Along with the numerous large hotels and all-inclusive resorts in the Riviera Maya, there is also a good selection of small, boutique hotels that favor the more independent traveler and normally feature some sort of distinct concept in hotel design. We have researched the lot and have developed our list here of our favorites to work with. The criteria we used are pretty simple: 1) the hotels are high quality and receive high ratings from their previous guests on TripAdvisor, 2) the hotels welcome and are set up for small groups, especially wedding parties, 3) all the hotels are LGBT-friendly. The majority of the hotels are located on the beach; some are located in in downtown Playa del Carmen near the exuberant nightlife there and have arrangements for their guests to use nearby beach clubs.
If your group is big enough to accomplish a buyout of a small hotel, you will be the undivided center of attention of a whole staff for several days.
We list the total number of rooms in each hotel so that you can see how your party will fit in within the overall bookings there. In every case, because of our emphasis on privacy, we suggest shooting for a total buyout of the property to ensure complete privacy for your friends and family. While this is not always necessary, it does serve to immediately lessen the risk of passers-by, “lookey-loos,” and unwanted attention from other hotel guests.
One advantage of boutique hotels over private villas is the quantity of staff working there. If your group is big enough to accomplish a buyout of a small hotel, you will be the undivided center of attention of a whole staff for several days, there to take care of your friends and family to their utmost. One potential disadvantage of boutique hotels is that they normally insist on catering any food and beverage function from their own kitchen, thus limiting your options to what they’ll offer. Their chefs are typically pretty flexible in menu items, but often charge extra for the trouble. Villa chefs or our private event chefs typically offer many more options.