Villa Margarita — Hotel in Stann Creek District

I knew that I had booked a decent venue on the ocean, but Jaguar Reefe and Villa Margarita exceeded our expectations. There is a great restaurant “The Paddle House” on site & plenty of other good restaurants within walking distance. “Big Dock Bar” offers ceviche, bar snacks, delicious cocktails, a rope swing and stunning views! The grounds are well kept and beautiful. While there is no denying the beauty of the Hopkins waterfront...what really set the place apart was the staff. Everyone was so kind, and friendly and helpful. My husband and I were there for two weeks, so we got to know people. Shout out to Noelle & Kendra at the Adventure desk...they were both awesome...the girls at the front desk were all so good to us *one was a manager but I can’t think of her name?? Gilbert the pool tech was terrific...& our bartenders...Braceñio, Marvin, Charlie, Miguel, Erwin, Johnny, and ESPECIALLY EDGAR (my personal favorite & really looked after me when I wasn’t feeling well) . ..these guys were all happy to do their job, and do it with pride!!! The cocktails were beautiful and I LOVE that they use a lot of FRESH ingredients...no high fructose corn syrup!!! I saw Johnny making Tamarind juice ...yummmm!!! & Edgar juicing watermelon and these were my favorite while we were there. Did I mention Larry & Dennis the Menace the coconut king? A pair of brothers who seem to do anything and everything at the resort, including run up a coconut tree to get you a couple fresh ones (At NO charge!!!...but of course we tipped them)...it was mango season while we were there too, so when I asked Larry for fresh mangoes he did not disappoint! Might I add, the mangoes were the juiciest, sweetest, most delicious mangoes I have ever indulged in. On a Sittee River tour, Lincoln happily pointed out various mangoes and cashews and let us sample them...then he took us on a magical mystery tour to a bioluminescent phytoplankton filled lagoon...yes it was glowing in a way you have to see to believe. Lastly I want to mention Pete, who was our driver on more than one occasion and also does tours. He was super informative and knowledgeable and made us feel very comfortable right from the start. I am currently working on gathering a crew of friends to come with us to Belize again next year...I’d love to revisit all our awesome friends at Jaguar Reefe again! I’m a Belizer!!! My one complaint...I don’t like that you can’t control the plunge pool temp on your own. The water was always too cold for us and so we didn’t enjoy the plunge pool. Apparently several units are tied together to control the temps and one person wanted the water temp turned way down (so we all had to suffer)...anyway, I’d prefer a hot tub. Having experienced both Villa Margarita & The new Jag Lodges I can tell readers that either way, you are getting a beautiful unit...and one nice thing is that every room has a Poland spring bubbler so that thirsty travelers may safely hydrate at no extra cost! Viva Belize! Can’t wait to go back and eat more grilled Snapper fresh out...

We recently rented a room in the Villa Margarita at Jaguar Reef. We do not recommend staying there. The villa is in a great spot, with a pool, and directly on the beach. It should have been an amazing stay, but the building has significant deferred maintenance issues and a very lax cleaning crew. ||When we arrived, the villa was dirty and poorly maintained. They didn’t have a key to the front door, the only key was to the rear sliding patio door, and it was broken. Maintenance had to be called to fix the door for us because it wouldn’t lock or shut properly. ||The villa was very dirty when we arrived. The floor was gritty, the sheets had stains, and the kitchen area was very dirty. Coffee and grease on the back splash and the counters were sticky, and the refrigerator had a wad of someone’s hair on one of the shelves, yuck. The kitchen was poorly equipped and didn’t even have a spatula. We had to go into the village to buy a broom and basic cleaning supplies on our first day. ||The first night when I was hanging my towel on the towel hook outside the shower, the towel hook and tile fell off the wall. I texted the front desk to let them know so we wouldn’t be charged for damaging the villa. They sent their maintenance man; he finished removing the broken tile and said that he would be back the following morning to complete the repair. He never returned, and the broken tile and towel hook was still sitting under the sink where he left it 5 days later when we checked out. ||The most frustrating part of the stay was that Jaguar Reef misled about their promotions. Their website offered a “Summer Escape” promotion that promised a discount for stays over 4 nights and a US$100 resort credit. When we were told that the $100 resort credit wasn’t in our account, the local staff said there was nothing that they could do, we’d have to work that out with the reservation team. We emailed them, only to be told that they never combine offers and that we misunderstood the promotion. We pointed out the promotion was still on their website and clearly stated that we would receive BOTH the discount and resort credit. They refused until I asked them to escalate the matter to their supervisor, and included screenshots from their own website that showed the promotion included both the discount and resort credit. ||It was not a good experience, and we do not recommend...

We recently rented a room in the Villa Margarita at Jaguar Reef. We do not recommend staying there. The villa is in a great spot, with a pool, and directly on the beach. It should have been an amazing stay, but the building has significant deferred maintenance issues and a very lax cleaning crew. ||When we arrived, the villa was dirty and poorly maintained. They didn’t have a key to the front door, the only key was to the rear sliding patio door, and it was broken. Maintenance had to be called to fix the door for us because it wouldn’t lock or shut properly. ||The villa was very dirty when we arrived. The floor was gritty, the sheets had stains, and the kitchen area was very dirty. Coffee and grease on the back splash and the counters were sticky, and the refrigerator had a wad of someone’s hair on one of the shelves, yuck. The kitchen was poorly equipped and didn’t even have a spatula. We had to go into the village to buy a broom and basic cleaning supplies on our first day. ||The first night when I was hanging my towel on the towel hook outside the shower, the towel hook and tile fell off the wall. I texted the front desk to let them know so we wouldn’t be charged for damaging the villa. They sent their maintenance man; he finished removing the broken tile and said that he would be back the following morning to complete the repair. He never returned, and the broken tile and towel hook was still sitting under the sink where he left it 5 days later when we checked out. ||The most frustrating part of the stay was that Jaguar Reef misled about their promotions. Their website offered a “Summer Escape” promotion that promised a discount for stays over 4 nights and a US$100 resort credit. When we were told that the $100 resort credit wasn’t in our account, the local staff said there was nothing that they could do, we’d have to work that out with the reservation team. We emailed them, only to be told that they never combine offers and that we misunderstood the promotion. We pointed out the promotion was still on their website and clearly stated that we would receive BOTH the discount and resort credit. They refused until I asked them to escalate the matter to their supervisor, and included screenshots from their own website that showed the promotion included both the discount and resort credit. ||It was not a good experience, and we do not recommend...