What a beautiful place! The grounds are set in a near-jungle with beautiful plantings. The beach is lovely, with plenty of chairs and shade, the palapas rooms have authentic palm roofs and plenty of space, and the staff are just fantastic. (Ask Obaldo at the bar where to eat real Mexican food). Another plus is that Las Palapas is on the North end of the main drag, so you're not quite as submerged in the Playa party scene. My only complaint is that there is a beach club next door, so you can hear the pounding dance music from about 11am to 5pm everyday. It's not bad on the beach, but in the rooms (on the south side of the hotel grounds) it really gets annoying.
Otherwise, we loved it. What a great place.

We found Las Palapas to be everything and more. It was very quiet, great beach and all the staff were very helpful and friendly. Nice beach and a great little gym. Within easy walking distance to downtown to sightsee. Rooms were clean, not super flashy but comfortable, hammocks on the deck are a great feature. Overall it was a great holiday, birds in the morning are great to wake up to. Sorry to see that it is going under construction, it really is a treasure.
Campbell River, BC Canada

We spent three nights at Las Plapas. overall we were disappointed. While the rooms are nice and clean, and the service was cordial, the hotel gave off an 'old' feel, and we kept bumping into unpleasant little surprises such as unclean restrooms in the restaurant, and having to sign for the beach towells and the A/C remote. One clear conclusion - avoid the half board option. The dinner is very disappointing (a reheated TV dinner with some sad sauce) and Playa has plenty of wonderful restaurants.

Las Palapas was quiet and charming with lovely rooms and a lot of european guests. We stayed in the garden area and not on the beach but we enjoyed the flowers and foliage. At sunrise a huge chorus of songbirds started up the day. Our rooms were spacious, well furnished and beautiful, very clean, lots of hot water, beds not the best, though, on the hard side, and a mosquito or two at night. At times we woke up at the sound of wildlife rustling around on the thatched roof. (Cats, monkeys, raccoons?) We dont like air conditioning - you can't hear the sea at night - and found the ceiling fans kept the rooms very comfortable at night.
Our thatched roof terrace outside the room had comfortable furniture as well as a pair of hammocks in which to spend the late afternoon hours while recovering from the day's sun and getting ready to go out at night. Garden villas had no sea view but were much more private than the beach villas. Songbirds stray cats and a coatimundi that roamed around seemed to be our only neighbors . Although other villas were nearby the foliage was so lush you couldn't see them.
The beach itself was beautiful but busy and noisy with a huge soundstage next door and music blaring until late at night on Saturday night. The other days were more peaceful with an interesting mix of vacationing euros, norteamericanos, mexican families and locals keeping things lively. Great swimming with a bit of a surf and the beach dive shop personnel were wonderful. Dinner at Las Palapa was a good value but uninspiring and we ate out most nights on Avda.Quinta. Breakfasts were very good and the service everywhere in the hotel friendly and helpful.
We stayed only four nights but managed a trip to Akumal where there was good snorkling with sea turtles abundant, and a long swim out to the reef made us earn the great lunch (fish tacos) served at the beach restaurant Lol-Ha. We also snorkled in a pretty cenote - Cenote Krisitalina - with caves to explore and small cliff you could jump/dive off. We took the collectivos - mini-vans that go between Playa and Tulum - to get to both places, and they were very efficient and much cheaper than taxis. Also full of local people as well as tourists.
We were very pleasantly surprised by Playa's night life. We dont do discos and avoid bars full of drunken cruise-ship types but found sophisticated watering holes (some way too expensive), upscale tequila bars, good live music, and a night scene that rivaled anything on Miami's South Beach. Avenida Quinta is a very short walk from the quiet peace of Las Palapas with blocks and blocks of good restaurants in all price ranges, live music, and the inevitable rows of jewelry stores. All in all the trip was a nice balance of beach, nature and buena comida. Had our best meal at Mayan restaurant Yaxche, and enjoyed the huge "cave" bar Alux . Staff at the reception desk at Las Palapas were never in a hurry but did well by us and were always friendly and warm.