Iberostar Selection Playa Mita

Just got back last Tuesday after a 7 night stay. Our 3rd year there! Enjoyed the beach for 5 days until a storm afar in the ocean changed the tides and washed a lot of it away. A quick walk down the beach and you’d easily find a spot (no chairs or towels unfortunately). Room was updated but the first room they gave us had a huge leak upon opening the door. They quickly moved us. Pros: strong drinks at the beach bar, excellent waitresses, serene/basically private walk 3 miles round trip down the beach to the rocks, Asian night at the buffet. Great coffee shop with pastries, beautiful waves to jump, warm ocean. Breakfast at Mexican restaurant was outstanding. Snacks by the pool are great for midday. Rooms were nice and cool and very clean. No need to get up early to save beach chairs beach workers bust their tails getting chairs and umbrellas up. The sunset….wow! Cons: Reservations should be made upon arrival, buffet line is loooong (go at opening), buffet food gets a little monotonous. If you want to stay at the pool get up and reserve chairs by placing towels on them. Rooms are very damp (bring socks), floor can be slippery and it’s easy for sand to be tracked in and make a mess on floors. Vendors can be pushy but usually recognize you by day 2-3 and leave you alone. Tip: Grab a cheap Uber and head into Sayulita (fun little town but somewhat busy) or San Francisco (also called San Pancho). Our first visit to San Pancho this year. Surfers to watch and more of a traditional Mexico feel a lot less busy. Maybe not a 5 star hotel but darn close!

We stayed at Playa Mita for 4 nights in early July. It was our first time at this resort. Everyone from checking to checkout was incredibly helpful. As Club members, we’ve come to expect this. Rooms are clean but the furniture is a little dated. We could tell this is an older property but it is very well kept. Beach and ocean are beautiful. There is a third party on site by the beach for snorkeling excursions (which we didn’t get a chance to do) and water sport equipment rental. We rented a boogey board for our entire stay for less than $10/day. Buffet food is delicious and authentic at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We ate at the Mexican restaurant and the food is phenomenal. Our waiter was hospitable, friendly, and funny. We were told walk ups were available for the other restaurants but it turns out that isn’t the case. Reservations for all the restaurants are highly recommended. The entertainment team does a good job of getting guests involved in some fun every day around noon. There’s a quieter area for club members if that’s more your speed. And the sunset bar is the place to be for a beautiful view of the sunset while having a drink before the evening’s activities. We opted to do the ultimate tequila tasting one evening (while the little one enjoyed a Star Camp pajama party!). Karla, their tequila sommelier, was so knowledgeable, took her time to answer our questions, and was wonderful through the whole experience - huge shout out to her! We were the only ones at the table so it ended up being a private tasting, which just added to an already amazing evening. We couldn’t recommend this experience more! Totally worth doing since you’re visiting the home of tequila and get to try craft varieties that differ from what’s available at home. We ended up buying two bottles, as they are not available in the US. Lastly, we had the opportunity to have a private dinner provided by an in house chef. Belqui cooked us the most amazing 5 course meal. It was by far the best prime rib that’s ever been put in front of us. Every course from the appetizer to the dessert was perfectly plated and absolutely delicious. The wine to accompany was also a hit. Definitely a Michelin-caliber meal. We would like to shout out Belqui and Alejandro for such an amazing experience! We highly recommend visiting Playa Mita. We will definitely be back.

On May 5th, my husband and I travelled with my parents to celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary on the west coast of Mexico. As members of Iberostar the Club, it was our first stay at Selection Playa Mita (SPM). Throughout our stay we met many wonderful staff that tried to tend to our wishes. The staff at SPM are warm and welcoming and made our stay enjoyable. Stephanie's Star Prestige staff; Ana, Miguel and Daphane were amazing at their jobs. Ana always found us by the pool, making sure we were doing well and checking in to see if we needed anything. Miguel is particular to detail and made sure everything went well. Daphane was able to answer all of our questions proficiently. SPM's elite concierge, Emmanuel, is by far one of the nicest, most understanding and informed guest relations we have ever met. His daily communications were always welcomed and looked forward to. Last but not least, and most importantly, our friend, chef Belqui. She by far surpassed all the chefs we have ever had at any Iberostar resort. She is kind, thoughtful and came to visit us on the resort to see how we were doing. Her appetizers, main dishes and desserts were par excellence!! We had a great week at the resort...my husband had a blast with bartender Luis on the terrace :)

This was our 10th visit to this hotel in 12 years (only Covid kept us away!). I think it was probably easily our best so far. I think this hotel is now totally comfortable with what they choose to offer and the market they are offering it to. They vigorously drive consistently high standards across all of their offer and refreshingly do not compromise by trying to be 'all things to all people. When we checked in we confirmed it was our 10th visit and we were treated like royalty. People we had never net were greeting us by name and nothing was too much trouble for anyone - the communications logistics alone in a hotel this size to achieve this is astounding. We are, hopefully, pretty low maintenance as guests. We get up early, breakfast around 7am, swim at 8am, beach by 8:45am. Stay at the beach until 18:00 (with a break for lunch), then sundowners at 7pm, dinner and bed by 9 ish. All we want is good food, good service and peace and quiet and this hotel delivers on every front. It is a testament to Iberostar as an employer that there are so many staff who have been here a long time. This is of enormous value as they all know exactly how the hotel should run and are able to train / support new colleagues so that their experience and commitment to high standards is maintained. The likes of Isabel, Jesus, Elia and their colleagues in the day time restaurants provide such a warm welcome and make sure you have an excellent experience. The front of house staff are working in harmony with the wait staff - filling the gaps when the service comes under pressure. Jesus and his roof top bar team excel in what has to be the most beautiful place to work on earth! They always remember your drinks and keep them coming until you stay stop! The beach staff work tirelessly to make sure you get beds and brollies just where you want them and the beach bar service staff are attentive (even if they laugh at us for only drinking water!). Loved the addition of the Huichol Shamanistic ritual to salute the sunset every night! Special mention for the very special Nayra at the lobby bar - it is always so nice to catch up. The pitch is that this hotel wants to provide you a 'home from home' and it really achieves this. We stay 14 nights and this is where the culinary offer really delivers for us. The choice is endless and the '100% honest home cooking' is exactly what is delivered. Seafood, grills, sushi, pasta, casseroles, roasted vegetables, a myriad of salad items are offered lunch and dinner. Where else would you get trays piled high with grilled lamb chops and rosemary gravy on one station countered by fresh shrimp and mussels on another? The food is very much Mexican / European in concept supported by Asian additions. I mentioned we are generally low maintenance but in our second week my team (the mighty Aston Villa) were playing in the Europa League cup final. The wonderful Karla from the concierge team fixed it with the activities team to screen it for me in the Lobby Bar - it made my holiday (not just because we won!). Even when there were technical difficulties I didn't have to ask - a technician just appeared and fixed it. I have been critical in the past as the 'new shine' disappeared off this hotel and it perhaps struggled with for an identity, but over the last 3 years it has gone from strength to strength. The very present senior management keeping a close eye on every section signals why they now achieve such consistently high standards - even down to the rigorous enforcement of 'no bed reservations'. This creates an atmosphere where every one is treated the same and drives a quid pro quo that if the hotel is going to commit to high standards then so should the guests. Bravo Iberostar - see you next May!