Hotel Mousai

Recently returned from 10 days in an ultra corner suite in the South Tower, our second stay at Mousai this year. The staff is the reason we keep coming back. Almost everyone we dealt with, on this trip and on earlier ones, went out of their way to make it memorable. Depending on your package and room, a butler can be included, and we opted for it. Lilith took care of us on our first trip, and this time we were happy to see she'd been promoted and now leads the entire department. It's well deserved. She and her colleagues Greta and Alan made sure we were taken care of. They checked in with us every day, handled even the smallest request, and we always felt like they were there for us. Every restaurant is good, a few are excellent, and none disappointed. Hiroshi, the sushi restaurant, is the one I'd send people to first. We ate there two nights and got to know our server, Jaime, whose service was outstanding and who is a big part of why this trip stood out. The resort is lucky to have him and people like him. We also met Chef Juan, who runs the kitchen. He talked us through what he's doing with the menu and the restaurant, and we learned more about sushi and food prep in one conversation than I expected to. Can't say enough about those two. We spent every day at the rooftop pool. Rafael, Antonio, Omar, Eduardo and the rest of the pool team anticipated what we needed before we asked, and we got to know most of them over the 10 days, which made leaving bittersweet. There's plenty to do beyond the pool. The gym is great, and every time I went there were two or three people in it, max. A lot of the activities are free, others are paid. My wife and I tried several spa experiences, including massages and the hydrotherapy, which is incredible if you've never done it. I kayaked to Los Arcos, which was a great experience, but you need to be physically up for it. I also did several of the hikes, tough and rewarding, especially on a 90 degree day in the Puerto Vallarta sun. Two things I'd ask them to fix. The timeshare pitch. I understand they have memberships and packages they're required to sell. When I politely say I'm not interested, that doesn't mean try harder. It means leave me alone. I'll spend plenty of money on the property and keep coming back, just respect the answer. Adults only. Having Mousai as the adults-only side and Garza Blanca for families is one of the best things about the setup. A couple of days we saw kids around the property and in the restaurants, and on other days we watched families get turned away. I have nothing against kids or families, but Mousai is sold as adults only, so enforce it the same way every day. Those are just some refinements I'd make to move this from an 8-out-of-10 experience to a 10-out-of-10 experience. We're already looking forward to our next trip and plan to come back a couple of times a year for the people, the food and the hospitality. It feels like a home away from home.

We just got back from Hotel Mousai and it was an amazing trip. One of the things that made it great was our personal butler Daniel Ohara who was very attentive to our needs. He was courteous, kind, and timely and you can tell he really cares about his guests.

We just came from Puerto vallarta and stayed at Musai, beautiful hotel, best customer service. My butler Daniel and Diego are awesome, always trying to help, they are the best!!! Excellent food, beautiful views , I will definitely go back. Lucy Saucedo.

Excellent service and an amazing experience! A special thank you to Luis and Gerardo, our servers, for their outstanding service. They were friendly, attentive, and went above and beyond to make our experience memorable. The food was absolutely delicious beautifully prepared, flavorful, and enjoyable from start to finish. Thank you for taking such great care of us!

If you’re considering Hotel Mousai, don’t. We are TAFER members who bought because we genuinely loved Mousai and Garza Blanca. We now deeply regret it. The Mousai we bought into was sophisticated, warm and genuinely luxurious. That hotel is gone. What remains is an aging property charging five-star prices for a three-star experience, wrapped around what may be the most relentlessly efficient timeshare sales machine in Mexico. Our guests checked into a room with a broken shower. Our AC failed overnight and remained broken through the following evening despite maintenance insisting it was “fixed.” Housekeeping left dirty cups behind. Body wash remained empty for two days. The concierge desk was routinely unattended, replaced by a plastic sign telling guests to call another tower. Five stars, everyone. Then there was room service. Our guests ordered food. It never arrived. Two days later, Mousai tried to deliver it. Then they delivered someone else’s order to the same room. At some point, incompetence becomes performance art. But fear not: while Mousai may have difficulty locating your room with food, the timeshare sales staff will have absolutely no difficulty locating you. The pressure starts almost the moment you arrive. They actually forgot our welcome drinks while pressuring us and our guests about presentations. Then a member of the sales staff interrupted our guest during a business call, followed her to the rooftop, accused her of “cheating the program,” and told her complimentary massages were canceled. Imagine paying luxury-resort prices to be followed around and reprimanded by a timeshare salesperson. This isn’t hospitality. It’s harassment with an infinity pool. After repeatedly raising it with management, the “solution” was an offer to discount massages. We spent roughly $3,000 on incidentals and add-ons during this stay. We didn’t care about $500 in massages. We cared about our guests not being chased around the resort. The deterioration extends beyond the rooms. We paid for an overpriced “Mexican wine tasting” at DAO, a Chinese restaurant, featuring four wines, two from the same winemaker, paired with spring rolls. Try imagining that experience at a Four Seasons or St. Regis. Our best meals were at Café des Artistes and Tintoque. Our best activities were Islas Marietas and jet skiing offshore. In other words, the best parts of our Mousai vacation were the parts that had nothing to do with Mousai. There ARE excellent employees, and they deserve recognition. Diego, Daniel and the butler staff were wonderful. Gabriel, Arturo and the Tower North rooftop team were excellent. Ulisses with the excursion team went out of his way to accommodate us. They are the remnants of the Mousai we remember. Unfortunately, you cannot book a vacation at Diego, Daniel, Gabriel, Arturo and Ulisses. You have to book Hotel Mousai. And I wouldn’t. TAFER keeps building more towers, resorts and brands while the product it already sold members deteriorates. There is something almost poetic about being pitched the next luxury property while standing inside one where the shower is broken, the bedroom is a sauna, the concierge desk is empty, and yesterday’s room service might arrive tomorrow. We thought we bought into an exceptional hospitality company. Increasingly, it feels like we bought into a timeshare sales organization that happens to own hotels. Puerto Vallarta has too many genuinely excellent places to stay to waste five-star money here. I’ve had better maintenance, warmer service and considerably less harassment at basic Marriott properties in the middle of Ohio. If you don’t already own at TAFER, you have an advantage we no longer have: you can simply stay somewhere else. Do that. Skip Mousai.