You'll have an amazing time if you're an elite diamond member
Apr 25, 2024 Chanelley West Sussex, United Kingdom
This was a hard one to review because I went into this with really high standards given the reputation and the price of this. This is the first time I've ever spent so much money on a holiday before, so when you're comparing a week in a hotel costing about £1k to a hotel costing £5k, you're going to expect much more, and I don't think I got…
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This was a hard one to review because I went into this with really high standards given the reputation and the price of this. This is the first time I've ever spent so much money on a holiday before, so when you're comparing a week in a hotel costing about £1k to a hotel costing £5k, you're going to expect much more, and I don't think I got that.
The first thing you should know about this hotel, especially if you're from the UK, is that it runs on a membership basis. It's different to a timeshare, I think, because it's not just rooms you can use at any time, but you also get perks. Because there are so many members (paying quite a large amount of money) visiting, due to the perks it forms a hierarchy of guest. If you're an elite diamond member, you're treated like royalty. If you happen to be visiting as a regular guest with no membership, you get a very standard treatment. I'll go into this in more detail.
We arrived around 7pm in the evening. 15 minutes from the airport (after waiting 30 minutes for baggage!). We were handed a wet cloth and a flower from the concierge and then guided into the very grand lobby to check in. No drink was offered. We were initially told to queue in one line but then told by someone else we were in the wrong line. Check in was fast and easy, but we were given no map, no instructions, no tips, no directions to our room, no nothing. I only knew about the app from the Facebook group. When asked how to get to our room, we were told to ask if the bellboys would take us. As we went to leave, someone stopped us to get us to activate our resort credits. I guess this is probably the part where they would try to get you to sign up to the membership sale breakfast, but I politely declined and they didn't fight us on it (perhaps because we were from the UK?). We were never hounded about it. Not once.
The room was lovely. Really impressed. We travelled me, my mum and my son. Two dressing gowns in the room but no slippers. Nice mini bar. Large room with so much space. The jets in the whirlpool never worked. We had someone come out 3 times to fix it but every time they fixed it, it would break again. The maid service would tidy but they didn't clean. They never left enough towels, either. Also, if you're given an interconnecting room, ask to move immediately. We ended up with teenagers in the room next to us and we could hear every word, every shriek, all their loud music, everything. Kept us up way into the night. You don't get a keycard, but you do get a wristband which gives you access to the room (even for the kids!).
The hotel is really big so you will take advantage of the golf carts that run regularly. They do have routes attached, but some will go out of their way to get you to where you need. The elite diamond members get their own golf carts.
We never had to fight for a sunbed but we were early risers given being from the UK. I really liked the towel system. Again, no cards, so you could take as many pool towels as you needed. However, this meant that people would leave their towels and vacate back to their room etc and you never knew if a bed was free or not. Staff did go around periodically removing towels, but then sometimes ended up doing that for those who still wanted their beds, and this did cause a bit of upset.
The service around the pools was quite spotty. I was expecting, given the price, top service at your beds of drink and food. This only sometimes happened. It was very hit and miss at the waterpark (at one point three servers argued between themselves about who was serving our area when we asked for some service, and then we got a very annoyed man who took all of our food orders down wrong and then never came back to help with drinks after giving us the wrong food 40 minutes later). We got no service at the Cusco pool. A guy with an attitude served us at the activity pool once (to take a food order but no drinks). The best service was at the Caribeno pool - he was amazing and I wish I'd remembered his name.
The hotel probably needs a bit of TLC, too. Some of the signs were missing letters, or had fallen off the walls. So many areas were taped off for improvement. The board walk had snapped boards and chairs placed over the top. Someone cut their foot on a broken pool tile. It also could have done with more cleaning throughout the day. I saw countless used plasters (bandaids), spilt drinks around the pool, things floating in the pools, and room service cutlery left outside of rooms for days.
I also expected better food for a 5 star resort. The food was...ok. The buffets were not great, but the restaurants were nice. We particularly enjoyed JC Steakhouse, and Jade. I didn't like the meal I had at Habibi (very fatty lamb) and the food at Circus was not good (but that one is more of a place for kids). The only good service we got in the restaurants was JC. We had an impatient server in Jade (it tells you to ask your server for recommendations on the menu, but ours didn't seem to want to give us any and seemed impatient for us to just pick something), and they were slow and seemed bored at Circus. Again, not what I'd expect for a hotel of this calibre.
My son is 6 and usually when we go to all inclusive family resorts, there's lots of entertainment throughout the day and early evening for young kids. There wasn't much here. At the waterpark, every now and then there would be an announcement saying some kind of activity was starting but it was muffled and not clear. The app wasn't great at advertising this either. There were shows in the evening, but no interactive pre shows. However, there were great features. The soft play, arcade and Playroom were personal highlights for my son. Not having to pay to use the arcade machines meant he could spend hours in Wired in the evening, sort of negating the need for interactive shows, but when you're trying to limit screen time, it doesn't help. The areas in the waterpark shut often too. Assuming this was because of kids having hygiene accidents etc, but was really frustrating when it would suddenly be roped off with no announcement or indication of when it would open again.
As for the shows, whether in the theatre or outside, chairs are roped off for the 'elite'. Many, many chairs. Even when the show had started and there were free seats, you still couldn't sit there. When we asked for help finding spare chairs, the staff ignored us. I didn't mind the beds reserved for members, or the pool reserved for them, because there were plenty other options. But I really didn't like the show chairs being held, or the fact they could skip queues to the buffet or restaurants. If you've paid to be a member of this resort, you get a great service, but to pay so much and not be given the same service as everyone else? I didn't like that. It is a personal preference and I know not everyone else minds.
The best place to get coffee was the coffee shop. Their macarons were lovely too. The cake wasn't so great. Expect long queues.
So overall, I didn't have a terrible time, which is why I rated it a 4 star, but I think given the high price and brand, I expected way more than I got (and I really didn't like the membership hierarchy) so for me it's a 3.5. Better value for money in other resorts, I think. This really only goes the extra mile for members.
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