BlueBay Grand Esmeralda

Michelle

The overall experience wasn’t bad, but it was not a 5 star stay at all. We had spent extra money to be VIP and were not treated like VIP at all. The first day, sure yeah they brought us cold wet towels upon arrival but after the second day the service got worse. The VIP carts would drive past us and avoid us, especially during this heatwave. On our last day for checkout we went downstairs and saw a car, flagged him down and he saw us. Once we got to the front, he was gone with someone else. He came back around 10 minutes later to a different area and he took a detour. Once he saw us start walking he gave us a surprised look. He then drove right past us with an empty car. During our stay in the room, we had no privacy whatsoever. The staff would do a little knock on the door, we would barely even be able to hear it and then just walk right in. I wasn’t even decent when they did so, I was half nude and had to get my husband to run to the door. It happened multiple times that they just walked in. I really did not appreciate that. The pools were nice, but the water was a little warm and felt like I was swimming in a pool full of pee. There was barely any shaded areas, and what was shaded people had placed their towel there and left for a couple of hours. Half the time they weren’t even there but reserved a chair. I wouldn’t recommend this resort to anyone, nor would I come back.

Traci Watson

We stayed here last year and loved it. It is a bit older and so the rooms are kept up with love. Any issues we had were dealt with and the staff were super friendly and helpful. The resort is located quietly off the highway so a rental car was great as we were able to get out and explore without the buses. Lots of parking. Great entertainment if you want to stick around the resort and was family friendly. The beach wasn’t amazing but they said it was a bad time of year. The resort has everything you need if you chose to stay but is a quick drive to everything as well if you want to explore.

Jessica Holden

The entertainment team are all amazing, keeping everyone in the holiday spirit and getting everyone involved. Especially Arturo and Wilbert bringing the energy and good vibes every single day! Cleaners have the room looking beautiful daily. The restaurant staff have all been polite and accommodating. The beach bar staff have all been exceptional. Very attentive and keeping everyone happy ! By far my favourite bar out of the choices. The only downside so far is the seaweed on the beach which is natural and cannot be helped, but a short walk left down the beach you can find a lovely little lagoon! As an independent travel agent, I would highly recommend this hotel to my clients. I couldn’t fault it in the slightest and definitely living up to its 5* reputation.

Hannah Tran

DO NOT STAY HERE unless you want to get sick due to black mold, or if you hate eating edible food. This has been the absolute worst stay I have ever had. We are not picky people, we just want the food to be edible and the rooms to be in decent working condition. The shower ceilings were covered in black mold and the showers smelled disgusting. Day 3 my throat started hurting and I started feeling sick, probably due to the uncleanliness of this hotel. Some staff were very kind, but most cannot speak English or were just incredibly rude. Bianca in front of the Italian restaurant definitely ruined our moods and stay. The highway shut down on our way back from an excursion which left us to walk 2 miles back to the resort. We rushed over to the Italian restaurant where we had made a reservation. We told her what had happened and she looks at us, checks us in, and says “we have a dress code, you have to change.” So we walk 1 mile back to our room, change and walk back when we were already starving, exhausted, and hungry. Mind you, I was wearing a skirt and my boyfriend was wearing shorts. Nobody here is accommodating at all. When I addressed our concerns about our shower door and uncleanliness of our room to the concierge, they said they will send us a “complimentary amenity and get their maintenance guy fixing it asap” but none of that was ever fulfilled. After emailing them many times, they would always say that it will be fixed but it never was! I’m 99% sure that they just use ChatGPT to answer concerns and never actually fulfill them. The food here was absolutely horrendous. I LOVE all inclusive resorts for the food because it’s always upscale and delicious. This was the exception. You have to make reservations for every restaurant and we were not told about this until we had to find out for ourselves. Regarding this, the food was either overly salted, or just had absolutely no flavor. Now, the most important part is the beach and pool. The beach had mountains of rotting seaweed, leading to a horrible smell near the pool and buffet area. The pools were murky and looked very gross. None of the dining areas have AC and most buildings are very run down. Thank goodness we don’t drink because the alcohol is EXTREMELY low quality. We ended up spending an additional 1k on excursions so we could stay out of this hotel. We wished we listened to other reviewers. I do not recommend this hotel to anybody, please read others reviews and make a better choice!

Alexandra Schmidt

Just returned from a 4 night stay at BlueBay Grand Esmeralda. Our biggest issue was health concerns due to visible black mold all over our bathroom. We have had respiratory symptoms since the first night of the trip. We expressed concerns about this to management and through the third party booking company and BlueBay refused to refund us the second 2 nights so that we could leave the hotel early. This is NOT a five star resort. It is very rundown and there are tarps on multiple buildings. The condition of the rooms were not great, and there were broken sinks, mirrors were very old, and furniture and patio chairs were falling apart. Bathrooms were filthy and they tried to cover foul with incense, however there is not amount of incense that can mask the unsanitary conditions. There is very minimal shade around the pool and beach area. There are about 20 chairs for the beach area, so unless you have a towel out around 7 AM you will not get a chair. People rotate chairs around trees for the minimal shade. The hotel seems to sell day passes, and the main pool was PACKED and felt more like a community pool. Overall, it seems that with the run down condition of the hotel, minimal management, and sub par beach and pool area that they are catering toward a partying crowd. If you are looking for a relaxing atmosphere this is not the hotel to stay at. There is no A/C in any of the dining areas, so meals were VERY hot, including in the a la carte restaurants. Though individual employees are kind and are working hard, management is horrible. We had to make multiple phone calls for repairs in the room (our fan made a loud noise) and there was not tracking across the phone calls. The shuttle service is minimal and did not arrive even when we had a scheduled time and made multiple phone calls for reminders. Concierge and front desk staff give inaccurate information and don't know much about the services. I strongly caution anyone looking into staying here to read reviews thoroughly. There are many reviews that are clearly fake or utilized bribery for high reviews.