Grand Sirenis Matlali Hills Resort & Spa

Stayed here for 5 nights in early November 2017 for a romantic getaway. Pros: The advertised Wifi actually works. As does the air conditioning in the room, and the TV. The shower is magnificent. One night we did not have hot water, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a high traffic time. French fries and chips at the Tequila bar and the guac at the beach bar were great. The property is very beautiful and the landscaping is very well done, views are stunning. The pools are very clean and there are several of them so you can choose the feel you want. The steakhouse (El rancho) food and service was excellent. Best food we had there. Wine was better there than anywhere else and it was obviously cooked to order. The spa was lovely, reasonably priced, and the service was great. Best run part of the resort by far. The couples massage was wonderful and it was so nice to relax in the outside lounges and go to the wading pool and steam room and shower. Incredibly relaxing. The beach was beautiful, water was unbelievably clean, and there is a dog named Pacho that lives near that property that is super friendly and likes to hang out with people. There are almost no bugs at all, which was shocking considering where the resort is located. Cons: There isn't a hot tub anywhere on the property. There are tubs that look like hot tubs, but they do not get hot. The concierges were worthless. We never got any introduction to the resort at check-in other than just being handed a map, so I asked them a series of questions. I was either told they couldn't help me (you have to go off property to buy anything and they do not set up any excursions nor could they even tell you about any options or any companies or any way to find anyone that does. Cheapcarribean said they had “tour and island information.” False.) or that they would take care of it (I asked for a spa menu because there wasn't one in the room, told one would be sent up) which they never did. One of the big draws of this resort for us was the hiking trail they advertised that goes up in the mountains. It was closed and no one told us before check-in or at check-in, the concierge didn't tell us when I asked a slew of questions, and then when we went up there and saw it was closed and came back to the concierge to ask about it he looked like he had no idea what I was talking about and then made up some excuse on the spot. There were activities listed on the brochure we got when we checked in, but no locations listed for anything. And it mentioned a scenic hike, which doubtless was false as the hiking trail was closed. The pools apparently close at some unposted time (whenever they deem it to be closed, but certainly no signage or anywhere in the literature) even at the adult pools so no night swimming. Remnants of room service is left outside rooms for almost a day and a half that we observed even after maid service came and went. It was starting to smell. Same is true of the pools. They just stack all the plates and cups at the end of the day and leave them there. The service at the bars was slow to say the least-I understand that it is an all-inclusive so there isn't really a motivation to get things done quickly but still, it was frustrating. Jorge and Angel at the beach club as well as the bartender at the sky bar were very pleasant but even at the beach club service was slow. Had to ask for drinks and food multiple times sometimes even when not busy. There was little to no alcohol in any of the drinks. If you wanted any alcohol you needed to drink beer or get shots. Again, I understand at an all-inclusive resort there is no motivation to make drinks strong. The food at the buffets was edible, that's it. Again, I understand there are limitations with quality when there are buffets. There is no store anywhere on the property. Nowhere to buy sunscreen or bugspray (we brought our own thank god) or sunglasses or souvenirs or anything. If you want to purchase anything you have to hire a taxi to take you to a gas station in town. Our room safe did not work and we asked multiple times for someone to come help-no one did. No one ever told us what the tipping protocol was-I was happy to tip, but in my experience you don't tip at the time (carrying money around all day kind of defeats the purpose of an all-inclusive wristband) and then tip at the end at check out. No way to do that. Sorry all, I would have liked to leave a tip but could not. I specifically made the spa take a tip on my credit card at the time of services (they didn’t have that option but I specifically told them I wanted to put a tip on there so they made it work) or else they wouldn't have gotten a tip either. Kind of sad for the employees. Few of the times listed on the brochure at check in or the website were accurate. Everything closed at least an hour earlier than listed. Beach club open til 6? Yeah no, you better be on the last shuttle at 5:15. Grand sirenis website says the tequila bar is open until 8. The brochure they gave us said 7. Try 5:45. Minibar has sodas, two beers, no snacks. You are limited to two beers a day at the minibar. Which would be fine if they actually restocked the minibar everyday. They don’t. No slippers in the room as cheapcaribbean indicated. Which wouldn’t be a problem except the floors are tile and the shower is just a part of the bathroom floor so water makes everything super slippery. 80% of the umbrellas at the beach club were broken. You could kind of jerry rig some of them open, but don’t count on the staff to help you-you are on your own. The restaurants-ok this is a biggie. The Grandsirenis website indicates you can have unlimited nights at the ala carte restaurants, but when I spoke to the concierge the first night we got there around 7pm, he told me that we could reserve restaurants for only two nights out of our five. Ok fine. He said to do it sooner rather than later because they fill up. I understood, discussed it with my companion, and when I returned the next morning around 10am, the concierge said we could not get a reservation anywhere for the duration of our trip. The first concierge said “Sooner rather than later” not “now or never.” I asked back multiple times a day every day we were there and was told the same until the last day when the concierge told us he could “fit us in” at the steakhouse at the last minute. We got there and it was maybe half full. Totally ludicrous. We figured out part of the problem- contrary to what the advertising indicates, El Rancho and La Gira Rodizio are the same place. And the Trattoria and Huanacaxtle are the same place. The a la carte restaurants are not open every night as cheapcarribean indicates. In fact, at least one night we explicitly checked not one was open. The restaurant conversation was a series of flat-out lies and really frustrated us. The other thing that was not super annoying was that everytime we complained about anything or tried to speak to someone about a problem they seemed to turn it into this weird sales pitch to become a member of the resort. In doing so they asked me multiple times if I was married and how old I was. I understand the need to make pitches but this was intrusive and definitely not the answer to me bringing up problems. Why would I want to be a member when I can't even get the basics?

This place is built in the hillside with steep walking building 5 and 6 are at the top adults only which are newer very nice rooms which share a concierge which were very helpful for reservations or a shuttle. The beach was nice you go right thru the town of La Cruz to get there which is worth a walk into in the afternoon to eat at one of there local restaurants (Tacos on the Street) . The beach club had good service and food. The buffet for lunch and dinner were just OK but the ala carte were very good.

We had a great time. Resort is in the forest. Surrounded by trees and plants. The views are awesome. Food is great. Many choices. The restaurant on the beach was a awesome. Seafood was the best. The resort is I bit way from shopping, so if you need to buy something you will need a taxi. Vallarta adventures are excellent. They take care of everything. Very professional. Well worth the money. They even serve food that is very good. We definitely will go back

A beautiful setting! We were surrounded by vegetation and felt as if we were far away in a magical land. Wonderful accommodations and outstanding service from the friendly staff. From the pools tumbling down the hillside to the relaxation pool near our rooms, we were pampered and relaxed. Truly a destination for leaving your cares behind and enjoying the experience.