Grand Park Royal Puerto Vallarta — Hotel in Jalisco

I had to write this two stars because the location is amazing as far as the beauty of every balcony that you get to see and hearing the ocean waves seeing the manta rays and the whales come out of the ocean and you get a show from your balcony is pretty amazing. As far as the hotel goes it needs a lot of adjustments and fixing in the kitchen, quality food, pool cleanliness, pool chairs, bathrooms etc. Do not eat at the Pescador Restaurant because twice they sent out food that was not fully cooked and thank goodness we know how to check otherwise we would have gotten really sick which looks like a lot of people did. The calamari came out undercooked not opaque and the salmon wasn't fully cooked either. Overall if you eat at the Veranda buffet it was good food and I enjoyed myself daily except for when they tried to do Thanksgiving meal that was a bit odd if they stuck to Mexican food it would be way better. Pool: they had two pools, then 1 kid pool in the back area by the kids club but they definitely needed some more work. I'm not sure if there was anyone really cleaning the pools to check on the sanitary aspect. The bathrooms were far away from the pool which makes it hard for younger kids and other people so I'm sure people are doing it in the pool because of the lack of closeness for bathrooms. If you go into the bathroom it has such a strong fragrant smell it gives you a headache and you don't want to go in there and the Stalls are so small it's like you're making out with the door and your knees are touching it and I'm a very short woman so let's make it more spacious so we can relax and not feel like we're claustrophobic going into the bathroom with the disgusting perfume and then broken sinks. The events started way too late and were way too loud and so we would even be up at 2:00 a.m. because they were blasting music and when you called to complain they don't say anything & they lie to you if you speak English about it ending for false hope while you're miserable because you can't get the sleep you need because they're blasting music down at the pool bar. If they want to do events they have large inside rooms they could keep the music down a little bit and let others sleep in the hotel but the way they've been doing it is just completely rude and ridiculous and then expecting us to have sleep and be happy and then trying to constantly keep asking how our stay is and we're like what the heck. We would say we were not happy with our stay and Graciela did not understand a thing we were saying she would just smile and say it was great so if they're going to have someone pretend to speak English make sure they know what they're doing because that's just rude and then they smile at you when they keep asking you how your day was. The pool chairs were broken a ton of them needed stitching and they sat down so it wasn't comfortable and then they have no type of rule about people hoarding chairs by putting a towel on there. People would try to put their stuff on the chairs and then never be there and so when you get up to go out with your family all the chairs have stuff on them they really need to regulate that and not allow it. Thankfully when I asked they said if they haven't been there you can move it and go use it and so I started doing that but the fact that they still allow it is crazy. Room service really was horrible food I would not recommend it everything was cold and the chicken was chewy thinner than my finger and cold. Very dissappointted in that and they forgot items on menu and messed it up. Be aware that the restaurants won't allow guys in without t-shirts which is pretty success if you ask me and then they want you to wear non-slip flops and non-beach wear or they will deny you to go eat at the Freda or the Italian restaurant. They don't allow kids under the age of 12 at the Italian restaurant which is pretty angry and considering all we had was Mexican choices or the fish place and Italian would have been nice break but we couldn't have even tried it even though our kids are...

Try as it might, this hotel is not 5-star quality. Overall, on its best day, it's a 3-1/2-star hotel... or a 4-star hotel if everything lines up right.

This hotel primarily caters to and has Google reviews that are mostly written by Latin Americans. This hotel's definition of what 5 stars is wouldn't correlate with what most people understand that level to mean, such as the Ritz-Carlton, a Grand Hyatt, or the Wynn. Folks expecting a 5-star experience will be disappointed.

We noticed problems right away but also saw some good qualities. We reserved the room directly from the hotel's Web site, but when we went to provide family information online in advance, the site did not work, and we had to call the hotel. The welcome spiel when we arrived started off like normal, but half of the property was clearly dated as we walked to our room. Our guest room was spacious,but the furniture was threadbare -- the room had a burnt lamp shade, one that didn't work, and a missing smoke detector. (These items were resolved or repaired on the first and fourth days of our stay.) On the other hand, most or all guest rooms have an ocean view, which is pretty great. Also, most of the common areas of the hotel were well-kept and constantly cleaned. We very much wished that the shabby furniture in our room instead matched what we saw in the common areas.

We were assigned a guest experience team member, Fernanda, who was very nice. On the second day, she tried mightily to help us with local excursions and to get a discount... if we listened to an hour timeshare (vacation club) spiel. We listened and of course weren't getting a timeshare, but we advised that giving us a subpar room isn't the way to convince folks to purchase a timeshare. They sent three managers to try to get us to change our minds but gave up once we gave a firm no. The assigned team member was still helpful later on during our stay but not as much or as often--probably because we didn't get a timeshare (vacation club).

On the older side of the hotel where we stayed, there is a children's pool in the atrium area. Don't plan to sleep in because kids start occupying the pool before 8:00 a.m. Their screams echo throughout the entire building.

We placed several calls to the main switchboard and made visits to the front desk to get something as simple as towels, but to no avail several times. However, leaving a note and tip with housekeeping is how we got the room issues repaired. We had to follow up several times over a couple of days just to get wash cloths. Housekeeping started strong but got inconsistent with time.

The hotel exchange rate is pretty poor (or maybe typical), $540 pesos for $50 USD.

The food in the buffet and Mexican restaurants was okay but nothing to write home about. We never made it to the fish restaurant. We figured they had to cater to multiple pallets, so we weren't surprised to have enjoyed the local food way more. The Italian restaurant on site is only for people 12 years and older, so we didn't experience it since we had our 3 kids with us.

We enjoyed the excursions that the hotel partners offer for a discount, and Juanita, the onsite travel agent, knows her stuff.

The New Year's Eve celebration that the hotel put on was very nice and something you wouldn't find in a regular hotel.

We'll note that the hotel-side beach had a black or red flag the entire time we were there. When we asked, we were told it is seasonal and lasts for a month. We're not sure about the hotel's official policy for reserving poolside chairs, but we know that if you didn't get up early in the morning to claim a chair, you weren't getting one -- and we didn't even attempt to reserve one the entire time we were there.

In our mind, we separated the hotel experience from Puerto Vallarta, which is awesome and a place where we hope to return.

At the end of the day, we'll come back to the city but probably not to this hotel. There are a few 5-star qualities about the hotel. Yet there are so many other qualities that make the hotel fall into the...

For our stay in February (3-10) this is what we experienced. 1. Premier room, all of the views are stunning, and upon arrival it was clean. So much cleaning supplies was used we had to open the door to get some of the cleaning fumes out, but this is much better than a dirty room! 2. With our room price, we had access to the adults only rooftop. If you want the sun, you need this. Food was just okay up there, but drinks were good and we really enjoyed the rooftop as we found it clean, relaxing, and the best place for sun. The rooftop is supposedly open later, but they lock the doors up before sunset. Hours didn’t match website. 3. The bathrooms outside of our private room and the rooftop were not great. I got nauseous from walking in them from either heavy cleaning fumes or just stink from a large amount of people being in and out all day. 4. I loved the private beach. Small but great. At least when we went, the waves were strong. 5. The food was as expected for an all-inclusive. Limited options and hours of operation for restaurant/snack bar/room service. The website and the sheet they give you all have inconsistencies on times. My boyfriend and I both got very sick after eating at the Italian restaurant. Men need closed toe shoes for the two speciality restaurants but they didn’t require pants for men while we were there. Only one restaurant had accurate labeling for the food, and that was El Pescador. They had names and allergy markers. The other restaurants, the tags were incorrect or had no allergy icons (the little peanut, fish, etc). I know they ask at the door if you have any allergies but it would be helpful to know if you are trying to avoid something. On top of this, the baby fell asleep at dinner at Frida before her cheese quesadilla came out. We asked for a little box so we could take it with us. They were trying to not be rude when telling us no, but first the waiters said they had to go check. Then a manager came after a while and when he saw the baby sleeping he said he had to go ask someone else for us to take any food out. Nobody came back to tell us anything. It was a cheese quesadilla for a child that they didn’t want us to take out. We went to sports bar twice, around 8:30pm and 10pm and both times it was EMPTY. No employees, no TVs on, nothing. 6. Room service was a decently quick, 35-40 minute for two meals. Some of our family went to same resort as well, just stayed in a different room as they had the 2 year old. One day they needed to order room service more than once, which they knew would be an additional cost, and were fine with. Instead of just reminding our family about a fee, the employee taking the order was extremely rude about the amount of food being ordered on room service. How he talked was extremely rude and unprofessional as they knew they had ordered earlier and just needed to order again. Some of these seem like things most resorts would try to resolve quickly. This includes the sinks not draining and parts of the building not being in great shape (areas of the roof rusted and exposed, shaky railing on our balcony, etc.). Why are the website times for restaurants and bars not correct? We were also frustrated with only room service once a day, and no alcoholic or soft drinks are included in the room service. The ice cream machine is only open from 1:30-6:30 and that is only if it is working. They did the same thing with the coffee machine. We felt like it was a limited all-inclusive because of things like this. Overall, we had fun. This resort certainly has the potential to be amazing and live up to the luxury name they give themselves. The view and the style reflected in the resort is stunning. We want to give a special shoutout to Jorge in El Pescador, Jerry in Veranda, the male and female rooftop bartenders, and Caesar at Wixol for taking great care of us. We do appreciate the efforts of many at the resort. With some good upkeep, better cleaning, less restrictions on the all-inclusive, and consistency I think this could be an...