Impersonal Finance

You may have noticed my break from the blog (even this early in its existance). My entire family goes away together every year for ten days, usually in March/April. Approximately 40 of us travel. Like most family dynamics, I’m guessing, the trip is great for the first few days, decent for the next few, and by the end, I am counting the minutes till I can leave.

Every year we go to a different hotel, even if it’s in the same general locale. This was our 11th year going away and here is the geographic breakdown:

Puerto Rico - 4 years

Florida - 3 years

Arizona - 2 years

Las Vegas - 1 year

California - 1 year

Funny thing is that the best and worst trips both took place in Arizona.

This year’s trip was to the Gran Melia in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The past three PR trips had been to the El Conquistador and twice to the Ritz Carlton San Juan. Four generations of our family travel and only the two oldest generations have a say of where we go. Father Expert is among the family leaders and usually has a large voice in the decision. This has its good points and its bad. The bad is that Mother Expert needs a beach (even though she steps foot in it like once or twice) and Father needs a large hotel room, even though all he does is sleep there. I believe it to be a status thing since there really is no other reason. The good is that he uses Trip Advisor well and the hotel and weather are usually perfect.

Our family is fairly well off and with that we expect things done certain ways, specifically our way. We can be very demanding, to the point of embarassment. Rude comments and actions are extremely common on these vacations.

So now that I’ve explained all that, all you need to see is the Trip Advisor review of the hotel to know that this had the potential to be bad:
Gran Melia

Three star average review is not something the family is accustomed to, especially where most of the negative comments involved service. I am going to follow this article with a Trip Advisor primer since I will use the site regularly in my travel reviews.

Since this is supposed to be a review of the trip and the hotel, let’s detail the good and the bad in bullet points:

Good:

Grounds are gorgeous and well maintained
Pools were great - large one for kids and parents, smaller secluded one for adults only
Rooms were large and each one had it’s own deck
Massage was one of the best I have ever had
Spa facilities weren’t very large, but nice and very clean

Bad:

Hotel is so spread out that you have to walk far to get anywhere
Housekeeping is abysmal (see Trip Advisor reviews)
The airport is about 45 minutes away from the facility
Close proximity to the rainforest does not leave for ideal weather (too humid, too hot or too rainy)
The Beach is tiny, rocky and full of kelp. There is literally nowhere to swim
Service in general - call for anything and you may have to call two or three times

You could not possibly get me to recommend this place. It is not by any means the worst place I have ever stayed at, but for the prices you pay, you can definitely do better elsewhere. In Puerto Rico, I would highly suggest the El Conquistador, specifically the Las Casitas section. Otherwise, skip PR and look for other destinations.

Another segment I plan on adding is travel reviews. I don’t travel that often. Usually, an annual Vegas trip in August with a bunch of guys and a family trip in April (to a different destination every year). With Baby Expert coming in the next couple of months, the chance of traveling, other than the two annual events, is remote. I am still trying to work on a “couples only” trip for either November or February, but with so many friends having young children, I feel most won’t be able to travel or afford the trip.

This past February, I went to Las Vegas outside of my annual trip. It was for a bachelor party. In my younger days, when going to Vegas, I didn’t care where I stayed. I wanted somewhere decent and on the strip, but other than that, what did it matter? The first time I went, I spent 11 hours in my room over three days. Expensive hotels are a waste of money. For the bachelor party, I decided to change my thinking a bit. I shopped around for deals and found a great one at USAirways Vacations (see end of post for link). I was able to stay at the Bellagio for about $100/night.

The Bellagio is supposedly one of the fanciest hotels on the strip. In fact, it’s “5 Star” status makes it one of the nicest hotels in the country. I found it grossly overrated. The hotel is very nice and the grounds are beautiful. The restaurants are stellar, albeit extremely expensive. Where I found the hotel lacking were the rooms. They were nice and clean, but about half the size as rooms at the Rio, where I stayed on a previous trip. For the normal price of $400/night, I expect a lot more and was thankful I didn’t pay full price.

I would never recommend this hotel to anyone and have told people about my experiences when I get the chance. From other people I’ve talked to, TheHotel at Mandalay Bay and Venetian/Palazzo are on the same level in terms of quality, but give you much more bang for your buck.

I haven’t yet decided if I will have a generic “links” section to my site, but until I decide, here are a few travel links I highly recommend.

Trip Advisor - My father, Father Expert, uses this as his travel Bible and I happily followed his lead. I won’t make any plans without consulting this site first.

www.kayak.com - If you are looking for a hotel or flight unbundled, there is no site out there better. It scans almost every major airline and hotel chain, along with many of the travel sites like Orbitz and Priceline.

www.usairwaysvacations.com - I am not a shill for USAirways, and I know they have customer service issues, but if you need a flight/hotel package deal and you are traveling to one of the cities they list on their site (the list is huge, but not comprehensive), then I highly suggest starting here. You won’t be sorry.