Hotel La Semilla a Member of Design Hotels

Very nice hotel in the center of Playa del Carmen. The hotel is very curated in every single detail, from the furniture to the beakfast. It looks like a cozy and peaceful space to rest and enjoy connection with nature within the coloured Playa del Carmen.

BONVOY MEMBERS BEWARE! This hotel is listed as part of the Bonvoy program but they do not follow protocol, from Check In to payment to reporting the Elite Nights and Points. I am a very frequent traveler and a Titanium. I am always courteous and polite. I believe every human deserves friendliness and warmth when they check in, but I was hoping they would be friendly to at the least a loyal customer to the brand. But nope, everyone is treated the same (non friendly way). I arrived at 11:55AM and asked if the room was available. The young man immediately responded, "No, check in is at 3PM." I replied, "Even for Titanium?" At this point I already sensed his unwillingness to follow protocol because there was no standard Bonvoy welcome. It's not about wanting to be treated like royalty. It's an indication of whether you're going to get what you paid for or are entitled to. His response was "No, Titanium doesn't matter. We are a boutique hotel." My eyes wide open. Excuse me but you are listed as part of the Bonvoy network. I understand rooms may not be ready. It's not about whether or not the room was ready. I travel A LOT and this was not my first time checking in to a hotel. The response I was expecting if the room was not ready was "Unfortunately we don't have a room ready as we are fully booked" because it's simply the fact. Not because EVERYONE checks in at 3PM. If you're a Bonvoy Titanium Elite or higher, you know we are loyal because we know the property will be flexible with us and do what's in their control to accommodate us as long as we are reasonable. I am reasonable. Then he tinkered with his computer, not sure what he was thinking, then he said, "You can check in in one hour. Check out is at 11am so we need time to clean the room." Whether or not he was just trying to save face realizing his mistake, it definitely was not the attitude I expected from a Bonvoy brand. He also never offered me a Welcome Gift. I dared not ask because he might just kick me out if I mentioned Bonvoy Titanium or reminded him what his job was once again. He also insisted that I paid the property directly with my credit card. Also out of protocol. Normally either I prepay or get charged automatically using the payment method I use for booking via Marriott.com. So this property's entire operation is detached from Bonvoy. They're listed as a Bonvoy property and get Bonvoy customers, but they refuse to do their part of the relationship. From then on he was very friendly throughout my 6 night stay. Then I checked out. Now more than 3 weeks later, no e-folio, no elite nights, no points. I called Customer Service, and they weren't able to locate the e-folio. After some research, they added 3 nights to my account. Where are the other 3 nights? The points? The Welcome Bonus? If you're not a Bonvoy member, then this property is probably fine. It was cute, adorable, although old and some things may not work properly. But if you're a Bonvoy member and expect to get your elite nights, points, benefits, or even the warm welcome we typically expect, then go elsewhere. I've stayed at the Aloft nearby and they absolutely follow protocol. I'm never rude or demanding. Just don't treat me like my loyalty to the brand doesn't matter. My first choice is always Marriott, and that should mean something. If it doesn't matter to the property, then they should take their property off the Bonvoy network.

We were wrongly charged by the hotel. We booked a king size room as per the descriptor but received a tiny queen size bedroom. They also charged us in person at the hotel and it was quite a bit more than what was listed on bookings for the king room. The initial front desk lady said she needed a manager to assist with making it right, but we had full day tours for the first two days of our trip. We offered to call them or email them but they insisted on an in person exchange. When we finally caught the manager, he was very rude and said he had been asking around the hotel for us (despite knowing we were out on tours). He started interrogating us about what we had been doing on the tours and why, mocking us when we told him we went to Cozumel for birdwatching. It seemed they were intentionally trying to embarrass us and act as though we were trying to skip out on payment even though they had our credit card info, cell number and full information. The interaction with them to sort out payment was painful and they were belittling us. They claimed there were additional sanitation taxes not accounted for in bookings that we had to pay which seemed pretty scammy to us. We had to discuss with them multiple times to get the rate we paid and it was still not the room we paid for. After this they became rude towards us, and then just ceased to acknowledge our existence. On top of this, the room was small and the bed was stiff and uncomfortable, while the pillows were very thin. The water pressure was not good and the toilet would barely flush, also the toilet seat doesn’t stay up so slams and hits you in the back if you try to use it. Shower drips and couldn’t make that stop either. The room was very noisy, no insulation against street noise and music, luckily we had ear plugs or it would have been impossible to sleep. The room also has no actual area to hang clothing, just a hanging stick from the ceiling which was not adequate for dresses or long items. There were ants in the room as well. The breakfast was good, however we had tours through breakfast for two of the days and they made no attempt to accommodate us by providing any eggs or fruit to go. They also claimed there were afternoon drinks and snacks but we never saw these. Overall the property is run down and not worth the price we paid, you would be better served to pay the little extra to stay at a resort complex and be treated nicely.