Hotel Ambra

The room felt bare and depressing, and having just one pillow for a king sized bed made the owners seem exceedingly cheap. The elevator was really slow, too. They keep the door with the ramp locked, so getting a stroller into the lobby would be a struggle, and the same goes for anyone using a wheelchair. It’s not a good place for people with disabilities or young children.

We stayed at Ambra for 2 weeks and had a great time. We’d first booked a similar hotel at about the same price, but found mold everywhere and looked for somewhere else. At Ambra, the reception was really helpful, and we met the boss. He said mold is a big problem in many hotels, often caused by leaking AC's. Our AC leaked a little and left a small old water mark, but there was no mold at all. The rooms were cleaned every day, and all the employees were super friendly. We had some really amusing conversations even though we didn’t speak the same language. The location worked well for a few reasons. There’s a mall right across the street, easy to reach on foot, and being farther from Centro saved us about 10 minutes on each trip to the south of playa del Carmen, like tulum and xpu ha. It’s also about a minute from the big road called 307, which is convenient for heading north to Puerto Morelos or Cancun. You’ll need a rental car to make use of that, and there are parking spots right in front of and behind the hotel. A real bargain, with nice, clean rooms and awesome employees!

The constant traffic from cars and trucks on the main road made noise, and some vehicles parked near the hotel. There was also no real sound isolation between rooms. I could hear people in the next room using the toilet, along with voices and TVs from other rooms. The aircon had fungus on its blades and trouble draining condensate, so water sometimes leaked out. The air smelled and didn’t feel dry, and the unit would sometimes stop working and ignore the remote. I asked reception to fix it, but nothing changed. They ignored the problem, so I stopped using it by the end. The rooms weren’t cleaned regularly either. Some days I returned at 5pm and housekeeping still hadn’t come. The staff were super unprofessional and unresponsive. I asked reception to book an airport taxi for 4am. When I came down at 3:55am, there was no car, and the new lobby shift didn’t know about my request. It took several attempts to get anyone to do something. The guy said he had “texted driver but had no response” and ignored the issue. I finally got a taxi at 4:30am. Terrible place, worse than a cheaper motel.

The rooms were very clean, with comfortable beds and hot water, and the hotel was good value. Most of my experience was good, though the night shift guy wasn’t very patient or knowledgeable about online bookings. The couple in front of me had to find somewhere else to stay, and he didn’t seem to care as he turned them away.