We arrived Sunday evening and were greated by Alejandro, he took us to our room and helped with our bags. Our room was on the first floor and being an older couple with dive bags this is great. We stepped out on our patio and saw the wonderful pool area. The pool is kidney shaped and has an area for young children and deeper end with a large raft for adults and older children.

We always had a clean room and the showers were cleaned daily.

We had free passes to the beach club, but since we are divers we were not in need of them.

The breakfast is small, however if you want a larger breakfast they will take a percentage off of your bill.

We had read the reviews and were ready for the hard beds (the reason is because unlike America they do not use bed springs.

The other nice thing about this hotel is that it is only one block from fifth avenue and has a great number of restaurants in close proximity to the hotel.

We chose Hotel Riviera Caribe Maya based on TripAdvisor reviews (it was our second choice since Luna Blue was full), and overall we were pleased with our choice. But we had a few problems along the way.

The hotel is small, lovely, and clean--at least as visually appealing as the pictures on the web site suggest. And btw, almost all the rooms have balconies, and even those that don't have windows overlooking the pool in the courtyard, which is very pretty, and surrounded by nice lounge chairs. The one aesthetic shortcoming is the art, which is pretty bad. I know that's a small detail, but visually, the hotel is so nice otherwise, that the bad paintings definitely stand out.

Here are a few problems you might want to know about:

1. If you are considering staying here within the next couple of months, beware of the fact that the property immediately next door is UNDER CONSTRUCTION. At the time of our stay (Feb. 2008) the major structural work appeared to be nearly complete, but who knows how long the finish work on the inside will take. Unfortunately, our room was literally inches (through the wall) from the construction noise, which was kind of a drag. However, the hotel handled this well: we were moved to a different room ASAP (after one night). This was also an "upgrade" to a room with a king size bed for no additional charge. And btw, other than the size of the bed itself, the room was identical to the room we'd been in with a queen-size bed. After we moved, we couldn't hear any noise from our room. I think construction noise might only be a problem in the three rooms closest to the building next door. Still, thought it was worth knowing about. Of course, construction is happening all over the place in booming Playa, so you might find this almost anywhere you stay.

2. The queen-size bed in our original room had the hardest mattress I've ever slept on. Not quite as hard as a rock, but close. The king size bed in the room we moved to later was fine.

3. The entire hotel had no running water whatsoever for about an hour the first morning of our stay. (Possibly related to construction next door?)

4. For some reason, several lights in the front part of our room failed to work on the second morning of our stay. (Probably a circuit breaker.) This was fixed quickly after we notified the front desk.

And here are a few positives:

1. One great perk that I don't remember being mentioned: there's a laptop with free Internet access in the lounge area that guests are welcome to use to check email, etc. Rarely a wait to use it.

2. The hotel provides fresh beach towels (in addition to the regular bath towels in your room) daily. Just ask for them at the front desk.

3. The half-price discount at Mamitas Beach Club is definitely a good thing. You can rent comfortable lounge chairs for the day for $3 each. (I think that was the price after the discount, but I can't remember now.) Definitely worth it. Then you get waiter service for drinks (and passable food) all day. If you want a chair under a palapa-style umbrella, you might want to send someone out to save them by 8 or 9 a.m. I saw several people arrive early just to hang their beach towels from an umbrella to "reserve" it. Even though they didn't come back for a couple of hours, and even though every other umbrella was taken, everyone seemed to honor that that umbrella had been claimed.

My husband and I stayed here for four nights. It was super clean, the hotel is really cute, the location was excellent and the staff were really helpful and friendly. You have access to a beach club that is only two blocks away and 5th Ave is just around the corner. It was quiete, except for the construction next door but we were up and ready to get moving by then anyway! Excellent price!

My wife and I stayed for five days and nights and left on New Year's Eve 2007. Spotless, well maintained, very friendly staff, warm and inviting place to stay. Except for some 8 am hammering from condo construction next door, no booming techno, all night parties or loud trafic. Air conditioner, shady pool, and overhead fan kept us cool. The rooms were kept immaculately, and the towels folded into origami swans and other shapes. Bring your own washcloths, though. Luis numero uno and Luis numero dos staffed the front desk and were a hoot to tease and play with. Each morning, we received a ticket to free continental breakfast at a sweet little Italian/Mexican joint two blocks away, and a 50% discount to the closest beach club (ten minute walk). Get to the beach early to score a lounge. It as high season so we paid about $115 total (with tax) but we kept remarking how lucky we were to find this place relative to the larger, noisier places to the south. We would definately return if Playa was our destination of choice.