Our stay at Isla Bella was fine but not worth $1000/night. It's a nice resort, well-appointed for families with children, with plenty of pools to choose from including an adult pool. Despite the positives, our 5 nights here were choc full of minor disappointments. In summary, everything the hotel did was just slightly off for the premium price charged, mainly having to do with poor service and lack of attention to detail.
First, there was no staff greeting us at the entrance upon our arrival, nor any bell service available. We found out later this was because there was a wedding going on that Thursday night so most staff was tending to the wedding, which shouldn't be the case. Essentially they are designed to be short-staffed. This happened the next night due to another wedding's rehearsal dinner and the wedding the following day. Next, thankfully our room was upgraded to the top floor (3rd floor) so we couldn't hear steps above us which I believe would have been a problem. There are no robes or slippers in the room which I'd expect at that price. Also, it was comical how present housekeeping is. We were constantly riding the elevator with housekeeping, bumping into them in the main walkway to the room, and even when we drove out of the resort for our final departure we had to yield to about 8 housekeepers with their carts crossing the street. It didn't matter what time it was, heading to breakfast, coming in after dinner, housekeeping was riding the elevators with us. There should be a designated elevator or service elevator for them. Next, get ready for the fees. Hotels obviously have fees but this list of fees on the final bill was exceptional. In total there were 9 extra fees and taxes, the most annoying of which were the parking fee ($30), parking fee tax, plus a "destination fee", plus a "resort fee". All of the fees and taxes combined added 22% to our nightly rate. We also booked a Two Conch's fishing charter (phenomenal experience) through the Isla Bella website which they didn't acknowledge upon check-in or assist with instructions even though the Two Conch's marina is onsite.
2 more things, bear with me. The breakfasts. Ours were "free" up to $48 through our travel agent. That covered breakfast for the 2 of us, not enough for the tip. That was without getting coffee or anything, the breakfasts are $20 - $25 per person. My husband got smoked salmon everyday and for some reason they brough ketchup for him everyday, and failed to bring him an actual plate for his bagel, it came in a basket, no plate. 2 days they brought him a tea plate and seemed confused why he was asking, then we got more specific with the type of plate we asked for. Also, after we got our breakfast, all 5 mornings, we never saw our waitress again, so ration your water, and hopefully you have everything you need because in our experience they don't come back to ask if you have what you need or how everything is.
Last but not least the pool. There is no waiter service at the pool. You stand in front of a kiosk freezing if you're wet from the pool waiting to order your food or drink. Then there's no one to cleanup people's empty food, drink, or towels on chairs, so whenever we went to the pool in the afternoon there were dozens of abandoned chairs with people's wet towels and garbage all around. One afternoon there were no chairs available so my husband went to the front desk to inquire about a cabana at 3pm. He left the pool, waited at the front desk to speak with someone, they sent him to The Marketplace to talk to someone, when he arrived no one was there, so he went back to the pool with no information about the cabanas. Also, it was a similar situation as the pool at the fire pits at the bar at night. The fire pit tables were surrounded by empty, dirty glasses until the end of the night so you never really knew if a fire pit was available and if one was, you were in the midst of people's dirty, used cups and glasses.
Like I said, everything was off for a 5-star, $1000/night place. We had a fine time despite the disappointments and overpaying. And the hotel's responses to other poor reviews on this site reference them "learning" from people's negative feedback. I find that somewhat frustrating as their learning experience in hospitality shouldn't come at my expense. read more