TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Enjoyed stay. Food good and lots of variety. Christmas Eve buffet excellent. Kids loved the kids pool and swimming in main pool. They had fun getting nonalcoholic drinks at swim up bar. Kids had fun on sand of beach and saltwater pool. They were too young to be able to safely play in the waves. They enjoyed Santa arriving and get a present of a stuffee

There was blood on the sheets when we checked in. The beds are very uncomfortable and the drinks are watered down. The food is good but getting reservations for a group of 6 is very difficult.

Had a great Christmas trip, good food, beautiful resort, good night show, especially kids show, friendly staff.

We booked Grand Palladium through WestJet Vacations which we had no prior experience with, both the airline or WJ Vacations. Pros There is ample food offered through one buffet style restaurant most of the days, The grounds/environment/pool/beach are good amenities Several Kids Club for a 4 year old where there were crafts and fun to be enjoyed POP team who are entertainers were a breath of fresh air. The pinata party was fun and it was the highlight of my trip watching the kids try to break the pinata The way the resort was decorated was festive and inviting Majority of staff is friendly Our bed and room were comfortable Water was always available in our rooms Cons Alcohol variety and quality (well drink level for alcohol. There was only one red wine offering. No other options to choose from. There were three beers options: a light, dark and Dos Equis). There is a tequila tasting activity. The tequila offered was low end options. It would have been excellent to highlight and share quality tequila with clients since we were in Mexico. The mini bar offerings were sad. Food (too many food options at the buffet, difficult to execute all those food offerings well, it was hard to find vegetarian food that had not been cooked with lard or animal fat or mixed with meat or cooked on a surface that just had meat cooked on it). We had to seek out information to learn how to book specialty restaurants. The policies on how seats are released is helpful info and worth putting in the app. While the app states that Terrazo is open for dinner and temporarily closed for breakfast, it offers burgers and hot dogs every day. However, apart from some warmed cheese Whiz and chips and occasionally French fries, there is nothing vegetarian, so if you are hungry you must go to the buffet. It would be good to update the app that Terrazo offers some lunch. Service (more often than not, staff did the bare minimum. One night at Terrazo, we were seated at a 3 person table. There was no place setting for my child. I waited for staff to notice and rectify themselves and finally had to ask for cutlery and a placemat. Even then, a drinking glass wasn’t not provided because I had not specifically asked for one). I had to be very explicit in what I wanted. I would order one water and two tequilas and received 2 waters and no tequila). It was hard to get a spoon, or a drink at the buffet. Staff was more focused on clearing tables than offering drinks. As well there were line ups to get into the restaurant half the days when we showed up for breakfast. Navigating the buffet was painful particularly when it was busy. It was full chaos trying to assess what you wanted to eat and then find a coveted plate to stand in line. While you are encouraged to use the Grand Palladium app, it does not supply you with all your needs and there are communication gaps. See comments about Kids Club above. As well one day we went for lunch at the buffet were told it was closed. We could get a snack somewhere else. This would have been valuable information to put in the app for that day so customers could make different plans. It might also have been valuable to augment the signage in front of the restaurant that displayed the hours the restaurant was opened. We booked a panoramic ocean view room and while there was a view of the ocean, it was not panoramic and only one person could fit on the balcony at one time comfortably. The property is not accessible (no elevators) so if you are not mobile or use a mobility devise, you might struggle. Music is played very loudly and very often in the pool areas, theatre, etc. I found the sound too loud in the Sports Bar and the Theatre. There is a sewage issue where you can smell sewage intermittently at various parts of the property Public bathrooms were not all in good repair, particularly by the pool where there was a toilet without a seat and there was an entire toilet missing without signage. Unclear policies in regard to use of the Kids Club (for example, it wasn’t until day 3 of our 7-day trip we learned that we could use the kids club for 3 hours per day for our child and learned how to make a reservation). Line up for breakfast Nescafe self-serve coffee stands were constantly broken, and we wanted to use it because it was so difficult for us to get someone to serve us drinks. This was consistent and why it was more enjoyable to go to one of the specialty restaurants. I learned from the app that there was a premium drink package, but no one attempted to inform or upsell me and I did not understand how to access it, if we wanted to. This was the same scenario for the Family Selection. Apparently there is a special area for families at this resort. We were a family and did not stay there, and no one offered to share about this special service or offer us this option. Activities. We learned nothing about activities that we could have participated in offsite or nearby. We wondered how to access that information. Apparently, we had a concierge but never met them. Tips for guests You will navigate better if there is a male figurehead in your party and ideally a Spanish speaker. The hotel recruits taxis to take you to wherever you want to go. We chose to go to town one day and read the sign that it would cost us $790. We confirmed that price with the taxi stand host we informed us which taxi to take. Upon exit from the taxi, we were told we owed more money. We agreed to $790, not $1050. By this point in our vacation, we realized no one cared at the rest and there was no point to trying to talk about what happened. Don’t use the ATMs in the lobby if you can help it, the fees are too high, and you don’t know how much until you make the transaction. This property was presented as an LGBTQ+ friendly property; however, I found that it was not good for an all-women interracial couple who don’t speak Spanish. Some family’s needs were prioritized over others, based on whether they had a man in their party or spoke Spanish. I would not recommend this resort, but we did feel safe and had some sun and relaxation. Tips for the resort Do better. I shared some of these issues when I was staying. Palladium has a lot of work to do to improve their service quality and offerings and fix their sewer odor beside the amazing hanging swings that are often empty because no one can stand to swing with that smell for more than 5 minutes. I would start with rectifying, ‘how can I be in Mexico and visit a resort where I need to pay extra for decent tequila?’

We booked 2 rooms for Dec 26 - Jan 2. One room for our son and his family in the Family Selection area, and one for us with an ocean view near the adults only pool. At check in, they pushed us hard to change our ocean view room to a Family Selection room, telling us that we would not be able to eat with our family at the “exclusive” Nest Restaurant or go to the private beach reserved for Family Selection guests. We reluctantly changed our room per their suggestion and paid an extra $1,000 for our week stay. It turned out that The Nest Restaurant was not good and our whole family ended up eating at the other property restaurants which were just okay. The “reserved” private beach was accessible by all guests at the resort, not just Family Selection guests, making it just as crowded as any place on the resort’s beach. The other thing is that there are not nearly enough beach and pool loungers. And, even if you put your towels out at 6am to try and save places, other guests move them and you are still without after breakfast. Because we were a group of 6, this made it impossible to sit together. Another issue was that as you walk through the property, there are areas that smell of sewage. I can’t recommend this resort. Maybe if you’re a couple and stay in an ocean view room near the adults only pool, stay when it is not a holiday, and realize that the food will be just okay. The buffet is best because it has options and the tacos are really good.