I was (unnecessarily) skeptical about this resort due to other guest's postings. Granted, I was not there during Spring Break but we had a wonderful time at VDP. After being VERY FIRM about NOT being interested in a timeshare or anything for free (which will lead to a timeshare pitch) they left us alone. The rooms were fine - we did not have a problem with the beds or pillows. The hallways do echo since the floors are all marble but it was not bothersome or continuous. Pretty place, nicely landscaped. The pool chairs are tough to come by but we would go to the beach until lunchtime when the first chairs open up. The walk to town was not too far - although I would not expect my 70 year old mother to walk it. $7 cab ride home was fair. There are plenty of good restaurants in town with lots of variety and entertainment. The hotel's restaurant by the beach is good, too. The water was pretty rough (red flags) but plenty of people were in the water. Lots of vendors on the beach but not too bothersome. Took the watertaxi to El Arco, $10pp, nice photo opps. I recommend the resort!

We just returned from a week at the Villa del Palmar
BEAWARE.. they rent room to groups of college age students. The hallways echo and it is very loud! doors slamming and screaming all night. If you are traveling as a family it could be a long night.
We were not bothered by the timeshare group and some of our group did do the tour and used the gold card all week. They do not have enough pool chairs or enough towels each day. The chairs by the pool are saved by 8am. The beach is the best place to lay if you want quiet and the vendors do leave you alone if you say no.
I would check out other resorts before I stayed at this hotel again.
The rooms are showing their age.. The rugs in the rooms are flithy. I rented from a timeshare owner (off the internet) so, did not feel as bad as friends who paid a high spring break price!!
If you are allergic to mold do not stay here some of the rooms have mold.
The staff was helpful at the front desk. Some of our group did the all-inclusive plan. The price was increased and they had to stay on plan 4 days not 3 as the internet represented.

It was the first week in January of 2003 when I first stayed at Villa del Palmar. At the airport I was approached by one of the tour promoters and received a free taxi roundtrip to Villa del Palmar. Villa del Palmar was breathtaking, and the wee was a delightful experience. I had a wonderful studio overlooking the pool. The rooms were spotless and the maids were so friendly.
The sales presentation (for the airport taxi promotion) was for another resort property and I attended that presentation the next day, receiving several other free gifts. As expected, I received a telephone call from the VDP staff inviting me to their presentation. Advertised as a 90 minute presentation, it lasted three hours. I explained that I already own five timeshares and do not have the time to use another timeshare, as I only have so many vacation days per year. I was told that if I didn't buy I couldn't receive another exchange to VDP in a hundred years! I didn't buy!
52 weeks later (also known as 100 years) I was back at Villa del Palmar. This time I didn't receive a poolside view. Again I was invited to their sales presentation and I attended. After all, who am I to turn-down a free meal! It was another delightful week at Villa del Palmar. The pool was great, the restaurant was good, but not exceptional. By the way, I also returned to the resort promoted by the taxi company at the airport a year earlier. I was assigned the same sales representative! Again, he was unsuccessful at his sales pitches. I love the timeshare sales presentations in Mexico, as they always provide a free meal and gifts. The gifts usually include watersports and excursionss, providing the opportunity to enjoy new adventures for free or at a reduced cost. The key to receiving the best promotions is to make yourself available to the timeshare promoter late in the afternoon. If they haven't met their daily quota, they will offer you more gifts.
When I return to Cabo next year, I'll definately stay at Villa del Palmar again and once again I intend to participate in their timeshare presentation.

Rather than serving guests, staff became our adversaries. No attempt to get us to attend a timeshare presentation was too gauling, beginning at the airport, where a Villa Del Palmar representative offered to pay our $80 cab fare if we attended a timeshare presentation. We signed up for the ride and said we'd think about the presentation, just to get him off our back, but made no commitment and paid for the ride. Next morning before 8 am, phone rings and they want to know why we're not at the presentation.

Another call: "to get the key to your safe, plase visit the concierge." I do so. "Before I give you your key, let me show you pictures of our timeshares and explain the value of our "gold card" which you'll get in exchange for our presentation." Now I'm refusing the presentation on principle.

Once I asked where I could rent snorkle equipment. The reply: "Are you a member (ie. timeshare user)? ... Do you have a gold card?" Ask a simple question and get harrassed. They ALWAYS want to know why you don't have a gold card. Why? Because they tell you the presentation is 75-90 minutes and one woman told me it was more than 3 hours. Others here have described miserable hard sell tactics.

I asked the concierge about whale watching. She had a call on hold and handed me one brochure, the same she gave a friend of mine earlier, for a "Buccaneer" trip on a reproduction pirate ship. I wanted to see whales and she's giving me a lame version of a Disney experience. I'm sure they get a commission. We found a whale watching trip on a great catamaran, the hotel staff's efforts to the contrary notwithstanding.

Final night, concierge makes a lousy restaurant recommendation, not at all what we said we wanted, and I spent my trip home sick as a dog.

The atrium is stone-lined with no sound insulation and the doors are uninsulated as well. So normal conversation on the first floor lobby was heard in our fifth floor room as we try to sleep. Drunken, late night partiers were heard much more vividly.

The hotel restaurant one night offered only "Karoke" night. Please.

The room was clean enough with a kitchen and balcony and two double beds for our family of three (queen would have been preferred of course. I rarely do hotel reviews like this, but felt they deserved some payback for the way they treated us and I do hope Cabo's standards improve.

By the way, even if you want to buy a time share, these give you the great privilege of paying a big chunk of money up front in exchange for 30 years of use. You don't own the property. There's no deed and no equity at the end. This is not true of other timeshares (although perhaps this is common in Mexico because of property law). Major hotel chain time shares in the US, for example, grants you ownership that can even be passed onto heirs.