Alaia Belize, Autograph Collection

Alaia was a wonderful home base for our couple’s spring break vacation! Room was large, elegant, with great housekeeping. We enjoyed a balcony with comfortable couch and ocean view. Folks should know the beach here is very small and covered with sorgossum, which puts a smell over much of the island. Enjoying the pool is a much better setup. We especially enjoyed the night on the beach celebrating food and music of Belize. Food on the property was generally good, although breakfast buffet felt a bit repetitive after a few days. We rented a golf cart which we parked easily across the street. It was about a 20 minute drive into town.

7 days in February, during the historic cold, but made the best of it. We opted for all inclusive. I’m sure there’s mix feelings, but we wanted to not think about how much or where are we going. Great island, great service, and would definitely visit again! Pool and beach: lots of seating, some are reserved. The beach is not swimmable, but there are plenty of chairs and beach service. Pool service was fantastic and we enjoyed our days there. Room: Stayed in the one bedroom suite. The rooms are as pictured and huge, with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, and a living room. The deck space is also large and well appointed. We liked being able to bring up leftovers or order room service and refrigerate and/or reheat as hungry. Only thing missing was a tub, that would have been great. Food: If you are not on the all inclusive, I would not recommend the buffet option unless you also want the plated special with it. Since we were AI, we often ordered from the menu and would plate fruit, etc from the buffet. Lunch was pool side with plenty of options. Pizza is really good. Dinner was hit and miss. The sushi place was subpar. Oceanside ran out of some items. What we found out and then took full advantage of, room service! Room service allowed us to order from ANY restaurant, delivered to our room, not just what was listed on the menu. Ridiculous, but was the best Mac and cheese I’ve every had. Beware, portions for everything were large. Beverage: We loved the AI option for this. Boozy coffee menu, lots of pool side drink options, and a fun night bar with craft cocktails. The beach bar has the most amazing smokey bacon Bloody Mary. It is a must! Even made very decent Old Fashions. Fun random things: They had a s’mores bar on night on the beach and it was decked out! Staff helped with everything. Wish smores was available every night! Conch shells everywhere. Please do: walk a dog and bring donations to Saga Animal Shelter. We got to walk to dogs to the beach and back, it was heart warming and everyone was happy. Don’t worry about “reserving a time” or “waiting to hear back”, just show up (maybe not noon-1p, lunch). Its very casual and so many pups awaiting a chance to get out for a bit. They have a donations wish list. What we saw most needed was small to medium harnesses, “pvc pipe” beds/cots for the dogs, and funding. https://www.sagahumanesociety.com We took a car there, but walked back. It’s only 10-15 minute walk. A quick shout out to staff: Kenroy and Bianca great pool service! Room service was amazing. House keeping was fantastic! Onsite is Belize diving, nice to not need transportation to a tour. We used for the snorkel tour, but the boat set up was disappointing. They pack people on the boat for both snorkel and diving, space was cramped and confusing. Will say that Michelle on boat was knowledgable and provided a good snorkel guide. Would recommend staying here for the experience we had!

Absolutely amazing stay. My wife and I plus two 16 year olds and a 12 year old. We stayed ON the beach in a 3 bedroom villa. It was FAR beyond expectations…which were already pretty high. The villa was GORGEOUS. The pictures do not do it justice. Impeccable. Spotlessly clean, modern, spacious, etc, etc. The food was fantastic…even simple things at the pool were beyond expectations. The service was outstanding…everyone was so friendly and wanting to help. From the moment we pulled up to the front and were greeted so incredibly warmly by Eric…to the moment we left and had to say goodbye to bye to him as he helped us get everything in the taxi to the airport…he always greeted us by name around the resort and had a friendly comment every day. I cannot recommend this resort more highly. I am Ambassador Level at Marriott Bonvoy and therefore travel A LOT. I see the best and the worst hotels and staff. This was one of the best!

The hotel itself is modern, clean, with spacious rooms and a huge, comfortable balcony with a kitchenette. We were very comfortable in our room, and the sunset views over the pool at night were magical. The pool area is genuinely lovely — spacious and beautifully designed. The gym was pretty good too, though the AC could have been stronger; I asked for it to be turned up but that wasn’t accommodated. Service was friendly but inconsistent. The concierge didn’t seem well-informed about activities or restaurants beyond handing us a generic list — I was surprised Akasha, arguably the best dining on the island, wasn’t even mentioned to us. Food was a weak point overall. We’re from California and noticed the menu leans toward more indulgent, less health-focused options, which may cater more to other guests’ preferences. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were mediocre and overpriced, and cocktails had noticeably light alcohol pours. Restaurants also charged for water and didn’t offer filtered water except at breakfast. We weren’t aware of the sargassum situation on Ambergris Caye before booking — the beach was essentially unusable because of it. That said, the dive center is right in front of Alaia, and it’s just a short boat ride to the dive spots — the diving itself was excellent. San Pedro itself didn’t offer much given the water conditions. We visited Secret Beach and personally didn’t enjoy it — felt like a tourist trap, with constant solicitation from restaurant touts every few feet (though it wasn’t crowded when we went). Checkout was also a hassle — several billing errors needed correcting while we were racing to catch a flight. Bottom line: Beautiful property with a great pool and convenient diving, but service, food, and billing accuracy need improvement.

Our experience at Alaia Belize Resort was excellent. We had a great time and our 1 bedroom ocean view suite was awesome! The decor was great, rooms were clean, airy and bright and the view was spectacular from the balcony. I should say main ocean view balcony because this room had 3 balconies, each with a different view. The food onsite was very well done. Beginning with breakfast each day at Sea Salt restaurant - be sure to try the fry jacks😋😋. We are at multiple onsite locations but our favorite by far was The Deck restaurant. It is right on the beach, beautiful views and the live music that night with a solo guitarist was very well done. And the food…. every course was super tasty and extremely well done at The Deck. One experience that was disappointing but does not impact my enthusiastic review and recommendation of this resort was dinner on Friday night (June 26) at Sea Salt, I had a great steak with the Father’s Day special but on this occasion the steak was not flavorful and was actually cold when it arrived at our table. This is really the one experience in our 7 day stay that was disappointing. The overall service of the staff and attention to details was evident, from house keeping ( Mariela) to the restaurants (Jomar, Moises, Shakira, and others I have forgotten their names) to the staff at the front lobby and security guards. Eric was particularly helpful to us on multiple occasions - he helped us when we wanted to go into town and also see some of the island by connecting us to a very knowledgeable taxi driver that serves the hotel and we were able to spend half a day exploring and soaking in the island and having lunch at Secret Beach. Echmann (sorry if I misspelled your name) who is one of the security guards was also always very pleasant and a pleasure to talk to. He gave my wife and I great suggestions as we wanted to just walk around a little - we took his advice from day one about walking on the beach and we sure enjoyed it every day. I enjoyed talking to him and learning more about Belize in general and San Pedro more specifically. Our observation and experience was not a one off, we saw these individuals exhibiting the same dedicated service and attention to guests at every turn. Excellent thinking to offer the Father’s Day special at the spa and also the dinner special at Sea Salt. I gladly did both🤣. I look forward to visiting again.