Grand Velas All Suites Resort & Spa

Let's get this out of the way to start. Yes, you will pay more than other great resorts, but the value will exceed anything you've experienced in the past. Imagine a resort where everything is first class, from the smiles and enthusiasm of the staff to the accommodations, and to the food and drink. Everything top notch, and every experience without a glitch. I guess more than anything I will remember the staff. Always well groomed, always eager to please, and extremely knowledgeable and well trained. We were at the Zen property which was carved out of the jungle like nothing you've ever seen. The gardens were simply magnificent, and everything was spotlessly clean as well. To go to the beach was a 4 minute shuttle ride, and it seemed that they always anticipated our arrival at the lobby, as we never waited more than two minutes for the shuttle. The oceanfront properties had more activity and larger pools, and since we were there for a wedding, we were constantly between the three areas for various events; There were planned events such as cooking classes and Tequila tasting, but we never had the time I our short stay to participate. I could go on and on, but instead I'll just say - Take the leap, you won't regret it.

Grand Velas was absolutely fabulous. The food and cocktails were incredible; the entire staff was amazing, (thank you, Tonia!) and the resort itself is gorgeous. Loved having both white sand beach access and the relaxing Zen area surrounded by the jungle.

We just got back from 8 nights at GVRM and we wish we could have stayed a bit longer. The place is wonderful. I was there with my wife and 5 year old daughter and 20 month old son. We went the week before Presidents Day and we expected it to be very busy but it was not until the long weekend that it became busy. This meant that it was super quiet and we got extra attentive service. Once it got busy, the service was still exceptional but it was definitely a different experience with so many others there. Needless to say, I would highly recommend going at this time and not the following week. We stayed in the Zen area which was perfect. If you really must have an ocean view, then you should pony up for Ambassador but we were super happy with our choice of Zen. Some of the biggest advantages of Zen are the fact that it is near to the a la carte breakfast/lunch restaurant (Chaka), near to the Zen pool which is peaceful and beautiful (in a different way from the much larger Ambassador pool) and near to the Zen kids club. I would be remiss if I did not elaborate on how much my family and I enjoyed the service at Chaka. The staff there, particularly Jorge and Alberto, provided phenomenal service and really got to know our family. My coffee/water was never empty and they were always offering items that we might need. Jorge was such a sweet man and on our last day he brought me a little souvenir. These people work so hard and take such pride in their job. Truly outstanding! Enough has been said about the restaurants on other reviews that I need not elaborate too much here. The quality is very high in comparison with other all inclusive hotels. However, what really makes them special is the exceptional service. It is truly world class. While we were there they had a bunch of activities for the kids. My daughter got to do a bungee trampoline, rode an inflatable bull in the pool, ran in a giant hamster ball (pool), attended a drum show and magic show. We were also there for Mexican cultural week and on two different nights they had various Mexican foods and drinks available. There were also carnival games for the kids there. We really enjoyed it, but we had dinner reservations and wanted the kids to eat on the early side so we couldn't enjoy it as much as we wanted to. Our personal concierge (Karen) was really nice and helped me organize flowers for my wife for Valentine's Day. They were relatively cheap (about $35 for 24) and they brought them into the suite and surprised her. It was really great. Another nice thing that she did was that when we were leaving, she arranged to have some one come to our room to get our luggage 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave. This was a really nice touch. She checked in often and answered any questions that we had. If I were to provide some constructive criticism it would primarily focus around the wine program. The wines available through the all inclusive could be just marginally better and be passable. Instead they are generally inexpensive and not very good. I looked up some of the wines they were serving and they would usually retail for between $6-$15. I feel like for just a bit more money ($5-$10 more) they could get significantly better wine. Alternatively, they could have a more reasonably priced premium wine list. I would have been happy to pay $20-$30 supplemental charge for better wine. I was not really ok with spending $100. One other critique was that at each restaurant we would show up with our baby and need to wait for them to bring over a high chair. We had reservations each night and they knew that we had a small child - they should have had the high chair at the table. We had even asked our concierge for this on the first day and she must have forgotten. Either way, they should have just known we were dining with a toddler and anticipated this. Other things they could have done to make the place even more family friendly were: offer free pool/beach toys for usage and offer some type of included care for small children (perhaps 1 night of included babysitting for kids too young for kids club). We paid for babysitting 3 times and it was great but it cost more than we would ever have paid in the New York City area. These are small nits in the grand scheme and overall this was such a wonderful vacation at a beautiful place with top notch service. Everything you have read about the level of service is true and the food - both in terms of variety and taste was very high caliber. We would love to return to GVRM at some point in the future. I will happily recommend this place to the Trip Advisor community and to all of my friends and family.