Best Western Grand Baymen Gardens

website pictures are not accurate to the actual property. pool deck needs repairs and maintenance. not enough patio or lawn chairs. property somewhat quiet except for construction noise and the small airport overhead which had multiple planes flying from 0700h to evening. Small group of staff were helpful as needed. The restaurant owner, Herbert was fantastic in spite of dilapidated chairs/tables.

Lots of problems with the hotel first getting there by walking was difficult as the road and grounds were extremely muddy and had many puddles far from I was put at the hardest building on the first floor, very inconvenient to cool grill and fitness center. The water in the room is not portable and they only gave two small bottles of water. The phone didn't work. The TV was almost impossible to figure out how to work, with no instructions any place in the room. A credit card machine didn't work at the grill, and they didn't have several menu options available. There were a lot of other little things that made the stay less than optimal.

Best western doesn't have the best reputation in this part of the world but the hotel suits the brand. The staff are excellent and do anything they can to ensure you're happy. Large pool with tiki bar. It's located on the runway so very close to the airport! Large rooms with kitchenette and tv in lounge and bedroom - beds are comfy too! The only negative is the water pressure - not a big deal for guys but if you have a lady in your party with lots of hair she will be pulling hers out! Value for money, worth the stay.

The staff here is awesome! New faces and old faces (Graciela). Love their attitudes and spirit. Had plenty of towels (Not to steal and take home but to use them there! Please don't be that person and steal their towels. Go to Dollar tree and buy some!) Anyways, the 2 bedroom/2 bath allowed for my party to get dressed and out the door in record time. Huge pool. Breakfast was delicious. I had booked my tour before arriving but they are there to help you if you want. Waters provided everyday. My son used the fitness center. Ferry is about a 5-7 minute walk away. Would definitely stay here again

Very friendly and accommodating staff. The resort grounds are well maintained but the rooms need a few upgrades here and there. The pool is very large and clean but some of the sections were closed off and emptied of water when we visited. The breakfast was not the best. Overall we had a good time.

Summary: Stay away from this hotel! We experienced recurring problems with water running out in our bathrooms that were poorly addressed. It put a damper on our entire stay and led to previous vacation time lost in waiting for the problem to be resolved. In addition, too many mosquitoes, terrible breakfast and access roads inaccessible by foot during our stay. See more details below. Water issues: We are EXTREMELY dissatisfied with how lack of running water in our rooms was handled (room 302A checked in Saturday Dec 28th 2024 evening, checked out Dec 30th2024, Monday morning). We had to report water running out thrice in our 2 night stay (in the middle of shower or other bathroom usage and the second time at 11PM in the night after coming back from a dinner and wanting to use the facilities). Each time it led to not just inconvenience and stress but also waste of precious vacation time. The first night upon checking in, when water ran out mid shower, it was brushed off as a valve issue. The delay led to us missing out on any available dinner options that night, at that point we were still OK. When the water issue occurred again after coming back from dinner in the night, we were told to wait until 6AM as there was no maintenance person on site. Really? We have to wait until the morning to use the bathroom? After asking for alternatives, we were given 2 buckets of water to store in the bathroom and use for emergencies...this is not how anyone imagines spending vacation time after spending $300 a night. The next morning, we were told some new/inexperienced workers had switched off the pump leading to issues and all is fixed now. We went to the beach that day. Upon return, we were sweaty, tired and still in damp clothes and found the water running out when kids were mid-shower. It wasn't until this third time, after spending 1.5 hours in trying to repair the issue, the technician admitted there was a larger pump problem that could not be solved. Only at this point, a new set of 2 standard rooms were given to us for our second night. We missed out on planned evening visit of San Pedro streets that night due to the time spent in reporting the issue, technician going up to the roof and trying various things and then being given 2 new rooms in a different building. We had asked the previous night too if there was a different room and were not given one until the third time when the technician tried again and admitted to the pump being old and beyond repair (showed us a picture of the rusty pump). This is hardly what we expected after shelling out $600+ on our stay. No manager came to talk to use or apologize during all 3 incidents. The manager who talked to us on the phone at 11PM was suggesting we go down to use the swimming pool bathrooms in the night (we were on the 3rd floor in a suite). There was no empathy or understanding of the situation from anyone, disappointingly just a very casual approach to our ordeal. We have repeatedly asked the front desk to make this right for us. We asked who/where is the manager. We were told it is a Mr. Fabio, and were told, he will not be on site on the weekend, and will be there at 6AM on Monday. Well we tried asking for him at 7.30 on Monday when checking out and he wasn't there. We heard a mumbled sorry for the inconvenience from the front desk person and that a higher management person would have to be involved in any discount or refund. We asked for an ETA on a call back and were told the afternoon of the 30th...today is Jan 6th and not a word from anyone at the hotel. This is ridiculous for a hotel to operate this way after charging $300 per night. After the stay, we went back to look at reviews online and just in a few minutes we found at least 3 other reviewers had complained of water problems going all the way back to 2019 (maybe more if we looked at additional sites). Seems like the hotel management should be aware of this issue and should be prepared with a game plan to address. The lack of one and complete lack of empathy in how the team handled this in the moment, just suggests the management team does not really care about guest experience or returns. There were other issues too: Continental breakfast- It was a weird breakfast arrangement at the bar by the swimming pool. There was no food laid out, we had to verbally tell the attendant our pick of 1 item each from a categorized continental breakfast menu and a plate would then be brought out to your table. The attendant told my wife we could pick one item per category, so either eggs or sausages, not both, and we kid you not… either butter or jelly under condiments, but not both! My wife is a vegetarian and asked for toast, butter and scrambled eggs and coffee. She got one slice of toasted bread cut into 2 triangles with a serving of butter the size of finger nail (maybe I exaggerate a bit but you get the picture)..the scrambled eggs were a reasonable portion though. My kids ordered pancakes and those felt very much like Eggo frozen pancakes. The attendant taking the order and bringing out the food did not appear to be very friendly towards us. Mosquitoes: the hotel is surrounded by a swamp and the mosquitoes were too real. The walk from hotel office to room on third floor and from one building to another when we were given rooms with functional bathrooms, led to several mosquito bites Access roads to the hotel: large craters with water were blocking all access roads into the property during our stay. This precluded us from walking anywhere as the craters were end to end with no room for a foothold unless one wanted to walk through standing water. No problem if you are coming in or leaving in a taxi, or in a golf cart.

When I had to change our trip to Belize from Dec 2021 to March 2022 due to Covid, Grand Baymen was one of the few places that had space available at my price point. I booked a 2 bedroom condo in late December, and was looking forward to all the amenities, including the pool, restaurant and bar. Two weeks before our arrival, I was notified that the pool would not be available. Then a week later, was told our 2 bedroom condo was under repair, and we were put into adjacent 1 bedroom condos. When we arrived, there was no water pressure due to something being done by the Belize water department. This problem continued past the posted date, and then we lost hot water. The one night we went to the pool bar to have dinner, it was not available because the cook was preparing meals for the workers dealing with the broken pool and a new building. When I asked before arrival if our new condo was near construction and was assured it was not, but no, it was right outside our windows and they started early and ended late. Grand Baymen made an adjustment to our rate, but it was not enough for me to ever consider going back there. The one highlight is the fitness center and instructor - though the equipment is pretty old school, there was enough basic stuff to make it work. Staff were polite, but it could not make up for all of the disruptions. When one staff person asked what could be done to make it up to us, I suggested they give us a one day pass to visit when we go back to San Pedro in Dec 2022, and the response was "it will be an exclusive resort then, so you won't be able to come here." That sealed it for me and my family. And oh yes - it is at the end of the San Pedro airstrip, so you must enjoy the sound of planes taking off and landing from 6 am til 9 pm.