Does anyone know if it is the custom in Mexico (specifically, Playa del Carmen area) to refer to floors in a hotel like they do in Europe, that the first floor is really one floor up or what in the US would be called the second floor?

I have been communicating with a hotel which is a smaller local one and there is contradictory information as to my room reservation, where I asked for the top floor which is the 3rd floor by my terms (they have a ground floor and two others on top of that), and I stayed there before with a room on that floor no. 307. IN one email they called it the third floor but in others they say I have a room on the second floor and that the second floor is the top floor. I have even quoted back to them their original offer for a room on the third floor and asked them why they now say the top floor is the second floor, but they won't answer my question directly.

That may be language problems or just that it isn't unusual that hotels don't answer direct questions very well in emails, not sure.

anyone know? thanks

The hotels I have stayed at in Mexico have all been the same as US (not european terms):
ground floor/#100 room numbers, second floor/#200 rooms, third floor/#300 rooms.

I'm guessing you are running into a lanugage barrier or email problem. Why not call them on the phone and ask?

Typically the ground floor (or what is called in the US 1st floor) is "planta baja" (lower floor, literally) and is usually the floor with the lobby. And what in the US would be called the 2nd floor is typically the "primer piso" in Mexico, translated literally "1st floor", the 3rd floor in US would be the "segundo piso", or translated literally 2nd floor. And it can vary from one speaker to the next. But the above is common among smaller, perhaps older hotels.

Do the room numbers follow that pattern then? Would a room on the 2nd floor be called #101?

The answer, like everything else in Mexico, is it depends.

No set rule is what I find. As an example Los Cuatro Vientos has on the second floor rooms 2-A to 2 -G. On The Third floor 3-A, 3-B Ect.

Thanks, I don't think if there is a communication problem that calling them will be of much help, unfortunately, I know in languages I know but not fluently, I can read and write better than speak.

I am hoping what Baldone says is the case, this is an older, smaller hotel, family run. I also thought the room number should match what they call it, but I guess "it depends" must be true. I'm probably worrying too much.

Maybe if you mention the name of the hotel, someone on the board will have stayed there and could answer your question specifically. I, too, find that hotels in the same city will be marked differently.