away, which may not be ideal if you have a lot of luggage. However, it took a call to the hotel and having them speak to our driver to convince him that it was okay to enter the street where the hotel entrance is located.

Check-in was efficient and even though we arrived a bit before one o’clock in the afternoon, our room was ready. I had received an offer to check in as early as 9 a.m. for $50 that I had declined.

At the front desk we were given a written notice that the sister property, Thompson Playa Del Carmen Beach House, would be closed to the public for a wedding during our stay. Since being able to use the sister property was one reason we chose the Main House, this really should have been communicated when we made our booking, particularly since I was in contact with the hotel prior to our arrival. While I didn’t ask, surprisingly, no compensation was offered – a free drink up at the pool would have been nice.

The Main House is built on top of a shopping mall with restaurants, bars, upscale stores and a mandatory Starbucks, so there is always a lot of foot traffic nearby and you can hear it from your room if you keep the balcony door open. Living in a high-rise with noise-proof windows and coming after a few days in a secluded resort, we enjoyed hearing live music mixing with the beat from nearby clubs and the voices of those out and about enjoying themselves into the wee morning hours.

The hotel interiors give a 1970s Mexican high-rise resort retro vibe with lots of beige and brown-hued marble, dark woods and low lighting in its long hallways that open to an atrium below.

We booked a King Balcony, which at 548-square feet, offered a large single room with a bed and a separate area with a comfortable couch and flatscreen television. The balcony included a large round table, two comfortable chairs and a daybed. The balcony gave us the perfect perch to check out the street action with views of the Caribbean Sea just over the rooftops of the adjacent buildings.

There was a small bathroom area with closet space, a sink area, and a separate toilet and walk-in shower. While the bathroom area is divided from the bedroom, frosted glass allows light from the bathroom into the bedroom, which could be annoying if you are a light sleeper.

The bed was very comfortable; there was a stocked minibar, a coffeemaker with pods, and water bottles in the bathroom and living room. It turns out only the water bottles in the bathroom are complimentary and you only get two free pods of coffee per day even though a half dozen were laid out. This was never made clear, so it made for an odd conversation at checkout, being asked about how many pods of coffee we had used. While charging seemed a bit chintzy, at a room rate of $170 per night the hotel is a bargain.

In terms of facilities, there is a small gym in the basement with a single Precor weight machine, dumbbells and cardio machines. It’s not a place you will want to spend a lot of time.

However, the reason to stay here is twofold. The location and the roof deck, which features the Alessia Rooftop Dayclub. Two narrow infinity pools run nearly the length of the roof. The larger one includes a swim-up bar while the other pool is dotted with semi-submerged loungers.

Lining the pool are daybeds and lounge chairs, plus private cabanas. During our four days the pool never became overcrowded, and while outside guests can enter for a fee, there was never a problem securing a daybed. What’s more, for hotel guests there are no access charges.

Service was particularly attentive and friendly, but not overbearing, and there was no pressure to upsell us to bottle service and the like. The food, from shrimp tacos to tuna tartare, was all very good and so were the views across the azure Caribbean Sea waters with Cozumel in the distance and cruise ships in between.

The pool deck is popular for bachelor, bachelorette parties and birthdays. There is a DJ and loud party music, but then again, if you are looking for peace and quiet, Riviera Maya has plentiful options for that.

We really liked the fact that at night we could walk out the hotel’s front door and within the adjacent blocks were plentiful restaurants, bars, clubs and shopping – no taxis needed.

Harry’s Steakhouse & Raw Bar provides a big city steakhouse ambiance, excellent service and a refined dining experience. Porfirio’s, across the street, with open air dining, describes itself as a modern Mexican kitchen, and combined good food, great service with entertainment in the form of both traditional and modern dancers.

While there are diverse points of view about Playa Del Carmen – for example, some consider it a tourist trap – our experience was the streets were clean with a nice mix of shops, restaurants and lots of buzz that made for that rare Mexican treat: an urban sun-and-fun vacation spot where you can stay in the middle of the action.

As for the hotel, next time I would look at the suites. They were sold out when I booked, but at rates under $300 per night, the extra space would be worth it. The hotel is part of the World of Hyatt loyalty program for those of you who like to earn and burn your points.