We stayed at the Grand Palladium Colonial for 14 nights as part of a long-haul holiday and left feeling fairly underwhelmed overall. While there are positives, the experience did not meet expectations for a resort of this size, price point and reputation, and it never truly felt luxurious.
Our first impression was unfortunately poor. Check-in was slow and unnecessarily difficult due to a very loud live band performing in the lobby at the same time. While the music itself was fine, it made it genuinely hard to hear the reception staff or understand what was being explained, which is not ideal after a long journey. This felt poorly thought through and set the tone for several organisational issues encountered later in the stay.
The strongest asset of the hotel is unquestionably the staff. Almost without exception they were friendly, helpful and hardworking, often going out of their way to assist. However, it frequently felt as though there were simply not enough of them, which resulted in long waits in bars and restaurants and difficulty getting attention once seated. Service delays were common – for example, extended waits at the beach bar, a 20:00 reservation at El Dorado not being seated until 20:30, and repeated issues in the sports bar where shared dishes arrived incorrectly more than once, with staff seemingly unsure how to resolve it.
Dining was the biggest disappointment of the stay. While the salad bars were generally good, overall food quality and consistency were very mixed, and some à la carte meals were actively poor. Bamboo was absolutely awful and should be avoided entirely. The décor was unpleasant, the lighting over our booth was harsh and glaring to the point of feeling like an interrogation, the seating was uncomfortably low, drinks service was slow, desserts were poor, and while the sushi was passable, it was nowhere near enough to rescue the experience. It was by far the worst restaurant we visited.
El Dorado, the steakhouse, was better but still frustrating. The steak itself was excellent, but advertised items were unavailable, sauces were forgotten, sides were odd and poorly executed, and desserts felt pre-made rather than fresh. Our Argentinian restaurant experience was similarly disappointing – sauces never arrived and we eventually left early after being unable to get the waiter’s attention at all.
Some à la carte venues were more successful. Portofino (Italian) had very good mains and was one of the stronger dining experiences, although desserts were gritty and underwhelming, and we were once again asked to complete a QR survey mid-meal. La Adelita and La Paisana were both acceptable rather than memorable. The clear standout was Bahia e Brasa, which was excellent and demonstrated what the resort is capable of when food quality, atmosphere and service align.
Across all à la carte restaurants, menus were poorly described and badly translated, with vague wording such as “a rolled wheat flour tortilla filled with various ingredients”, which did little to inspire confidence. The exclusive use of QR-code menus also made dining feel impersonal and repetitive – all menus looked identical and stripped of any sense of individual restaurant identity. Being repeatedly asked to scan QR codes to leave feedback after minor interactions quickly became irritating, particularly as these appear to feed into public resort reviews rather than venue-specific feedback.
Our room was clean and comfortable enough, but felt dated and musty, with damp-smelling bed linen. Housekeeping knocking at 08:30 to clean the room was far too early for a holiday resort. There were also basic functionality issues – our wristband key failed repeatedly despite a visit to reception, and while the room safe initially did not work, it was at least fixed promptly once reported.
The resort grounds themselves are undeniably beautiful, with expansive, well-maintained gardens and large, clean pools, although the lack of pool heating was noticeable. Evening entertainment was generally good. However, the overall atmosphere across the resort felt more functional than refined, and it lacked the sense of polish or indulgence one would expect from a supposedly premium all-inclusive. Food and drink were also overly sweet to a European palate, from buffet items to cocktails, seemingly geared more towards American tastes.
One particularly frustrating experience was being encouraged by hotel staff to join a “free” jewellery factory tour and tequila tasting. This turned out to be an aggressive sales exercise selling inauthentic silver, followed by over an hour of waiting before continuing on to Playa del Carmen. While not operated directly by the hotel, it should not be promoted if guest experience is genuinely a priority.
Finally, for a resort catering heavily to long-haul travellers, the lack of facilities to shower or change after check-out on a late airport transfer was a surprising and disappointing oversight.
In summary, this was a mixed and moderately disappointing stay. While the setting is attractive and the staff are genuinely excellent, the dining, room quality and overall lack of luxury fall short of expectations. We would not recommend this resort, particularly for those travelling transatlantic expecting a high-quality or refined all-inclusive experience.
