Review of Isla Grand Beach Resort 3*

We have been coming to this resort for over 10 years. Always a fun family vacation. Staff is great and food yummy. We have a blast at the swimming pool. I would rate the resort as a 4. We love it. It is not fancy, the only reason for the 4. Unfortunately my review has to be lower because of our experience in August of 2017. The beach was a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT this year. Unfortunately, the young adults in our group were targeted by the litter patrol at the beach on our last day. We had all been down at the beach. There were parents, grandparents, adult children — college graduates, a toddler and young children playing games and swimming. Not long after the older adults left, the litter patrol walked over to the group of young adults and said they were being charged with littering. There were water bottles and cans that were in the sand where they were sitting and talking. They said they were sorry and picked them up. They took to the trash can, explaining that the trash cans were far away and that they always gather trash when leaving the beach and put it in the trash cans. One young man signed and took the ticket for all of them — a fine of &50.00-$2, 000.00. Couldn't tell them the exact fine. He has to call this week. The patrol said if the bottles or cans were on a towel they wouldn't have been ticketed. Again, they were not "away" from the cans. They were just sitting there. There were other people around with the same can and bottle placement. The patrol told the young adults that while that was true it was unfortunate that they came to them first. Of course all those other beach goers threw their cans away right away. They had people come up to them and say they couldn't believe they were ticketed. The police were called because the young adults were trying to contest it so they asked for the police. That was fine. One of the officers said to the young adults that they had nothing to do with this. They were just there to keep the peace. A warning would have been the right call. This is ridiculous. We will not be coming back to South Padre because of the ridiculous actions of the litter patrol here. Tourism might take a hit when word gets out about this. Any change or stricter laws should be explained and the use of verbal or paper warnings would be in order. In closing, I feel that these young adults were targeted. Most all are college graduates and young professionals. They now live all over the country and would have to fly in to contest this ticket. I feel strongly that the resort should warn guests and perhaps provide an information sheet to guests on exactly how to handle keeping hydrated on the beach without leaving with a huge ticket! Sad to be saying goodbye to South Padre.