Mahogany Villas

I travelled to Belize for my first ever visit to research its potential as a retirement destination and spent two weeks exploring the entire mainland of the country. Mahogany Villas and owner Wayne were by far the best experience of my trip! I was looking for a relatively accessible place to stay in the Punta Gorda area and ended up with far more, including a new friend. I called to book the day before as I had questions about accessibility at the property. I can stand and walk for short times and distances, but for longer I use a folding electric wheelchair that I take along with me. I mostly wanted to make sure that I'f be able to bring my chair out of my vehicle into the room at night without struggling to roll it up a bunch of stairs or traverse really rough ground. Wayne assured me that, while not being accessibility compliant, there were few steps and that they were small. I arrived the next day to a warm welcome from Wayne at his beautiful, lush acreage on the main highway and was escorted to my room. Upon reaching the front of the building I discovered a ramp from the patio up the 5 or 6 inch step into my room. Wayne said "I wasn't sure exactly HOW accessible you needed, so I built a ramp". I was stunned. The man literally built a ramp for me in less than one day "just in case" I needed it for my two night stay! The room was a very pleasant surprise after most of the other rooms I'd occupied in my week in country. It was absolutely huge with two queen beds, desk, dresser, night table, suitcase stand, fridge/microwave area, vaulted ceilings a massive bathroom with a huge shower and more counter/drawer space than an entire family could use. All of this came in at a price that was the same as I'd paid for the cheapest, often cramped and very outdated rooms that I'd had so far on the trip. Bed was comfy, lots of fluffy pillows provided, water pressure good, the toilet actually flushed vigorously as opposed to barely as is common in Belize, the mini split AC worked well and the fridge as well. All of the furniture as well as doors, counters, trim, etc were made of locally crafted hardwood, adding a luxurious feel to the room. Wayne is definitely "the host with the most" with an exceptional customer service attitude. Having been born and raised in Forest Home before living around the country throughout his career in forestry and eventually returning home, he is an encyclopedia of local knowledge and a good guide to the rest of the country as well. It matters not if you want tourist recommendations or information about anything to do with day to day life in Belize......Wayne is on top of it. We had many interesting conversations on many topics as he is very generous with his time above and beyond his role as your innkeeper. Unfortunately I didn't end up meeting the rest of his family as our schedules didn't match up in the time that I was there but I heard all about them and will undoubtedly meet them all on a future visit. I did,