My 2 cents:
Have never stayed at an AI in Playa, but there are so many good, inexpensive places to eat that we would never choose to do AI in Playa. But that's our deal-we like to venture out and it's so easy to do in Playa as you don't need a car in town. We budget @ $100 a day and that includes some nice meals, some inexpensive meals, all booze, a little shopping and usually 2 day trips in a 10 day period. You can spend way more or way less depending on what your deal is.
Hope that helps
