We were recently here for four nights and overall, a great stay! There's lots to like about this…read moreplace. I'll start with the highlights.
First, everything is beautiful (and new). Whoever designed this, I'd like to come redo my apartment. From the entrance, to the rooms, to the spa area everything was gorgeous and you can tell a lot of care and detail went into designing it. Second, the staff members are all amazing. Valet especially but also in the restaurant, at the front desk as well as the spa...a super great team. We had a balcony room and that was gorgeous...I loved all the arts and craft design themes in the woodwork, the view was gorgeous and the room was comfortable overall. The fireplace was beautiful but in July, not much need for it. Would definitely be cozy in the winter.
The pool area is very nice and it's a great idea to have two hot tubs. We loved going down at night to enjoy a soak. There's also a firepit by the hot tubs.
The beach area is nice and there is equipment you can use (paddleboards, kayaks).
Meals were good as well. We enjoyed just about everything we had. The only meal that was just okay was steak frites one night. The steak was very bland, the portion was tiny and it was more expensive than what I pay in Manhattan but I would say the desserts more than made up for it. We had a strawberry rhubarb mousse and a Dubai chocolate cheesecake and both were phenomenal.
This is a newish place, I think just under a year old so there may be some opportunity for continued enhancement. They seemed a bit understaffed, especially in the restaurant and that led to some longer wait times and the wait staff having to wear multiple hats to serve, take orders, bus and refill water. I liked the shower but it would be great to have an option other than just the rainfall showerhead. A handheld shower head or an angled showerhead coming out of the wall would be helpful. Definitely there is a need for an outdoor shower or at least a spigot by the pool so people can rinse off the sand from the beach. Everyone who came from the beach just rinsed off feet, toys, etc. in the pool which made it look a bit dirty. A sparkling clean pool is much more inviting and the signs when you come into the pool area even say you need to be rinsed off to use the pool but there's nothing available to help with that. One of the workers said that had been a request from many guests.
I'd be interested to understand how this place wants to be positioned. On the website, it seems to be pitched as a serene, relaxing location and it seems targeted towards adults, which was just what I was looking for...a calm, relaxing getaway. But when we were there, it seemed more like it was targeted as a family resort. That's fine but there was absolutely no relaxing by the pool during the day as it was taken over by kids who were having fun and being loud...but that's expected by kids at a pool. All the kids were very well-behaved and their parents were attentive. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about kids, but it would be good to be clear what the vibe is. For example, I wouldn't go to Great Wolf Lodge and expect it to be peaceful. It's just important to know what you're getting so expectations are aligned appropriately. My goal was a peaceful, relaxing stay and though I enjoyed being here, it was neither peaceful nor relaxing (except for the 90 minutes I was at the spa).
This review got longer than I anticipated. I'll wrap it up by saying this is a gorgeous place to stay, I'm just not sure who the target audience is.