TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

My first time at a resort in Mexico and it did not disappoint. Wendy in the coffee shop at White Sands was phenomenal.

Our waiter Ricardo was amazing so helpful and gracious and the food was outstanding ??

Had a broken AC unit for majority of our stay. Also definitely not great for booking larger groups of people in at restaurants. Fine if you have a smaller group of people, but gets tricky with groups larger than 12 (plenty of notice given, just their system is a bit funny about accommodating). Aside from that the staff were all lovely, the food in the majority of the restaurants was really great, the pool area was great, and the rooms aside from the ac unit were very nice.

Myself  my wife our Daughter and son-in-law had visited this resort 13 and 14 times respectively, our daughter even got married there that's how much the resort meant to us.  We have in the past contacted the hospitality management team (via email) normally with Kenia Rodriguez. Our loyalty was rewarded with an upgrade to TRS (facilities only) since its inception. We visited again in January this year what a difference. Yes, they have a record of our previous visits however this year we have to use the Palladium Rewards Program (PRP), note no mention of loyalty in the program. Kenia advised that given our past visits she would honour TRS, we checked nearer the time, radio silence, nothing.  She had also advised that the concierge staff in white sands would set up the PRP for us and ensure our previous visits were included. I then contacted the general manager, Luis Fraguas, who we have met before...nothing. My wife and I rocked up expecting the TRS arm bands presented the email chain to/from Kenia, computer says no. Allesandro explained in no uncertain terms that it is all about the PRP and points earned by spending money. I did explain that the four of us had spent close to $100K USD plus a wedding and numerous spa treatments over our previous visits. After nearly 24 hours of being awake we gave in for the night and went back the following day. We dealt with Martin a supervisor at white sands who was more empathetic. A long story short we wasted a day going back and forward as Martin was waiting for someone to make a decision.....just make it, yes or no. In hindsight we should have left it and gone down the beach but each time you go you think you will get an answer. Eventually we got a yes as well as our Daughter arriving the next day. We had a nice refurbished room in block 20 advertised as a Junior Suite with Poolside, Balcony and Whirlpool Bath, nowhere near a pool and no whirlpool bath, we didn't bother mentioning it given our previous experiences. We did however refer back to the email and hoped they would place our Daughter close to us.....nah, block they were in block 56. We eventually were given two rooms in block 57, I had read these were disabled rooms which we didn't need we were assured they weren't.....they were. I don't believe they had been updated since we first went there in 2012. OK not a big deal we don't spend much time in the room apart rom sleeping and getting ready to eat (I'll come on to that), our point is we did not get the rooms we paid for. Eating out: Breakfast - we only did that once in the buffet and it was fine, plenty of choice. Lunch - in the buffet a good selection, good waiting stuff. After two weeks the food did get a bit samey. I suspect because there were not many people at the resort, we've never seen it so empty, that said we normally go in May. Dinners - Good grief what an archaic uncoordinated process if you want to book for more than two people. You have to queue at the white sands concierge desk and can book up to three days in advance, you could also book TRS meals there....dependant on the concierge. At the TRS concierge I could book up to five days for TRS and non TRS....dependant on the concierge. Whichever concierge you go to take a good book with you. You make the request the concierge takes your details, tap tap tap on the pad, stare at the screen for a couple of minutes, tap tap tap, stare, this can go on for up to 20 minutes. The you get your little piece of paper and you can go and watch the sunset. The resort staff were good, we did however notice a difference, previously we would say 90% of the staff seemed genuinely happy and that came across as a big positive in previous visits this time around 50% seemed genuinely happy which is a little worrying. There seems to be a fear factor an example being we were in the TRS lounge we had some peanuts with our drinks. The waitress (happy lovely girl) dropped some peanuts her face froze and she looked straight over to the concierge desk who didn't appear to notice, not good. Oh, I was told to contact Kenia to ensure our PRP points include everything from our previous stays. The email addresses that I used previously (up to two weeks prior) were now shutdown, No response from the general manager or the CEO.   To summarize. The resort is still lovely, the service is good, some rooms outdated, communication with the hotel extremely poor. They value what you will spend your previous loyalty counts for nothing. It is a big resort, however it felt like a part of the family our second home as we called it and we were valued.....those days have gone unfortunately. We have previously given the resort 5/5, this rating takes into account our previous experiences and this one hence the 1/5   Would we go again, No, maybe to one of their European resorts on our PRP points, oh hang on Would we recommend, Yes, if you have no previous experience you wont know any different it is a lovely resort.

We had excellent service at the Italian Restaurant. Our server, Gasper was so friendly, made excellent recommendations and served our food nice and hot. Thank you also to the chef.