Balkón Boutique Hotel

The room was pretty nice, and the service was great. The guy at check-in was very sweet, and I liked the rooftop pool. I expected to be a bit closer to the beach. Their beach club arrangement isn’t really a free pass: you can’t use the chairs without spending at least 300 MX pesos or 500! Towels are only available if you get a chair, then they cost 100 pesos plus a 200 pesos deposit. Absolutely ridiculous!!!

I checked out balkon Boutique Hotel as a mystery shopper today because I’d decided to stay closer to the beach club and large shopping center. The front desk associate was polite and accommodating, and the lobby smelled like delicious coffee. The online details mentioned pastries, but when I asked, she said they no longer had them because they’d been a limited edition. For pastries, I’d have to go to the bakery across the street. Coffee and tea were unlimited. I saw the double rooms. They were very small, though the washroom was grand. The windows were small and thin, the air felt muggy with little airflow, but the AC made the room very cold. The double beds were close together and felt claustrophobic. The elevator worked well, and it was quiet during the day. The rooftop pool and sitting area were both tiny, more suited to a quiet solo traveler reading a book. You have to climb stairs to get into the pool and back down with wet feet, with no handrails, which could be dangerous for someone with mobility restrictions or a disability. You can see the Caribbean Sea, but looking down shows a sadly run-down neighborhood. 10th Ave is one block up from 5th Ave, but getting to the real shopping center is a long walk through an old neighborhood with very uneven sidewalks. You have to watch your step to avoid the raised sections. There are dogs barking everywhere along 10 Ave and 15 Ave, constantly, though they weren’t aggressive and roamed freely. It seems like spaying and neutering aren’t common in this culture. Some side roads toward 60 Street by Balkon Hotel feel icky, but the area still seems safe. If it’s your first time in playa del carmen, you may feel nervous and stay locked in the stuffy room until you’ve had taquilla. I’d stay there if expedia had a good sale. Otherwise, I’m much happier at the Mare condo vacation suits, which are more spacious and closer to nearby stores, with a livelier feel. They do cost more, though, and the beds are hard as bricks.

The rooftop has a great view, and Crisol coffee and bakery is right around the corner. Staff were nice, and the girl at the front desk was very helpful. The hotel is at the edge of the tourist area, only a few blocks from the beach. The neighborhood isn’t the best, but it’s improving, with new buildings going up and old ones coming down. The rooms are very nice, but the floor was really dirty. I think it could be a lovely hotel once they sort out the cleaning. The price is good for the area, and I’d stay here again.

It was clean enough and an okay value, just outside the main tourist area, and we didn’t feel unsafe. But it’s a very basic hotel, and the online photos are misleading. Our room had no decorations or accent linens, and its window looked straight at a concrete wall. The roof was poorly maintained, with pool tiles falling off and furniture that was dirty and gross. The elevator seemed to be permanently broken, so keep that in mind if mobility is an issue. After I posted, I showed the photos online to my partner, and he said, “Those photos cannot possibly be of the same hotel we stayed at.” The place would have been better if it were advertised accurately. But if it had been, we might have stayed somewhere else 😂