Excellent stay, and would come back anytime again. Only downside is the Day Club.

Check In

Upon arrival we were greeted by a receptionist when getting out of the car. We were immediately recognized as a Diamond member and hence were escorted to the Grand Club for Check-in.

Lobby level is on floor 3, the Grand Club is on the 4th floor. We were offered something to drink, while waiting for all formalities to be done.

At first we thought the whole process is taking a bit long... but only afterwards realized why. Since we were celebrating our wedding anniversary (and the hotel inquired about any special occasion weeks in advance), they needed that time to place a bottle of champagne and cheesecake in our room (it had to be delivered freshly of course). Also here, the hotel had inquired in advance of anything we dislike. That was a very nice surprise.

Room

We had used a DSU for this 6-day stay and hence were confirmed into Grand Suite King, a 615 square foot room.  We were allocated one of the best suites of this category, as it was situated on the bridte. Room 542.

The king bed was very comfortable, the bedroom can be separated by a sliding door from the living room and bathroom. The living room has a sofabed, a table with 2 chairs, minibar and Nespresso machine, TV, docking station. The bathroom is huge (see separate section for details).

Room has many power outlets and USB charging capabilties.

All Suites are ocean front.

• 2 presidential suites (1 in the North, and 1 in the South wing, top floor)
• 6 Executive Suite King (my count, 3 each in the “north” and “south” wing.
• Plunge Pool Suites and Grand Suite King (same room, some just have a plunge pool on the terrace (and can be distinguished by the glass wind protection)
• Ocean front rooms. Some above the Day Club, which I strongly recommend to avoid (see section Overall)
• Swim up rooms are on level 1 and face the garden.
• Standard/partial ocean view

Service

Service is impeccable. All staff are extremely helpful, friendly and sincerely care for you. Grand Club superb, know you by name and remember preferences.

Dining

• Had lunch at La Cocina, and at the pool, too. Always very good.
• Sushi from the Raw Bar of El Paseo was excellent (served at the pool as well)
• Dinner at The Grill was superb. Outstanding service and quality food.
• Pricing at the hotel is reasonable.

Grand Club: 

• Huge breakfast selection with lots of pastries, bread, fruits, juices, yogurt, cheese, salmon and cold meets, scrambled eggs. Americano and Nespresso coffee. According to me, the variation could have been better, e.g. scrambled eggs were served every morning.
• Evenings: nice selection, good variations of appetizers. Free alcoholic drinks. On the first evening we tried the cocktail of the day, a superb Margarita. The next day we were looking forward to the drink of the day, as we had read in other reviews that they also have a cocktail menu. It was again the Margarita. We figured out, the Margarita was actually the drink of the week, and no cocktail menu was made available to us, maybe due to May being out of the season?
• Balcony seating available, which we always used. Inside too cold… and why sit in the cold, when it’s nice and warm outside?

Location

Hotel is located roughly 45 minutes from CUN airport. La Quinta Avenida (the main street in Playa Del Carmen) is a mere 5 minute walk from the hotel and has loads of good restaurants and bars, too. Lots of shopping. It seems to be a very safe area in my view.

Overall

Overall, this is a fantastic hotel and I’d return any time again. The resort is beautiful, great food, wonderful pool and beach, impeccable staff.

The biggest down side is the Day Club. It is not part of the Grand Hyatt, although on its premises. It is operated independently (i.e. room charges cannot be done there). It is located right beside the adult pool. Music starts at 11 am, is perfectly fine in terms of loudness/volume. It gets louder around 2 pm, and they pump up the volume once again at 4pm.

There seems to be quite some competition in these resort cities to attract teenagers and youngsters in their twens. Lots of alcohol drinking, dancing and according to me quite disgusting behavior.

Music stops at 7pm.

I would absolutely REFUSE to be allocated one of the rooms near or above the club!  I REALLY think, Hyatt needs to reconsider the Day Club usage. 

I cannot upload a video here on FT to provide "evidence"... contact me for a link to a video, which I will then temporarily place in dropbox.

Beach

The beach is very clean, nice and warm water. We were here in May.

Bathroom

Huge bathtub for 2 and shower (rain shower, wall and manual shower), separated toilet, double sink, enough storage area

Pool

The pool area is simply wonderful. They have an adult pool and multiple smaller pools.

Cabanas can be rented. The price of $150 although is way too much, it’s slightly below the room rate I paid. Included would be 2 bottles of water, 2 bottles of beer and Guacamole all day. Never used them.

Every day they came around the pool area offering ice cold popsicles. And sometimes refreshing towels or something to drink. I thought this was a very nice gesture.

They offer free cold water and SPF 50 sun lotion at the towel hut.

Amenities

We were provided with a bottle of champagne and cheesecake to celebrate our wedding anniversary