Playa Canek Beachfront Eco Hotel

At the time of booking, the full price of one night in my room would've been between $200-300, and I got a great deal through this site. I was able to book two nights for $82/night, and I think this is worth mentioning right away. For that price, this was an incredible value and I am HIGHLY satisfied. I will do this again if I can find another amazing deal, as this hotel seems among the less expensive in the area, and I am a budget traveler. If I had paid full price of $200-300+, I would have been underwhelmed and probably wish that I had chosen one of the more trendy resorts with more amenities, because there are so many great options in the area. The room was incredibly clean and plenty up-to-date as far as the design and decor. From what I understand, this is one of the older hotels in the area, but I thought the room was excellent, again, especially for the price I paid. Comfy beds, plenty of space, a large walk-in shower, toilets that flush well, a nice little porch with a hammock chair and foot washing basin so you don't track sand into your room (the whole property is sand). Waking up early and immediately walking out to the beach is a treat I will look forward to doing again asap. That is probably the best feature of this hotel, or really any hotel on the Tulum beach, because anyone can just ride a bike or taxi to the beach and enjoy the whole thing just as any guest. But waking up there and watching the sunrise, walking along the beach when there's nobody out there yet, and exploring a little at night were the things that really made it worth while to stay right on the beach. Otherwise, the values downtown are obviously much better/cheaper for a budget traveler like me. Check-in was very simple and fast. Gualberto was the person that responded to my emails beforehand and was also there for my stay. I didn't really need anything special but he seemed ready to help and very friendly. The location is very hip.

I don't really have any complaints, and I give this property high marks. But there were a couple tiny things that kept it from being 100%. As mentioned, the location is very hip. It's amongst fancy indoor/outdoor restaurants, beach clubs, and little shops that sell outrageously expensive "bohemian" clothing. If you're a rich girl in town for the electronic music festival and you've got money to burn, maybe treat yourself to a leather headband with strange feathers from one of the shops for $180, for instance. Drinks and food in the area are good, but from my perspective, I'd rather spend $2.50 on a torta sandwich from the cart on the corner downtown than get a plate of well, anything for $12-18 here. That said, it's a great place to splurge a little if you don't have to watch your money like I do. Being as far south on the beach road as it is, it also necessitates a $10 cab ride to and from town, where you likely arrived via bus. A couple other little things were that my room safe did not work, but it wasn't important enough to me to even mention to them while I was there. And I thought breakfast was too expensive to justify. I don't even know what it was, but again, it was $10 or $15, and I'll take that $2 torta all day long. So no real complaints at all. It's just a bit more expensive in this area and a bit more remote, but that really only mattered to me being that I stayed here in between 2 different hostels downtown.