HotelChatter

After several afternoon and evening visits to Hotel Deseo, we found it crazy appealing. Up a set of stairs built in local honey-colored stone echoing the ancient Mayan pyramids in nearby Tulum and Coba, a sprawling open deck with jacuzzi and pool overlooks the action just one flight below on the Avenida -- too close for our taste, but a very cool vibe.

White lounge beds contrast again dark-stained wood. Balconies echo the straight lines of the deck and the rooms match the minimalist sensibility -- white, spare, and clean.

You may blink and miss the entrance to the hotel, but you can spot it at night at least a block away -- while the DJ mixes and the tender pours, loungers watch clips of old Mexican black and white movies on the white wall of the adjacent building.

An aside: We scooped out their rotating library and lifted a copy of "Lonely Planet Yucatan" to use throughout our trip, but did return it.

Tripadvisor Reviews rave about the style but there are repeated complaints that it's noisy, both from the din of the Avenida and the DJ, who spins late into the night (word is there's even music piped into your room, but you can turn it off!) One poster remarks that it's more of a bar than hotel.  But if you seek Chillmex (and Deseo purports to be the first of many on the PDC scene), this is your spot.