Hotel Mousai

The view from the rooftop pool deck delighted us every day of our stay. I cannot undersell how beautiful the site is. We went up there every day and were blown away by the service and the excellent menu. Given the limited number of guests in either of the Mousai towers, we'd no problem getting chairs every day. Because there is a manager to seat everyone, there is no 'towel' game like you'd see at many resorts. The pool concierge/mangers expertly adjusted the umbrellas over the course of the day to accommodate the amount of shade we require. Being pasty Seattleites, this minimized the burning! Though the place was beautiful and the food great, I find the staff often makes the experience. Though everyone was friendly and helpful at the pool, Ricardo, Mikaela, and Rafael all deserve special mention for their service, their hospitality, and their warmth. My wife and I felt very much at home. The restaurants were generally very good. In fact, I'd rate Mousai as having the best food we'd experienced at an all-inclusive. However, there were several menu items, especially at Hiroshi, the Japanese restaurant, that required an up-charge. This wasn't a big deal, but on many of the menus the tiny red icon was easy to miss. Mishika was the stand-out. Jan, the hostess at Mishika was amazing. We'd never had Peruvian food before, but everything we tried was great. The Lomo Saltado blew us both away. It's presented as a beef soup with veggies and a side of rice that we just dumped into the bowl to soak up the delicious broth. Did we eat it right? No idea; don't care. But at the restaurants, as good as the service and the food were overall, the aesthetic/design choices of the resort reared their ugly heads. Everything was hard surfaces and angles, making for horrible acoustics. All of the restaurants felt like high school lunch rooms. There were a rotating squad of musicians who played for each meal, with the saxophonist plaguing any restaurant she was assigned to. Conversation was basically impossible when the unnecessarily microphoned saxophonist played, killing all romance or even ambiance. Those same unpleasant aesthetic choice were echoed throughout the property. Everywhere were black and white squares with red accents, turning a beautiful tropical place into a stark checkerboard nightmare. Giant chess pieces abounded, but nowhere was an actual chess set, assuming someone actually wanted to play chess on their vacation. Those same decisions carried into the room designs. An eclectic mix of furniture filled the room, almost none of it functional. Most maddening was the stupid little table positioned near the door that both my wife and I ran into several times. Moving it didn't help because housekeeping put it right back there every time. There was no couch for us to sit on together. In fact, I couldn't find a way to enjoy the tiny sofa at all. On a more practical level, beyond shelves in the closet, there was very limited drawer space. The lack of a dining table was made up for by room service being served on its own table, but the lack of chairs sized for the portable table made enjoying room service anywhere but on the balcony challenging. We just wound up eating on the bed, which of course left crumbs and what not. Furthermore, the stark black and white aesthetic went into overdrive with diagonal lines up the walls of our room, generating stress when all I wanted was relaxation. I'd never been in a room at a resort that had so much visual noise, making it an uncomfortable place to be. Speaking of discomfort, at check-in we were sat down with a manager named Joanna (I'm misspelling it... there was a 'w' in the there somewhere). She helped us with the 'map', which my wife and I have learned is code for selling us the vacation club. I have no idea why hospitality companies insist on ambushing guests after a day of travel before they'd had the chance to even see their room, but it's always an unpleasant experience. Ask me at the end, not before I've even seen anything. In this case, though, two weaknesses of the resort were revealed. First, we could not be provided with a printed list of all the restaurants. Joanna had to write down the name of the restaurant that wasn't listed, as well as add extra notes that had somehow not made it into the printed materials. This made even navigating the place unnecessarily, which is split between multiple towers (including the adjoining Garza Blanca property). Second, Joanna volunteered to make several dinner reservations for us. We declined the godawful vacation club pitch once we realized that's what was happening (credit to my wife spotting it faster than I did). After going around three times with Joanna making it clear that we didn't want to hear the pitch, none of our dinner reservations were entered into their system. We were left waiting several minutes on our first night to be seated because Joanna, whether on purpose or due to carelessness, didn't make our reservation for us. Michelle, the hostess, at Noi (the Italian restaurant), fit us in. She was a joy we encountered several times over the course of our stay. Fixing those reservations became a chore, less for us and more for the poor woman at the front desk who had no way of simply looking up our account. She had to log into each restaurant individually. For one restaraunt, she had to actually call the hostess to book our reservation. What century are we in? The issues with management and systems continued with us not being properly logged into the I-Pad through which room service was ordered, until we called the following day. It was the same with my all-inclusive wrist band. I could open the front door, but I couldn't settle any of the checks at the restaurants until we went back to the front desk to have it activated for a second time. The checks for everything, even just stopping by the lobby bar for a drink, were a tedious waste. The all-inclusive wrist bands are a different color than the ala carte guests, so if I'm ordering included drinks, why do we need to sign every time? I know each of these things sounds like a small annoyance, but taken in totality, we spent a lot of time with clerical nonsense to get to that gorgeous rooftop pool, the excellent food, and the wonderful service provided by anyone not named Joanna (I know, I know... there's a 'w' in her name... I just don't know where to put it.) If the place wasn't so garish, they didn't assault you with their vacation club the moment you walked through the door, and we didn't have numerous, if small, issues with their systems, I'd have given Hotel Mousai five stars.

Amazing experience at Sanctuary- newest building at Garza Blanca. Rooms were outstanding- large, brand new, well appointed, awesome patio. Service was better than expected- first rate. Rooftop at Sacntuaru was the best spot in the entire complex. Edgar, Roberto, Edson, Rigoberto, Miriam and Jorge- awesome. Access to restaurants for all inclusive set a new level- authentic and lots of choices. No more buffet all inclusive here( although you can if you want). Quick trip into town to walk the boardwalk. Weather in Feb is outstanding- 25-28 and sunny everyday. Property is immaculate- always cleaning. We took in Sports Bar, Noi, Dao, Bocados. Misika , and Hiroshi.

The best of the best! Customer service is great employees are always very attentive and friendly. The food no matter where you go is amazing the views are spectacular and the rooms are to die for! Will recommend this place to any and everyone.

What a lovely place! Our group felt well taken care of with beautiful rooms, great service, and great amenities overall.

Stayed for work and absolutely love my experience. Every morning breakfast was lovely. Lorena, Luis, Nitza and Erik made sure it was a wonderful experience. They were attentive, kind and warm. Highly recommend!