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Having made at least a dozen trips to Playa del Carmen, I know the place and have experience staying in a number of small hotels.
I have never experienced owners like those at the Prisma Caribe. Upon arrival alarm bells went off in my head when they insisted that I pay upfront for my total two week stay (something I have never done anywhere else in the world). After much discussion the owner agreed to a three day notice should I decide to leave early (the alarm bells were still ringing).
I found my room, ok (there a better rooms in the Playa and this hotel was not that cheap) I got settled in to enjoy my vacation. For the first six days things were fine, on day seven the empty lot next to the hotel became a construction site and the peace was destroyed by the sound of bulldozers and jackhammers.
Then the trouble started. First the owner lied to me claiming that this was a one day event - in talking to the contruction crew they were just starting - the end years away. When I complained they said that if I should stay at the beach until 5 or 6 when the construction should stop!
I told them that this was unacceptable and I was going to find another hotel abd invoked my three day notice. "Three day notice what three day notice I did not agreed to that", - Things went down from there.
Never stay here and never, never pay for anthing in advance, the owners cannot be trusted...
Note from April 2007 there is constuction next door creating more noise and dirt than anyone would want on a vacation
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I stayed at the Prisma Caribe the first week of september 06. If you are used to huge, all-inclusive hotels, this is not the right choice for you. The breakfast is simple, the pool is small and the room size modest. There is no floating bar in the pool, no huge grounds and hordes of noisy tourists. I loved it! The atmosphere is intimate and peaceful, and, for unobservant people like me, the outside of the hotel is painted light pinkish purple, so you can spot it a mile away. The entrance is a little's girl dream palace (pink and purple are not for everybody), and the inner courtyard has the spanish warmth I've always imagined when thinking of warm, seaside locales. Most of the guests (and the owners) speak French, the staff speaks Spanish, but when at a loss for words, gesticulate. After all, that's the European way of having a conversation. The owners do have a couple of young sons, very energetic, loud youngsters. Most days it didn't bother me, as I was away, or slept soundly. Plus, I was am somewhat of a loudmouth myself. Overall, the place gets 4/5 for atmosphere (though I do wish the pool were a little larger, but it's true that the beach is a couple of blocks away from the hotel), and the staff get 5/5 for service. The location by itself gets 5/5 stars, as it's as near the beach as you can get without the elephant hotels, while also being a step away from 5 Ave, the street with all the restaurants, souvenir shops and the interestingly dressed pedestrians.
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You can't miss this lovely, intimate small hotel managed by a French couple who speak very little english, and located 3 blocks from the beach. It's enterance looks like a bordello, especially when the wife and her friends are sitting around chatting. The only real negative is their loud 2 and 4 year old boys. When one starts crying at 6am the other is whinning " pappa pappa pappa or mamma mamma mamma" it's non stop torture until bed time.
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