Banana Beach Resort

“Very nice room and a good location, hampered by a couple of amenity issues.”

Our room was really nice, and an excellent value at just over $200/night in February. It was actually a small one-bedroom apartment - clean, modern, and recently fully renovated. It had a full kitchen, comfy bed, and acceptable (but not great) shower pressure/temp. The property is located about 10… Mehr

Our room was really nice, and an excellent value at just over $200/night in February. It was actually a small one-bedroom apartment - clean, modern, and recently fully renovated. It had a full kitchen, comfy bed, and acceptable (but not great) shower pressure/temp. The property is located about 10 minutes south of San Pedro by golf cart, making it convenient to town but quieter at night, which we preferred. (If you don't rent a golf cart it's a half hour walk each way to town, but golf carts are commonly rented and available everywhere.) There are two courtyard pools, one with a poolside bar (drinks only) and the other with a partial beach view. The beach itself is so-so - man-made (sand trucked in) which is common on Ambergris Caye, but unlike some beaches it lacks swimming access due to a retaining wall. The amenity issues? First of all, out of 30 or so lounge chairs around the pools and beach, only 5 (yes, 5) had cushions on them. On the rest, you sat on the bare hard plastic lounger, which got very uncomfortable very quickly. Upon walking north up the beach, we discovered that Bananas was the only property to do this - every other place had either cushions, or fabric-seated loungers that didn't need them. We ended up walking up the beach about 5-10 minutes to the Beach Bar, part of the Carribean Villas resort. Their loungers were comfy (plus there were hammocks), their beach had swimming access, and they welcomed us as long as we bought occasional drinks and lunch (which was delivered beachside). So it was only a short walk, but we never actually got to use Bananas' pools and beach. The second strange amenity shortcoming was in the kirchen. We specifically chose Bananas for the kitchen, as we stayed 10 days and preferred not to eat out all 30 times. This business decision really cofounds me: Bananas spent maybe $5K-10K to fully renovate the kitchen, complete with new stainless steel appliances...only to render it useless for lack of spending $20 on a couple of pots! There is service for at least 4, plus a full compliment of serving utensils and bowls, but only a single frying pan and not even one pot to boil water in. We assumed this was an oversight so we want to the front desk, where we were told that it was intentional. What is the point of an oven without a single pot to put in it, or a 4 burner stove with just one frying pan, or a huge fridge when you can't stock it with anything that can't be cooked in one ftying pan? Do they really expect every consecutive guest to go find a hardware store and buy their own pots and pans? Very odd. Other than these couple of gripes we really enjoyed our stay, but we would have enjoyed it much more if they had made the kitchen, pool, and beach more guest friendly.

Weniger

“Not the place for us, not a real beach, no ocean swimming at property.”

We were there for 18 days and wanted to know if this island would be somewhere we would want to stay for 2-3 months and the answer is no. Value for money is not there for us. You cannot snorkel at the resort, you need to hire a boat to go out to the reef. Unlike Roatan where the reef is right there… Mehr

We were there for 18 days and wanted to know if this island would be somewhere we would want to stay for 2-3 months and the answer is no. Value for money is not there for us. You cannot snorkel at the resort, you need to hire a boat to go out to the reef. Unlike Roatan where the reef is right there were you can just walk in and snorkel. So if snorkeling every day is what you want to do, get ready to fork out $ for a boat. The dock in the photo does not have a ladder and the sargassum is thick and never cleaned up which leaves an awful smell when sitting at the resort. Eventually the wind does come and take some away but after 5 days the smell was pretty bad. This "resort" had 2 corn hole games and a ring toss. No other activities, no kayaks, paddle boards, however the front desk were able to book you on tours if you wanted. The bar was open around happy hour in late afternoon only. If you opted for breakfast, you got it delivered to the room from a local restaurant. We did not think the value was there for $40 belizean. The staff were nice however not always able to answer our questions and needed to call someone. Security team were excellent and helped out in a few instances. The beach. This is not a beach but a man made sand area in front of the sea wall. The same for many resorts. Great place to walk up and down, however, this is the main area for dog walkers and you need to watch your steps as many owners do not pick up and nor does the resort clean up their part of the area as they raked the sand 2 times while we were there. Beach chairs pads are very limited and had to get them from front staff who told us they did not have any as they are in very bad condition. No swimming in the ocean, dangerous as many boats are coming in to docks to pick-up and drop-off people. Although this was an apartment style room, the kitchen has very little supplies. We only had a frying pan, and when we asked for other pots, they were able to provided us a pot from another room. We were able to rent a golf cart for the day right there for our trip around the island looking for snorkeling spots, no success. Beautiful ocean view in photos but you need to pick your spots. All in all not the place for us.

Weniger

“Good hotel, lacked customer service”

The hotel was good for the price we paid. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from the ferry terminal but not manageable with cases as the roads and pavements are not well paved. Beware: as soon as you are off the ferry, there are people trying to get golf cart sales. Luckily, one of them decided to giv… Mehr

The hotel was good for the price we paid. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from the ferry terminal but not manageable with cases as the roads and pavements are not well paved. Beware: as soon as you are off the ferry, there are people trying to get golf cart sales. Luckily, one of them decided to give us a free lift to the hotel, but I don’t think this is common. Once we got to the hotel, the staff were friendly. We had a welcome drink and a tour of the hotel. We had a beachfront room, which was lovely; it overlooked the sea. If you are expecting beachfront with a stretch of beach, then don’t get your hopes up. It’s a strip of area with sand and near a pier. You can’t get into the water from the beach, and it isn’t that pretty. The room had everything we needed. There was a functional kitchen with a microwave and stove. The living room area was great, too, with a comfy sofa and leads onto the balcony overlooking the sea. The bedroom and bathroom were both nice too. The bed was super comfy, and there was air conditioning throughout the apartment. The hotel is about a 45-minute to one-hour walk from downtown San Pedro. The roads, especially at night, are not well lit, and there are golf carts everywhere. We wouldn’t recommend walking. We got a taxi one night, which is $12.50 USD each way. The hotel can arrange this if you need them to. We rented a golf cart from the hotel; it’s about $60 USD without the extra cover for damages. We had an unfortunate incident where we broke down after 10 minutes of having the cart. This was stressful as we were on a main road and just in the way of the flow of traffic. The hotel did send someone to change the cart, but this was slow. Beware and make sure they check everything before you set off; this was slack. There are two pools that are both nice too with sit around. Due to the hotel being three stories, this does obscure the sun from early afternoon. The beach area also has sun loungers and umbrellas. There is a bar near one of the pools for guests, and this has happy hour. We didn’t use this but was a hub for guests in the early evening. There is also a restaurant that is quite new; we didn’t try this, but the menu looked good. The hotel is good; the amenities are great in the room, and you have everything you need. Beware of the location before booking, as it is far out of the way of the main downtown area. If you want amazing customer service, you won’t get this here. They are not solution-focused and very much do the basics for guests but are friendly enough.

Weniger