Visited March 27-31, 2005.
We have been to Cabo St. Lucas many times, staying mostly at the Hotel Hacienda Beach Resort and Twin Dolphin. We return each year for the beautiful weather and the friendly people. Mexico is our favorite vacation destination and we already had a quick trip to Cancun in January. Cancun is lovely, but nothing quite compares to Cabo. We wanted to try staying on the Pacific side this time and found the Solmar last year while walking the beach. We reserved a room many months in advance and asked for a beachfront room facing the ocean on the first floor, so we could have a patio and walk right out on the beach. When we arrived, we were taken to a suite with a kitchen on a second floor far from the beach (with no view of the ocean). The staff then took us to a beachfront unit (no kitchen, but a refrigerator, which was nice) on the second floor, right by the rocks. This was fine; however, they made a big deal over the fact that this was a downgrade (less expensive). This also seemed fine, until we learned that we had to pay the higher rate for the room we turned down! Despite our efforts to resolve, we ended up just paying the higher rate. We gave up trying to explain and decided it was not worth arguing over. Still, it was a bad customer relations situation for the Hotel. In contrast to staff at the Hacienda and Twin Dolphin, I found the staff at Solmar to be basically indifferent. They were not rude; just not particularly friendly, particularly the activities/time share people. They frequently referred us from one staff member to another, generally people who were not there or who were only there certain times.
When we arrived at the airport, we signed on for a time share tour with the various freebies attached to these tours. We are actually looking for property in Mexico and figured a couple of hours would be tolerable. The tour guide warned us not to mention this to the Solmar folks; however, right after we checked in, we were herded to the activities desk for our "welcome package" which turned out to be coupons for two free drinks and an offer to tour the "sister property" of Playa Grande (which is two resorts away and huge, in comparison to the Solmar. The woman at the desk, who was Canadian, promised to give us the same deal we were offered, which included a private taxi back to the airport. However, after going on the tour (with a very nice, low pressure sales person named Bob), they refused to give us the private taxi and insisted that we book the shuttle (which leaves only at certain times that were not convenient for our flight). It took several "discussions" before this was finally resolved and only at the very last minute when we were literally leaving for the airport. All in all, a bad impression was created and we dislike being put in situations where we have to argue. Vacation is all about being relaxed and mellow.
The Hotel itself is really quite lovely. The rooms are nicely furnished (typical Mexican style hard matress) and ours had a great view of the ocean. We could hear the surf pounding the shore at night and there was a great view of Pedregal (upscale housing on the mountain) and the sunset. There are two pools and both are very nice with great views. Not too many screaming children (we left our five at home) and a quiet, nice group of people, many of whom own time shares. There is a wonderful beachfront restaurant, where we ate breakfast and dinner a few times. Very nice; good food and good value. The only problem was gnats, which were everywhere. The first day on the pool deck, I did nothing but swat bugs and my legs were covered with bites. The next few days were spent at the Playa Grande, which is probably 10 times the size of Solmar, but very lovely and mercifully, gnat free. Playa Grande looks pretty dreadful from the road (multi colored Moorish type architecture), but is actually well done when you get inside. Lovely units, almost too lavish for our tastes, but we almost bought one and might have if my father in law had not just bought at Pueblo Bonito Sunset, down the road. All in all, I would not stay at Solmar again. Although the rooms and views are fine, the staff and gnats make it less than desirable.