We rated this place average. That is because a man with his head in the oven and his feet in the freezer would be about average in temperature. The surly front desk clerks were definitely the low point of the experience. Unwelcoming and insincere clerks made you wonder if you were going to be billed correctly. Instead of being comforting guardians, they pushed you toward aggressive concierges and bellmen. Concierges often try to trap you into a time wasting time share visit. The prize is not worth the pain. Bellman ask for your keys, room or car, under false pretenses. The end result is less convenience for you and more tips for them. The grounds are well maintained and expansive. One would think that more of the maintenance would be done in the off season. Maybe it is too hot then. The hawkers on the beach are disconcerting. The rooms by the very busy main avenue suffer from a metal grate that makes a loud penetrating clang every time a car, truck, or bus tire runs over top of it. The definite high point is the friendly activities personnel. Luisa, especially, deserves high marks for her helpfulness and her desire to ensure we enjoyed our stay. The personnel at the bakery/deli were also friendly. These two groups brought the property back up to average.

First, I'm glad I read the previous review about being put into the Villa Del Mar rather than VD PALmar. They tried the same with us, but I was back at the front desk showing them my reservation even before we were halfway to the Villa Del Mar. Luckily, our bellman described the two adjoining properties and pointed out that we were on our way to the Villa Del Mar, to the very same building described in the other review (over the 4-lane highway).

They changed our room to a great large studio for the first two nights (which was what I had reserved via their web site). We were on the 7th floor of the 8-story main building with a great view of the beach. Our room was clean and well-tended. We like to leave our doors open rather than use air conditioning, so the roar of the generators is rather loud, but we even got used to that.

After our first two nights, we moved into a two-bedroom (our timeshare trade). This room was on the 8th floor, again with a perfect view of the beach. We sat on the balcony lounge chairs almost every evening to enjoy the sunset.

The breakfast buffet might be considered a bit pricey by some (I think it was about 160 pesos per person), but if you have a late breakfast, there is so much good food available that you can definitely skip lunch, so it's basically two meals in one. From fresh fruit to fresh-made soft tacos to chilaquiles and eggs, potatoes, french toast, pastries, great juices, etc., etc. I'm not much of a breakfast food person, so the variety was great for us. We didn't eat there for any other meals, just breakfast a couple of times.

The location was very convenient. The bus stop was very close and there seemed to be a bus coming by every 3 or 4 minutes! For 5 pesos per person, you could ride downtown, which I would much rather do than taking a taxi everywhere, despite how economical it is (only 50 or 60 pesos each way). It was an adventure. We even jumped on the bus to go north a couple of times, once to Bucerias and once to Rancho Banderas almost to Punta da Mita. We had to change buses at the Wal-Mart (yes, WAL-MART!) and the other bus was a bit more expensive depending on how far you were going. Still considerably less than a taxi. And forget a rental car. I wouldn't drive there if you paid me!

Since I'm throwing in some extraneous stuff about the trip, I need to say that we took the Canopy Tour de los Veranos. Fabulous! It's a must! I was rather anxious, but now that I've done it, I wish I could go back and do it again tomorrow!

Back to the hotel: The people were lovely. We definitely enjoyed our stay.

So except for the initial "bait-and-switch" maneuver that was handled to my satisfaction, we had a great time and would not hesitate to stay there again.

Kelowna, British Columbia

We booked and paid for more expensive Villa Del Palmer,which shares same lobby and check in/out counter as older less expensive Villa Del Mar, in which we were settled into. Both resorts are joined together so unsuspecting tourist can be checked into Del Mar unknowingly. Room given to us in Del Mar was older, darker,dungy,noisy and located beside 4 lane busy highway.Bathroom plumbing in tub and sink was broken and staff refused to move us to better room until we found out and told them that we were wrongly put in Villa Del Mar instead of Villa Del Palmer and were only moved after getting angry and upset with superviser. Tourist Beware!

We stayed here from Jan 27-Feb 3, 2007 based upon a one week pre-paid purchase from a timeshare presentation at it's sister resort in Cabo San Lucas from 2005. Wanted to experience whether it was worth pursuing further. WE WON'T BE BUYING! Our total investment for this hotel was $1600 for the 1 bedroom (WITHOUT AIRFARE!). Prior to arrival, when I booked the reservation through this resort, I inquired about a transportation shuttle to/from the airport. Their rate? $25 each way per person ($150 r/t for 3 of us!). Fortunately we took our chances and said no, and we found taxis that could do it for $10 each way TOTAL (a difference of $130). When we arrived for check in late Saturday afternoon, we were escorted to what I would call an "overflow" building at the far end of the property near the 8 lane freeway farthest from the beach and pools. Of course, the 1st thing they want you to do when you check in is to take a timeshare presentation at their Nuevo resort the next morning. Very few rooms at this resort view the ocean (if at all!), while most (if you're lucky) might get to view the pool. The rest? Banished to the freeway. For what amounted to $225/nite rate was a view of their tennis court for the 1st 3 nights!! The room wasn't any better then a typical Motel 6 as far as I was concerned. When we voiced our complaint to the concierge/manager immediately after checking in, we were told the best they could do in upgrading us was to wait until Tuesday morning!! WE WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES WITH THIS PROBLEM!! In fact, every single day we saw AT LEAST a half dozen people lined up at various hours of the day to request room upgrades! Every person we talked to at the resort had the same problem! Another "complaint" is that unless you get yourself up at the crack of dawn every morning to go to the pool or beach area to "stake your claim" with lawnchairs, you'll wind up doing without for the rest of the day! What a joke! To make matters worse, when we were informed that we couldn't be upgraded until after 3 nights of a 7 night obligation (no refunds of course!), we decided to research on our own other resorts in town with availability. We discovered SEVERAL very nice, clean units in or near the beach (comparable 1+ bedrooms) WITH OCEAN VIEWS for under $130 per night!! Additionally, this resort is a taxi ride away from anything you want to do outside the compound, costing no less than $40 pesos (about $4 American) each way. The great restaurants and shops are in Old Town, south of Rio Cuale. STAY SOMEWHERE ELSE LIKE WE WILL NEXT TIME! I must admit, the staff were very friendly and great and were the only saving grace to this overpriced place. Somebody is making A LOT of profit and it's not the employees....we found out they only get paid $5 PER DAY (yes, that's correct....PER DAY, NOT PER HOUR!). It is a nice resort, but you don't get what you pay for and we were very disappointed all the way around. PV itself was great, but this resort left a bitter taste in our mouths.