Hotel La Semilla

Lovely and quaint hotel in a great location. Staff are friendly and accommodating and the breakfast is nice. Our room was very comfortable, just a couple little extra touches like a kettle, tea/coffee facilities and some information/recommendations for the area would have been great. I really appreciate their lean towards sustainability and regenerative practices including the little gift of a sachet of pumpkin seeds for us to take home and plant upon checkout. |Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our stay!

Just as the pictures portrays a beautiful boutique hotel. One small comment the room amenities could be better stocked. Otherwise a wonderful place to stay. ||Gabriel the cook Is the star of the show. Each morning we received a lovely greeting from him, accommodating our early morning rise ( from jet lag) to make coffee to take back to our rooms before breakfast. He takes great pride in serving up speciality local breakfasts whilst Claudia is the perfect host on reception.

The Hotel La Semilla in Playa del Carmen was sold to us as a ‘boutique’ hotel was very underwhelming and rustic to say the least. When we arrived it was dark and the terrace that we had paid extra for didn’t seem too bad… however in the light of day we realised that it wasn’t worth having. Being on the ground floor the view was totally obscured by the garden that was a jungle. The closeness to the plants and greenery meant that the room was dark all the time, and unfortunately damp and dank and smelled too. The dampness meant that all of our clothes were also wet and damp all the time. The bed linen too, making my husband’s asthma worse. The dampness meant had also caused the drawers of the furniture to swell and made it impossible to close them. The ‘wardrobe’ was a piece of rope hanging from a rope… useless really and hardly boutique. The walls were covered in marks and water stains from flooding which during a storm proved to be the cause as the water poured in through the air conditioning unit, which we didn’t notice until we paddled to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The toilet didn’t flush properly which was an issue for me as a colon cancer survivor who still has bathroom issues as you can imagine. The shower was full of hair (not ours) and generally not very clean. Several days we returned from a trip to a dirty basin … and no clean towels. We were asked on arrival if we needed a room clean everyday, which we thought was odd, does ‘boutique’ mean going without the basics? We opted for the service every day which they seemed surprised by and as it didn’t happen obviously wasn’t communicated to the relevant staff. One day we returned to another puddle on the floor that had come in under the poorly fitting French doors after a downpour… we told the person on reception but nothing was done. Apart from breakfast time there was only one member of staff on ‘duty’ which basically meant sitting in the lounge area on their mobile phone. This place is sold as a ‘boutique’ product but without the basics it would at best be described as rustic and certainly not worth the price tag. We did ask for clean towels and explained about the puddles but to be honest the response was indifference.. We were very disappointed with the standard of this hotel and it’s made us question any further booking with BA… you should be aware that this hotel is well below the minimum standards expected by your customers and we feel shouldn’t have been recommended by British Airways…. It completely changed our opinion of your holiday product. Following on from the last comments… the hotel information states that there are free drinks in the afternoons, and a beach kit available… we asked for these but they said that it wasn’t included… your information when advertising this hotel should be undated. The other thing is that although there are bikes available for guests to use, these having been left outside for years are old and rusted and the breaks don’t work, very dangerous. Reading through older reviews it seems as if this hotel used to offer many different extras like the beach umbrellas and coolers, free drinks in the afternoons, fold-down service every night… the type of touches we were expecting from BA who recommended this hotel as a flight package combo… I think it’s time you revisited this hotel because the standards and amenities have definitely slipped. It should be made very clear to customers booking room 1 (we weren’t aware there was a choice of room, only that we’d booked a room with a terrace, which in this case was unusable) that there are no views, and very damp (especially for those with health issues) and it’s right next to a noisy restaurant that starts it set-up at 6:00am and the water system is antiquated. The better rooms are numbers 8 and 9 that have daylight and sunshine that would have hugely improved the holiday. It’s sad because it was, according to previous reviews, very good… however they’ve taken their eye off the ball.

Stars for: - Breakfast - it was utterly delicious every day, including a course of yogurt, fruit and amazing house-made jam and granola, then a Mexican dish of the day from the chef. Nice coffee and juice also. - Location - it’s on the secluded, leafy beach-end of Calle 38 with a range of excellent bars and restaurants right on the doorstep. There’s a beautiful tiny beach a five minute walk away which was always pretty quiet. There’s no need to go much further if you don’t want to, but it’s also an easy 15 minute walk into the centre. - Ambience - the room and grounds are comfortable, calm and pretty. Plenty of places to sit and relax. As far as playa goes it’s about as peaceful and quiet as it gets. But it could definitely be improved to make it worth the price. - I know it’s got an ‘off the grid’ vibe but the room lacks basic amenities like a fridge, hairdryer and kettle, which was inconvenient. The tall rainforest shower was impractical and the bath was on an overlooked outside balcony. The AC was too noisy to leave on at night. Rooms are not cleaned and staff were sometimes hard to find. - It’s still a bit noisy - my room backed onto a restaurant so noise from the people eating outside and an electric generator on their roof did reach the room. Not too bad though. - For the price, I would have got somewhere with more on-site facilities like a pool or restaurant/bar. I think it's overpriced for the area considering the lack of on-site services.

The property is beautiful, and me and my partner enjoyed having breakfast in the garden it. Unfortunately, our stay in the room had some challenges. Upon arrival, the toilet clogged and flooded the washroom, with water reaching the room. Thankfully, the staff took quick action to move us to another room. Later, when we returned after being out for the day, we really needed to shower, but there was no working water, and the toilet wouldn’t flush. The hotel has their highlights, but the plumbing issues had a big impact on our experience.

The hotel is lovely, charming boutique atmosphere, wonderful jungle like garden and quirky decor throughout. The staff are all very friendly and helpful and the fresh cooked Mexican breakfast every morning was a real highlight. ||Located 2 mins from the beach but fortunately a bit tucked away so as to not to be right in the hustle and bustle.

We had a delightful stay at La Semilla, as so many other mention, this is a peaceful oasis well located off the busy 5th street. We especially loved the vibe and atmosphere of the hotel, breakfast was 10/10, loved peacefully starting the day among the lush vegetetion. Surrounding bars, beach and restaurant are all easily accessible. Brilliant friendly team. Thanks for a ace stay

The garden is so beautiful. Fresh coffe and good breakfast. Chef Gabriel was so kind. Claudia & Juan were adorable and helpful 🫶🏽 they Also have bicycles to take a ride around the city…. i definitely come back ! Thank you for make my vacation unforgettable.