A mixed bag
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 01/03/08
I visited the hotel for a week over Christmas 2007 with my wife and 2 kids.
This beautiful hotel is a ways from the strip, somewhere between Las Brisas and the Princess. Cab fare to the closest hotel on the Costera (Hyatt Regency) ran 140 pesos, to the Zocalo more like 200 pesos. It's not too far from a VIPs, Costco, Wallmart and Sam's club although still more than 100 pesos.
It's located way, way down a steep hill, so there's no way to get there or away except by car or boat.
My room, on the reception (5th) floor, was very nice. Marble everything. Beautiful balcony over-looking the ocean. There was, however, a big tree blocking much of my view of the ocean. My attempts to change my room were difficult and ultimately not worth my time. So, I kept the green view. The air conditioning in my room stopped working EVERY night and they had to come out to fix it every day. But the room was very clean.
Because the hotel was on a hill, there were lots of stairs to go to the pool (although there were a couple of elevators) and lots of stair to get to the beach (with no elevators). If you've got trouble with stairs, find a different hotel.
The three restaurants (two, really) were solid although I thought the food choices were rather limited for a place where it was so expensive to eat elsewhere. I did room service breakfast everyday, which was excellent.
While the food service (room and restaurant) was very good, the front desk service was quite bad. Took them about 4 requests and 24 hours to have someone bring a roll-away bed to my room. I finally went above the head of the front desk --- to the cleaning woman --- who got it done.
The package that we purchased on expedia was the Club package, European plan, which explicitly included an American breakfast in the restaurant or my room. First, I got NOTHING for the "club package." Skip it. As for American breakfast in my room, this was a HEADACHE. Although I talked to the front desk about this the very first day I arrived and was told I would only be charge a service charge for breakfast in my room, when I checked out it was quite a battle. "Your plan included only breakfast in the hotel restaurant," someone else said. After a couple of HOURS, they relented, but I think they thought they were doing me a favor.
I brought my 3 and 5 year olds, who enjoyed the gorgeous 3 pools, one of which was perfect for a kiddie who couldn't swim. The beach was small but just fine for small kids. The kids club consisted of some Disney movies (in Spanish), a daily trip to the beach and pool, lunch, board games, and arts and crafts. Disorganized and limited (and really only spanish-speaking) but the several hours my kids spent there over the course of the week were fine and they enjoyed them. Nothing glamorous, nothing for older kids, but decent enough to let mom and dad relax alone for a couple hours here and there.
Even during the busy Christmas week, the hotel was quiet and not overly crowded, which was a big plus and the reason I stayed there. No hassles from vendors, loud music, etc.
In short, the pools alone with their ocean view make this hotel solid. My room was beautiful and plenty comfortable for 2 adults and 2 kids. I enjoyed the food. If you're looking for action, stay elsewhere. If you want to shelter young kids but still have some activities, this might be a good choice.
