Grand Palladium Select White Sand Resort & Spa - All Inclusive

Impeccable staff. The Italian restaurant is absolutely wonderful. The quality of the entertainment was also world-class. By chance, I heard a duo in the Colonial Lobby (violin and guitar) that could easily have been performing in the best clubs in New York. Excellent. All interactions with the staff were courteous, kind, and professional. The buffet restaurants were well supplied, diversified and high quality. The room decor is nice and classy, everything works fine. Gardens are beautiful and well kept. Beach is nice, pools are excellent. No complaints.

We have no real complaints, only things that we think could be improved. Regarding the Brazilian restaurant (which isn't very Brazilian): 1. The Brazilian restaurant could greatly improve its lighting and decor. The look and feel it conveys are those of a hospital cafeteria or a hotel restaurant in the Soviet Union of the 1970s. (A tip for the manager: cold, white lighting in a restaurant is a gross error—a definitive "no"—and it is something very cheap and easy to fix). 2. Someone needs to tell the chef there that Brazilian barbecue must be seasoned only with coarse salt. Whenever you season the meat with herbs and spices, what you are preparing is a Mexican, American, or Mediterranean dish. It might even taste good, but it is not barbecue. Ask anyone from Brazil, Argentina, or Uruguay. The only reason to season the meat in those countries is when the meat isn't of good quality or isn't fresh. 3. Finally, "Bahia Brasa" is a nice name, but the cuisine of Bahia centers on seafood, not barbecue. Therefore, if you were truly willing to improve this restaurant, you should add some Bahian touches—such as *acarajé* or *moqueca*—just to justify the name. Or change the name to "Pampas," "Gaúcho," or something along those lines :-). The music and desserts there, however, were excellent. Regarding general wayfinding: You might consider installing some discreet signs for streets and buildings along the main and secondary paths. My family kept getting lost (which, at times, can actually be pleasant), and we noticed that other people were constantly lost as well. It was almost comical to see the number of people wandering around using Google Maps just to find their rooms... My impression is that the hotel—being so massive—created an efficient internal transport system (with those small vans circulating constantly), but didn't give much thought to the people who actually WANT to walk, like ourselves.

Habitación

Comida en restaurante, nada especial

I liked the privacy of the bungalow on the lake while still enjoying all the all inclusive things. I liked running on the beach at sunrise, the Laguna restaurant for lunch, walking and running trails that are safe at night and the jungle bridges. It was good time of the year because the chairs at the pools were available and there were not many lineups in restaurants and I could book 6 evenings. The reception told me that since I used bookings.com I had access to all parts of the resort including TRS.

The price:( Unfortunately Mayan Riviera has become very expensive and people spoil it even more by throwing money everywhere on expensive shopping, expensive taxis, etc. instead making some effort and be cost efficient so that they push the prices down. It is actually more expensive to stay in Mexico than in USA nowadays. There is no good transportation to and from the hotel in night hours and taxis are super expensive. The hotel does not arrange transportation if you don’t book directly on their website but strangely their website bookings are more expensive and third party bookings are cheaper. It should be the other way around. I hope they pay the staff well because with such high prices I felt that tipping is out of question as I paid soo much for these services.

Super schöne Anlage sehr gut gepflegt, tolles Essen

Extrem schlechtes sportprogramm was die Kurse anbetrifft. Nicht vergleichbar mit Robinson. Aber super Fitnessstudio. Das Essen war an sich sehr gut aber als Europäer bemängelt man dass es nur zwei Restaurants gibt, bei denen man draußen sitzen kann. Alle anderen sind leider drinnen und sehr klimatisiert. Und schade auch dass es kein Buffetrestaurant mit Aussenbereich zum Sitzen am Abend gibt. Unverständlich weil es zum Frühstück und Lunch geht.

It is nice and moderately clean, there is always something fun happening around the resort.

Shady business practices, staff actively lies to guests.

O melhor deste resort são as instalações, que são fenomenais, é de ficar maravilhado com a beleza e cuidado quer do quarto quer das áreas comuns (piscina, lobby...). Nós tínhamos acesso ao outro resort (colonial), cuja praia é bem melhor do que a do White Sands. Essa zona é super sossegada, a praia é linda e as comodidades são perfeitas.

Claramente não é desenhado para famílias. Viajámos com um bebé de 1 ano e meio e o mais difícil foram as refeições. Não havia grandes opções para ele, dado não haver creme de legumes simples e pratos de carne/peixe macios, apenas comida bastante condimentada e ceviches, e mesmo os legumes cozidos eram demasiado crocantes para o bebé. Por diversas vezes a cadeirinha para o bebé sentar só chegava quando a refeição já tinha terminado. O resort é muito grande, por isso pode ser bem cansativo circular com um bebé de um lado para o outro! Apesar destes inconvenientes foram umas férias fantásticas!

Très propre partout, en pleine nature avec beaucoup d'animaux que l'on peut croiser. Très grand complexe hotelier permettant d'avoir facilement du matériel et un coin tranquille. On ne se bouscule pas. Le personnel est serviable et souriant. Le site est très beau.

La nourriture n'est pas assez variée aux buffets. La plage n'a jamais été nettoyée durant notre séjour. Il y avait beacoup de sargasse sans personne pour s'en occuper réellement. Juste un seul tracteur qui faisait guise de présence sans ramasser. On n'a pas pu se baigner dans la mer.

Our stay in the Grand Palladium White Sands has been wonderful. To begin with, our check in at reception with Angel was already off to a good start, even after having some trouble with our paying, he was so patient and helpful, but overall very kind to us. We were lucky enough to get an upgrade, which made our stay even better. Booking our restaurants ahead the night we arrived, helped us enjoy a lot of the gastronomy the hotel has to offer, which overall was very good. Special thanks to Alan, from the Portofino restaurant, and to David from Sumptuori. Also, in our last dinner at the Sumptuori, the manager surprised us with an instant picture he took from us at the beginning of the dinner, which was later served on top of our dessert as a memory. Further we also had some great activities that we booked through our concierge Cielo and David, whose attention was extraordinary, and made us feel so happy and thankful to have them. Shoutout to the cat that lives in the building that waited for us to get home every night, Kevin. And to the people of palladium entertainment, Alessandra, Donaldo, David, Ricardo, and the others, whose activities and energy were contagious and made us have a good time. Also to the other people who were not mentioned in this review, thank you so much for the experience, if we had to say one thing which was the best it has to be the service, therefore thank you to all staff members. At the hotel we had zero complaints about anything. Kind regards, Collin & Gisselle

Nothing