Misión Grand Juriquilla

The building and grounds are beautiful, and the rooms were great, but our check-in with our dogs was a mess. The site says the place is pet friendly, yet the manager acted as if we weren't welcome and tried to say dogs weren't allowed. When I pointed out that the website doesn't limit guests to small dogs, they said they only accept small ones. Then people staying there came in with a medium-sized dog, so I looked at it and then at the manager. They had to call the big boss before finally letting us stay. We'd been driving from Canada, on our way to our house in Belize, so we weren't dressed up. The staff stared at us, shook their heads, and looked disapprovingly at our tattoos. They had to call someone from the restaurant who spoke good English, and he was amazing and very helpful. After I freshened up and changed into a dress for dinner, the front desk staff seemed to treat me differently. It felt like a real “pretty woman movie” moment. Such a shame to be judged that way in such a beautiful place.

The room service experience was especially frustrating. We ordered lunch and waited an hour and a half, then went to the restaurant ourselves to cancel. They'd apparently lost the order and were only mildly apologetic, with nothing offered for the inconvenience. Breakfast at the restaurant wasn't anything special, though it was convenient, and poolside service was slow but available. The hotel is beautiful, with spacious rooms, nice balconies, a good location, and a decent in-house restaurant. Still, the rooms feel dated, and the whole place could use new lighting, carpet, TVs, and other updates. It seems geared toward business travelers. On days one and two, their keycard system was down, so we needed an escort each time we wanted into our room. It's a long walk between the room and front desk, and sometimes we waited up to 10 minutes. The service was lackluster, and I'll probably stay somewhere else next time.

Lovely place with plenty of parking. The buffet was very good, and the coffee and service were great.

The pool was extremely cold, and the food had no taste. The rooms and everything in them feel very old, which is a shame because this used to be such a nice place. When it started raining, I went back to the room with my two daughters to shower and get ready for dinner. While I was in the shower, a waiter came to our room and refused to leave, even after we said I was going to the restaurant and would pay for everything together. That's no way to treat a paying customer. I'm definitely not coming back.