Great Resort, but a terrible front desk

We stayed at the Grand Palladium Puerto Vallarta on February 17-24th in the Imperial Club Master Junior Suite in building 4. The Direct Transfer from Airport to resort turned out to be a milk run stopping at multiple hotels, even though we paid for Direct Transfer. The Air Transat lady at Airport was arguing with the shuttle people to get us a direct transfer and he wouldn't do it. He finally compromised after 5 minutes or arguing, the milk run bus stopped at our hotel first. We arrived at 1 p [... read more]m and they told us the room will be ready at 3 pm on the second floor. We came back at 3 pm at it still wasn't ready and to come back at 3:10, then 3:20, then 3:40, then 3:50 and finally at 4 pm we were given a room on the 1st floor, which we declined as we requested the 2nd or higher. When we asked for the room we were promised, the supervisor told us that nobody had promised the room, but the young man was right beside her. We finally got our room at 6 pm. I asked if that is how you treat your imperial club guests? She didn't reply. After check-in, we received a Check-out slip in Spanish. Why? We went to the Air Transat agent the next day and he was very apologetic for the problems and would get to us later that day. He asked us to come back at 3 pm and he would find out what happened. We went back at 3 pm and all we got from him was excuses, such as a 5 hour check-in was normal. What nonsense was this? We stayed at this Grand Palladium hotel because we had stayed at the Mayan Rivera hotel prior with Imperial Club and it was excellent. Imperial Club at this resort means absolutely nothing. You get nothing for the extra money that you paid! The maid service was excellent and the room, when we eventually got it was excellent in building 4. The staff that work the bars and buffets make up for the useless check-in counter staff. The staff at the Steakhouse were terrible. The cowboy steak I had the first night was RAW! I sent it back and it came back so tough that it was inedible. My wife's steak was supposed to be well done and came back medium. Back it went and came back half well-done and the rest medium well. The rude lady at the Italian restaurant turned us off that restaurant, so after 2 bad experiences, we went to the buffets for all of our meals that for the most part were excellent. A big shout out to the Carlos and staff at the Secrets bar, especially the warm smile you got everyday from Melissa. All of the beach bar staff are EXCELLENT, especially Antonio, Omar and Ezekel and a lovely woman that I didn't write he name down. We sat in the main buffet section and were served by the lovely Judith! We were treated like family every day. We missed seeing her on her day off. The gang at Hemingway's were excellent and very entertaining, as we went there every night. We had great breakfasts and lunch's at the Punta Mita buffet by building 5. The resort was very beautiful and we loved walking around the resort. No need for a gym as there are a lot of steps. The beach was awesome and we spent most of our time there. In all, the restaurant, maid and bar Staff are excellent, except for Steakhouse and Italian restaurants. Would I go back? Never! Even though sitting on the beach, watching whales breach in the bay was awesome, we were let down the Steakhouse and Italian restaurants. The check-in process was the worst I've had in 30 years of travelling in the Caribbean. At the Mayan Riviera hotel, Imperial Club meant something, but that doesn't seem to be the case at this hotel.

Beautiful Resort

The grounds are beautiful, love how they kept all the vegetation natural, that was a huge bonus. Nice feature having a little zoo there. They even had a shunk on site wandering everywhere. The food was great, lots of choices and good in the buffets. The alacart were good, but big downfall you couldn't book them most of the time. They said book on the app, it never worked most of the time. Frustrated a lot of people. That all needs to be revisited and set up properly.They always said come ea [... read more]rly at 6:00 pm you will get in which we did get in. Most of the time you would walk into them later 7:30-8:00 pm and they were mostly Empty but you couldn't go in and eat because you didn't book but when you tried to book they said fully booked. Needs big improvement. The beach and ocean was very nice. The pools were good. Spent a lot of time in both. Lots of stairs everywhere and steep ramps is the downfall. Was a work out for most of the people at the resort even the workers there. They had one step areas everywhere very dangerous seen several people fall and trip on those, that is poor planning there. For senior folks and people who have back and knee or hips problems and in not good physical shape is not the place for them. Big mistake in allowing the resort people into the area of the time share part. Feel for those people now not having what they paid big dollars for at this particular resort. Overall very good resort, talking to a lot of people when we were there the ongoing comments was the one step stair tripping and falling, way to many stairs and steep ramps and the alacart issue.

Staff great hotel mediicre

The hotel rooms were dank and stuffy with constant mold smell. We had to move from the first room as it was unbearable and this view as supported by club people who were shocked at the smell, the second room was better but still not acceptable. We paid for Imperial service in a master junior suite and it was not worth it at all. The management of this hotel is poor but the service was excellent in the restaurants and bars with the food mostly okay. Our imperial master junior suite was not pro [... read more]perly made up as per advertised and I had to call frequently to get bathrobe, slippers, fruit basket and gift plus beach towels. The maid service was good. The entertainment was to hip hoppy and not enough good dancing music but weather was great and beach pretty good Alon with a great massage near the beach area. I will not go back again as management letting the place deteriorate with bad room smells.

Very nice grounds

Exceptional grounds , well cared for forest and walkways. Very small decks on the third floor , barley room for 1 chair. The best choice of food in our 15 other trips. The pools were very good and clean. Dinning areas were very clean. The only real complaint was the # of stairs. over 100 stairs to get from our room to the breakfast and dinning areas. I saw 6 people fall down , some of them were hurt. There no lighting on most of them and some steps were 4 inchs high.

Wonderful All-inclusive Resort

Wonderful resort. Well kept rooms and nicely groomed grounds. Nightly entertainment was of high caliber. I especially liked The Tenors when they performed on Sunday nights. Food at the main buffet had quite a varied selection and was very good. A la carte restaurants...some were better than others for food and service. Staff from front desk to servers to cleaning staff to grounds maintenance people were friendly, polite and cheerful. Everyone works very hard to make your stay memorable.

Great escape

Very comfortable accomadations . A lot of stairs to climb Held a fantastic super bowl party. Has something for everyone old and young. There were a few nights that two of the four alacarts were closed for

Third time there!

We have loved our time there each time. They continue to improve the resort. The staff are great and always go above and beyond to make your stay enjoyable. Love watching the whales and dolphins from the poolside. We will definitely keep this on our list to return.

OK Resort

The hotel room was great, clean and very friendly cleaning staff. Was not up to the Palladium standards compared to the Riveria side of Mexico at the same hotel chain. Kinda disappointed with the food at the buffet most times cold and not a lot available. The restaurants rotate days they are open so if missed that day out of luck and very hard to book. Beach BBQ was by reservation and was terrible. Loud rock music playing, not enough food (no dessert left for 2nd sitting) Not a pleasant expe [... read more]rience.

The good out weighs the not so good

Hotel was nice, rooms were larger than other resorts I've been too and the service was great. My only con, would be the buffet however the cliental it is focused toward would appreciate it more than say myself who enjoys spicy food and flavors. The restaurants were fantastic and if you go right when they open at 6 and are willing to wait 30-45 minutes you don't even need a reservation. I really don't have a bad thing to say. You are in Mexico at a resort, not the Wynn in Vegas. Tons of activitie [... read more]s to do throughout the day, enthusiastic staff and an overall great atmosphere. We had a great vacation.

Loved it !!!!!

All staff was Amazing I would like to personally thank Omar & bartender (beach bar) Jesus (everywhere awsome) Victor (surf instructor) Eder (surf instructor) Life guards Bernardo (disco) Jasmin (disco) Adult pool staff And many more Thank you for making it the best vacation ever :) !!!!! The Tenors were beyond incredible WOW!!!!

Fantastic resort for our family

This is a very family centered resort from the kids club to the mini club to the staff at the sports shack on the beach. Even the bar tenders were great with our two little girls. We will definitely be going again in the future. Where else can you work on trying to surf for free?

Mostly great... except the deprived captive animals

Overall it was a great trip. The staff were generally very friendly and helpful - and there's a lot of them so the vast majority were warm and welcoming. The place was clean and the food was pretty good. I was irritated with some of the hostess' attitudes (e.g. at Portofino) and one in the Viva Mexico restaurant speaking about my dress in Spanish not knowing that I too speak Spanish (although one gentleman later came and apologized to me, and my server Roberto was excellent). I was disapp [... read more]ointed that my daughter's tiny, size 7 toddler, hard to replace flip flops were stolen from our room leaving her with only runners half of our stay. I also heard that a smaller amount of money was taken out of my friend's wallet while it was being cleaned. I feel as though if I complained I would have reimbursed me for them but I didn't feel like having the awkward, negative conversation while debating if someone steals shoes because they're paid poorly (I don't know how well staff are/aren't paid) is it still wrong? I didn't need that on my conscience on vacation. The "zoo" however is unconscionable. Two monkeys are cooped up in a small cage containing one tree with no branches Spider monkeys travel between 1 to 3km daily with a group of 10 to 30 family members. The ostrich looks unwell, like it's been pulling out its own feathers. It was awful to see.

GP Vallarta

We recently stayed at the Grand Palladium Vallarta. The facilities are lovely. It is a bit removed from PV, maybe 3/4 hour drive from the airport. If you want to do anything or go anywhere, it's a taxi or bus ride. We especially enjoyed the adult pool, and the Beach. We also liked the quietness of the salt water pool. The lunches, that we participated in, put on at the beach daily, were wonderful. not the same old cold burger and fries. The Zentropia spa is very lovely. truly enjoyed my [... read more] massage from Alma. The one thing I didn't understand, was why people were made to line up at the buffet doors, had to give room numbers. then when we got to the buffet, it's not like they were full. The Buffet food was good. Not really crazy about booking through an app for a la carts. when were first told this, I thought it was a great idea, no standing in line everyday at a concierge to book your restaurants! But in fact it was a bit more cumbersome. You don't book for THIS evening, you are actually booking 24hrs ahead. so we missed out on a few a la carts because of this misunderstanding. With this said, there is wifi everywhere, which is nice. I was also slightly disappointed with the balconies. very very small. we had an ocean view room, but 2 people on the balcony was very tight. The staff were all very friendly and very accommodating, really a pleasure. one more thing, the check in process seemed so long, and they had plenty of staff on to accommodate the bus load of people, but it seemed to take longer than it needed to. A turn off was the sales push to buy into their travel club. All in all though, a nice resort.

Beautiful Resort

This resort was a little overwhelming at first but once you figured everything out it was easy. There are a lot of stairs and lots of uphill walking so would not be good for people with mobility issues. The resort itself is beautiful & well maintained. There are 3 pools within the resort. The beach is actually very nice. If you go close to the vendors the sand is a lot better. The food was absolutely amazing. You won’t starve & there is always somewhere to get something to eat around the clo [... read more]ck. The staff were so friendly & couldn’t do enough for you. Rooms were clean & well kept. There is lots to do at this resort so you will never be bored. All in all this was a wonderful vacation & we can’t wait to go back.

Great resort!

We really enjoyed our stay at the Grand Palladium Vallarta: beautiful grounds/beach, comfortable/spacious room, excellent food (prime rib every night at the buffet), and very good service (most of the time). Humpback whales breached on numerous occasions just off shore. We also enjoyed several entertaining shows at the theatre.

Fantastic

Had a great time - paddle boarding, surfing, sailing, kayaking, beautiful paths, amazing shows, and dancing the night away, this place has it all. Food is great, the place is beautiful. Everyone was absolutely great - special mention to Carlos Yamazaki for being awesome all around and making the vacation memorable, Victor for making sure I had fun in the sun and the sea, Jesus for getting the party started, and Pepe for a great manicure. On the not so great side - the drink selection is  [... read more]huge and imaginative, but the house wine is terrible - although you can get bottles of decent stuff at reasonable rates. Housekeeping needs improvement- no clean towels for 2 days!! they eventually showed up but I was forced to complain. Overall all 3 of us had a blast even though we were all doing different things, and with all the exercise and stuff going on, we even lost a bit of weight, even with all the great food.

Terrible service

Starting at the airport: Disgusting timeshare vultures that tour company should help passengers get past. We were told to walk past and go outside but almost impossible to do without getting grabbed. Airtransat should have representatives to get you through this for the amount of money paid to them. At the resort: at check in given no towel cards and again a time share vulture waiting beside you to "give you information about the resort". You have to be rude and awful to them to leave you alone  [... read more]and get on with your vacation. The information given was "log onto the the travel club chat room to request a la carte reservations". No way was I giving my name and room number to be hassled more. Our room never had AC.. We slept with the screen door open to get cool. It was hit and miss to get clean towels and facecloths in the room and the correct amount. A la carte restaurants a complete joke. If they didn't outright say they were booked from 6 pm they would tell you to come back in 30 min and check in This would go on for over 2 hours. At one restaurant people were arguing with seating people as many of us waiting for over 2 hours with no results and restaurant empty. As we were standing there 4 people walked in and just sat down. Terrible. One al la carte was never open all week we were there. The buffet restaurant good food but terrible service. There was no water, juice or anything available for you to get yourself, it was all brought to you, if you were lucky. Three of us would sit and they would only bring 1 glass of water and refill only 1 at a time. ?? no sense. Even tipping didn't seem to help. VERY upsetting with the restaurants and service. It would be different if we only paid less than $1000 but when you pay premium money it's like your treated as a joke. Do they really have that many in the travel club that no one else matters? Maybe don't promote and lose your business as not worth wasting good money on. The resort itself was very clean and bathrooms always clean and decent which is very positive. Still lots of saving beach chairs and never seeing anyone in them most of the day. As for the honeymoon perks...JOKE again. There were no perks at all for the honeymoon couple.. They got no more than we did, travel club crap and a book or coupons to get you to spend more money. Also for the Christmas eve supper when enquiring about reservations for supper as trying to feed everyone at hotel there was none. No body was concerned at all. Of course it was a total gong show and we barely got a glass of water let alone anything else.

3rd Time's Still a Charm!

Our family of six (all adults) travelled from Regina, Canada to the Grand Palladium Vallarta December 14 to 21, 2017 for a pre-Christmas holiday. We all booked through TripCentral. It was Sunquest tour on a Westjet plane. We like to book the Sunquest better than the Westjet tour because the wait at the airport for your transportation is much less. This was our 3rd time here. We love it here and will be back for a 4th. Now that the Royal Suites side has opened up to everyone, we spent all our day [... read more]s at that pool. Had the most amazing waiters, HERIBERTO and CARLOS. They treated us like family and we wanted to take them home with us. Four of us upgraded to the Royal Suites, so I think that got us more perks, plus much larger rooms. I love all the stairs. Being up on the cliffs gives the resort a lot of character and helps to wear off all the food and drink, not mention the beautiful views from up there. The drinks are NOT watered down. We really enjoyed the different cocktails at the Royal pool bar. The bartender there (can’t remember his name) made the best Cielo Rojo’s in the whole resort – thank you. Food was good as usual. Our favorite a la carte was the Ribs and More restaurant. They have the best BBQ sauce on their ribs. Had no problem booking a la carte’s, just went to the desk in the hallway at the front lobby and they helped us out. The app did not work for us. If you are in line at an a la carte by 5:30 you get in when they open anyway, at least we did. Found the WiFi to be fine, never had a problem, except it would not load the Palladium app. Took advantage of booking the spa for an 80 minute massage. It was wonderful as usual. Our daughter was sick for a few days, but she forgot to not use the tap water for anything except showering. Use bottled water even for brushing your teeth. Have no complaints, except maybe the pool was too warm, LOL, not really a complaint. You are in one of the most amazingly beautiful, friendly places, with great food and drinks. if you treat these beautiful people the way you like to be treated, you will have no reason to be unhappy. Thanks again Grand Palladium Vallarta!

Second time this year!

We first stayed at the Grand Palladium in April of 2017 and went back with family on Dec 14th for another week in the sun. All the renovations are done with a lot of the resort looking renewed and fresh. An added bonus this time was that we were able to access the Royal pool area and Nest restaurant. Special thanks to Heriberto and Carlos - hard working guys who always made sure we had a cold cocktail all the time - they made our days down at the pool - Gracias Amigos! Martin and princess Teress [... read more]a at the Nest always had us sit at the best view table and made sure we had everything we needed.The Zentropia Spa was again a hit with the ladies and if they could, they would have gone every day. Sunset dinner at the Mexican rest was a wonderfull open air experience and Jannet again making the freshest guacamole right at the table should not be missed - and I dont like avacados, but I ate this up. The Bambu Japanese rest was not my favorite but different tastes for everyone. Ribs and Steaks had an awesome filet and it would have been easy to eat another except you were full. Portofino Italian hasn't changed much except the salad bar is gone and a pizza oven is in its place - the menu is a bit confusing - if you order a meat entree it does not tell you that potatoes are included - be careful and don't order pasta to go with it because you will get two full meals. The rooms (deluxe) are basic but nice - we were in 3217 and had a lovely ocean view, but its in need of some upgrading - the shower taps need replacing, the shower glass lets water all over the floor and the jet tub is missing all the jets. All you really need is a decent shower. Our cousins paid for an upgraded room after spending one night in a deluxe and said it was worth it. Hemmingways bar used to be a nice quiet retreat, but now its hard to speak in there because it seems to be the party bar and it has lost its quiet ambience - thanks to Jessica and Manny for remembering our drinks every night. We would go back again, but you need to know that its a bit out of the way if you want to leave the resort, then its a cab ride or a rattle bus - we go to relax and dont need to leave because we have done Puerto Vallarta a few times - all in all we enjoy this resort.

Perfecto

Staff is incredible, great resort. Food is above average. Had a ocean view and was worth the money, resort views are amazing. The two different main pools were nice for variety. The ocean and ocean pool are nice, rooms are clean and stocked daily. The resort is currently under construction but is supposed to be done soon so it will be awesome. Lots of walking and stairs but knew that coming in. Nothing to complain about so that makes a wonderful trip. The staff is top notch and help make  [... read more]a good place great. Looking forward to returning.