This is a great poseda right in the heart of Playa del Carmen. We walked to everything. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They have a lovely garden within the walls. It is noisy until midnight or so but that was not a problem for us as we were usually out and about until then!

Summary: Hotel with nice location, large balcony, but also has a serious ant problem.

My girlfriend and I spent 3 nights of our 10 day tour of the Yucatan at Hotel Posada Freud. We stayed in a suite on the 2nd level looking out onto 5th ave, furthest away from the neighboring restaurant/bar. Here are the good things about the hotel and room. It is located in a great location on 5th ave. If you like “people watching” the suite facing 5th ave is great for that. The suite has good A/C system and ceiling fan that cools the room quickly and has a fridge. We found it to be a reasonable price, $85. (The price ranges of places we stayed on our trip were from $40-$100) Posada Freud fell in the middle. The balcony is larger than most on 5th ave. It has room for a table, two chairs and a hammock. The suite next to us, closest to the neighboring restaurant/bar, has a very large balcony for Playa standards, probably twice the size of ours. We looked at both suites and selected the one furthest away from the restaurant/bar because it was quieter. That said, you can still easily hear the restaurant/bar music and it does have great live bands which we listened to on our balcony each night before going out. The hotel also has a small bar of its own where the bartenders also serve as the hotel staff. The staff was very friendly in both roles as hotel reception and bartenders. The maid service was good.

There are two minor criticisms about the hotel and one very problematic one, which is why the title of this review is "Unfortunate Ending." First the minor criticisms, the shower water is difficult to achieve a nice medium between hot and cold, and the hot water only lasted about 7-10 minutes. It was sunny and hot in Playa anyway, so this wasn't a huge deal for us, but may be for others. The other minor criticism is that you can feel the springs in the bed through the cushion. We remedied this by sleeping on top of the supplemental blankets that were provided in the room, but the bed was still not very comfortable. One night I slept outside in the hammock, but I did that mostly for the novelty of it and because I had a few cervesas and thought it would be a good idea at the time, not really to avoid the bed.

Before describing our "Unfortunate Ending," I want mention one of the funniest things that I have seen in my 3 trips to Mexico that happened at Hotel Posada Freud. On the second night of our stay three Mexican guys who said they were finishing up a business trip rented the suite next to us with the huge balcony for two days. These guys were very friendly, had a huge bottle of tequila which must have been 3 feet tall (just less than 1 meter) and were hitting it pretty hard. My girlfriend and I talked with them for while over the balcony and then went out dinner. Before we left our new neighbors were calling down over the balcony to mariachi bands requesting songs. We left and went to dinner. We got back to the hotel about 2 hours later and our neighbors had drank about ¼ of the huge bottle of tequila and now had a full blown mariachi band on their balcony singing their crazy Mexican songs. It was hilarious! The band was up there for hours and it probably would have been annoying later b/c they were so loud, but I had enough cervesas so it didn’t matter. This was also the same night I slept in the hammock . . .

OK, so as described in the title, our stay at Hotel Posada Freud had an unfortunate ending. On the last night of our stay, the night before we were flying back home, we went to bed “early” around 10pm. At about midnight I woke up and told my girlfriend that I felt like I was being bit. It was dark in the room, and I first thought it was probably a mosquito, but the pain was much greater that a typical mosquito bite. As I was lying in the bed deciding whether to get up, I felt another painful bite so I got up to kill this “mosquito.” When I turned on the lights what I saw was disgusting. Ants were everywhere! These ants were large ½ inch in size (1.25 cm) and I estimate there were 50+ ants crawling around the floor of the suite. They were in the main bedroom area as well as the bathroom. I started to kill them but then realized my efforts were fruitless, there were too many. These ants were not hovering around a food source or in an ant line like you normally see them. These ants were just scattered at random throughout the floor running in all directions. I did not see any ants in the bed after I turned on the lights, but can only presume that the ants are what bit me. I took off my shirt and looked in the mirror; I had two large bite marks on my back, each about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. I showed them to my girlfriend who gasped at my marks. I told my girlfriend that we needed to check out immediately, by this time it was about 12:15am. She began to pack our things and I went down to the reception desk.

I explained the ant problem to the desk clerk. I told him that I either wanted to switch rooms or check out. He offered me the room next to mine, the one right next to the restaurant/bar with the live music. I knew that if we switched the music would prohibit us from sleeping and I did not trust that if there was an ant problem in our room that there would not be one in the room next to us. I asked to pay for our prior nights and to check out. I told the clerk I did not want to pay for the current night. He refused and said that since he could not rent the room at 12am that I had to pay for it. I protested his point and he asked if I had left food out in the room. None, I said. 100% of any small food items we had were kept in the fridge and we were extremely neat about cleaning up after we had eaten. (I am a property manager for a living and know full well the concerns of food and pests.) He then asked to see the ants in our room. I showed him the room and the ants that I had killed, but by this time there no living ants crawling around anymore as they likely crawled into crevices when the lights were turned on. He said he couldn’t see any ants and went down stairs to his reception desk. He again stated that he would have to charge me for the current night. I protested again and showed him my bite marks. He asked if I would be willing to speak with the owner. I told him I was perfectly willing to do this. He called someone, I presume the owner, and came back a few minutes later and said that I could pay for previous nights and could check out, no payment required for the current night. I never spoke with the owner. I paid him for the prior nights and checked out. On my way out the door the reception clerk apologized to me for the ants and told me that the building is treated for pests. We walked over to a nearby hotel and checked in there just before 1am. The rest of night was fine.
We had seen a rogue ant here and there during the first few days of our stay at Hotel Posada Freud, but those I just killed them, no big deal. It was the large quantity of ants on our last night and the fact that I was being bit that caused us to leave. It was very peculiar and I have no idea why the ants came out in such large numbers on the last night of our trip.

Had it not been for the ants on the last night I would have been satisfied with our stay, but when I look for a hotel room, the two basic things that are most important to me is that it is clean and free of pests. Since the basic need of keeping a room free of pests was not met, any and all other positive aspects of the hotel, to me, are moot. Because of this I will not be staying at Hotel Posada Freud in the future and caution any other travelers who are considering a stay there.

My wife and I are in our mid-20s and try to take a trip about every 6 months. I usually do the extensive research and happened to find this nice little place right in the middle of everything. We rented the Suite 192 for seven nights and had a great stay. Like I mentioned, the hotel is in the middle of everything and a short walk from the ADO bus station (safe & great deal). It is really nice and well done. The only down side is the loud live music played nightly next door (9pm-12am if I remember correctly). The musicians are great but can be a downer if your the type that likes to wind down earlier than most in Playa. Great Value. We are already trying to get a group of friends to go next year and we will stay at Posada Freud for sure.

We ended up staying at this hotel for 10days. The staff are very friendly and always willing to give advice on all maters ie. travel. The effort the owner goes to on all the little things around the property and in the room are beautiful. I would strongly recommend staying at this property as it is excellent value in a great location. Situated on 5th Avenue but set in a beautiful garden surrounding.
Good luck and enjoy Mexico!!