TRS Turquesa: Great resort

This review is for the people who’ve booked at the TRS turquesa resort, these are some tips from our experience last week Jan 27-feb 3rd. We’ve stayed at TRS yucatan in 2018 and these are some differences from its sister resort. We are not active travellers outside of North America and these sun destination trips every few years are a big luxury for us. When we purchased a $2500CAD ‘5 star’ AI resort we expected it to be top of the line level service in every way. TRS Turquesa resor [... read more]t is overall great but it is generously a maximum 4.5 star resort in comparison to other countries/islands. Many small details are overlooked which is unfortunate as the buildings and grounds have the capacity to be 5 star if managed and staffed a bit better in key areas like the restaurants and security. We stayed in the old buildings 50-52, room 5138. Bring Dominican pesos, get them from your bank about a month before your trip. We brought US dollars but the exchange rate for us Canadians is brutal! The staff prefer US$ but pesos go way farther if you’re leaving the resort. If you book with sunwing there’s an extra hidden fee of $20US/person when leaving the country. Sunwing didn’t have in flight movies (even though there’s screens) or alcohol for sale any longer on board either of our flights from/to Hamilton yhm. Avoid the palladium travel club people in teal shirts at all costs, if then con you by saying ‘go for a tour around the resort and receive 2 free 30 min massages’ it is a lie-do not show up for the appointment! they will waste a whole morning of your trip while they try to sell you on their travel club and not give you an actual tour of the whole resort that you need. The tour is of their club and a lot of it is you sitting by yourselves twiddling your thumbs waiting on them. It’s extremely uncomfortable, learn from our mistake! Ask a cart guy or butler for a tour of the resort instead. Anyone who approaches you on the beach is generally a professional con artist very skilled at lying. There will be people who say they work for the trs hotel and will significantly undercut the hotel’s excursions (in the lobby), these people are 100% liars! Beware and please learn from our mistakes😣 We fell for ‘a 2 hour snorkelling trip in the Caribbean Sea’ they took us about 5 min south of the resort to snorkel and when I said no we are supposed to go to the Caribbean side, they took us only 15 min south still within the Atlantic near the dolphinarium and there was no fish to be found, it was not at all what we agreed to. It cost $180US for 4 of us and only lasted 1 hour. Huge mistake, be sober when buying anything - the hotel has tons of water activities included, have your butler walk you to the people who can set you up who actually work for trs/palladium. Security needs to be improved to protect guests I think from the people on the beach. you’ll be okay knowing this info. Anyone who approaches you on the beach, highly recommend ignoring them. Music plays from 8am to midnight or sometimes 1-2am depending on the party at the IO main pool and secret pool. If you don’t want the party vibe literally every waking hour, upgrade to the buildings with swim ups in the rear section of the TRS resort which does not have constant noise. Some rooms in buildings 50-52 do not have wifi due to the stairwells blocking signal which means the tv also has no content. You may want to bring or download alternate entertainment. The pop activities are amazing! Try to do as many as you can and don’t miss the paint and wine night! The rooms were okay, we didn’t have wifi or tv content but the most notable thing about our room 5138 was the motion sensor facing the bed made a click noise whenever we moved so during the night it was detrimental to our sleep so we covered it for our stay. It didn’t affect anything so I’m not sure why they are there. Of the two robes, one was not useable as it was missing the tie-string. Also the air conditioning is not adjustable, the room is very cold around 19-20 degrees. Bring your own hair shampoo/conditioner, theirs are greasy. We had the same brand name products at trs yucatan and we loved them but at trs turquesa we couldn’t use them for more than 1 wash in a row. Our hair dryer was con-air but didn’t turn on/work. Use the safe. It has instructions that don’t make sense they reference a # symbol but there’s no button for that. Ask your butler for help if you can’t figure it out. The butlers were not actively interested in helping plan our activities/restaurants and they let us decide our own activities and approach them instead at this trs. The whatsapp information is great, get the app for the daily activities list. We had a very difficult time getting responses on concerns from our butler like the wifi and also the resort’s activities like the archery and included water activities like snorkeling. We were told different information by different staff many times trying to find answers. Ultimately we ended up not being able to do the archery at this resort due to lack of staff attending the sports centre desk. The mini put course is in disrepair. Have your butler walk you to what you’re looking for if you’re having a hard time getting accurate info. At trs yucatan there were activities staff that walked around everywhere asking when we were ready to go on the catamaran etc it was very different then trs turquesa where they kind of kept a lot of the water activities hidden and instead the resort staff were trying to sell us on the spa/massages and chic show (which were included at yucatan at the time). Food quality and temps (including food handling) is not what you’re used to back home. Where trs yucatan was very close to Michelin star dining, trs turquesa is close to mainland 3 star dining. Bring pepto bismol and Imodium, sticking to foods that don’t need refrigeration at the buffets will help with standing dairy/meat products and avoiding spiced foods will help with the overuse of msg at this resort. Check your meats are fully cooked before eating, we were served uncooked chicken more than once. If you’re going to trs, we don’t recommend booking the non-trs restaurants except sumptuori*, we couldn’t get a reservation at that one due to very limited availability but it looked really cool! La paisana was horrendous for both food quality and service, we received raw chicken and the service was awful we arrived at 6:15 and didn’t get our main courses until 8:30… brutal! Do not order sweetbread. The restaurant menus overall could be improved by having hard copies available (no one wants to carry their phone everywhere) and by detailing descriptions better. Portions could be smaller across the board for lunch and dinners. Like at Capricho I had tenderloin and received two full steaks on my plate plus the sides so it was way too much. Hiring a few quality chefs would really help this resort sort out these minor issues! Ordering food and drinks was often a surprise it wasn’t always what we ordered. If they don’t have the ingredients they don’t tell you or say anything they just surprise you with something else. Beef tacos turned into a hamburger, a Bellini turned into a pineapple mimosa, the ‘surprise chocolate sphere with lime coolis’ came out as a chocolate cake rectangle lol. I recommend use some caution going to this resort with allergies. The magic show is great, go approx 30 min. early to get a seat, there’s a bar there in the theatre so get a drink too for the show. We didn’t go to the chic show since the food wasn’t for us (primarily seafood without alternate options) and we’ve seen it for free in Mexico at trs yucatan where it was a perfect experience. Look up the menu ahead and also there’s coupons in the book provided at check-in! There’s also coupons for the escape room and spa, we used them on the hydrotherapy area to go into the hot tub as all other pools were cold in January/February. do the mud mask for sunburns even if you dont have a sunburn it’s great! Don’t be surprised if there are kids in the adults section at the secret pool. Don’t yell at the staff if you travel here and can’t speak Spanish. the number of English people who were frustrated with the language barrier and thought yelling their English words louder was interesting. 🤨😔 the staff were all very gracious. At the end of your trip there will also be people working at the PUJ airport that will grab your bags before you can, even when you say no/protest they won’t let go until you tip or make it weird. Generally beware of people. Don’t let these tips concern you, it’s still a great resort away from home. Have fun, use your sober brain and hope these notes help you be better prepared and avoid some of the mistakes we made. As soon as you notice something is off about a situation or something is not right in your room, ask your butler for their help. We spent approximately 300$US on tips at this resort for great service for 7 days. Our trip cost $2500CAD each person for 7 days from Hamilton yhm on sunwing via tripcentral. We feel since the services advertised were not provided (especially the room wifi as well as most water activities and the archery) we slightly overpaid for this resort. You’re better prepared than we were for your trip! Enjoy the beautiful bavaro beach and the wonderful staf! 😊🛫☀️🌴🥂🏝️🐠

TRS Turquesa: Amazing Resort

Excellent meals. Rooms very clean. Grounds were impeccable. Transportation to and from airport was reliable. The Sunwing representative, Rafael, at the resort was awesome. The chef, Pablo, and staff at Helio's restaurant were the best! The entertainment in the restaurants was fantastic, especially Carlos the guitarist. Francis Fernandez, the Bell Boy, was the best. He always had a beautiful smile and was so eager to help us out.

TRS Turquesa: Beautiful Amazing Resort

The resort was beautiful with well manicured trees, bushes and flowers. The restaurants were clean, food was delicious and the beverages were great. Public washrooms were clean and well maintained. Accommodations and room services were exceptional. The resort workers were so happy, friendly and helpful if we needed anything.

Grand Palladium Select Costa Mujeres: Beautifully Constructed, Poorly Maintained

Really nicely designed and spacious property. Never felt too crowded, easily able to get spots by the pool and beach Beach is windy and constant waves, some seaweed that they try to clean up each day Food is meh everywhere, best thing i had was fish on the grill We had perfect weather Jan 15-22, 2023 and that was the main attraction The pool by the Fizz bar was a nice spot

Grand Palladium Jamaica: Great Resort and Vacation

Great location, staff and all around amazing for family vacations. The swim up bar had amazing bartenders and they should be recognized. Great resort!!! We will be back for sure next year to enjoy some more fun in the sun! :)

Grand Palladium Vallarta: Very nice resort

The resort is somewhat dated, however the rooms are very clean ,looked after daily staff is very pleasant in dinning room or the four restaurants. The beach is clean with plenty of launches. On the top of a cliff is a round pool with heated water where you can observe vhales almost daily from.[at no cost to you]

Grand Palladium Vallarta: Aging resort

We have been to this resort 10 plus times and have enjoyed the overall experience as always. This year we noticed some issues, although minor, are not being looked after. We were in building #2 and found that in each staircase on several floors the lights were burnt out. This creates a safety concern when walking down a lighted hallway then entering a dark staircase where you cannot see the steps properly. The beach staff were very friendly but are now faced with worn out equipment such as boogi [... read more]e boards which seem well used and abused. They could probably buy at least another 12 boards and find that they would be used by guests on a daily basis, making it a better experience for those guests choosing to enjoy the beach facilities. Surfing is also very popular at this resort, but there does not seem to be enough surf boards available for those enthusiasts. A water hose tap at the beach activities center would not turn off properly, sometimes running for long periods continuously despite the fact that staff had requested a repair to the tap multiple times. We ate in the buffet for most of our meals at the resort. I found that many items were plentiful and food was abundant. I also found that many of the trays holding supposedly hot food were not able to keep the food hot. Many of our meals were cold. My partner actually got shocked when touching one of the food warming trays and I requested my food to be reheated on the grill multiple times. Staff was always friendly, so there must be a communications issue where staff are afraid to report issues as found. Management should want to get opinions from staff members more frequently. I know these items are minor and overall we still enjoy this resort for beach activities, weather and remoteness from downtown Puerto Vallarta.

Grand Palladium Kantenah: The most perfect vacation

We love this resort. We came here 5 years ago and we wanted to come back- after a trip to Hawaii and another resort we decided to come back. It has so much to offer. Amazing food. Beach. Grounds. Room. I ate amazing fajitas everyday. It is quite far from the airport. 2.5 hour bus ride with stops at other resorts. The travel to and from was biggest complaint with various airport delays

Grand Palladium Kantenah: Some Major Problems

We had requested a room beside our son and daughter -in-law so we could baby sit our 7 month old grand child while they attended a wedding at the resort.Not only were we not side by side,we were located in a separate building some distance away. it took most of our first full day at the resort to get the situation rectified. There also was not a crib as requested for the baby in her room and initially this was not going to be fixed until the next day.It required repeated requests and threats to  [... read more]obtain one late on the first night. Housekeeping was adequate, although the inclusion of hand towels was hit & miss, and face cloths only showed up once. Staff were very friendly and wait staff were attentive. We did not observe any COVID protocols in place

Grand Palladium Kantenah: Very disappointed. This is certainly not a 5 star resort.

Rooms are no better than a Holiday Inn. Small shower in a tub making it difficult for my wife to climb into. We had requested a wheelchair to help get from A to B for my wife. They would not accommodate so we had to rent one. We wanted to have my son who lives in Playa to come and join us for an a la carte supper. No problem to pay for a day pass for him to enter the resort, $110US, but he could not go to the a la crate restaurant unless we got him a room. Food was subpar, often cold, and beca [... read more]use it is a large resort, with a lot of people, the platters were not replenished quickly. We have been to Playa 7 times previously, 2 times at the same resort. All of them were a superior value. I guess it did not start off well as our flight was delayed 4 hours leaving Halifax.

Grand Palladium Kantenah: Did not meet our expectations.

We were supposed to be at Kantenah but got moved to colonial without notice. It was a huge day long battle getting a crib for my baby to sleep in. Resort was way too big for little kids to walk around all day. They had trolleys to get around but many times the staff refused to take my kids in the trolleys because it was for “adults only”. Buffets had so much selection and lots of fresh food. However buffet staff weren’t great, we never got beverages brought to our table. The kids club was [... read more] good. We loved all the live music at the resort. There was a massive pool and great water slides for the kids. Beach was disappointing as it had garbage all along the shore line with drug dealers approaching us daily on the beach. The ocean was very rocky, bring water shoes. The zoo animals were completely unnecessary as there was plenty of wildlife to see. We found it very sad to see crocodiles and flamingos pent up.

Grand Palladium Kantenah: lovely resort

we enjoyed our stay at the Grand Palladium, however we were supposed to stay in the Kentanah section and our group was scattered between Colonial and Kentanah...my spouse and I were far from our family with small children ( who could have used our help). We also had issues with securing a baby bed/play pen for which we had reserved many months prior...we were told that it was on a first come basis...The first night was harried needless to say as everyone was very tired and baby would not settle  [... read more]in an adult bed...finally at midnight she went to sleep...only to be woken up at 630 am with a phone call...to say that a crib would come at 9am...(why such an early call)..the crib finally arrived at 10:30 am!

Grand Palladium Kantenah: Grand Palladium Kantenah, Mezico

We recently travelled to the above resort for our sons wedding. We were required to be in Toronto to fly Sunwing at 3:00am for a 6:25am flight . We were advised just before the flight that no plane was available with Sunwing and they instead rented a plane from Portugal with Portuguese flight staff. 6 hours later we took off in the most uncomfortable plane we had ever been on. We were served water and two Oreo cookies for a four hour flight. We did get a $20 lunch voucher from Sunwing in Toronto [... read more] but our only choice was Tim Hortons or Subway. We landed in Mexico and we’re put on a bus for a one and a half hour drive to the resort. Upon arrival at the resort we discovered we had not been assigned a room (there were 40 plus members who travelled for the wedding!) we were given a room on the third floor (we are both seniors but we’re up for 36 hours and decided we had no energy left to go back to checkin to change our room) For the first two days of our stay we had NO room service. Also on the second day we lost all hydro and air conditioning in our unit. I called three times only to be told some one would come. Several hours later my husband called and told them they had 15 min to get someone there to repair the issue and restore hydro. Sure enough someone showed up and replaced an overheated breaker! In order to get our room cleaned on the third day I waited for a housekeeper in another unit and using a translator asked to have the room cleaned which they did. For the remaining g four days we had our room cleaned. Our mini fridge was filled sporadically. We had to hunt down the fellow to get bottled water. The resort itself is huge and absolutely beautiful! The weather all week was 30 degrees. Restaurants were ok at best and we tended to stick to the Buffets for variety. My husband was extremely I’ll with fever cough etc. when we returned home we both tested positive for COVID. There was absolutely no distancing and no hand disinfectant available through out the resort. My husband and I took shuttles everywhere and felt the layout was more geared to younger people and not for seniors or anyone with mobility issues.

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Beautiful resort, badly managed

We have been to Punta Cana for more than 10 times in various resorts and in Dominican Republic more that 15 times. Therefore, I think we can provide a good comparison between different resorts. SUMMARY The Grand Palladium Resort is a beautiful complex resort made of three resorts: Palace, Punta Cana and Bavaro. The grounds are beautiful, well-maintained and includes four swimming pools. You might think that we had a wonderful time there, which unfortunately is not the case. The resort is p [... read more]oorly managed and the water and sanitation infrastructure (plumbing) is crumbling. Our main complain is not that we stayed there for 10 days with NO HOT WATER (between 4 – 10 pm), our main disappointment is that in spite our daily complains, the management did nothing to fix the problem. More than that, one day when we informed the reception again that we don’t have hot water, a reception supervisor told us to stop complaining as everybody else is the same. So, definitely we will not go back to this resort again. There are many better resorts in Punta Cana – same price. You judge for yourself and make your own decision. Here are some details: FOOD: The resort has two main buffet restaurants and many a-la-carte restaurants. The food in the buffet restaurants is diverse, plenty and tasty. Definitely above average for Punta Cana resorts. Congratulations to the Chef. The “A-la-carte restaurants” is a different story. First of all they don’t have a menu (a-la-carte) – a printed menu – to give you. They expect the guests to download Grand Palladium app and use it to order (they expect you to work for them); how about if you want to relax and didn’t bring you phone with you, or if your phone is not working… Most of the food in the a-la-carte restaurants are from the buffet restaurant (appetizers, soup,…different presentation) which is ok as it is tasty; however the food they have to cook on the spot is disappointing ( a beef stake is few mm thick, yes MM, and hard and chewy; an Italian calzone we ordered was pre-cooked hours before we ordered (the cheese inside was no longer melted and the crust was mushy and soft), not to mention the Asian restaurant… I would say the a-la-carte restaurants in Grand Palladium are below average for Punta Cana. Disappointing. ROOMS: Our room was decent, clean (the cleaning lady did a very good job every day), too bad we didn’t have hot water. However, some people we met on the resort told us they had to change three rooms until they found a decent one. GROUNDS: Grounds are beautiful and well-maintained. Congrats to the people that do all the work… Too bad we couldn’t get a map of the resort (they don’t have it at the reception – actually they have but they are too cheap to give a map to their guests) so we got lost few times and until we learned the resort (through experience) it was time to go home. BEACH & POOLS: This is Punta Cana and the beach is beautiful. Grand Palladium has a long ocean beach however only 1/3 of it is a nice wide sandy beach. 2/3 of the resort beach was damaged by storms, hurricanes… This is the reason the sandy beach is crowded; people have to get up early in the morning to reserve a hut and some chairs…I would say this is common to many resorts in Punta Cana. There are four swimming pools and they look beautiful. We are not pool people so we cannot comment more. ENTERTAINMENT and BEACH ACTIVITIES: Everywhere we have been in Punta Cana, the Entertainment (Night) Shows and Beach Activities were a main component of the life on the resort. They were advertised everywhere. NOT IN THIS RESORT. We saw no signs related to the night shows and beach activities and the receptionist was not able to give us an answer. For three days we thought there is no theater on the resort. On the fourth day we bumped into some artists who told us where the theater is (there are printed maps of the resort on some places in the resort however they are outdated and no mention of the theater there, the names of the a-la carte restaurants on the maps are different than the current names of the restaurants – you figure out… a total disinformation). Later, we have seen some night shows and they were beautiful, professional, the artists put a lot of passion and work in order to create shows that people enjoy. Congratulations to the artists. CONCLUSION: This is a beautiful resort, badly managed, with disrespectful attitude towards their patrons and guests.

Grand Palladium Vallarta: wonderful week away

This resort is located a little further north of Puerta Vallarta but it is worth it for the peace and quiet. Our rooms were spacious and while a little outdated, in good condition. We had a couple of issues with the safe and toilet which was rectified easily. The grounds are very well maintained and the staff are all friendly and helpful! The timeshare sales people were persistent for the first day and then left us alone for the rest of the stay. The beach area and adult pool are lovely. I [... read more]t was amazing to watch humpback whales in Banderas Bay from the resort. We saw them almost every day. The a la carte restaurants were easy to book and the Italian restaurant Portofino was our favourite.

Grand Palladium Select Bavaro: Quality improved since last year

2nd time at this resort (been there last year) and have to admit that quality of service improved. Things I liked: 1. The staff. They manage to create a perfect vacation vibe, very helpful and seem to enjoy their work. I saw so many times when they invited guests to dance, did the high-fives or flying kisses with kids, smiling to guests and each other etc. They are really friendly and making sure you have great time - loved it. 2. Food/drinks was great, no complaints at all. Bonus points for [... read more] Christmas dinner - fantastic selection and atmosphere 3. Small but nice thing - they had coffee machines and Aperol Spritz even at the beach bars, rare thing in other resorts. The beach - well, Bavaro beach is not the nicest I’ve been to, lots of waves, sargasso and the water is far from being transparent. Understandably, it’s not something the resort can fix, but they did clean the seaweed from the beach regularly. Things that need improvements - just one, the rooms - very dated, I tried 3 during my stay and all had same problems, shower and air conditioning system leaking water on the floor, air conditioners are rather noisy, lots of cracks in ceramics… Rooms were better in Palace and Punta Cana section.

Grand Palladium Jamaica: Great facilities

The facilities are excellent the service is a little lacking compared to other resorts. The food quality is very good and the variety of food is good as well. The resort charges extra for even room service which was a surprise. We stayed in the Jamaica part of the resort which is newly renovated and the rooms are very nice. The beach is very small almost non existent . The front desk provides wrong info regarding booking restaurant reservations. We found out after two days that we are ac [... read more]tually allowed to pre book. New years eve dinner reservations were only allowed if you purchased a bottle of wine . Lastly the rep from air canada never kept her schedule

Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton: Great resort - would go back!

This was my 2nd time in Jamaica, and 8th time staying at an all-inclusive resort and I can honestly say it was one of the best resorts I’ve stay at. This review is long but will paint an accurate picture. Check-in – seamless. There was a bit of a long wait on the airport transfer bus before heading to the resort, but once we got to the resort the check-in was very quick and we were greeted with a welcome drink. Room – We got what we requested – a beachside ocean view room with a ki [... read more]ng bed near the other couple we were traveling with. We were in Villa 33, which was right by the adult pool and adult beach. The room was beautiful, clean, had a great view, and we had great housekeeping each day. The only issue was that the bathtub was not usable - it leaked water everywhere and made a horrible loud noise when draining that we're sure must have disturbed our neighbours, so we did not use it again. Pools – The adult pool is open until 10pm so we were able to do some late-night dips after dinner. The main pool is gorgeous, and we never had any trouble finding loungers for all 4 of us. The staff at the swim-up bar were very friendly and made excellent drinks! Around the main pool there are lots of staff around offering to get you drinks so you don’t have to go up to get a drink which is nice. Beach – What was truly unique about this resort is that you have ocean on both sides of the resort. Just walking to the restaurants/pools, the ocean is within view. A lot of other resorts you have to go to the beach to see the ocean, but here you can enjoy ocean views in many places on the resort. There are also several different beaches, including an adult beach. At the far beach you can rent snorkelling equipment, catamarans, kayaks, etc. Highly recommend the snorkeling! We went snorkeling off resort with 2 different excursions and we saw way more fish and coral on our own beach. We saw lobster, squid, sting rays, and tons of different fish! This was a real highlight for us. Restaurants – All 4 of us found the food amazing here. For breakfast there are lots of options available so even though it is the same breakfast each day, you can change it up. The omelette and crepe stations are worth a few visits! We often had breakfast at the Blue Lagoon which overlooks the main pool – great view! For lunch we never went to the buffet – we usually went to the jerk huts which had great jerk pork and chicken – or we went to Poseidon for (they have good fish tacos!). Miss Lou’s Bar is a must – they make delicious desserts and specialty coffees. There was always lots of comfortable seating. For dinner, we went to the a la carte restaurants each night. They were all good, but we especially enjoyed the Xaimaica (Jamaican), Bhogali (Indian), and Sumptuori (teppanyaki). We never had to wait very long and if we did have to wait, there was always a bar to grab drinks while we waited. It was nice not having to make reservations. Entertainment – There is WIFI all over the resort which was very convenient. They have an app that has all the information you need – what day time and night time activities are going on and where, which restaurants are open and their menus, etc. There were lots of activities to join and a show each evening. Most people gathered in the Infinity bar in the evenings. Even though there were lots of people we always found seating. Services – They were always very quick to deal with any issue that arose. One day the lock on our friend’s door wasn’t working and within 10 minutes security was there and fixed it. And on the last day, our safe was not opening and we needed to get our passports out to check out. We called reception and security was there in 5 minutes and got us into the safe. These things can happen anywhere, and the important thing is that they are on top of it and resolve issues quickly. Overall, we had an amazing time at this resort. We had been getting nervous after seeing some of the negative reviews, but our experience was nothing but positive all around and we were all very happy we chose to stay here!

Grand Palladium Vallarta: Definitely not anywhere near a 4 star resort.

The Hotel staff are friendly, hotel is 45mins to an hour away from Airport roads are bumpy / very bad , hotel very rundown and weathered showing its age, broken steps exposed rebar ,in buildings very poor lighting in hotel hallways and rooms, furniture is chipped and weathered no dressers in room only open shelves menu is mostly Mexican, for fish lovers great, they are very agressive on pushing Travel Plus program( Time Shares) Beach is small very rocky swim shoes required, no night adult enter [... read more]tainment, what is offered as entertainment is rather a joke hotel very geared towards kinds. Air Canada rep very poor not informative or very present. Rating Grand Palladium Vallarta does not represent the other of this chain we were very dissatisfied with hotel considering the price paid and expected much more of a 4 star resort

Grand Palladium Kantenah: Resort was nice but hardly felt "all inclusive" anymore

This was our second time visiting the grand palladium. Our first time was about 10 years ago. positives; Resort is very well kept still and clean. Pools are very nice. Staff were very friendly and the food was overall good. buffet was extremely repetitive; exact same breakfast every day and I would say 1/2 the lunch and dinner was the same every day too. The variety of a la cartes is very nice and the food at the Poseidon, japanese, and Thai restaurants was very good. The steak house was not [... read more] great. We upgraded our room at the time of booking to the romance villa suite which was absolutely lovely and you get access to a very nice part of the beach with cabanas whioch were great. The Kantenah ones are right next to the beach and the rooms are very nice it was worth the extra $50/day we spent at time of booking. If you want this upgrade at check in time it is $80USD per day. The negatives; They were constantly doing work around the resort which was very noisy and relentless during the day. Jackhammering and sandblasting for hours. From the moment we arrived until when we left we were constantly being asked to spend more money. At check in they will try to get you to purchase room upgrades, and access to their "VIP palladium club" all at an extra cost. They hound you with resort staff that seem super helpful at first until you realize they just want you to come to their presentation about their new TRS Yucatan resort. many menus have extra items on them that come at extra costs. WATCH out at the a la carte restaurants they will ask if you want wine and then charge you for it. Room service also comes at an extra charge of $15USD. They are not very upfront about these charges and we spoke to another couple that was left with a $100 bottle of wine with their dinner. I would say about half their liquor selection at the lobby bars come at an increase in cost. A massage at the spa was like $200USD. I would go back again if price was right. They also made the salt water pool that used to be part of the white sands hotel and accessible to everyone part of the TRS Yucatan resort and so now you don't get access to this pool anymore.