I had a great stay in La Mariposa, wish it could have been longer. The Italian owners were very charming and helpful throughout our stay. I had been to Tulum before and knew not to stay in Ave Tulum. I had read a few reviews on La Mariposa and decided to stay.
The rooms were very clean the owners and ladies who worked there were wonderful. Breakfast was included which is great. The hotel is walking distance to downtown and a short ride to the beach.
I would recommend this hotel to anyone. It was probably one of the nicest in my 2 week mexican roadtrip.

In my 40 years of traveling in all parts of Mexico, The Hotel Mariposa was my most unpleasant stay at a Mexican Hotel, ever. The hotel is situated on the edge of town in a poor, but seemingly safe residential neighborhood.
When I arrived, the Italian owner tried jacked up the price $10.00 U.S. from what I was quoted. He was waving his piece of paper saying $55.oo per night, while I was fumbling through my laptop (which I almost didn't bring) looking for the reservation. When I showed it to him, he still wanted the high season price, when I said I was going to another hotel, his wife stepped in and said I can have the price they quoted me. He refused to carry my bags upstairs, even though he was younger than me. He said he had a bad shoulder (so do I) I had to pay for the full stay upfront, so i couldn't change Hotels.
When I arrived in the room, he informed me that, because it rained last week, the internet only worked downstairs by the office, so I would need to go up and down 3 flights of stairs, if I wanted to use the internet. The story about the rain, I did not believe and I am guessing he only has a weak signal,
The hotel is very pretty and clean. The room was pretty, and freshly painted, so freshly painted that the fumes from the paint were strong. I guess they didn't want to wait for the paint to dry before they rented it out. The drain in the shower was covered with a plastic bathmat. I moved the mat and quickly discover the reason for covering it is to keep the sewer fumes from entering the room...mucho fumos!!
The hotel is well kept, clean, very pretty, plants, art, The maids and other employees are very nice, and do a good job. ( I can only imagine how they treat their employees, after I saw the way the treat guests.) The towel rack was very pretty, and was attached to the wall with suction cups, so when you put towels on it, it fell off the wall. Also, their website looks great.
Lesson learned, what you see, is not always what you get.
I strongly do not recommend this hotel.

Myself and my husband spent 4 nights in Tulum at La Mariposa. Perfect place right in down town, 5mn away from the Tulum main Avenida with shops, restaurants and bars. The great point of this hotel is that although this is in down town, it's very quiet and allows then to sleep at night! Accomodations are then very large, with a kitchen corner ( if someone wishes to cook). We stayed in a 4 people sized flat/accomodation and this was great to stay there and not in a usual tiny hotel room... Giancarlo and Emma were very helfpul with us, always keen to give us some advises on restaurants! A special thanks to them for their hospitality!!!

My husband and I decided to stay in town for our second trip to Tulum after being shocked to discover that the prices of the beach cabanas had practically doubled since we stayed in them on our first trip to Tulum two years ago. We contacted many town hotels, and were annoyed to learn that some wanted to charge prices such as 75 and above, which seemed excessive to us for non beach, even if it is aspiring to be hip or boutiquey. We decided on Residencia Mariposa because they offered the lowest rate and all we wanted was clean, pleasant, basic and affordable accomodations. We ended up being pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed our stay in town at Mariposa. I think we're officially done with the cabanas forever.
Things we enjoyed about Mariposa:
-Friendliness of the couple who manage it. Mariza and Guillermo speak excellent English and, of course, Spanish. Managing Mariposa keeps them busy, but they still managed to find ample time to converse with us and our fellow guests about the area, and give info on things to do, Mexico, food, and countless other things. They helped us with arrangements such as contacting Cesiak for us to make sure they picked us up for our tour and other helpful things. (I highly recommend Cesiak canal tour by the way- will review).
-Comfort. The decor of rooms is basic, homey, nothing great or chic (think if you had a middle class Mexican aunt or granny), but you will be comfortable- much more so than at the cabanas. The place is planted all over with tropical foliage and flowers. In all rooms, you have AC, mini fridge, closet space and shelving, ample electricity and water pressure, TV (I don't want but husband likes to have), none of which we had in the cabanas. Our room on the second floor was large and in addition to the features above, also had an additional bed and a small but pleasant balcony, small stove top, dishes, pots pans, silverware. I think we were upgraded because we were supposed to have gotten the cheapest room (first floor room with one bed). Berta the maid kept the rooms and common areas very clean. We slept well each night. Previous reviewers had mentioned noise such as barking dogs and crowing roosters. For us it was drowned out by the AC, which you will definately use at night since it is warm.
-Pleasant continental breakfast is served efficiently in a pretty palapa. Normally we are not too into continental breakfasts, but this was a cut above. Choice of biscuit or croissant-the good flakey buttery kind.Glass of orange juice- fresh squeezed, and good coffee with refills. In our 135/night cabana we had a slice of soggy white toast, canned juice and no refill of coffee and you waited forever for everything. Mariposa's breakfast was light but good. When we wanted something more, we walked to the main avenue and got some huevos rancheros or the like. Usually though, we headed to the beach where we would order lunch in a couple hours.
-Location. Being in town was really awesome. It was only a ten minute, 50 peso cab ride to our favorite beach club (Puerta del Cielo- review to come). Also, it is great to be able to walk to countless restaurants and food stands, little shops, etc. in the evening. The food in town is much tastier and much cheaper than at the beach. If you want the tastiest and most authentic food of all, try the street stands. We tried a lot of them and really recommend El Carboncito for tacos al pastor (across from Weary Traveler) and Antojitos Dona Tere for sopes and huaraches (also close to Weary Traveler and next door to Pizza Hogar). The ambiance of town is fun at night. We saw a visiting circus and a religious procession.
-No car rental. Staying in town makes getting by without a car much more doable. Getting a taxi is just a matter of walking 2 blocks to the main avenue. If you don't want to do that, Guillermo or Mariza will call one to the hotel. If you plan many excursions, though, a car is a good idea.
-Rates. We paid 45/night. How does that sound compared to an overpriced cabana? We stayed 8 nights and so had more negotiating power and also requested the cheapest room. But that was also high season. So you see it is very reasonable.
Disadvantage of Mariposa: This would also be the disadvantage of most of the town hotels. They are located real Mexican neighborhoods,in a real Mexican town, which means no zoning, which means your neighbor can have roosters or many barking dogs...on his roof. Or a turkey...on his roof. (Yes we actually saw this in the neighborhood of Mariposa). Your neighbor could have a well kept home or a run down shack, and you will definately see poor people who don't have much. If you been outside of tourist areas in Mexico, you know that this is how it goes. It did not freak us out and we always felt safe. If you think you might be freaked out, though, the beach would be a better choice. But by staying at Mariposa, every day we got to walk past a Mayan church, the same old folks making tamales who would chat with us, an ancient and enormous ceiba tree that teenagers would go inside and make out in, and the turkey on the roof.
In sum, we were very happy with our vacation time spent at Mariposa. It will be our first choice in Tulum in the future provided they continue to offer a comparably good rate. We would like to return with an extended family group since they offer a variety of rooms to accommodate couples(like us) or those with kids. We would enthusiastically recommend Mariposa to somewhat open minded people who like to travel but need or want value and comfort.