Grand Palladium Kantenah Resort & Spa

We stayed here for 2 weeks, having previously stayed at the TRS last year. Our party included me, my husband, my sister and her partner. We emailed ahead and asked for a specific room request and stated we are returning guests. However, when checking in, our requests were not acknowledged at all. In fact, we were in the opposite rooms to what we had asked for. We were also asked if we had stayed at the resort before. So, it seems nobody really looked into our request email or does anything with this info, so I wouldn't bother. I understand requests can't always be fulfilled but asking if we had stayed before suggests the information isn't passed on effectively. Upon arrival at our room, we unpacked and thought it felt warmer than an air-conditioned room at 17 Celsius should. After visiting my sister's room for comparison, we realised the air con in our room was not working very well at all. Later on in the evening, the room was like a sauna and hadn't cooled at all so we asked to move. The hotel was very helpful and sorted us out a new room within 15 minutes with the air con working perfectly. They rang us to check it was ok and offered to have bell boys help us move if required. The room itself was lovely; well-kept and really all we expected. The jungle view wasn't fantastic but was still nice. A small side note if you don't like insects or other things! Be careful after the maids have tidied your room as when tidying, they leave the door open and on one day we had 2 giant moths in our room and in my sister's room a gecko managed to get in. It's the jungle, I get it, just a shock! The hotel itself is amazing. Very eco-friendly, very clean and the grounds are beautiful. We were very lucky as the sea and the beach this year were amazing with virtually no sea weed for the whole 2 weeks. Moving onto the Restaurants. Thai - Amazing Amazing! We ate here 4 times as the food is beautiful and plenty of choice. Erick our server was great. Teppanyaki - We ate here 3 times. Again, lovely food and great service. Our chef Gamboa had so much energy and really put on a show for us and both our waiters Jose and Edgar were brilliant. The only complaint I have is the starter of fried shrimp did not have the intestinal tract removed (poo trail) any of the times we ate in there. Very easy to do, and looks much more appetising. It's something I would expect a restaurant to do as standard. Steakhouse - Disappointing on both occasions we ate here. Both times we visited in different weeks, and they did not have the filet mignon. I find this both misleading and a bit hard to believe, when I did notice the table next to us of TRS guests arrive after us and order a fillet steak. The steak we were given seemed to vary in quality with some lean and others quite fatty. The cooking of the steaks was also hit and miss with 4 ordered to be cooked medium and all 4 were at different levels. The sides are also very small. Ribs and more - Great food, loved the burgers! We would like to give a big shout out to Hector. In the whole 2 weeks, he was our favourite waiter. He put in so much effort, was very friendly and gave us a great experience. Japanese - Great meal, really lovely sushi and main course. Italian - Again, a great meal. Brazilian - We didn't eat here. It would have been nice to have some side dishes on offer here rather than just salad, which put us off a bit when there is so much meat. Buffets - Buffets were great. Breakfast and lunch were always laid out very nicely and food was good. However, most of the time service was quite slow and did take a while to be seated. Cocktails were lovely the whole holiday, the nicest of which being a pineapple mojito. If you get a chance, the hotel does great work releasing turtles on the beach. We managed to see some baby turtles being released which was one of our highlights. Pool entertainment was great too. They had all the usual pool games as well as bucking bronco, a foam party and special food days and parties each week. We would definitely return to this hotel. The good by far outweighs the areas that need improving.

Overall – I would return to a Palladium hotel again. Resort is large, clean and has a great entertainment team, shows are outstanding, and can use facilities of sister hotels nextdoor. Overall rating is a 4, if they improve on food quality then I would give them a 5. Lobby/Check-in (4/5): Checkin was quick and efficient, our room was ready upon arrival and we had a close location to the lobby, we passed by the Flamingos each time. Those Flamingos had a special bright color beautiful. Lobby was large and very clean there were many places to sit, however in the evening it felt very dim not enough lighting. There were not too many people hanging out in this lobby as all the entertainment was in the Colonial section lobby. Hotel Grounds (4/5): As it shared grounds with 3 other sister hotels all the grounds were large and very clean. You are able to freely walk around and use facilities of the other hotels except one of them. There are trolleys to take you between the hotels very convenient. We also took the boat ride not much to see on it but a ride nonetheless. They have large pathways and those racoon type animals roaming. Entertainment (5/5): I will give entertainment at this hotel a 5 star rating as they always had something going on during the day in the evening from 6pm then the theater show followed by some type of party afterwards. Shows for the kids as well. The white party on the beach was fun with fire thrower. Room (4/5): Room was large and clean, ours close to the lobby very convenient. Food (3.5/5): I have had better food at other hotels, and even though there is a lot of variety the quality and temperature of the food was not the best. Food didn’t have much flavour, and was not heated everything felt cold. They do have a lot of treats for the kids, candy, cupcakes all kind of things. They’re dessert section is pretty good and they have an ice cream stand inside as well. If they improved on the food this hotel would definitely then get my 5 star rating, currently I give it a 4 overall Beach (4/5): Beach was nice, this area of the hotel had the nicer beach, clean water no rocks/shells, did have waves. The hotel that was more expensive didn’t have the greatest beach. Tours: We took the shuttle van outside the hotel to the market downtown and on another day took it to the dolphinarium, it was not much only 2 peso or so per person one way. Previously we went to Xcaret which I highly recommend lots to see and do in this theme park great for adults and kids.