My wife and I stayed at the Hyatt Vivid Playa del Carmen June 13 to 20, 2026 to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary. This was our third visit to this resort. The previous two visits were in 2016 and 2017 when it was the Royal Playa del Carmen.
We booked an oceanview suite and the hotel put us in a nice corner room, #1347, which was a perfect location. It was on the third floor with a beautiful view of the water. The room itself was spacious with a nice sized bathroom and shower. Only negative is storage/drawer space for storing belongings.
The resort looks very similar to our previous visits. The restaurants were similar with slight menu changes. The biggest change is the beach. Over the years, the beach has eroded to next to nothing. The water is just feet away from the little sand remaining on the beach. NOTE: June is a particularly bad month for sargassum (seaweed). The stuff is everywhere and has a very foul odor. Utilizing the beach was not an option, but we are pool people so it did not ruin our experience.
The pool at the resort is huge. This time of year was not overly crowded so finding chairs was not an issue. Plenty of entertainment activities from the staff made for lively, fun days by the pool. The pool bar service was great as well, with servers bringing drinks to you by request. You can rent cabanas for an extra fee. We did one day and it was well worth it to get some cover from the sun. The cabanas are for up to four people and include a bottle of premium liquor, food service and massages.
The restaurant options are diverse. The food was average at a few places and terrific at others. We really liked Asiana and Dolma. Pelicanos was our least favorite. The highlight This year, and each prior visit, is the Spice restaurant breakfast service. Spice is a buffet restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but the breakfast is a MUST! We were so excited to see that our favorite servers, Javier and Lucas, were still at the resort. They remembered us from our last visit almost 10 years ago! The attention and service Javier and Lucas provide is top notch. They had a special table made up for us each morning and placed flowers out for us. They could not have been any more dedicated to serving their patrons and make you feel like family. We would come back to Vivid just for them!
The evening entertainment is good as well. They have nightly shows and activities in the main area. We liked the Rock Show the best, but there were many great entertainment options throughout the week.
Our only disappointment was a special romantic outdoor dinner we paid extra for that was under candlelight on the bridge over the pool. The atmosphere was lovely, but the service was a bit slow and the food was the worst we had all week. It was surf and turf with a steak and lobster tail. My wife's steak was ordered medium rare and came out well done. Both our lobster tails were overdone as well. The server and chef both were apologetic and offered to bring new food, but we didn't want to wait any longer.
Overall, we would return again for the resort atmosphere and location, and because we love Javier and Lucas at Spice. I would probably not go in June and look at somewhere in early spring or fall instead.
