GOV Trip Report (April 3 - April 6) Following is a review of our perspective of GOV based on our brief three day stay (April 3 – April 6). The top three things we were most impressed by: 1. Valentina Biegun the Resort Concept Manager was extremely attentive and genuine … she is a jewel and helped to make our stay most pleasurable. 2. The views from the rooms are terrific. 3. Sushi served at lunch at the beachside bar. The three things we were least impressed with: 1. The air conditioning was not operating properly (or at all) in the buffet restaurant, the VIP lounge, and other portions of the main floor, which made it unbearable to sit in these areas. 2. There were no bathrooms quickly accessible to the party pool. And other than those located on the far side of the quiet pool or on the other side of the resort (by the spa) you had to go indoors to find one. 3. Paying extra for a safe in the room. If they want to charge for it…. It should be added into the standard price of the room. Paying the extra (invisible) $8 per day for the room would be far more palatable than making me pay $8 per day on top of the room charge. CHECK IN: VERY EASY…. When we arrived at the GOV it was approximately 2PM and we were led to the VIP Lounge. After about a minute we sat down at a desk to start the process…. then I mentioned that we had emailed Valentina about our reservation and the person helping us immediately jumped up and went to another desk to grab our portfolio. Then she said that our room would not be ready for another half hour, she gave us our wrist bands, explained about the new concept of the hotel (topless etc.) and then encouraged us eat lunch while she alerted Valentina to our arrival (Valentina was at lunch). After grabbing something to eat and a downing a couple of cocktails we returned to the desk and were led up to our room. It was the exact room type we requested. OUR ROOM: With the help of Valentina we upgraded to a Sain Ka’an Suite. Not sure if we would have done it had we been staying for an extended period of time, but for three days it was worth the extra money (about $70 USD per day - since we had already booked the Spice room). The Sain Ka’an is really just an average room with a very cool balcony that has a hot tub, an outdoor bed, a great view directly over the party pool, and enough space for lots of people to gather. We used the hot tub, enjoyed the outside bed on a couple of occasions (which was surprisingly comfortable), and hosted a party on the balcony. We definitely got good use of the balcony. The downside of the room is that the depth of the balcony restricts the view of the ocean and, therefore, these rooms have the resort’s poorest view of ocean. FOOD: The food was good (we are not at all picky eaters). Breakfast buffet….. had a limited selection. The omelets were good, the hash brown potato casserole was outstanding, sausage was awful, there was no bread for toast … but, the fresh cut French bread loaf was a nice change of pace. The coffee at the Coffee bar in the VIP lounge is the best I’ve ever had. Lunch….. food at Mr. Wimpys bar was brutal (tasteless burgers, strange tasting hotdogs, and chicken fingers deep fried in some nasty cooking oil), though the sushi at the other bar at the pool was some of the best sushi I’ve had. If you like sushi you are in for a real treat here. Dinner… we ate dinner at all the restaurants that did not require a reservation and we found the food to be good quality and served with pride. At the buffet you had to wait in line to be seated and there always seemed to be many open tables... it made no sense and seemed to only needlessly cause backups (we even bailed on eating at least one meal because we didn’t want to wait that long). DRINKS: Strong but very inconsistent in terms of quality, brand, mixers, and temperature from bar to bar. The bars often seemed to be understaffed – though the wait is seldom less than a few minutes. The drinks were particularly bad at the Coyote bar. I think they blended their own mixers and used the cheapest liquor available. POOL: We only spent time in the party pool, so other than to say it is nice looking….. we have no first-hand experience at the quiet pool. The party pool was clean and a good temperature for hanging out in as long as you wanted. The music was mostly in the background which allowed for nice conversation. There are only 10 lounge chairs (exact count) around the party pool, which seemed to keep the crowd away from the pool and mostly on the beach. There were no organized pool games/activities other than water aerobics each morning and the foam party on Saturday at 5PM….. which was a rockin’ fun party that lasted for a couple of hours. The pool bar was understaffed and covered by a sun shade making it very difficult to get a drink. Most of the time we got out of the pool to the lobby bar and returned with our drinks before those waiting at the pool bar were served or even acknowledged. TOPLESSNESS: Usually less than ten ladies were topless (I think mostly Cancuncare members) except for the during the foam party when several others joined in. Though very few were topless, there was no feeling that anyone was shocked or put off by it at all. There were no obvious gawkers. PARTY ATMOSPHERE: GOV is a great place to have a party. But if you want it…. most likely you will have to bring your own (or make sure you plan to meet up with other Cancuncare members). Other than the foam party, the resort does very little to amp up excitement. The Coyote bar is nice but understaffed. On the only night it was crowded…. there was such a long wait to get drinks that we eventually moved the party upstairs to the balcony. All in all we felt that GOV provided a good value and filled the bill as a quiet adults only resort with a mildly sexy vibe.
Thank you for your report. That said, having read your report and another posted today I can't understand all the justifying of the conditions and lack luster service. I don't care how little or how much is paid for a trip it is not OK for the basic amenities to be this far below par. Poor food choices, poor quality, waiting in line at an open buffet then having little to no air conditioning to enjoy the "again" poorly excuted dinner service is not OK... it's wrong at any price. Waiting in a line because of understaffing, then saying it's OK because we met other great people waiting in line too, is the definition of burying your head in the sand to avoid being disappointed. Again understaffed, whether it's a 2 star or 5 star resort is wrong at any price. And the air conditioning problems they're having now in April are going to be horrific in June/July. We had booked 9 nights for late this June at GOV. We only get 1 vacation a year and we can barely afford that. So we have decided to go elsewhere and let GOV fix itself. I love that Valentina is trying so hard and that she responds to the CCC people. But shouldn't everyone receive this treatment. So if CCC people are the only ones receiving the VIP treatment but still are coming back with less than glowing reports...something IS wrong there. I'm truly happy for those that go and and have a great time, but I think more often than not some of these people are lowering their standards to keep from being disappointed about their vacations for the next year. I hope the people going in the near future have a great time and have the vacation of their dreams. I just won't risk my only vacation by going to GOV then having to justify why all these problems and poor basic amenities were not an issue because we met great people suffering through it just like us. Jeff
I can see your perspective that us saying that we got a good value seems to be not in sync with the deficiencies that we mentioned. It's not really a justification, but, since we only had a small three day "snapshot" of the resort.... we considered that some of these perceived issues may be isolated (though not likely). Frankly, if we had been there for a whole week some of those shortcomings could have been more bothersome.
Thank for the report. I would like to plan a quick 2 day trip there. We are in Mexico for 2 weeks end of april. The understaff seems to be a major problem. Even if we only do 2 night stay, it will suck to wait along time for restaurant/bar service.
The issues arent isolated. We were there 5 days, and had the same issues every day. I dont have an ax to grind with the GOV, but I still believe in getting what I paid for, and not lowering my expectations to justify the money spent.
It's interesting that you're willing to condemn GOV for the same shortcomings that you have no problem giving a pass to TTR for. Last Halloween at TTR, we experienced many of the same issues that we ran into at GOV and I have no doubt that you have too. Of 5 trips to TTR our room air conditioning has worked only twice. Didn't work on our last trip either. How about the air conditioning not working for at least 3 nights at the italian restaurant over Halloween? You think it's bad at the buffet? How about when you've dressed up in a button down shirt and slacks and are sweating your ass off? And seeing the managers in suits dripping with sweat? Yeah, that's way better than GOV. How's the air conditioning at Patyo? Right, there isn't any....and there's no air flow either, necessitating at least one shirt change a night on warmer evenings. Our room patio flooded as well one day, with some water getting into our room and the 2 inches of water outside didn't drain for 2 days. Your quip about burying one's head in the sand was obviously a dig at me. You conveniently omit the part where I said it doesn't take long to get a drink. Never more than a few minutes. You can twist that any way you want. Do you ever wait in line at TTR for a drink? Nah, course not. Not going to a place that you THINK is crap and instead going to one that you KNOW is...well that is probably a more accurate definition of burying one's head in the sand. Virtually everything you've said I can apply to TTR at one time or another, if not consistently. And that is the reason why you and everyone else here has at least looked into GOV as a possible option.
Couldn't agree more. I find it amusing how people are ripping apart GOV, when I have had similar or worse experiences at TTR. I have not been to GOV, but have been watching reports because I know it is very, very unlikely we will be back to TTR, at least not for awhile. I also love how people is quick to say everyone has their opinion, to let them have it because it is informative no matter what, and blah blah blah. Which I totally agree, everyone is entitled to their opinion and TR without bashing. But, have you ever tried writing a negative TR or even just one negative thing about TTR on the forum?? I speak from experience when I say a lynch mob comes after you. It is ridiculous! My latest dealings with the "friendly, open-minded, non-judgmental" repeaters has kept me from being on that forum since stating my experience and opinion of our last trip.
One more thing you could add to that is trip report after trip report of TTR there are warnings of what could happen to your wife if you get drunk and she is left alone. Pretty sure that in the confined walls of "Mecca" a wife's safety shouldn't be a concern. Haven't heard that being a problem at GOV or Golden to this point.
