We arrived for our 4 night stay and were very pleased upon arrival. We checked in and the room was nice and had a great view of the pool. The best part of our stay was over after the first hour or so.

We drove from the international airport which is about 3 hours and includes the beautiful Hummingbird Highway. Great sites along the way. Since we had made the long drive, we looked forward to a nice dinner at either the Pier restaurant or Dining room. We were the only guests dining at either one and we found the food terrible. My wife and I ordered the "special" which was Red Snapper. The fish was very fatty and we each only ate 1/2 our meal. A nice piece of catfish would have been a serious improvement. We decided we would not be using their food services for the remainder of the trip.

A few days later, we had been out and came back to hang at the pool. Pool is fabulous. We wanted a snack to hold us to dinner. We ordered the Gambarini with Aurora Sauce which we expected to be shrimp with a unique sauce. We were delivered a cheese pizza with a hand full of very small shrimp on top. When questioning the bar tender about the order, he said we got what we ordered. We were pretty certain based on the phone calls to the kitchen while we waited he questioned it too. We did eat it because we were hungry. About 10 minutes after we finished eating, they brought out free pepperoni pizza for everyone at the bar. Did not bother to tell us they were bringing free pizza out. So we paid for food that should have been free. I had them remove the charge at checkout and they reluctantly did so when I mentioned trip advisor. She needed a manager approval before the trip advisor comment and was able to remove it afterwards. Bottom line they need some serious improvement from the food service staff.

We enjoyed numerous other food options and some were reviewed here by us.

We found the room clean but with some shortcomings. We had a room with a full kitchen which was poorly stocked. No glasses so we got glasses from the bar. One bowl, two spoons, one dinner knife, no forks. No cleaning soap so the housekeeper just rinsed our glasses and put them up dirty. My wife's chap stick still on hers. No dishtowels, etc. Basically a kitchen with appliances but no utensils.

The living room furnishings were good to the eye but uncomfortable to sit in for very long. Room had two wicker chairs and no couch. TV only worked two of the four days but that is most likely not their problem.

The staff was professionally polite. What I mean is they only spoke to us if we spoke to them first. The security staff would not speak at all in the evenings. We traveled there on a groupon program and were treated as such. I tried to get info about their diving company and no one would help with that so I used a dive company in Placencia which worked out fine.

The hotel was basically empty during our stay. Might be a stretch to guess 25% occupancy.

The beach was unusable. No one bothers to mention they are dredging for a marina a bit up current making the water murky and leaving a mud sludge about 12 inches deep on waters edge. It was really disgusting. We had ask about the beach quality before booking was told it was in pristine condition.

This hotel is in a beautiful area but I recommend finding one of the many other options in this area. We will not set foot on their property again. Giving them one star because that is the lowest option I can select. With proper management this place could be wonderful but they fell well short of a "resort" experience.

I stayed at the The Placencia Hotel and Residences for two nights.

The rooms, the pool and the whole resort is really clean and beautiful. The breakfast on the water is quite fascinating and the beach invites to take a rest.

The food seems to be very good, too. But I didn't had a lunch or dinner.

Thanks a lot for the nice stay

The Placencia hotel is truly a tranquil place with friendly staff and grounds. This is a gated resort with beautiful views with an almost untouched world of Caribbean waters. Took the snorkel trip and Xunantunich tour during our week long stay. Both were incredible experiences. The snorkel trip ventures out to a protected island area in the Caribbean with chances to see hundreds of species of fish, including lobster, sharks, and sponges. The Xunantunich tour is about 2.5 hrs from the hotel but so worth the chance to visit a piece of Mayan history. Our guide was a local who knew a 1001 bits of trivia about the pyramids, the Mayan history and culture. On the way back we took a quick stop at the inland blue hole for a freezing swim in the blue underground spring water; a nice change from the very hot weather. Everyone we met had a smile and friendly demeanor.
Visited Placencia village and stopped at the Pickled Parrot run by Canadians with dog names "timbit". The Bare Foot bar was also a great relaxing place to stop and watch the world go by (at very good prices).
The room was well kept, clean, modern and came with 100 TV channels, although some better than other. There is internet for a daily or weekly price but a bit unreliable during peak periods.
Consider taking a scuba class before you come or arrange to spend a day with the hotel dive master. If you want the whale shark experience be sure to pick the right week based on the moon cycle.
All said this was a wonderful experience and I'm planning to return again and again to relax next to the second largest barrier reef in the world.

I'm a backpacker at heart so I usually stay in hostels and cheaper accommodation. I went on vacation with my boyfriend of 5 months to Belize and we decided at the end of the week to treat ourselves to some luxury. I've been to Belize 3 times and finding nice accommodation for a good price is hard to find, especially on the islands!
Once we came to Placencia the prices for hotel rooms gave you a lot more bang for your buck! We saw The Placencia Hotel in a magazine and decided to check it out online. It's a quiet resort with plantation style buildings surrounding the pool area and provides beach front access and a wonderful dock restaurant for eating, dancing and watching the sunset!
The service, food, pool bar and overall atmosphere was very relaxing, fun and didn't feel too uptight. We made so many friends at the pool. Older couples, younger couples, single friends and families. The rooms are clean, have a/c, hot water, cable tv and once again the rooms are at a decent price. $170 per night for a Junior Suite at the time we went! (1st week of May 2012)

The only downside I can think of is that the tours that are offered through the hotel are a little more expensive than you would pay for the same tour that's in town. In the village 20min away a Jungle River tour cost $60US per person and the hotel was offering $120pp for the same tour. Maybe they provide more but I'm sure there's an increase just because it's a nice hotel. Other than that, they provide great tours to snorkel, dive, whale watch, visit ruins etc...

Renting a car is a good idea since the hotel is about 20min from the actual town/village of Placencia and you might want to walk around there during the day to try some local food or party at Barefoot bar! (The best bar in town) Live reggae music all the time!

I would definitely recommend staying at The Placencia Hotel and would stay here again the next time I visit beautiful Belize! It was romantic, adventurous, clean and fun!