Do any hotels take less than 7 nights at Christmas?

Snowbirds · 03-24-2006

This morning I got to thinking that it would be fun to surprise hubby with a trip to Playa for his 40th birthday, which is December 28th, 2007. Because of limited finances and time, we could only stay for 4 nights.

I went to Luna Blue's website to check out the rates for the holiday season and read this...

"Seven night minimum during holiday season."

Same with Playa Maya and La Tortuga. Scout's honor, I did a search before posting this question, but I couldn't find the answer. Are there any hotels who take bookings for less than 7 nights during the holiday season?

Munichchick · 03-24-2006

We had reservations for 3 nights at the Mayan Paradise Hotel which I made in advance and 3 weeks before the trip they called to tell me that they cancelled our reservation because they booked someone else into our room that will be staying 1 week. I was pis...... and now had to find a hotel room 3 weeks before X-mas/New Years week. We ended up getting a nice room at the ******. It was priced higher than the other hotel we had booked (over $200) and that might have been the reason why they still had availability or maybe because they still had no one trying to book the room for the whole week only 3 weeks out. I called them directly! I think the Shangri-La Caribe will let you book for 3-4 nights as well. They are good about responding to e-mails. Good luck and I am sure you will find a room for 4 nights even that week.

Snowbirds · 03-24-2006

Thanks, Munichchick! I'll keep checking. Since the Shangri-La Caribe is a bit out of our price range now, I'd be frightened to see what the rates might be at Christmas! But maybe for hubby's birthday, I'll splurge.

StewartG · 03-24-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowbirds

Thanks, Munichchick! I'll keep checking. Since the Shangri-La Caribe is a bit out of our price range now, I'd be frightened to see what the rates might be at Christmas! But maybe for hubby's birthday, I'll splurge.

What a GREAT idea to surprise hubby with a trip to Playa!!!

**ryberg** · 03-25-2006

Honestly when I saw the subject line, my first thought was, "Oh, yeah -- the silly ones!" But that wouldn't be very nice or helpful, really, so I won't say that.

D'OH!

But seriously, there must certainly be many such hotels, but then they may not necessarily be the properties you are most interested in staying out. Trick is, of course, the more popular the property in general, the more likely in general that it's one that interests you and the more likely it is to have such restrictions in place, as well.

So you may have to keep looking around, as there are certainly more good properties in Playa than Playa Maya, La Tortuga and Luna Blue. You may also find a good deal of variation in terms of how strictly the publicly announced policy of any hotel is actually followed by them in practice, of course, and apart from all that, availability can certainly affect this issue, as well. If for example you wanted to arrive on December 28th (admittedly quite difficult, as it's far more popular to arrive on the 23rd or 24th and then stay until the 31st or 1st or 2nd), and we have some kind of appropriate connection with another reservation already in place (departing on the 28th, for example), then we might be able to handle your reservation despite the minimum.

However unfortunately the reality is that you're looking for something short when people usually stay a week or more and doing so at the single highest demand and most valuable period of the entire year for rental properties here. As such, you're a bit of a square peg trying to fit into a bunch of round holes and you'll probably have to be patient and/or flexible.

FWIW!

Steve

Snowbirds · 03-25-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryberg

However unfortunately the reality is that you're looking for something short when people usually stay a week or more and doing so at the single highest demand and most valuable period of the entire year for rental properties here.

Aaaand... that's what I was afraid of.

Thanks for all of the great information, even if it's not what I was hoping to hear. It was what I was expecting to hear, though.

I'd like to arrive on December 27th and leave on the 31st. Strange, I know.

If you don't mind an extra question... is it too soon to make reservations for the end of 2007? I'd prefer not to wait until the last minute because I have experienced the pain of walking down 5th Avenue, trying to find a hotel. I like my plans all neatly tied up with a bow well in advance.

Thanks for your help!

**Heather** · 03-25-2006

My solution is just to stay a few more days. Life is short. No reason not to enjoy it.

MWC · 03-25-2006

I would approach whatever hotels you are interested in, before accepting defeat; they may be able to patch something together, like if one of their long-time guests is staying for Xmas but then bailing out before New Years, or something like that.

So, first, you could try the hotels available through this website, at trip planning.

We stayed at Casa de Gopala over Xmas/New Year's week this year. We had to move from one room to another, because of availabilities at the time we were looking for a room -- no big deal. They also appeared to have vacancies fairly soon after Xmas.
You could try them -- www.casadegopala.com

heater · 03-25-2006

try the hotel coco rio. www.hotelcocorio.com

Snowbirds · 03-25-2006

Thanks, Heater and MWC! Both of those hotels look charming. MWC, the Casa de Gopala looks conveniently close to the bus station... but did you have any issues with noise?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heather

My solution is just to stay a few more days. Life is short. No reason not to enjoy it.

I've got nothing against enjoying life! It's just that we have young children at home and I'd like to spend some of Christmas break with them. Plus, I'm going to be socking away small amounts of money each month. A few extra nights could be the difference between being able to afford to go or not.

But I'm excited and really hoping that I can pull off this little mini-vacation for hubby's birthday!

Tony&Cheri · 03-25-2006

Hey, Snowbirds.

We wish we could help with a short stay during Christmas, but like most hotels in Playa (in fact like a lot of businesses around the world), we balance out the slow season with a successful holiday season. And, as others have said, rooms during the holiday season are in huge demand in Mexico. This last Christmas/New Year we hadn't even had our grand opening announcement yet, and we were 100% full for a 3 week period and turned away at least 20 or 30 requests begging for rooms. However, that doesn't mean you have to give up your dream of a short vacation. Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Change the date slightly. Yes, we know you would like to have the actual birthday in Playa, but if you celebrate by coming down earlier in December (for us, before December 16), you can avoid the crowds and holiday prices. Early December is still low season. And you can be home for Christmas with the kids.

2. Ask a hotel or two to put you on a waiting list with your limited reservation. Request that they hook you up with someone who wants a comparable short reservation to make up an entire week. The problem with this is that it leaves you waiting until you hear back.

3. Wait until the last minute. This would require booking your airplane reservations (make sure they're refundable) and keep checking the hotels for a last minute cancellation. We had several last year, which we quickly filled from a waiting list.

As far as making reservations in advance, we already have some rooms booked for Christmas of this year but probably will not fill up until the fall. We don't expect any reservations for 2007 until the early part of that year. Then again, Playa is becoming more and more popular, so who knows.

Hope some of this helps. Good luck.

MWC · 03-25-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowbirds

Thanks, Heater and MWC! Both of those hotels look charming. MWC, the Casa de Gopala looks conveniently close to the bus station... but did you have any issues with noise?

You're welcome; there are a lot of hotels down there to work with! Noise was never a problem for us. We ARE early risers, as are the local birds. But in terms of traffic, buses, revelry -- a very quiet place to stay.

Snowbirds · 03-25-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony&Cheri

1. Change the date slightly. Yes, we know you would like to have the actual birthday in Playa, but if you celebrate by coming down earlier in December (for us, before December 16), you can avoid the crowds and holiday prices. Early December is still low season. And you can be home for Christmas with the kids.

Once again... Tony and Cheri save our vacation! It never even occured to me to come down earlier in December!

You're right... I was just thinking of being in Playa on hubby's actual birthday... but a surprise trip would still be a lot of fun a few weeks earlier and it would solve a lot of my concerns.

You guys are heaven sent, I am certain!

Quote:

We ARE early risers, as are the local birds. But in terms of traffic, buses, revelry -- a very quiet place to stay.

Thanks again, MWC. Hubby and I are both early risers, too. We didn't intend to be up at 6:00am... it just sort of happened. It made getting a palapa on the beach easy! Not many folks there by 7:30am. :p

just passing thru · 03-26-2006

Hi Snowbirds and other travelers -

Last Dec., two of us decided, on the spur of the moment, to visit the Yucatan. We found a cheap flight, but no hotel reservations. We figured that we could find SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE in town. We have been thru there many times before, and we were open to funky digs on the back streets if necessaray. But we never come thru Playa during the Christmas-NYE holidays.

We started asking around on 5th, starting at the Phantom Paradise. They laughed. So did everyone else. We moved back to tenth and checked everything, hostels and all. Nothing. Finally we went the the taxi drivers, where we should have started, and they looked quite grave. Lo siento mucho, pero no hay nada. They'd been driving around desparados all day long looking for anything, a room in a hovel, anything at all. No rooms, not even on the other side of the freeway 307! Nothing, nada

We were lucky. We had the number of a friend of a friend there, so we called and begged a night on a their couch. The next day we moved on to Tulum, with no reservations, and guess what? After looking for 6 hours we found a very funky hammock in the woods, no netting, no bano, no roof, asking price $20. We passed on it and did finally get a room at about 11:30pm. A very expensive room. The floorhad sharp gravel sticking out of it, but it had a bano. Great, a shower! We took it. Unforetunately, tho there was a shower there wasn't any water.....

This is just to let you know that it might not just be difficult to find a room that time of year. It could very well be impossible. Unless you are OK with sleeping on the beach, at the bus station, or a bar stool, get rock solid reservations at Christmas!

aquavitgal · 03-27-2006

Last Christmas we stayed at Riveria del Sol for four nights. I believe that is there minimum during the holidaze. Great little spot a block behind Mamitas Beach club. You will find it on this sites "Trip Planning" section.

03-24-2006	#1 (permalink)
Snowbirds way into it Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 110	Do any hotels take less than 7 nights at Christmas? This morning I got to thinking that it would be fun to surprise hubby with a trip to Playa for his 40th birthday, which is December 28th, 2007. Because of limited finances and time, we could only stay for 4 nights. I went to Luna Blue's website to check out the rates for the holiday season and read this... "Seven night minimum during holiday season." Same with Playa Maya and La Tortuga. Scout's honor, I did a search before posting this question, but I couldn't find the answer. Are there any hotels who take bookings for less than 7 nights during the holiday season?

03-25-2006	#11 (permalink)
Tony&Cheri livin' the dream Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Playa del Carmen Posts: 2,231	Hey, Snowbirds. We wish we could help with a short stay during Christmas, but like most hotels in Playa (in fact like a lot of businesses around the world), we balance out the slow season with a successful holiday season. And, as others have said, rooms during the holiday season are in huge demand in Mexico. This last Christmas/New Year we hadn't even had our grand opening announcement yet, and we were 100% full for a 3 week period and turned away at least 20 or 30 requests begging for rooms. However, that doesn't mean you have to give up your dream of a short vacation. Here are a couple of suggestions: 1. Change the date slightly. Yes, we know you would like to have the actual birthday in Playa, but if you celebrate by coming down earlier in December (for us, before December 16), you can avoid the crowds and holiday prices. Early December is still low season. And you can be home for Christmas with the kids. 2. Ask a hotel or two to put you on a waiting list with your limited reservation. Request that they hook you up with someone who wants a comparable short reservation to make up an entire week. The problem with this is that it leaves you waiting until you hear back. 3. Wait until the last minute. This would require booking your airplane reservations (make sure they're refundable) and keep checking the hotels for a last minute cancellation. We had several last year, which we quickly filled from a waiting list. As far as making reservations in advance, we already have some rooms booked for Christmas of this year but probably will not fill up until the fall. We don't expect any reservations for 2007 until the early part of that year. Then again, Playa is becoming more and more popular, so who knows. Hope some of this helps. Good luck. Last edited by Tony&Cheri; 03-25-2006 at 04:36 PM.

03-24-2006	#2 (permalink)
Munichchick life=playa Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Corona, California Posts: 857	We had reservations for 3 nights at the Mayan Paradise Hotel which I made in advance and 3 weeks before the trip they called to tell me that they cancelled our reservation because they booked someone else into our room that will be staying 1 week. I was pis...... and now had to find a hotel room 3 weeks before X-mas/New Years week. We ended up getting a nice room at the ******. It was priced higher than the other hotel we had booked (over $200) and that might have been the reason why they still had availability or maybe because they still had no one trying to book the room for the whole week only 3 weeks out. I called them directly! I think the Shangri-La Caribe will let you book for 3-4 nights as well. They are good about responding to e-mails. Good luck and I am sure you will find a room for 4 nights even that week.

03-24-2006	#3 (permalink)
Snowbirds way into it Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 110	Thanks, Munichchick! I'll keep checking. Since the Shangri-La Caribe is a bit out of our price range now, I'd be frightened to see what the rates might be at Christmas! But maybe for hubby's birthday, I'll splurge.

03-25-2006	#5 (permalink)
ryberg playa maya guy Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: wandering between the Village Vanguard, NYC, 1961 and the Plugged Nickel, Chicago, 1965 Posts: 10,753	Honestly when I saw the subject line, my first thought was, "Oh, yeah -- the silly ones!" But that wouldn't be very nice or helpful, really, so I won't say that. *D'OH!* But seriously, there must certainly be many such hotels, but then they may not necessarily be the properties you are most interested in staying out. Trick is, of course, the more popular the property in general, the more likely in general that it's one that interests you and the more likely it is to have such restrictions in place, as well. So you may have to keep looking around, as there are certainly more good properties in Playa than Playa Maya, La Tortuga and Luna Blue. You may also find a good deal of variation in terms of how strictly the publicly announced policy of any hotel is actually followed by them in practice, of course, and apart from all that, availability can certainly affect this issue, as well. If for example you wanted to arrive on December 28th (admittedly quite difficult, as it's far more popular to arrive on the 23rd or 24th and then stay until the 31st or 1st or 2nd), and we have some kind of appropriate connection with another reservation already in place (departing on the 28th, for example), then we might be able to handle your reservation despite the minimum. However unfortunately the reality is that you're looking for something short when people usually stay a week or more and doing so at the single highest demand and most valuable period of the entire year for rental properties here. As such, you're a bit of a square peg trying to fit into a bunch of round holes and you'll probably have to be patient and/or flexible. FWIW! Steve

03-25-2006	#7 (permalink)
Heather Staff Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Playa del Carmen Posts: 9,308	My solution is just to stay a few more days. Life is short. No reason not to enjoy it.

03-25-2006	#8 (permalink)
MWC añejo Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,997	I would approach whatever hotels you are interested in, before accepting defeat; they may be able to patch something together, like if one of their long-time guests is staying for Xmas but then bailing out before New Years, or something like that. So, first, you could try the hotels available through this website, at trip planning. We stayed at Casa de Gopala over Xmas/New Year's week this year. We had to move from one room to another, because of availabilities at the time we were looking for a room -- no big deal. They also appeared to have vacancies fairly soon after Xmas. You could try them -- www.casadegopala.com

03-25-2006	#9 (permalink)
heater life=playa Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: michigan Posts: 701	try the hotel coco rio. www.hotelcocorio.com

03-26-2006	#14 (permalink)
just passing thru toe in water Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 52	Hi Snowbirds and other travelers - Last Dec., two of us decided, on the spur of the moment, to visit the Yucatan. We found a cheap flight, but no hotel reservations. We figured that we could find SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE in town. We have been thru there many times before, and we were open to funky digs on the back streets if necessaray. But we never come thru Playa during the Christmas-NYE holidays. We started asking around on 5th, starting at the Phantom Paradise. They laughed. So did everyone else. We moved back to tenth and checked everything, hostels and all. Nothing. Finally we went the the taxi drivers, where we should have started, and they looked quite grave. Lo siento mucho, pero no hay nada. They'd been driving around desparados all day long looking for anything, a room in a hovel, anything at all. No rooms, not even on the other side of the freeway 307! Nothing, nada We were lucky. We had the number of a friend of a friend there, so we called and begged a night on a their couch. The next day we moved on to Tulum, with no reservations, and guess what? After looking for 6 hours we found a very funky hammock in the woods, no netting, no bano, no roof, asking price $20. We passed on it and did finally get a room at about 11:30pm. A very expensive room. The floorhad sharp gravel sticking out of it, but it had a bano. Great, a shower! We took it. Unforetunately, tho there was a shower there wasn't any water..... This is just to let you know that it might not just be difficult to find a room that time of year. It could very well be impossible. Unless you are OK with sleeping on the beach, at the bus station, or a bar stool, get rock solid reservations at Christmas!

03-27-2006	#15 (permalink)
aquavitgal beachaholic Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inver Grove Hgts, MN Posts: 362	Last Christmas we stayed at Riveria del Sol for four nights. I believe that is there minimum during the holidaze. Great little spot a block behind Mamitas Beach club. You will find it on this sites "Trip Planning" section.

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