Magia Beachside Condo

This review is long (and long overdue) but I wanted to give this place the love it deserves. We have stayed in 3 different units at this property - all ground floor. (2 were 2 bedroom, one was 3 bedroom) They were ALL wonderful. We are about to return next week for our 4th stay at Magia - And 5th stay through condohotels. This property's location cannot be beat! It is situated between the beach and the heart of 5th Avenue. It is quiet at night, has a security entrance and concierge/guest services directly across the street. Within 5 minutes easy walking, you can be at the beach, or right in the middle of 5th Avenue. We love the benefit and ease of having 'hotel' services and amenities while staying in a private, fully equipped condo. The 2 pools are large, get great sun, and also offer plenty of loungers & umbrellas. Towels for poolside (white) and towels to take to the beach (*****ed) are obtained at check-in from guest services. The grounds are kept very clean, and maintenance is kept up. Staying in the ground floor units gives direct pool access from out your patio door, so popping in and out for refreshments is a breeze. The private back patio off the bedrooms is large and very nice to spend time having morning coffee or drinks in the evening. The units are spacious, open concept and surprisingly bright and airy for being ground floor. There are two lounging areas, a dining area, fully equipped modern kitchen, dishwasher, washer/dryer, and great A/C. The beds are very comfortable with ample linens and pillows, and a terrific wall unit/closet for storage of everything. There are TVs in the bedrooms as well as one in the living room. WiFi is generally good inside the units and in the proximal courtyard areas, but harder to keep a signal if sitting out back. Housekeeping and other services have been top notch. Any small issues we have had were quickly addressed with a call or visit to the concierge desk. They also are wonderful for dining and tour suggestions, calling taxis, delivering ice and water - You name it! (Shout out to Eric, who has been there every year we've stayed, and is a welcome familiar face.) Noise is minimal - staff are on the property and quick to address any disturbances if they arise. Booking has always been easy using their online reservation system and chat feature. They have been incredibly accommodating and respond quickly with changes to our reservations (adding guests, switching properties/units, etc...) We have also been pleased to have discounts at a number of restaurants and the spa services at their nearby Maya Villa property. As well, the Asi Beach Club attached to their El Taj property is just across the street, and serves great food and drinks - especially breakfast. We have nothing but good things to say about this property and Condohotels Playa del Carmen in general. There's a reason we keep coming back each year - It feels like our home away from home. Looking forward to returning next week!

We were unable to travel over the holidays due to the unprecedented airline cancellations across North America. We were on the phone for 7+ hours with our travel provider trying to make alternate arrangements however given the time of year coupled with the flight cancellations we were unable to arrange transportation from Canada. We reached out to the property personally and via our travel provider to try to come up with a solution ie extend dates forward, provide future credit or partial refund. We were happy to try to come up with a solution that worked for everyone. The property refused to budge on their cancellation policy which is absolutely unacceptable given the circumstances and our willingness to work with them to create a workable solution for all parties. The property was easily able to resell the room given it’s the busiest travel season of the year and the first post covid Holiday season. Furthermore, I had a local business colleague call to request a unit during our travel dates and the condo told them they were fully sold out therefore leading me to believe they resold the room and doubled up their profits. For a business that relies on foreign dollars the whole situation is absolutely unacceptable and I would suggest that you avoid anything that Playa Associates holds interest in. Their C suite is easily available online if you’ve had an experience similar to mine and would like to directly contact them.

Wonderful hotel for families or groups. There were 5 of us so the 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, sitting, dining and TV room came in handy. Secured entrance with staff on site. Due to covid, no housekeeping but we were provided enough towels and rags for 5 days. Rooms has balconies that look out unto the beautiful blue pools. Filtered water provided in the room. 1 block from 5th Ave the hub of restaurants and shopping, 1 block from the beach. Covid testing provided on site with results in 15 mins. We were very pleased with the hotel and its presentation. One sour note: very slow response from sales rep for the booking but that’s on them, not thr fault of the hotel.

Hotel includes airport shuttle, but they insisted they would only pick us up 2 hours before our international flight departs. We told them several times that was not enough time, but the hotel did not care or try to provide an earlier shuttle. We ended up missing our flight. It shows the hotel does not care about its guests.