The Fives Downtown Hotel & Residences in Playa del Carmen, Mexico is part of the Curio Collection by Hilton. It recently opened and I contemplated staying there a night or two on my recent trip to Playa del Carmen. However, I hesitated too long and the price went up before I had a chance to book it (don’t you hate when that happens?).
One day last week I happened to be walking down Avenida 10 – (one avenue from Playa del Carmen’s famous Avenida 5 or Fifth Avenue, and much more interesting if you ask me), and there it was: The Fives Downtown. I walked inside. I immediately loved the boutique chic ambiance.
Here’s the front desk.
The staff was very friendly. I introduced myself and asked if it was possible to meet a hotel manager. Joanna Cruz Vega, the General Manager Assistant of the hotel greeted me. She told me about the hotel and then graciously showed me around the property.
The most striking part of the street floor lobby is the living wall and the rooms facing onto this courtyard area.
To my surprise, the lobby was an open air space – there was no ceiling above much of the courtyard!
Surrounding this area were various attractive alcoves and sitting areas.
The street level is also the home to a restaurant, a bar and a coffee shop.
This is an authentic Mexican cantina and tequila bar named El Tigre, named after a famous Mexican. I love this place!
The tiles are so gorgeous!!
This is Mercatto, an Italian restaurant.
photo: hotel website
The coffee shop is Reggae-themed and aptly named Marley. You can be certain there was Reggae music playing.
On the other side of the hotel is the hotel fitness center. It is not large, but it is clean and furnished with new fitness machines and equipment.
Ms. Vega then escorted me to the roof level.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I’m a sucker for a nice rooftop pool and this one certainly is great! It wraps around the corner of the roof, and from it, you can see a nice view of Playa del Carmen and the Ocean.
In fact the rooftop was like a chic beachclub in the sky – with a pool, a bar and a restaurant. It is all managed by the popular Spanish company Purobeach.
Nice view of Playa del Carmen and the Ocean.
What’s a rooftop pool without a rooftop bar?
The restaurant looks fabulous with everything white and airy.
I wasn’t shown the rooms, but I looked on the website, and they look very nice as well.
photo: hotel website
What I found particularly interesting is that each of the individual hotel rooms, or units at the hotel are individually owned. Together they are managed by Hilton. In fact, since we like Playa del Carmen so much we did some research on the topic of investment and ownership of real property in Mexico, and learned that this condo-hotel model is increasingly popular in this region. I may write more about investment and ownership in Mexico in another post.
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
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