I'm not sure why this hotel received some bad reviews... it is what it is... a budget hotel, and a good one at that! I've done budget hotels and nice hotels (e.g. the Ritz in Maui), and I think that as long as you have your expectations set, then you will be fine. Besides, with you're on vacation in a beach laden place, you only need the hotel for showering and sleeping! In any case, some pros and cons to help people decide:

CONS:
* The walls are thin... so as everyone else suggests, request a room away from the elevator (and the ice coolers at the end of the halls)
* Even with A/C, the air tends to be a bit humid... we brought our own beach towels and after the first use, they were never fully dry again!
* Breakfast is terrible
* No food available for any meal aside from breakfast, and only pizza to be delivered
* Shuttle only ran from 7am to 7pm, and only did drop offs, not pick ups

PROS:
* If you want to rent a car to drive around and check out the ruins (we did Coba and Chichen Itza in one day), there is a Budget rent a car place about 5 mins walking distance away
* The shuttle did drop us off at various places aside from the strip
* the receptionists and bartender were very nice
* hotel is new and clean
* can rent internet (about $2.50 an hour)
* they will lend your beach towels (but you need to put down a $50 deposit)
* you have the option of using the safe in the room
* good security
* $5-10 cab ride away from main areas (returning there at night)
* price was good
* there is a small gym in the hotel

Well, it's new so it's clean, but our shower was broke and you couldn't order a movie, that was broke too. Pretty good wireless connection though. Bed was half way comfortable, but the elevator dinging can be heard throughout the whole floor. Also, their construction consist of tile floors in the hallway resulting in late night arrivals with high heels click click clicking to their rooms making you think you've been transported back to the fairy tale of billy goats gruff. Thin walls, but nice staff and the "breakfast" is kind of a joke, some stale pastries, juice, toast and frosted flakes, but clean dining room. The hotel is right at the start of town, it's easy to blow by, so be careful if your driving into Playa from Cancun airport, it's on your right and the sign is small, just about directly across from the V.W. dealership. It will be interesting to see how this holds up over the years, but right now it's a nice respite from the high prices in the Playa area.

The hotel was in a good location, although it's such a shame it was not nearer to the beach and 5th Ave, however, the hotel does provide free transportation between 7am and 12 noon to the beach and other locations such as Plaza's, conference centre's etc.

The pictures of the rooms, pools etc is accurate, the rooms could be a bit larger but was adequate and extremely clean, & were kept clean throughout our stay.

The staff were friendly and bi lingual, very approachable and helpful. I went with my mother and son and even although mostly business people stay there, they catered for our family well.

P.S. try not to get a room near the lifts, or generators as they were noisy & we had to move room due to this noise. However, they were very efficient in moving us.

I would most definately stay there again.

My boyfriend and I stayed at Magic Express for a week at the beginning of February. Overall the experience was a good one. Here are some things that you might want to take into consideration when staying at this hotel:

The hotel is a very far walk from the beach. When we arrived we took the bus from the airport in Cancun to the bus station on Avenida Quinta. We made the mistake of walking to the hotel from the bus station. It was hot and it was humid and we couldnt find any street names and were exhausted after lugging our bags to the hotel. Save yourself the hastle and take a cab ride for $5 US from the bus station. The hotel itself is located on a major highway and there is a big brick wall seperating it from the sketchy neighborhood a few feet behind it. I dont recommend walking around the back of the hotel at night.

The hotel and our room were very clean. Our room had a very high ceiling and two double beds (we couldnt get a room with a single bed). The tv was an LCD screen, (a bit small but it did the trick), The bathroom was really clean (the shower is stand up). The room was cleaned every day. The mattresses on the beds felt very hard the first night, but we got used to them after that. We paid a minimum charge for a room safe for our valuables which I highly recommend.

Breakfast: Very repetitive. I was getting tired of eating croissants, and muffins all the time. On the bright side its free and I learned how to say Chocolate Frosted flakes in Spanish "Choco Zucharitos".

Free Shuttle:I didnt know this until I got there but the hotel offers a free shuttle van anywhere in the downtown Playa del Carmen/Playacar area between 7am-7pm. I found this out when I got to the hotel and checked in. We used it a couple of mornings and the most we ever waited for it to come was 15 minutes. If you dont mind having to share your shuttle van with other hotel guests and making the occaisional side stop then you should definitely use it.

The staff: The staff was really helpful. The front desk staff spoke English. Some of the other staff couldnt speak English at all but they were all friendly and made the effort to talk to me when they saw me trying to speak Spanish. One day I told the shuttle van driver that we wanted to go see the ruins at Tulum and asked him to take us to the bus station because I thought that was the only cheap way to get there. Luckily he drove us to the Collectivos stop (they are vans that are commonly used by the locals to get around Playa del Carmen and nearby towns. We got on a collectivo that went to Tulum. It stopped right in front of the entrance to the ruins and we only paid $2.50 US each.

Overall, if you dont mind not being right on beach then you should definitely stay at this hotel. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a great vacation without paying a lot.