BlueBay Grand Esmeralda

Joaquin Allen

I was supposed to stay a week here but only lasted 24hrs. It took almost two hours to check in and there were only two people in front of us. When I got to my room it was very dated and unsanitary. I feel it wasn’t turned over just cleaned and not cleaned well. There was open sugar packets on the counter and a used towel hanging from the shower door. The pillows smelt of body odor bad. There was mold behind the bathroom mirror photo added. The other guest were very loud and extremely inebriated. It was like spring break on a Monday night. The staff was not very friendly and accommodating, but I don’t blame them because of obnoxiousness of the clientele, this resort caters too. I’ve stayed in many resorts in the area and this is by far one of the worst. Not only did I immediately check out and move to a different resort. I left that resort with food poisoning. The buffet was extremely unsanitary. They serve hotdog and hamburgers for dinner. The alcohol options seem to be mostly well alcohol. I did not drink. The grounds are nice and the wildlife is abundant. It seems that this resort at one time must’ve been nice in the early 70s. An employee walked into our room without knocking and by the time I made it to the door they said nothing just stared at me. I do have to note that upon checking out the manager did apologize.

Ken Jackson

Stayed at this hotel Jan 5-12 2026. The grounds of the hotel are well kept, lush vegetation and many animals wandering about. Always staff clearing leaves and debris, you can tell they devout a lot of resources to maintain. Room I had was so-so , cleaned everyday and minibar restocked daily. A bit moldy smelling, but it is in a very humid climate so can be expected. This hotel has been well used and needs major refreshing in the rooms/buildings. The buildings are a bit shabby from the outside as the overhanging dry grass material on top floor was missing or falling down in many places. One working elevator in the building I was in, doors for it were all banged up and the flooring is worn and shabby looking- $50.00 worth of peel and stick tiles would take care of the floor issue. It's on it's last legs with the amount of noise generated going up and down. Had zero issues with food and lot's of choices between reserved restaurants and buffets. The best thing I liked about this hotel was the coffee bar, very new equipment and decor. Staff were so good there and amazing coffee- I'd give it five stars. Overall staff throughout were friendly and accommodating. Not a pool person so only went in a few times, many seemed to enjoy them. Watched staff cleaning quite a bit every morning. The major disappointment I had with this hotel is the beach and lack of shade (at pools as well). There are wooden structures that didn't have any fabric to actually do what they were built for. There are around half a dozen palapas on the beach, that's it. The VIP ( Circle One) area has about a dozen, so I guess if you really want to have that Caribbean vibe when you sit ocean front, pay up. The beach itself has nice sand, but the view of the ocean is horrendous with all the unused old piers and large ugly tube like black stained cement " break walls" that are randomly in the water in front of you. There is also a break wall that is to the right of the resort. With these in place there is no way for natural movement of water in front of the resort. Debris gets stuck in front of the hotels beach because isn't moved along by currents. Brown water and silt was present for my entire week there, hardly ever anyone swimming in it. If you're looking for beautiful blue water and great ocean views the area is famous for, you won't find it here. If you're a pool person, the resort just might do ( if shade situation is taken care of) Would never return to this hotel just because of the beach situation and the lack of shade. Suggest management look at looking after these irritants, buy some umbrellas, put up some more palapas and get rid of the structures in the water.

John Desousa

We are day 5/7 at the Grand Esmeralda. So far our experience has been great. Buffet has quite the variety with lots of freshly cooked food, al a carte restaurants do offer a more premium meal than the buffets, and drinks have been great. Service has been amazing, everyone greets you with a smile. Shoutout to Pedro helping with the entertainment by the pool. Rooms can be a bit of a walk from the pools/beach/restaurants but it’s a nice walk and you get your steps in. We would recommend this resort.

Dino Genovesi

Just arrived jan 13,2026. Read terrible reviews about the hotel and almost canceled our trip before leaving, but decided trying it out just the same. The hotel needs slight renovations but our room was nice and clean. The service is 5 star at this hotel and the food in the buffet and restaurants were excellent! I couldn't believe how clean this hotel is! The beach is so so but if you walk around 10 minutes on the left side of the beach you will find a beautiful place to swim. There are also alot of activities at the main pool. I would not give this hotel a 5 star rating but its more like a 3.5 or 4. The vegetation (jungle) around the hotel is beautiful and well taken care of and there are plenty of animals especially coaties lol. All in all I would go back to this hotel.

Vera Pekker

This is not a 5 star hotel, it is at best a 2 star in regards to both accommodations and service so adjust your expectations accordingly. Having traveled to Cancun, Cozumel, PDC, Mayan Riviera and CDMX annually for over 20 years, I am simply evaluating this resort in line with the other resorts i’ve stayed at ranging from 4-5 stars in Mexico. We were housed here for 7 hours by Westjet due to a flight cancellation and it was horrendous. The room: our rooms 8125 and 8123 had mold everywhere, a piece of the door was missing, there was old blood stains on the mirror, dead and living bugs in the room and bathroom. The sheets appeared “clean” but the bed skirt and duvet/decor pillow had blood stains. The “terrace” floor had bird poop and garbage on it. The room smelled disgusting like it had not been cleaned in ages. The shower and sink looked renovated but had mold everywhere. It was absolutely disgusting. The grounds were littered with garbage. The service was nonexistent- the staff were incredibly rude. Took 45 minutes to get a bell boy who didnt even bring the bags to the room. Meanwhile an employee was driving around around in the VIP golf cart aimlessly in circles and refused to help us at all despite us explaining that our bus is leaving from the lobby in 5 minutes and he was driving to the lovby anyway. The only reason we even needed help was because we had no clue where to go- we checked in at 3am werent given a map or anything. The buffet staff waiters just ignore you. The buffet had one ancient coffee machine which was broken and couldnt dispense any milk beverages. The food did not look good at all. The check in MANAGER told us we dont need to check out if we dont charge anything to the room during our 6 hour stay but in reality we couldnt leave until we indeed do a check out. When i told the front desk staff who checked us out about the blood in the room he ignored me completely. The staff ironically checked our check out tickets 4 separate times (i’ve never encountered that at any of the other 30+ resorts i’ve stayed at across the world) holding up our bus which was already late to the airport by an extra half an hour because they didnt feel like keeping proper track or a list of which guests they already checked the first 3 times. The whole property looked trashed and extremely ghetto. Its in desperate need of a fumigation, renovation and a garbage clean up. The fact that westjet tries to sell this as a 5 star resort and charges $3000/pp for it is actually a robbery. Save yourself the headache and disappointment and avoid this resort unless you like living with cockroaches and bed bugs.