7-21 July, 2015 Trip Report. Our third visit.

[j&d]

Our third trip and things just get better.

I want to report that the trip was horrible and that you should not go but I would be lying to keep the place a secret and keep the price down and that would not be fair to the wonderful hard working management and staff.

This type of hotel is not for everyone but if you like;
• Really good food
• Amazing attentive service
• Great rooms
• High quality drinks
• Fun & interesting people
• An adventurous and sexy ‘vibe’
• A clean, pretty and well maintained property
• Did I mention the amazing staff?
…….then this might just be for you. So keeping with that order, a few additional supporting comments;

Food
We did not try the Sushi restaurant but the other two are great. We prefer Pearl for dinner and Aphrodite for breakfast and lunch. Pearl is more intimate, sexy, dressy and that appeals to us, others like the casual freedom of Aphrodite at night time. For breakfast and lunch Aphrodite is excellent and the addition of the outdoor grills excellent.

Great selections on the buffet and despite staying 14 nights we were not bored with the à la carte of Pearl in the evening.

One day we sampled the lunch special which was coconut shrimp and my wife loved it. She tried to order it the next day but as it had been a special they did not have it available, “how about tomorrow madam” they replied and they prepared it especially for her the next day; just one of many examples of exemplary customer service.

Service
Every member of staff seems to genuinely want to help you. My wife and I are not especially demanding and were approached by one of the butlers who seemed concerned we were not working him hard enough (!) to ask us to give him a challenge so that he could “delight us”. Responding to service requests effectively is just what you expect from a 5* resort, challenging customers to give you extra chances to delight you is above and beyond. Well done Hector.

Rooms
The Master Suite and Penthouse rooms are large and very comfortable but nobody I spoke to had any criticism of any room. Every day our room was perfectly cleaned and presented, we had no complaints.

Drinks
Champagne, Mini Beers, Espresso martini, monkey S***m, margaritas & other cocktails, flavoured Vodka shots and regular Spirit & Mixer combinations are all excellent. All ‘top shelf’ brands were good enough for me, Grey Goose, JD, Bombay Sapphire, Absolute, etc None of the spirits are watered down, you watch them opening new bottle after bottle all day long.

Soft drinks & Juices are plentiful. Try the green juice at breakfast, anything that looks that bad must be good for you and it actually tastes great.

Fun & interesting people
The clothing optional factor is a great leveller and the people here are fun and interesting. In or out of the ‘lifestyle’ is not a factor, we met people of all views, shapes, sizes, ethnicities and Nationalities and we had a great time with all of them. In some resorts you talk to no one, it’s hard to do that here as everyone is genuinely friendly, interesting and engaging. There is a mixed demographic at Desire (like anywhere) but with the age range being 30-60+ and with some level of affluence in order to afford to be there, a self-selecting adventurous bunch by virtue of having walked through the door, we find people fun to talk to and socialise with.

An adventurous and sexy vibe
Well, given the people, the nudity, the sexy clothing worn, the PDA and PDS, the theme nights, the hot tub, the adult/couples only concept, etc, it is hardly a surprise that there is a great ‘vibe’ to the place. Nothing is in your face (unless you look!), people are respectful, “no” means “no”, you are free to do exactly what you feel comfortable with and that includes nothing other than sunbathing but every day you feel liberated in a very sexy environment.

A clean, pretty and well maintained property
With only 88 rooms the resort is not large but it is reasonably well spread and does not feel small or claustrophobic, far from it. It is very clean and well maintained with walls being washed or painted, floors being swept, mopped and poolside’s dried almost non-stop every day. The gardens are very well maintained.

The added air-conditioning in the lobby area is a MASSIVE improvement, well done to management. It is much more comfortable than on our last trip….however please enforce the smoking ban in this area, it is not pleasant for non-smokers and now that the area is enclosed a ban should be enforced. It is 5 paces from the bar to go to the area outside the glass, so not a burden to the smokers really.

The beach is bothered by seaweed, guess what people, so is the whole of the coastline and there is nothing anyone can do. The staff work daily from morning to night taking barrow after barrow of it away and it just comes back. It is a natural ecology issue and the resort does all that it can. It is a pain if you love wide open spaces of sand, we prefer the pool and it doesn’t bother us at all.

Did I mention the amazing staff?
Our third trip and so many of the staff are the same as previous years, it gives a real sense of coming ‘home’.

The fact that we remember so many of their names is testament to how we feel about their service, it is hard to mention individuals because you are bound to forget someone but I feel compelled to single out some names for their exemplary service and attitude.

All the entertainment team, Marco, Charlie, Eli, Vince, Nessy, Liz and Kia, thank you, you are great. Marco & Charlie you are the foundation on which the team is built, Eli you are the new kid on the block and you really impressed with your energy and enthusiasm, the resort is lucky to have you. The rest of you work collectively to give us all a great trip.

Bar staff; Mario, Irving, Israel, Erick, Riccardo, Alejandro, Emilio all do a great job and really engaged with us personally.

Servers; Edgar, Ebe, Fabiola, Rocky, Fidel, “G”, Daniel, Jose Luis (room service this year), personable, fun, polite and determined to look after us.

Other staff
Melissa from management went the extra yard by securing our favourite room for us, for which we were so grateful.

Butlers; Officially Gerry and Hector looked after us but Carlos who we had met before was always on hand to shake our hands and offer his assistance. Rudy too but I think he was on holiday for part of our stay. All the butlers are great.

Maria….! Maria cleans and maintains the restrooms by the pool and sweeps and cleans just about everything near her, she works hard all day long with a huge smile on her face. She beams at us every morning and goes about her business with no fuss and no attitude, just total diligence and care. For me she typifies everything that is good about Desire, the customer really is king and everyone has a crucial role to play in ensuring that everything runs smoothly. Maria is Desire, Maria is THE BEST.

Other things
Membership: third time of asking we decided to join. I’ve never had a hard sell, it was our decision and one that we are happy with. If you are very easily led (you probably shouldn’t be here!!) then don’t go to the presentation, if you can stand up for yourself then go to the presentation, get given some free Desire Dollars to spend in the resort and make up your own mind. If you chose to join then negotiate hard, all deals are flexible!

Entertainment
Music was much better by the pool this year, bravo. It was a little better in the nightclub too but there is still room for improvement, don’t play the same every night just because new people arrive every day, we stayed a fortnight and it got very repetitive, actually it was repetitive after two days!

Shows; very good but could do with a revamp as they have not changed much for over a year and Desire has lots of repeat guests. Ditch the pianist/vocalist combination, not right for this place and PLEASE keep the bands coming, live music is great and they hit the right era/genre combination perfectly. More live upbeat music please!

Massages
My wife had 4 massages and I had 2, just goes to show how good they are. My wife says Oscar is the best!

Friends
K&S Great to see you again! Wish T&V could have been with us!
T&J, T&N, R&B, G&R Great to see you again and meet you properly this time, we’ll see you all again for sure!
R&R, J&D You guys are awesome, we loved our time with you and hope we’ll meet again soon.
J&C, D&K Always nice to see friendly faces once again for a smacking good time!
R&T shame we didn’t get to say goodbye

Summary
Great trip, great resort, great food, great people; if that’s what you are looking for then book it!

[it's all good!]

[gntatdesire]

Great report, thanks for taking the time to write it up!

[Xhibition Lovers]

Great Review.
You are right about the Entertainment. They need to ditch the piano and female vocalist (a new addition that just doesn't work).
The rest of the pre-Disco, live band music in the lobby is the terrific! Fun to listen to and more fun to dance to.