Hilton Playa Del Carmen, an All-Inclusive Adults-Only Resort

Such a great all incluive with excellent service and staff. Definitely recommend saying yes when the photographers ask to take your pictures!

We spent a beautiful 2 weeks at this resort. Mariana, extraordinary resort manager, and assistants Kevin and Christina and restaurant manager, Miguel, were wonderful. Staff was very friendly and food and drinks were great. We had a pool cabana, in a quieter area, for each day of our trip which helped with getting a good mix of sun and shade. We will definitely go back and would would recommend to other couples.

Hyatt Vivid Playa Del Carmen, Playa Del Carmen: May 15 – May 20, 2026 (5 nights, Room 4406) Pre-review Notes: This was our second visit to Hyatt Vivid Playa Del Carmen (HV PDC). Our previous visit to HV PDC was in December of 2025. We booked directly from the HV PDC website and signed up for the World of Hyatt credit card in hopes that we’ll receive free night benefits in the future. I regularly read many of the most recent reviews on Tripadvisor prior to booking our trips to Mexico. Expedia rates HV PDC a 9.0 out of 10 (~2,300 reviews) and Tripadvisor rates the property a 4.6 out of 5 (from ~24,274 reviews). Upon arrival we were greeted with a non-alcoholic welcome drink. Check-in time was reasonably quick and we learned we’d been assigned a room in building 1, contrary to our request for building 4 when booking. There was some maintenance being done in building 4, but with our request we were moved back to building 4 hoping the maintenance wouldn’t be a problem. Resort Grounds: 9 According to Google, Hyatt Vivid PDC has 524 suits. The grounds are meticulously groomed with many flowers, palm trees, sculptures, and local wildlife. The resort is located in downtown Playa Del Carmen and doesn’t have a sprawling size or a large beach. Everywhere we ventured on property was well-maintained and clean. The rating assumes that a small resort in a downtown area is positive. Pools: 8.5 There are several pools at Hyatt Vivid PDC that vary in energy level. The main pool area includes a swim-up bar, activities section for in-pool spin classes, and a large hot tub. Unlike our previous visit we did end up using the main pool for a short time. We tried a margarita from the swim up bar and thought the margaritas were better from the quiet pool. Our suite location in building 4 was near the secondary “quiet” pool location and the vibes there suit us nicely. We did not experience the pool chair game during this visit as there seemed to be fewer guests. The “quiet” pool is located right next to a bar and the service from the bartenders was excellent. Room: 8 We stayed in the Junior Suite base room type in building four on the fourth floor. The rooms are large and comfortable. The HV PDC website lists the Junior Suite at 653 square feet. We enjoyed room service delivery via the “Magic Box,” so that we could order food at a specific time and not have to accommodate a delivery person. The convenience created by the room delivery “Magic Box” is quite enjoyable. We ordered room service via the resort phone app instead of room phone. The phone app worked okay, but limits orders to 6 items. As a workaround to the order limit we submitted two orders if needed and had no issue. Delivery took ~40 minutes for two of our orders and one order for breakfast took ~1.5 hours. We found the channel availability to be improved since our last visit. In fact, we brought our Roku but found the TV’s HDMI was no longer accessible and there were several English-speaking movie channels. There was a separate seating area inside the room to accommodate seated meals. The bathroom was large and included two sinks and a large shower. The room mini-bar was minimally stocked with drinks and some snacks (potato chips and a granola bar). The room cleaning crew did an excellent job. We did not receive any special “gifts” in our room such as sweets or a bottle of wine. There was a hot tub in the room that had lounge seating facing the outside window, but we never ended up using it. In our previous visit we had some trouble with the room hot tub, so I tested the water and it seemed to be functional. We did hear some noise from the maintenance, but it was less noise than what we experienced from evening entertainment during our February trip to Hyatt Vivid Grand Island. Drinks: 8.3 The drinks we received at Hyatt Vivid PDC met my expectation from our previous visit. No Don Julio 70 in the margaritas (but available at the Tequileria for $15). The Cazadores or reposado-level tequila was acceptable and there were a number of fresh juices to satisfy our need for variety (except when there was no grapefruit juice). The drink staff did not anticipate our need for additional drinks to the same level as our previous visit while floating in the pool (and we didn’t expect this level of service which means we were lucky last visit). The restaurants had specialty drinks that were well above average. And the bar variety was very good with options like Tequileria and La Mejorada. One negative is that there only seemed to be one cerveza on tap throughout the property (Dos Equis Lager). I wished for a darker cerveza like Indio, Bohemia, or Negra Modello. There was Tecate in a can (no thank you). Breakfast: 8.5 We ate breakfast at Pelicanos (a la carte), Spice (the buffet), and ordered room service. Room service seemed slowest in the morning (1.5 hours). We appreciated pre-breakfast appetizers from Aromas (coffee and pastries). This was our first visit to Spice, which was nice for the variety, but a little noisy and less relaxing for us. We really liked the breakfasts at Pelicanos. Favorite breakfasts included chilaquiles and waffle bacon chicken sandwiches. My favorite breakfast from the previous visit had been removed from the menu, but the staff did their best to make me something similar. Waking up with green juice and a cappuccino from Pelicanos was lovely. And the flat whites with pastries from Aromas were above average. The staff was energetic, accommodating, prompt and friendly. Shout out to the staff at Pelicanos as they are absolutely outstanding! Ruben, Adan, Max, Sergio, and Pablo! Thank you for a special experience. Lunch: 8.7 We ate lunch via room service, Barefoot, and again visited Pelicanos. The room service lunch menu removed the fried fish & chips (which was delicious and we missed). Instead of the fish I ordered a club sandwich with extra bacon then received a club sandwich without any bacon (translation issue?). The room service food was still above average and the dessert options included chocolate cake and carrot cake (both yummy!). Lunch at Pelicanos was another positive experience. The “Pescado Frita” was again our favorite. Fresh fried fish is pure motivation for visiting Mexico. Rincon Mexicano was no longer offering tacos, but there was poolside food listed in the phone app instead. We found the Barefoot tuna poke bowls to be as good as they looked on video reviews. Dinner: 8.7 Hyatt Vivid PDC takes reservations for dinner, but they are not required. Because we were a party of 2, we skipped reservations entirely and never experienced any wait to be seated. We didn’t eat at the Chefs Plate due to the additional cost. In our previous visit we liked Asiana for the sushi and sashimi, but this time we also ordered some of the entrees and were very happy with the Teriyaki Salmon. Dolma’s buffet style appetizer bar included hummus, baba ghanoush, prosciutto, cheeses, and a number of other lovely items. It was really good, but I missed the lamb gyro (lamb kabobs were okay!). We missed the empanadas and mussels from Pelicanos as it was no longer a dinner option. The specialty drink called El Valiente at La Casona was still good. Room Service: 8.2 Room Service at Hyatt Vivid PDC was split into 3 menus by time of day for a breakfast, lunch/dinner, and late night. As previously stated, the “Magic Box” delivery is very nice. One room service delivery provided an electronic device that had a button used to signal when dishes are available for pickup. But we only received the dish pickup device once in our several room service orders. Order delivery was received between 40 minutes and 1.5 hours. Food Thoughts Summary: The food at HV PDC is still above average when compared with our experiences at other Mexico all-inclusive resorts. There is a good variety of food choices for every meal. We enjoyed the food experience overall. When comparing to our previous visit we missed Pelicanos for dinner. We missed fried fish on the room service menu. And we missed the lamb gyro at Dolmas. The room service was noticeably slower. Food Score: 42.4/50 or 84% (8.4 used for overall score) Entertainment/Activities: 8.1 The nightly entertainment included various music and shows in the lobby area instead of a dedicated entertainment venue. There are many activities throughout the day such as yoga, games, music, etc. We were happy with the addition of English-speaking TV movie channel options. The impression we had is that the resort assumes that by staying in a downtown location that you’ll look to the other options available past 11pm. Vibe: 9 Hyatt Vivid PDC has enough options to find a vibe to match most anyone. Anything from quiet and relaxing pools to a drinking foam party in the main pool. Our vibe rating for this visit is a comparison to the Wyndham PDC and Reef 28. There was staff near the lobby looking to pressure folks into presentations for what we assume were time shares. And there was staff pressuring folks to take photos around pools and walkways. Many similar Mexico all-inclusive resorts have pestering staff trying to sell something, so I’ve excluded from the vibe score and listed to be comprehensive in the resort information. Service: 10 The staff did everything they could to make our stay as enjoyable as possible. The staff were friendly, personable, and warm. Demographic: By our estimation the average guest was 40 years old and middle- to upper-middle class. We had conversations with groups from Mexico, Australia, Europe, and New York. Positives: Great service. Above average food that is served a la carte and without reservations. Negatives: Room Service can be slow. Pelicanos no longer open for dinner. Overall Score: 61/70 = 87.1%

Great stay at the Hyatt Vivid! Food was great and so many choices- loved aroma coffees, ice cream and snacks. Never an issue getting chairs and the people working there were so nice! Special call out to Ismael in spice who took great care of us. Try all the activities! And location is awesome to walk into town if you want to.

You can stay at any place in Cancun that will be better than this. Please do not waste your money.