everything staff service fooor

nada

The resort itself is stunning. You can’t get a more beautiful view out of your window! The front desk staff and bellhops were so nice and welcoming! Concierge was super helpful.

The housekeeping and beach staff for the most part were fairly rude. The housekeeping staff would just come into our room without knocking. They don’t have “Do Not Disturb” signs, and it happened throughout the day. In the evening they would come turn down your bed(s), and wouldn’t ask- they would just come in and do it. And when you were in the room when they came, it was very awkward like you shouldn’t be there. The beach staff was also fairly rude… maybe the word is not friendly. Also, I felt like I had to bribe them each time I went to the beach to get a good chair. The tipping is EXCESSIVE and if you didn’t tip, they would put you in a bad spot every time. Kind of ridiculous. There was also a guest that would come down to the beach and play loud music… and the staff wouldn’t help. They also did not control the guests very well. One of the days there was a football game on the pool bar’s TV. There were about 8-10 people being wild and hooting and hollering for hours at the top of their lungs (midday). We had to go down to the beach to get away from it… and could still hear them. There is a hotel next door that has a nightclub on the beach and would play extremely loud music until 10-11pm most nights. I called security the first night, and they acted like they didn’t hear it, and didn’t know where it was coming from. I had to go outside myself and saw it was a VERY loud party going on. They did nothing to try to stop it. Between housekeeping and the beach staff being rude and feel long like I was constantly having to tip, it should not be thought of as a 5 star experience.

lush, tropical foliage. attentive staff. beach access. short walk to town. comfortable rooms.

no complaints

location and peaceful vibe

the food was not very nice and very expensive. the prices in the clothes shop on site were insane!

everything

if there was one negative thing, it was the front desk staff at the SPA, one of the 2 ladies were very unfriendly for some reason, may be it was just a bad day

Shuttle /transportation

water is beautiful and the property is well maintained. I did like how they provided free Covid tests for departure as well. very convenient.

The staff service was mixed. Some were lovely (like at the sit down restaurants), but the front desk and bell men were short and rude. especially at check out. we asked a few questions while I was checking out and Kelly at the front desk seemed like she didn’t have the time or day for us. It was a sad ending to our trip and really ruined the experience. Especially for the money we spent. I hope she has a better day and can be nicer to guests in the future.

The beach and the water was exceptional, the views are outstanding along with the hotel

nothing, it was perfect

The resort is beautiful, with excellent landscaping, beautiful build and high end finishes and decor throughout -- even the art and draperies were lovely. More "classic" decor than "on trend" but nice enough that it didn't feel dated. The spa is gorgeous. Our junior "suite" (it was one room) was quite large and included a small outdoor terrace that we happily used. There are onsite shops with nice available products (though quite expensive). Beautiful pool with a swim-up bar, outdoor restaurants, and prime location beach, much better beach than adjoining Beaches resort IMO (more sandy area). The room had mugs, plates, cutlery and a microwave, which are nice for a longer stay. The hotel has extensive water sports equipment available (a huge plus). If I were rating purely on the facilities and buildings this would be a 10, and I would consider it a good value at the price we paid (discounted to around $600 a night with fees). The resort and islands generally seem to be extremely safe, and we had no concerns whatsoever about crime.

Service here is subpar; though based on off-property interactions, this may be a problem all over Provo. Although some staff were friendly and helpful, many others were dismissive or aloof. We concluded this is due to an unbearably corrosive tip culture in place here and on the rest of TCI. Every price you see nearly everywhere excludes a 12% government tax and a 12-18% "service charge." On top of that, you are expected to tip in cash for EVERYTHING -- drinks (every round), the "free" breakfast, towel service.... There is no ATM on the property, so this became a logistical challenge for us; we constantly had to figure out if we had enough cash to do ANYTHING. Added to this, all-in prices become quite exorbitant; one (1) pina colada on the beach was $25 with tax, fee and tip (too bad -- they were delicious). Breakfast was just ok -- I believe everything is imported and it shows in the produce quality. But it tasted much worse from the vantage point of the worst/second worst table in the place, which we got every morning because (we think) we weren't tipping at seating. Few in non-tipped roles were helpful or even courteous; but once the staff figure out you are a tipper, they go from not paying attention to what you want to obnoxiously intruding on your activities; this is how we would have the cleaning staff show up at 8:30 am after the first day when we left a tip. A bellhop kept bugging my partner about our luggage to the point of offering to repack a shirt for him while we were just trying to check out. After check out, I went back for something and someone had collected the housekeeping tip but not cleaned the room. The service was so middling to bad that I can name each of the people who gave us good service: Remy, a beach server, Brian the water sports manager (cool dude), Sory at the Somewhere Cafe at Coral Gardens Resort (recommend this resto), Clara at Hemingway at the Sands, Antonia and the trainee receptionist at the spa.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at The Palms. The staff was very friendly and attentive and did a great job of anticipating our needs.

Bar didn’t open until 11:00

pool

I loved everything about this hotel

Ease of getting chairs at beach and pool. Free use of hobie cat and kayak. All staff very pleasant. Food in the area was great. Beautiful location.

Housekeeping never came when they were supposed to, despite daily calls. They'd show up for turn down service at dinnertime and I'd have to tell them the room was never cleaned. This needs to be remedied, because a beach and pool vacation necessitates showering before dinner each night.

The property is beautiful, secluded, and quiet. A wonderful place to relax. We loved how pristine the room was and the excellent turn down service. The spa was beautiful too.

The service really was lacking, but I think staff either needed more training or were short staffed. Simple lunches took around 40-1hr to come out, dinners felt even longer, multiple different servers at the fine dining restaurant asked us what we ordered and if it came out?! A lunch that took 40 mins to come out (a club sandwhich) was wrong (sent fish and chips?) so we waited longer to eat outside in the heat. It was a little comical but we took it in stride, it was our honeymoon and we had a great time besides the meals. It just felt like for the price of each meal the service should have at least been sufficient.