Our family of 5 has been traveling back-to-back (we're nomadic) so we visit a LOT of countries, cities, and resorts through Inspirato and beyond. Turtle Inn is unique. Magical. No other way to put it. There are a handful of "compromises," that you'll encounter here—as in no A/C in virtually all of the villas, no TVs as far as we saw, and not even particularly fancy digs (Even their overview says "a wink of luxury"), but as spoiled LUXURY family travel creators ourselves (FollowABC dot com) we REALLY pursue luxury... and this resort CHANGED who we are as people. It recalibrated us. It made us better parents and made us better people.
The staff are the best we've ever seen. Martin (the GM) either inherited an incredible team or built it through smart hiring and smarter training, but it truly is incredible. I could list a dozen examples, but here's just one: Our 9-year-old son is a budding Crocodile Hunter and spent the entire week at Turtle Inn hunting creatures. He became a celebrity with the staff because they all helped him find these creatures and they taught him everything about how to handle them, which ones are safe, what to watch out for, etc. My wife and I walked around the resort with him and everyone working there knew his name and what he had been up to that day. It was nuts. More than once, he told us that he had to leave our dinner or breakfast table to meet "the Gardner" (I believe his name is pronounced 'Pony,' which is ironic because our son's name is Colt) at their scheduled time. Sure enough, Pony would show up at 8am, 8pm, or at whatever time they agreed to earlier, to meet and search for iguanas, snakes, tarantulas, and more. Colt was in absolute HEAVEN. In fact, he has broken down crying 3 times since we left--and that's unusual for him because he's not childish, dramatic, fussy or tired. He just REALLY misses the amazing experiences provided by the resort and staff.
Now, for the cottages and villas. When we first arrived, I was amazed by the heat and humidity (Early July). The rooms have ceiling fans and floor fans, but our 2-bedroom villa was still surprisingly hot. I love heat (hate cold) but humidity is a challenge for me. It took all of an hour to get over it, though, because being in this shaded, high-ceiling, screened-in BEACH HUT reminded me of novels from a century ago, where Ernest Hemingway might have visited, sat on our very porch while jotting notes in his book, sipping a prohibition daiquiri, and fanning himself while wearing his linen suit. If you've seen the film Midnight In Paris (Owen Wilson), you'll have an illustration of how much the authenticity of Turtle Inn can warp your day-to-day reality. It takes you back to a place you've never even been but have always admired. Sleeping with the sea breeze blowing strongly through the front doors of the bedroom and past the king bed (accompanied by the enchanting sounds of fans and—at least once— midnight rain against the thatched hut roof), I no longer had any desire to return the phony environment created by electrified A/C. We flew straight from Belize to Las Vegas, Nevada (where I write this now) and the artificial air is stifling. I long for Turtle Inn [almost] as badly as our son.
My oldest daughter (14) and I did an all-day SCUBA excursion with 3 other parties (none of whom had kids on the trip with them). We encountered them on-resort throughout the remainder of our trip and I sensed such a great balance even though there were so many children on the resort with them. Point being, this resort would be my first choice for the most relaxing of relaxing vacations even if I was flying solo (no wife or kids). It's magical.
Within a single year, our family will have traveled 30 times, 12 of those trips being international, and I can say that we've never experienced anything like Turtle Inn. On the one hand you might suspect that a resort owned by a huge celebrity might be a profit-focused sideshow (I would lump Margaritaville resorts in that category), but after experiencing this place, it may occur to you that Francis actually recognized and materialized in this resort the same things that he did in The Godfather: an absolute masterpiece. If I could recommend only one place from our 30 recent travels, this would be it.