I just got back from cabo. I went down with 2 of my friends. The hotel was beautiful. The only complaint is that the beds are on concrete, so after the 2nd or 3rd night it became horrible!! I have to say that this hotel is more for families. I went with single friends, and although there are a lot of activities going on at the pool side, there were way too many kids! But that would be great for families. The service was excellent, though slow at some times. The staff was awesome. They put a different theme show on every night and was always involving the guests. I would also only stay here by doing the all inclusive package. It would be very expensive without it. We got free drinks(alcohol) all day long. The best part is that is it is preatty close to downtown where the nightclubs are. It is about a $7 cab ride. Overall I had a wonderful experience there, but for you single folks out there, stay at another hotel where there are more people your age to hang out with.

Our family stayed at the Villa Del Palmar Resort the week of March 27th-April 3rd. Hotel is okay...but don't go during spring break. We now call this the "GIRLS GONE WILD" hotel.

CONS:

Maid service is not good (at least on the second floor). Never enough towels and do they know what a face cloth is?

This hotel informed us they have a strictly enforced 10:00 p.m. quiet rule. Not very strictly enforced. Girls and guys hooting and hollering at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. Girls walking around at 10:00 a.m. with beers in their hands.

There is no one at the front desk or security at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. We tried calling to complain about noise and no one answered.

Our phone in the room did not work. It took three times to fix it.

Air conditioning quit on us. It took three phone calls and a few hours to get it repaired.

Peddlers and beach vendors were bothersome every day on the beach. But we just learned to either say a firm no thanks or ignore them.

PROS

Beach is great. Kids loved the waves. There is a fierce undertow though so we recommend you and your kids be very good swimmers.

We were'nt bothered by time share people. We DID NOT sign up for the discount card or any other offer. That way they did not have any info on us to bother us.

On the sixth floor, the maids were much better! We did get moved up to the sixth floor after complaining about noise and it was slightly better.

Restaurants were good but a little pricey.

Cabs were quick and frequent and it was only a quick 5-10 minute ride into town.

Sea-dos and banana boats were fun and pretty reasonable.

To summarize, if you want QUIET, don't stay at this hotel during spring break!!!!! We would go to Cabo again, but probably not stay at this hotel.

We were very happy with VDP. But, I did spend a lot of time reviewing info so I had realistic expectations. VDP is meant for families. It is what I call a "cruise ship on land". It has entertainment, noise, etc. etc. We wantedd that so the kids would have fun without constantly going somewhere else to do it. So, we got exactly what we wanted. Here's the low down:
1) pre arrange airport transportation and speak to no one but your driver. They may even claim to be your driver when they are in fact not so look for a sign with your name. We paid for private transporation to and from airport about 1 week in advance of the trip. It was so worth it!
2) Villa Del Palmar check in was hectic. But, it was Easter week. Be VERY NICE to all the help. You will get great returns. We tipped at the check in (the large group in front of us were obnoxious and nasty so we felt we would suffer from their rudeness). It was worth it. We received a mountain view room facing the entrance area instead of ocean view. We were so glad. It was private, still breathtaking views of mountains and city lights, and very quiet. By the way, we were offered an ocean view room but it was smaller and from the info I read and could see, it would be noisy so I chose the mountain view. Don't pay extra for ocean view. Not worth it. If you want a great room, use a $10 tip instead. It's cheaper and goes farther than a room premium.
3) The room was cleaned every day. We left a $2-$3 tip per day. That was our option. The honor bar is expensive. Before leaving the room on day 2 we left a note to have the honor bar removed. It was gone and that was the end of it and any possible charges.

4) Plan events ahead of time and be early. We arrived at the fiesta night buffet (6:00 - 9:30) at about 7:00pm. The kids were tired so my husband and I went alone. It was sold out! We ate at the restaurant instead. It was a bit expensive. But that was because we ordered this elaborate seafood dish for 2 that was so AWESOME and so delicious. We didn't care what it cost when we started eating it. And, we ate next to the beach and the view was so great. We were glad we missed the buffet. While it looked festive, it was noisy and crowded. We never attempted to do any of the buffets or shows after that. Too much to do in town instead. (We were always too tired for the night life. We loved the food though. But, if you can get a nap in, go out past 10:00pm. It's quiet downtown before the bars start hopping past 10:00pm. I could see its great potential for fun and serious drinking damage!)

The ATV tour is awesome! But, we needed a days notice. We were there a busy week. Our kids were age 8 - 11. They needed to ride double with an adult. But, the tour had breathtaking views. Once we were on the beach area, we could let the kids drive us. They had a riot.
5) Take a water taxi to lover's beach. It's so close. The beach is beautiful! The views there are nice. Just a couple hours is all you need. But, pack a cooler. There's not much there to buy.
6) Venders on the beach are easily dismissed. You don't need to be rude either. Just "no gracias"
7) I was GREATLY surprised that the time share hassle was NO BIG DEAL. After the airport, there was no pressure. We were called in the room 1 time a day around 11:00am. By 3 days into the trip, the calls stopped. And, a "no gracias" worked great there too. (We went to Playa Del Carmen last year, so we were well trained in time share pressure. Cabo or VDP is nothing in comparison).
8) We had NO OVER CHARGE problems. The only item was a $4 per day tip charge. I was not willing to spend time fighting it. In fact, were were accidentally NOT charged for a round of drinks at the pool so I was not going to complain. All other charges were very accurate. We also did not want to bother going through the check out line which was long. If there are no questions or problems with the bill you could use Express Checkout (too bad other visitors weren't as considerate and used the express checkout for lengthy problems because they didn't want to wait in the check out line).
10) Problems: The bed was hard. It didn't ruin the trip though.
I really didn't like looking at the cruise ships at the VDP's beach EVERY SINGLE DAY. But, we had the opportunity to visit at other resort beaches and take breaks from VDP. Cabo beaches are beautiful. But, most are not swimmable. VDP's beach is on Medano beach which is the best it gets.

The worst problem, OTHER VISITORS. They were so rude at times. It was easy to see why the help at VDP would get difficult after putting up with what we saw every day. Selfish inconsiderate tourists day after day. We believe that small tips for service pay off greatly. But, kind words and humble behaviour pays off more.

LASTLY, research restaurants. There are SO MANY great ones! We cooked a lot in our room. But, we loved eating out more. THE OFFICE, is great for dinner. Right on the beach! If you need a seafood break or just crave meat, BRASIL is a must and you won't be disappointed. We went twice!

I know this was long, but, I wanted to help people since I had to read 100's of these to get a great feel for VDP.

We stayed atr Villa Del Palmar March 12-19 2005. Room was nice except the HARD bed, the fold out was better. Pool and water slide was best thing about the resort. We brough our kids and they loved the whale slide and beach. As for the employees they were very pushy to sell you and overpriced timeshare. You could buy resale for less than half they were offering. The discount they give gold card members was 15% they should have offered 50%. The price of the food and beverages was outrageous for the quantity and quality. The buffet breakfast was $18.00 US and anywhere else it would have been $5.99 They drinks were watered down I bet they still have the original bottle of Tequila from when we checked in 2 weeks ago. great place once you figure it out . When you get to town you need to stop at Costco on your way in from the airport or go to City Mart a walk next to stoplight where you turned off the highway Stock up on drinks and snacks. The on site grocery store is ok for emergencies but severely overpriced on soda's and alcohol. Take a walk on the beack 3 excellent restaurants towards town great breakfasts under $6.00 and lunch's under on $10.00. We will stay their again but do our shopping ahead. Bring our drinks and eat off the property will save $600.00 for the week and better quality