We just spent one week at the Riu Playacar which was a wonderful holiday! The service & staff were very friendly & always there to help if you needed them. The resort is small enough that you never have to walk far to get from one place to another. The rooms were always clean and large enough for two people to feel very comfortable. If you don't like hard beds then make sure you ask for a foam, as you will need it. I did, but my husband did not. The air conditioning is a little weak, but not bad and there is an overhead fan as well. We stayed in building 4 on the 3rd floor and loved the location right in the middle!!!
The food was good as well, but one tip - go try out the buffet at the riu yucatan just down the street, Very Good!!! You are allowed to visit 3 other Riu's with your one bracelet on.
If you are a family traveling with younger children, you will like this resort as the entertainment staff are fantastic with the kids and lots for them to do. With it being smaller you will feel comfortable with them wandering around.
I would definitely go back to this resort again as we felt very safe and comfortable walking from one resort to the other and as well as going into Playa Del Carmen's 5th Avenue for a day - a must see!
You really have to take the bad reviews with a grain of salt as it is all in what your expectations are when you book your vacation.

Just got home from 7 great days at Riu Playacar. Outline below:
Rooms - small but very clean, plenty of hot water, lots of TV channels and the mini bar well stocked.
Dinning - buffets were great, the fresh donnuts and breads were out of this world! The steak house was wonderful. Make sure to make your reservations by 7am for same day.
Pool - swim up bar was nice but small, lots of loungers at the pool and on the beach.
Drinks - weak, but if you asked for a double or top shelf booze it was no problem.
Beach - can't say enougth, it was beautiful, lots of shells to be found.
Shows - good but not the greatest, but the crew sure worked hard.
Any questions I will be glad to answer if I can.

The Playacar was overall a good choice. I might have preferred something a little more extravagant, but it was a great value. I've never done an all-inclusive before, so that took a little getting used to. It took us a while to get the hang of reserving a spot for dinner ("signing up" would be a better term), but eventually we did get used to the "rules". Also, as a vegetarian, I wished they had more options, but found it overall to be pretty accommodating (but why does all the mexican food have to have meat prepared into it? Can't I have a veggie fajita or cheese quesadilla?) As a side note, is chocolate not a common thing in mexico? As a professed chocoholic, let's just say I was in withdrawal.

The beach was beautiful. It tended to get cloudy in the late afternoons, so I stuck to the mornings/midday for the best sun. Yes, the beds are hard, but after a long day on the beach I found we slept pretty well anyway (got some good advice to sleep on top of the blankets they give you in the closet, which helped a little too). Overall, my biggest complaint was that it wasn't closer to the town of Playa del Carmen. We were given misleading information from a travel agent that it was within walking distance, only to find it was nearly a half hour away on foot (10 mins in a cab). Not bad, and I love a good walk, but not when I'm in the mood to go out. As someone who lives in NYC I would have rathered something closer to the town (especially since nightlife at the hotel was lacking).

Just returned from the Playacar on January 28th. The Playacar is a wonderful, small, low key resort with wonderful helpful staff. The staff will do anything to make your holiday great! We had an issue with the shower and within 5 minutes there was someone there to fix it. The beds are hard but asked for a mattress pad and one was there when we arrived back to our room. The rooms are dated but no worse than any other resort we have stayed in. There is no better beach. Lots of loungers on the beach and pool. The food was good and you could always find something to eat (probably ate too much. Access to the Yucatan and Tequilla gave some variety to the trip. Had dinner at the Yucatan two nights at the buffett with no problem and then walked to the Tequilla for the nightly show. These two resorts are much larger and lively but it was always nice to return the Playacar. Would we go back? You bet we would!!