The vagueness and lack of information in the previous review is misleading. My family stayed at the Carmen Inn for half our vacation over Christmas, and it was awful. If you have checked out this hotel's description on the net, let me set you straight. Our room was devoid of any mexican character, generally dirty,with a toilet that would not flush (even after several attempts by maintenance to repair) and had the smell of sewer gas continually coming from the shower. There are no functioning bars, the restaurant serves breakfast only (mainly continental although I saw some people getting eggs) and they seem to have an extreme shortage of towels. The pool is as pictured on the net although I saw hardly anyone use it. It was in the shade most the time. It took several days for us to arrange another room and as we were leaving the neighbors who had just finished complaining to there local travel rep in the hallway echoed our assessment with the mother yelling out from within the room that none of the toilets worked. This hotel is 2blks from av 5 and an additional 2 long blks to the beach. Once on the beach its another 1 1/2 blks to the the El tukan beach club where you can pay for a towel and chair. Just so you know a vast majority of hotels in Playa are on the beach or on Av 5. This hotel is for only the very toughened traveler.