MyFairAngela
Google
Palo Verde is a beautiful boutique hotel. I stayed for my and my best friend’s birthday trip to El Salvador this past April. The resort is stunning and it’s right on the beautiful beach. Plus, the massage was absolutely amazing! I loved how the staff reserved pool chairs/cabanas for guests…everyone’s name was at their chair for the duration of their stay which helped to avoid fighting over space at the pool…This was a very nice touch. Because it is a boutique property, it never felt too crowded which was great for us. The food was also very good and fresh. The drinks were just ok…kinda weak, but the tropical wave was my favorite. There were some stray cats at the property, but they didn’t bother anyone and were super cute. ||I stayed in a loft which was nice and had two beds (one queen upstairs and one twin on the main level) and a full kitchen. The a/c worked great which was a plus. There were sporadic power outages, but they didn’t last long which was also a plus. My room did have a couple of drawbacks however. As a woman, it was a turn-off not to have anywhere to hang or put away my clothes, as there were no closets or drawers, not even a dresser. The only storage-type furniture was a tv stand/credenza. I don’t like living out of my suitcase, but I didn’t have much of an option. There were stains on the lounge chair as well, so I opted not to sit on it. I didn’t particularly care for the shower because the water pressure was low and it’s top-mounted. The staff was able to increase the water pressure for me and that was appreciated. ||While the majority of the staff were very kind and attentive, there were a couple of occasions that left a stain on my stay. One staff member at the restaurant, Manuel (a server), was unfortunately very rude. I placed a dinner order for room service and was reviewing the receipt handed to me by another server. The protocol is the property bills all orders to your room and staff provides guests with a receipt to sign at every transaction to confirm the charges. This particular receipt had shots of alcohol, beers (I don’t do shots or drink beer), and red meat (I don’t eat red meat) that were being charged to my room. I let this staff person know that those items were not mine and should not be charged to my room. Without trying to understand or even asking what was going on, Manuel decided to loudly interject saying “She didn’t pay!!! She didn’t pay!!!” while pointing to my friend who was staying in another room. We told him that neither of us placed that order and that I needed the proper bill (I ordered shrimp), but he kept exclaiming publicly that my friend didn’t pay without listening to what were saying. This was disrespectful and detracted from the experience. So I chose not to deal with him any further until my bill was corrected. The very next day, I went to the restaurant early to get a good seat for breakfast since it was my friend’s birthday and to my surprise I was seated in Manuel’s section. He came over to the table and I let him know that I didn’t appreciate the way he spoke to me and my friend the night prior, but he was dismissive and unapologetic. So, I left the restaurant and went to the bar to wait for my friend because I was not going to spoil her birthday by enduring Manuel’s unpleasant attitude. ||Additionally, there was confusion regarding breakfast. We were told one meal and juice were included, yet orange juice appeared on my bill, with staff claiming it was excluded from breakfast. I was also billed for water which was supposed to be included. This sort of mixed messaging and lack of clarity was frustrating. Furthermore, staff could have been more attentive and followed instructions better. We had to ask every morning for basic coffee accompaniments like a spoon, sugar, and creamer, and our room service orders were not correctly fulfilled. ||Although we had a great trip to El Salvador overall and, again, the property was absolutely beautiful, these few instances of inattentive service and unclear communication did impact our stay. Once Palo Verde addresses and improves these service matters and tweaks to the room, it will definitely be an even better property.
