After reading the other reviews, I felt confident in booking four nights at The Placencia. Unfortunately, it was not what we expected. The staff was completely overwhelmed and the property didn't seem ready for the influx of visitors that were there during the Xmas holidays. At one point, the generator broke and we were without electricity. The food was ok, but the menu was very limited. The resort is the furthest away from town, so getting anywhere is a big hassle. The shuttles don't run on any sort of schedule, if at all, so you have to hope one will show up. I believe our driver said to us, "I may be back around 3:30 to pick you up, maybe before, maybe later, don't count on it." The sand flies are a huge problem -- we had to hibernate in our room the final day because we were so tired of dealing with bug bites. If the owners of the Placencia want to charge the 4 or 5 star accomodation rates, they have to get their act together!

Electricity goes out 80% of day/night.
Pitch black so you cannot get back to your hotel room.
No towels at pool-hotel staff always tells you the
towels are on their way. If they do arrive they are wet.
B/C the electricity is off and the dryers do not work.
There is never hot water, again electricity.
Plus, they also lose water pressure b/c electricity
is off. So, you go to this gorgeous beach resort
where they have not power, no water and no food
deliveries -due to terrible management.
People are lovely,,,not a good enough reason to
spend a fortune and be very disappointed.
Guests were complaining constantly to no avail.
Really a shame...
Turtle Inn is right down the road and beautiful.
You will much more but at least you will get
service you expect.

My family just returned from Placencia and as always stayed at the Placencia Hotel and Residences. I have never stayed at a place that makes everyone feel like such royalty. The staff were truly awesome and did everything they could to make our stay the best ever. The services from David, our fabulous "limo" van driver and tour guide, to Walter who is the best gardener on the peninsula, to Tara at the front desk who fixed all of our many self-created problems with a smile, to Irwin "James Bond" and Nicolla who kept us from getting thirsty, to Emil that kept the largest pool in Belize crystal-clean and kept us smiling, to Anatonella that created fabulous goumet dishes, to Pappey, Tess, Santiago, Beatrice, Carlos,and so many others that my feeble mind just can not remember names for. and to all of the many hands that helped create this fabulous resort. Placencia is a place where many friends are made for a lifetime, and we feel very lcuky to have found it. We appreciate Marco and Michela so much for having the vision and stamina to persist in their dream and sharing it with so many people. All of you deserve standing ovations and so much more recognition than you have received for a job well done. Hope to see all of you soon and I would recommend place this resort at the top of their list for travel in Belize.

We had a destination wedding at the Placencia Hotel and the experience exceeded our expectations. The planning phase was very effective. We worked out the details of the event over email correspondance with Desorine. Desorine was very helpful in making the planning easy while still allowing us enough control to make the event tailored to our preferences. They did exceed our expectations by finding seat covers that exactly matched the bride's wedding dress, creating a special drink menu for the wedding full of tasty mixed drinks, decorating a beautiful location on the beach for the ceremony, and setting up a canopy of lights on the pier specifically for the reception.

As a resort strictly for vacation purposes, I would say that the pool is a great ammenity. We had a wonderful time hanging out with our guests at the pool. The bar on the pier was lovely in the moon light and the general menu was pretty good. I preferred the breakfast and lunch menus because there were about three or four dinner menu items that they did not serve. I am not sure if they were in the process of updating their dinner menu or if they had fewer items available due to the fact that we had our event after the peak season. While the items that were available were good, I think that the items that they no longer served looked great. One dinner menu item that was great was the lobster dinner.

The activity planning through the resort was great. They have top quality vehicles and plan a good day activity. Providing both lunch and snacks on the return trip. It was a little bit of a drive to take day excursions, but the ride was pleasant and airconditioned.

From the first day of event planning I was worried about the sand fleas that I had read about. There was only one night, when I forgot to wear bugspray, that I noticed sand flea bites. The guests of the wedding had various encounters with the little critters. Some people must have been tastier than others, but at least this was at best a mild anoyance rather than the focus of the event.

We had our wedding on Saturday night so all of our guests were there on Friday for Karaoke night. This was a nice unexpected and fun evening. It was a great chance for our guests to relax and have a good time as one large group prior to the wedding.

The general staff at the resort was very accomodating and worked a lot of additional hours both in the preparation for the wedding and at the event itself. We really appreciated all that the chef Antonella did for us. We coordinated the menu for the wedding via email and while it looked good on paper it was even better than we expected on the wedding night. The wait staff did a great job of serving up cocktails and making sure that the guests were taken care of all night and even into the morning (until around 5am). We would like to send a special thanks to Graham, Alex, and the bartender who called himself "Bond" who was still smilling the last time I saw him at 3 am mixing drinks. We would also like to thank all the staff that stayed up until 5 am.

We highly recommend the Placencia Hotel for a destination wedding or a romantic getaway.