Grand Palladium White Sand Resort & Spa, a Registry Collectin Hotel — Hotel in Quintana Roo

Here is my observations after a 4 night stay with 3 rooms, 9 total in our party. I am writing this so that folks can learn some things that I did not know prior to booking this resort. I think the resort could work if the price is right and you are a buffet person. We did enjoy the pools and I did enjoy the beach. ||The bad: |1. Restaurant reservations are a total nighmare. I think if people don't have issues it is because they are higher level members and maybe get a better level of service or maybe they know how to work the system. We stayed 4 nights and were only able to secure 1 reservation at Poseidan which wasn't even in our short list as a restaurant we wanted to try. To me this was a major dissapointment since they advertise 8 a la cart restaurants and that influenced me to choose this resort, not realizing I really wouldn't be able to eat at pretty much any of them. I asked to speak to a manager and I was told "they are not around" I think the conierges are trained to just ignore people like me that call this out as false advertising/scam. Funny thing is on my one reservation I did get, I can see my tier was clearly listed as "follower" and since they ask for your room number I can only assume that are allocating more reservations to whoever is "VIP" or "Club" or "Family selection". Also just to be clear I tried for resercvations in all amounts, just the adults 2, 4, by family, etc. They really had zero reservations the first three nights. Operationally they need to fix this. |2. Kids/ Baby club: this is a nowhere near as good as Melia or Beaches resorts. Grand Palladium advertised a baby club but it is not a drop off. Parents have to stay with the kids at all times I chose this resort because our group had kids from 18 months - 17 years old. Grand Palladium had advertised/marketed that they had activities for all fo these ages. I feel this was false advertising again because when we arrived, we asked about these and we were told the mini club is not a drop off service. The other kids club for ages 6 - 12 we were never able to find as people kept pointing us in different directions, so I have no comments on it - except hopefully you find it if you plan to use it. |3. Because no one can dine in restaurants the buffet's are a mess at dinner time! It is mass chaos, no cutlery, glasses, napkins on tables. The servers are doing the best they can but operationally something is off. |4. White sands pool wasn't full of water and we didnt really know why. It also was slimey in spots so the toddler fell a couple of times walking in. I guess this is due to the construction going on, which also was a surprise to us. Luckly we only heard banging on the first day at the white sands pool. We quickly moved to the bigger colonial pool.||The Mid:|1. Entertainment was interesting. The casino night had more demand than available tables for the "play money" casino. I wouldnt say any of the entertainment really wowed us but it was something to do since our buffet dinners wrapped up rather quickly...|2. The resort is very spread out which gives it a jungle tropical feel. Easy to get 10,000 steps per day! This is a plus to me but could be a minus if you want everthing close together.|3. Room service was nice our departure morning, it takes a realy long time though so plan ahead. Because of that it wasn't super hot. It is an extra fee - but its less than $20 currently and a flatrate for whatever you order. ||The good:|1. Our room was nice. I slept really well. Granted we came form more rustic accomidations, but I thought the room was really confortable. The AC worked well, the bed was comfy to me. It was spacious and had room for all of our belongings. Nice shower with lots of hot water. |2. The kids between 12 and 17 liked the obstacle coarse. It was an extra charge though. |3. The beach was really nice. It is rocky but it is beautiful and full of palm trees. You can find locations away from crowds or be by the bar, its up to you. |4. Drinks were pretty good for an all inclusive. Some drinks were too sweet but if you ordered the right thing, right way you could always get what you wanted. |5. Espresso at the lobby...

WARNING: ENTIRETY OF WHITE SANDS RESORT IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION (December 2024). Everything is boarded up and the hotel is pretending it's not happening. They have no interest is providing any resolution and still charging full price. The few positives are that the entire complex is built throughout what feels like a jungle - the surroundings are beautiful, as is the beach, and wildlife is easy to find. I will now list all issues that we faced as a warning to any future guests - but to be clear, stay away from this resort. CANCEL YOUR BOOKING AND FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO STAY. The stark contrast of our experience compared to the 5-star reviews is likely due to terrible new management of the resort. We tried to check out the morning after we checked in because of the number of issues we faced upon check in but the front desk led us on a wild goose chase constantly "writing up reports" to submit for our request to check out and refund our stay but every time we followed up on the status (twice a day) the next staff could find no record of this and I'd have to have the same conversation/request with each new supervisor/manager. Please be aware of the following issues: airport transportation company is going through an ownership transition and is unable to send confirmations for pickup/drop off (this results in guests wandering around the Cancun airport and the taxi drivers telling you the company doesn't exist and that they need to drive you at an exorbitant cost, etc.). Tip: Call the transportation company directly before your stay to ensure you have all correct information. No notification of construction of entire resort (you must spend your time at their other resorts) No lighting on extensive pathways making it impossible to navigate at night Dinner reservation booking system was down for first 2 days of stay and hotel would offer no help to get any dinners booked for our stay. After requesting help for 3 days they offered a concierge to get us some reservations. No drains in the hotel rooms work, they are all clogged. You have to use the sink quickly before it fills up. We notified front desk and they said they would send someone but of course, no one ever came. Paid for specific room selection ($14USD/day) for a ground floor room and was put in a second floor room. When we showed them our ground floor booking confirmation and payment they said they were fully booked and couldn't move us unless we packed up that minute (10AM) and stayed checked out until 4/5PM (lose a day) when we would be put in a new room but we would not be able to see it first. At least 20 minutes waits for car/train to get around complex (it is huge so you're walking up to 30 minutes to get from lobby to lobby). This walk is necessary multiple times a day since everything at White Sands is closed so you are always going to other lobbies/resorts. Kids club is sad, there are no parents allowed in for any time or activities or to make their kid comfortable and the staff do nothing to help. It is often empty and you get the feeling that staff don't want to make it too inviting or they'll have too many kids to spend time with. We visited every day and it was the same every time. No kids activities going on outside of kids club (no parents) during the day. The evening (8PM) kids activity is usually pretty fun. The resort has signs posted everywhere about being a strictly no smoking/vaping resort. Smoking and vaping is allowed everywhere (indoor and outdoor) and this is clearly not enforced. Buffet served expired yogurt (stickers from November) almost every day Due to a horrific experience on the shared transport from airport to hotel (wild driver, saw a crash with the dead body still on the ground) we decided to pay $105USD for the private transport option and to guarantee car seats for both our kids. The vehicle arrived with one car seat and notified us we'd be picking other people up (i.e. not private). We showed receipt of the private transport and 2 car seat request and confirmation but there is little the...

WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS RESORT? NOOOOOO

Please take my comments to heart from someone who has traveled to over 30 countries and stayed at various resorts.

My wife and I traveled with our 2 young children (under 5) at the end of September.

This was our first time taking our children on a family trip. Our trip was a pure DISAPPOINTMENT. The resort management is either NON-EXISTENT OR DOESN'T CARE about improving their services. I would give credit to customer service. They try so hard, but evidently, if management is OFF, customer service is limited.

FYI. I am attaching most of the photos to show you what I meant.

Our patio door was broken from day one. It was not closing properly. We made a complaint, and it was still not fixed until day 5, when we left. This is a serious safety issue. You can imagine how many what-ifs could happen with an unlocked room where we left our valuables every day.

The NEST (buffet restaurant) served SPOILED FOOOD (breakfast). I complained to the manager on duty that morning and the chef. I was told it would be addressed by the higher administration. Again, no action was taken until I left the resort on day 5.

My son has allergies, which we specifically mentioned each time we entered the restaurant. Here we are in the evening, eating at the Thai restaurant; we order FRIES, plain French fries. The fries were delivered with 2 pieces of TOFU. What if my son had allergies to TOFU???????

The same night, I ordered CHICKEN WINGS, and instead I got PORK…😡😡

Restroom Sanitation at most restaurants: 0/100. Yes, they smell good, and the floors look clean, BUT no one bothers scrubbing the toilet bowls. Each time my wife tried to use the restroom, she noticed someone else had been there and yet not cleaned. She mentioned it to the restaurant managers, but as USUAL, NO ACTION was taken.

Now, can you imagine if the toilets are not clean and it is noticeable? Do you think the POOLS are ever clean?????? I wonder how many people go home with different urinary tract infections from unclean pools.

Please BUY NEW PILLOWS. They smell horrible; clean pillowcases do not take the smell away.

STAFF LANGUAGE BARRIER-

Why would you place a staff member with 0 or minimal English at the frontline of customer service???

The first night at the hotel, we arrived around 8 pm. We didn't know our way around and were trying to find a place to eat. We walked into the Argentina Restaurant. We had no idea; it was per reservation ONLY. My wife was trying to ask the host if we could be seated. Cleared, she didn't understand her question. She abruptly left the host desk, and she started helping the server set the tables while we stood there for 10 minutes, lost.

One common mistake some of the staff make is that, if they don't understand your request. Instead of trying to find someone to answer your question, they would DISAPPEAR.

In-house Transportation could improve. This resort has approximately 400 acres. It is impossible to travel every area on foot. Yes, they have golf carts going back and forth day and night, but sometimes, they are impossible to get ahold of if you are not stationed at the lobby. Or else, one will show up and tell you, "THIS IS MEMBER ONLY; I CAN'T TAKE YOU," or "THIS CART TAKES ADULTS ONLY." 😡

I strongly recommend that the HOTEL establish reliable communication, such as emergency phones between streets, to make it easy for guests to call for transportation at their convenience.

David was our concierge who tried hard to address our concerns to the administration. In return, we were offered a free dinner at Bravo. This is an adult-only restaurant. What a DISGRACE 🤔🤔 Free food, that's all. I want management to know, we didn't come for free food. We wanted our concerns addressed. Also, they were very aware we had young children and still chose to offer an ADULT-ONLY restaurant.

NOTE: I have some other videos, but they include faces of some of frontline workers, I do NOT wish anything bad happen to them. This is the matter of...