Villa Margarita at Jaguar Reef

We recently rented a room in the Villa Margarita at Jaguar Reef. We do not recommend staying there. The villa is in a great spot, with a pool, and directly on the beach. It should have been an amazing stay, but the building has significant deferred maintenance issues and a very lax cleaning crew. When we arrived, the villa was dirty and poorly maintained. They didn’t have a key to the front door, the only key was to the rear sliding patio door, and it was broken. Maintenance had to be called to fix the door for us because it wouldn’t lock or shut properly. The villa was very dirty when we arrived. The floor was gritty, the sheets had stains, and the kitchen area was very dirty. Coffee and grease on the back splash and the counters were sticky, and the refrigerator had a wad of someone’s hair on one of the shelves, yuck. The kitchen was poorly equipped and didn’t even have a spatula. We had to go into the village to buy a broom and basic cleaning supplies on our first day. The first night when I was hanging my towel on the towel hook outside the shower, the towel hook and tile fell off the wall. I texted the front desk to let them know so we wouldn’t be charged for damaging the villa. They sent their maintenance man; he finished removing the broken tile and said that he would be back the following morning to complete the repair. He never returned, and the broken tile and towel hook was still sitting under the sink where he left it 5 days later when we checked out. The most frustrating part of the stay was that Jaguar Reef misled about their promotions. Their website offered a “Summer Escape” promotion that promised a discount for stays over 4 nights and a US$100 resort credit. When we were told that the $100 resort credit wasn’t in our account, the local staff said there was nothing that they could do, we’d have to work that out with the reservation team. We emailed them, only to be told that they never combine offers and that we misunderstood the promotion. We pointed out the promotion was still on their website and clearly stated that we would receive BOTH the discount and resort credit. They refused until I asked them to escalate the matter to their supervisor, and included screenshots from their own website that showed the promotion included both the discount and resort credit. It was not a good experience, and we do not recommend staying here.

My stay was beautiful, especially loved the pool and quiet. My friend Salam made my stay special. Helping me and made me a coconut. Very kind person. The food was wonderful as well, service fantastic. And I had a fabulous room with a wonderful view of pool and ocean. Will be back for sure. One of my favourite things was making new friends and having a fire on the beach but you don’t seem too often, under a full moon beside a fire on the beach delightful.

We stayed at Villa Margarita for 5 days and aside from one rainy afternoon it was paradise. Our friends were staying at the Almond Beach, a mere 2 minute walk down the beach from us. We would often gather at the amazing Dock Bar or chill poolside at either the almond beach swim up bar or Villa Margaritas private pool. Both were lovely and well maintained. Larry and Bruno were both wonderful in providing fresh coconuts and delicious drinks respectively as well as adding to the friendly vibe of our trip here. Emery was also a very comforting presence as the security advisor. The one drawback was the new implementation of golf carts, there are still issues with several of the carts and I would say come prepared to ride a bike if you want to see the city in daytime. Provided kayaks and Paddleboards were a blast. And be sure to check out the blue lights on the dock bar at night.