Pictures from this 2007 Arts Festival courtsey Muzamanzie Photographs

Spotlight on the Placencia BTIA
The Inn at Robert’s Grove Placencia’s First Luxury Resort Still Raising the Bar after 10 Years

This past summer Risa and Bob Frackman, the owners of Robert’s Grove, had to say goodbye to the last of their English Springer Spaniels – Maggie -- who died suddenly on their annual visit back to New York.
Along with the older two—Mildred and Webster – these lucky pampered pooches got to join the Frackmans on the greatest adventure of their lives – coming to live in Belize.  The year was 1997 and the Frackman pack had spent 10 days driving south from New York through the US and Mexico before arriving in Placencia at their newly built 3-bedroom home on the beach to start their new life – and as it turned out, a new business:  The Inn at Robert’s Grove.
For those of us who lived here then, the large, white columned stucco house with a red tin roof was a strange sight indeed.  Even more alarming was the 50-foot swimming pool they built (the first on the peninsula) and the tennis court out near the road.  Tongues were wagging. Rumors were flying.  Who are these gringos with the strange looking dogs?? What are they going to do??
At first, Risa & Bob, who had always enjoyed entertaining family and friends, devoted themselves to doing a little “bed and breakfast.”  Risa, who loved preparing gourmet meals in New York, would spend her time in the kitchen cooking for guests.  Bob spent his days doing the food shopping and being the genial host (a talent he still possesses).  But as their guest list expanded and the demand for upscale lodging increased, so did the resort.
Risa realized that her culinary skills were not quite designed for large-scale fine dining so they hired the Inn’s chef, Frank Da Silva, “who has been at the Inn almost as long as we have,” Risa said.
Risa returned to marketing communications, which had been her career in New York – but not just for the hotel.  She noticed that there wasn’t a common resource for finding out what was going on around the Peninsula.  So as a BTIA member, she volunteered to create a BTIA sponsored newsletter to fill the void.  She named it “The Placencia Breeze” and for two years wrote and edited the forerunner of this newspaper.
Bob, the visionary, saw to business operations and future development of the hotel, which included working to have the first condo law passed for the Peninsula. 
Fast forward – 10 years, 120 employees, 3 pools, 2 restaurants, Dive Shop, Tackle Shop, lagoon marina, Sea Spa, Gym, 52 guest rooms and suites, six rooftop Jacuzzis, two privately owned islands and four Belizean dogs later, much has changed at Robert’s Grove – as it has on the entire Peninsula.  Although Robert’s Grove is no longer the only full service resort in the area, it was the first – and the Frackmans, along with the Inn’s General Manager, Elena Cuellar work hard to make sure it remains one of the finest resorts in the country.
To that end, Bob is especially active in raising the bar on resort amenities and keeping the hotel current.  Just this season alone, they’ve introduced Nitrox Diving, hired a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America to work under Frank at the Seaside Restaurant, added an online Wedding/Gift Registry to their website and expanded the Sea Spa.
Risa and Bob say that when they made the commitment to expand the hotel 10 years ago, they decided to create a place they would be happy to visit themselves. “While we are surrounded by all of this natural, raw, beauty, we wanted to make sure that the resort had all the creature comforts that were important to us – good food, good cheer, air conditioning, a strong, hot shower, a comfortable bed and attractive furnishings and original artwork,” they explained.
Since Robert’s Grove began as an extension of the Frackman’s home (part of the main building was the original house), the resort has always maintained a warm and cozy, relaxed  atmosphere, where visitors feel like they’ve been invited to a private house party at the “Frackman’s,” who are usually on hand to interact and socialize with their guests.  The greatest compliment a guest can pay us,” said Risa “is thanking us for having them in our home, because it validates everything we set out to do – and continue to do 10 years later.”