Just sent these comments to hotel: Hello - A friend and I just returned from a 4-night stay at Jaguar Reef using a Travelzoo voucher I'd like to share our comments about the stay in the hope you will take note and be able to improve from our experience. My friend booked transfer from Belize City to your resort by car for 2 people through emails with your resort for about $100US each. We gave our flight information and arrived separately but on time. The contact on site then told us we had to wait for 3 other people which cost us over an hour of our vacation time. The others ultimately did not show up and, despite our frequent requests to depart, we were forced to wait. We had never been told we would be with other people and didn't appreciate the delay. The voucher provided a Deluxe Suite with Private Plunge Pool. My travel companion emailed with Araceli in your office to confirm we would have twin beds and Araceli did confirm that would be provided. When we arrived, we were taken to a room with a King bed and, when we asked for the twin bed room, staff offered to put bedding on the couch or bring a rollaway. We declined and stated we would not have booked this with a couch or rollaway and had confirmed the twins by email. Ultimately, we were shown a 2 bedroom unit but told we would have to pay to upgrade. I pushed back because the resort was not full and this was not our fault. We were then given the 2 bedroom unit for no additional fee but should not have had to negotiate this or waste an hour to settle it. We certainly didn't want anything for free and weren't trying to take advantage so we didn't use housekeeping service the entire time. The "plunge pool" is not swimmable but simply a small warm water square tub to sit in. At check-in, we were encouraged to do the snorkeling trip the next day for a 10% discount as there were no other days with space available (they said). By evening, we agreed to do this and confirmed the US price with the front desk of $106 per person total. The next morning as I tried to pay by credit card, I signed the payment slip but was told to come back after the tour to run the card in the office. I noticed that the total was in Belize dollars and higher than $106 x 2 so I commented on that and she said we'd work it out after the tour. When I followed up to pay later, a different person told me I had to pay the GST (tax) and resort fee on top of the $106 each which was never told to me. That was 28% higher than quoted and I was not happy but I was also tired of arguing about every issue with your very nice people so I let this go. We had already paid a 10% resort fee and 9% in tax to the hotel before arrival. Nowhere at the front desk is it posted that everything we book or eat has a resort or tax on top of the price for every single thing. We definitely felt scammed on the pricing. The snorkel trip only had 2 other people on it, half the lunches (which we filled out a form to request) were wrong, and the boat return 90 minutes before they said it would, shortcutting our time on the water which was disappointing. Though breakfast was included each day and we could choose from the menu, our waiter, Andy (most of the time) was not service oriented. He rarely refilled water or coffee without prompting (and never from the correct service side, requiring us to move our glass or cup to him rather than him coming TO the cup). When we signed the ticket each morning, he was clearly looking for a tip but we told him we would tip at the end of our stay for all the breakfasts hoping that would motivate him to serve better. He didn't. Some of the hot food was not hot (the chicken patties - yuck) and we couldn't eat much of the fish due to all bones. Service and taste were marginal. On May 5, we decided to enjoy taco night at the pool. We were quoted $36BZ for all-you-can-eat tacos so we started with 3 each. A manager then came over and told us he had changed the pricing to 3 tacos for $18US and asked how many we had eaten already (3 each). How can they change pricing after people are eating? Drinks were expensive at the pool also. We had a drink at the bar one night and that young bartender was very friendly and helpful. The mango sorrel drink was amazing and he was deserving of our tips. The resort advertised two pools but we could only find one. No one gave us a map or tour of the property but we kind of figured out that the Colonial area could be used by us. There was no food or beverage service at the beach lounge chairs. The resort doesn't even have a gift shop or anywhere to buy water bottles. The restaurant wanted to charge me for a glass of ice water to take to the lounge chair <50' away so I went back to my room and got it. In the room, one shower had only warm water (not hot) and the TV volume could not be changed (no remote for that). The building was nice otherwise. One day, we noticed the landscape crew pushing the seaweed around on the beach. Instead of removing it or opening paths from the sand to the water, they were just moving it about 2' for no apparent purpose. For us to get TO the water, we had to step in the seaweed when it easily could have been removed or parted to make paths. We feel that the newer part of the resort was nice and the landscaping was pretty but that, overall, your staff has not been trained well in hospitality. There were so many people around but few seemed to have authority or know what to do. As I was struggling to get my luggage down the stairs from room 16, navigating a cane (healing broken leg) and my tote bag, "Daniel" a gardener, asked if he could help get my luggage to the front desk area. I declined as it could easily roll a few fee there. I thanked him and he then said that, if I wrote about his kindness and said his name on TripAdvisor, he would be given $10 by your company. This greed is how we felt from most - they weren't genuinely trying to service their guests (who would then likely tip generously) but they seemed to only want to do what would give them a tip. It was quite disturbing as we are generous people but this didn't set well with us. The lady at the front desk who arranged our taxi at departure (I don't know her name but she has a baby named Dalia) was quite efficient and offered us options for transfer and also printed our boarding passes. Overall, we may come back to Belize but will not come back to your resort. We recommend that you send your staff to some hospitality trainings to learn to focus on genuine service and not just on making tips. The food needs to improve, the pricing needs to reflect the total costs, and communication between the office and resort team needs to be clear. We travel to a lot of countries and resorts and visiting yours left us disappointed. Thank you for considering our thoughts.

Our stay at Jaguar Reef Lodge was simply amazing! All the staff were superb and could not do enough to ensure our stay was unforgettable. The room was luxurious, from the extremely comfortable king size bed, to the spacious bathroom and even our very own private plunge pool with internal courtyard to truly unwind after a day of site seeing. We also had a huge front patio with hammock and daybed to relax and enjoy the view. We ate at both The Paddle House Restaurant and Don Tonito's Pizza- both were incredible cuisine. From local seafood and garden specialities and an amazing pizza that rivalled ones we have eaten in Italy. They also have plenty of beach lounge beds, activities including their own pier with a ceviche bar up stairs and chill out areas below if you just want to unwind and read a book enjoying the ocean views. Honestly, we highly recommend this property as the place to stay in Hopkins and the whole of Belize. It is such a fantastic place to stay!

This resort is in a beautiful setting with well-maintained grounds, right on the ocean, and the suites are true suites. I had TWO sleeping areas, a sitting area, a magnificent bathroom and a coffee maker, water dispenser and mini-fridge as well as a balcony facing the ocean. I chose vegan options from the extensive breakfast menu; both mornings they were excellent. We (tour group of 7) checked in on May 5 and the woman who led us around cheerfully announced their special Cinco de Mayo celebration with tacos made to order. They were, but you had to order 3 and they were smallish, for $US 18 total. They were good, though. Margaritas were 2 for 1- $US 17 total. The glitches were technical. Check-in was a bit chaotic because you had to have them send you a WhatsApp message on your phone after you got on the wi-fi; that was their preferred means of contact. No phones in the room. I went for a swim, came back and couldn’t get into my room. I had to traipse into the lobby, clad only in a bathing suit and a towel. They’d given me the wrong key. The second morning, wi-fi in the rooms didn’t work. Very frustrating. Otherwise an excellent stay.

We traveled to Hopkins for a destination wedding at Jaguar Reef. Vern at check in was great as well as other staff members who helped with our bags. We checked in on April 17. All staff were equally cordial but Vern did go above and beyond. Great people at Jaguar Reef Resort.

Overall this was a great stay. The rooms are large and comfortable. We had a small pool and it was very clean and a good temperature Waitstaff is great. Captain Larry super friendly. Breakfast was very good. Ceviche bar very good. Cons were housekeeping. What is going on here? Never have experienced this before in a nice resort. They didn’t come until 5 or 6pm. Also concierge service was confusing. Didn’t make promised dinner reservation. Not good communication. Check your bill upon check out. We found errors.