Well, our trip was booked and then we learn of this site and read the poor reviews... we tried to keep an open mind even though we were mainly worried about miscellaneous charges on my credit card (as I read on past postings re: "incidentials"). I can handle a little stinky and a little rude but I wasn't going to handle additional monies for an already expensive Mexican vacation (I've always traveled to Europe or the Yucatan area of Mexico for much more value) in Cabo.

We arrived on time (early Saturday morning, around 9ish) and went directly to our hotel to check-in. We were told that check-in was at 4pm and we had to wait until at least 4pm, no way were we going to get our room any sooner. Okay, so we left our luggage with the bellboys (whom were very friendly but quite unattentive as our bags stayed outside the hotel for over eight hours) and we wandered along the beach for what would have been a complete work day. As we wandered, we were approached by "timeshare sellers" disguised as friendly hotel staff who wanted to take care of our room situation and help us "find a great time in Cabo!" Hmmmm, I was VERY skeptical but we listened politely. Because my husband and I just turned 28 years old and recently married - we were going to gain SO many discounts and coupons for "activities" we fell for the timeshare bit. We signed up for a free breakfast with our friends and were guaranteed a 60 minute or less presentation. Fine.

After 4ish in the evening, we were back to our hotel to check-in our rooms. Unfortunately, only one of our rooms was ready (our friends room). The poor, sweet, friendly, adorable maids were frantically cleaning our room to allow us to drop off our bags and change from our MN jeans, sweaters, etc. that we walked around in all day. I talked to the front desk and they "couldn't do a thing" for me. [--], total [--]. They also refused to give us towel cards (we didn't need anyways because we brought our own and a live phoneline). I finally agreed to sign the freaking credit card sheet without crossing out the open dollar amount and they were happy to hand over the precious towel card. This was the worst expensive I've EVER had with a front desk clerk and after speaking the manager (an even younger version of the front desk [--]) he did nothing. Complete idiots.

The room was nice, our view was of the mountains and tennis courts (I play tennis and enjoyed this) so it wasn't horrible. I knew we weren't getting upgraded to an oceanview so we made do... and it was fine. The maid's were always VERY pleasant. The staff at the front desk were always VERY rude. I tried to use their phone to make a local call for a reservation, they wouldn't allow us. I had to talk to the "timeshare side" of the hotel and they agreed to call for us. There is a huge lack of politeness for hotel guests but the timeshare guests are treated like royality. Needless to say, we didn't purchase a timeshare during our 90 minute presentation. Although, our tour guide was quite cute and nice and knew we weren't interested - he let us make up referral names just to stick it to the hotel. Like that mattered, I know. :) The "gold card" was ridiculous also. It only discounted our deepsea fishing trip and we got a "jungle cruise." DO NOT PAY FOR A JUNGLE CRUISE, it is a zebra-striped painted pontoon with a chain linked fence and drunkered kids peeing off the side of the boat. Absolutely nasty and horrible.

Ultimately, the stink was gross - we didn't smell it until we were up in our hotel rooms (our friends room must have been directly in the wind of sewer-ville) and it was only during the evening. Keep your door closed and you'll live. We did one hotel excursion (beach party) and it was really fun. I was beat out by a hotel staff at the limbo contest and ate too much food but it was fun! The best night in Cabo, probably. The pool is nice, the beach is better. The restaurant didn't appeal to us but there are plenty of authentic restaurants downtown. Take the bus, it is 50 cents, picks you up right outside the gated driveway and you get to ride with the sweetest locals/workers and speak Spanish, if you'd like. The cabride for $7 is a rip-off. The bus will drop you off right near the restaurants downtown and it is simple & fast. Thank God for the bus.

I do NOT recommend Villa del Palmar, I do NOT recommend Cabo at all. The locals are nice, their city is fun / not too built up, which is pleasant but they just don't offer the swimming waters, warmer weather, variety of beaches (they are mostly huge crashing waves) that the Caribbean does... these items are all my personal opinion, of course. However, the hotel is awful. I wish that I could somehow teach them a lesson that when they want to sell a timeshare they should probably treat their hotel guests with respect and courtesy. They've given us enough reason to tell everyone we know (we're young and have a lot of traveling ahead of us along with friends & family) NEVER go to Cabo or stay w/the Villa chain anywhere.

I hope this helps. Best of luck in your travels - pay the extra and cancel with Villa del Palmar and move anywhere else nearby. You can't beat their location on the beach and centrality to downtown.

We also had some hesitation to book here as the reviews are very mixed. Our experience was quit good, we booked a garden view room which turned out to be garden view and and a view of lands end at a very reasonable rate for Cabo. The staff was very friendly, maid service excellent, and tour scheduling convenient. Bella California restaurant onsite had a limited menu an prices were higher than in town which was ok for us as we tried as many different places as possible. Having been to Los Cabos before and having a bad time share sales experience this was not that bad as we went into it with no intention of buying and was only interested in the gold card, so breakfast and 2 hours later we were done with the sales pitch and on with our vacation.
Tabascos and The Mango Deck a short walk down the beach were good places to eat close to the resort if you did not want to go all the way to town.
Pros: Location, easy walk to town via beach or street. Short walk to Mex1 where you can catch a bus to San Jose Del Cabo for $2.50PP. Nice beach
Cons: Hard beds, occasional sewer gas smell (not a resort problem) its a city problem as in San Jose Del Cabo. Would like to see an even lower key time share sales, advertise what you have and leave it at that.

Hola! We arrived at the Villa Del Palmar on Feb 21st (a wednesday) a GREAT day to arrive, and arrive as early as possible. It makes the trip through the airport a breeze and you are on the beach w/ a couple of good sun hours to spare!
CHECKING IN:
It took a little while to check in, remember you are now in the Mexican Time Zone. The bellmen hold your luggage until your room is ready- you don't get keys until your room is ready either. So take this time to roam the hotel, check out the pool, the bar, the restaurant, the market across the street, etc... that way you are able to take it all in, as your vacation will be gone before you know it! Wednesday is also a good day to arrive, b/c you will see TAN people roaming the lobby and poolside... which gives us BeachBums, that love the sun, some hope- this is b/c everyone there has already been there for a couple of days- had some time to get a great tan.
TIMESHARE:
We were "sucked" into the timeshare "discussion/proposal" right away (pleasant wait staff (w/ big smiles)) guide you to their little desk in the lobby to hand you your "Welcome Letter" and will continue to talk and talk... before you know it you are being offered "THE Gold Card" this is a little card that is given to you IF you go to the Free Breakfast and Time Share Tour the next morning. My boyfriend and I were traveling w/ a couple that has been to Mexico a million times, so they know all about these schemes and know what to offer in exchange for 90 minutes of precious sun/beach time. After it was all said and done, the Villa Del Palmar didn't offer much of anything in exchange for your time... so, if you can, avoid that little "Welcome" chit chat and say No to the Gold Card no matter what. The card offers you discounts at the bar (15%) but not really worth it b/c we only drank at the bar during happy hour (2 for 1) and the gold card isn't good during this time... also it's only good on a certian day at the market... and using the card is such a process- it's just not worth the time and worry of it.... from all of that just remember this "SAY NO to the Gold Card" If you aren't 28 years old or married, you don't even have to worry about this. I am not 28 or married, but got in on it b/c of who we were traveling w/. I could have done w/o it though.
THE BEACH:
The Beach was Awesome! Tons of room, always had a chair available. The first day (Thursday) was the most crowded. There are vendors on the beach all day everyday (behind the rope), just practice "no Gracious" and you will be fine. If you are looking to get a Henna Tattoo ONLY ask for MAX (tell him Andrea sent you) annnnd if you are looking for Stir Stix only buy them from Betty. Max has a great personality and Betty is so sweet. I only spent time w/ the vendors so that I could snag some good rings, but that's it for me. You can also bring along Hats w/ Tags in them... and those vendors are pretty willing to trade their goods.
Once the sun sets about 4:30-5:00 is gets pretty chilly on the beach. But once the sun is completely set and you are away from the water it's a pretty comfortable temp for the evening.
CLEAN FACTOR:
The Hotel itself is VERY VERY VERY Clean!!! The entire staff there makes that place shine and do a really really great job! They are in your rooms (per your request) each day scrubbing the showers and buffing the floors ensuring a squeeky clean shine! Very impressed w/ that everyday!
ROOMS:
Very spacious, we had a "Garden View" room- which was actually a view above the hotel lobby and Cabo Downtown (distant). If you can afford to splurge on an Ocean View room, I would. There was a door open one afternoon, allowing myself to peek in, and the view was amazing (would have been amazing).
Each night there seemed to be a faint (some nights worse than others) smell of city sewer, in my line of business this is not an usual scent... but can really turn others off. Thankfully it was only an issue at night- so it wasn't that big a deal. Remember sewer in Mexico is a different story than sewer in the states.
All rooms have a safe (you ask for the at the front desk), a blender (good for pina coladas and margarita's) make these up and bring these to the beach w/ you in a mug... they do not care if you bring your own beverages to the beach, this was a plus!
ROOM FOOD & SNACKS:
There is a bulk store called "City Club" just down the road where you can go and buy food and drinks for your room. Good since you have a large fridge in the room.
EVENING DINING:
Every single night we enjoyed a short $7 taxi ride to Downtown and found a new restaurant each night. The Villa Del Palmar offers planned & ticketed evening parties each night, but since we had never been to Cabo we liked getting out and enjoying what the city has to offer. We did attend the Mexican Fiesta night, if you like Tequila and like to party- this one spells F-U-N for you! When entering this event you are given a necklace w/ a shot glass tied to the end... and little hyper event planners run around giving you FREE shots of Tequila the entire time. My boyfriend was pulled up on stage to do the Mexican Sexy Dance (that was a show in itself, he then particpated in the "Tequila Walk" which is a skinny pole stretched out over the pool w/ a bottle at the end... goal is to get that bottle! This event includes a huge buffet (ok food), huge dessert buffet (too full to eat any of that), there is festive mexican dancing and singing, all full bar all you can drink, it was pretty fun. Since you buy tickets for this event you pay nothing while there, until the end of the night when a tip is requested for your waiter.
CHECKING OUT:
When your stay at the Villa Del Palmar is ending, you are given a sheet w/ all your room purchases- check this and make sure it is all correct. We had to get a correction made upon checking out b/c they forgot to apply that DANG GOLD CARD to one of our purchases. It was only worth a few pesos but we were so fed up w/ that GOLD CARD that we had to get it fixed. If you have any pesos left over, the Villa allows you to apply this to any room fees that you may have.
Overall our stay was fantastic, worry free and very Relaxing...
I would recommend this hotel to a friend w/ all my little tips... and I would stay here again!

Lastly, I just want to state that we came back home to two full days of snow... ending w/ anywhere between 18-24 inches of fresh snow! So the beach in Cabo & the Villa Del Palmar Resort looks really really good to me once again! I miss my time there.

Stayed Feb 21-28, 2007. We stayed in an efficiency . Extremely noisy for a vacation resort. Luckily, the planned activities, every night , usually ended around 11 pm. Had to sit thru the "Time Share" presentation of 90 minutes. Can't imagine why anyone would "buy" for a significant amount of money...($40,000.00 +), the concept of prepaying for your vacation for the next 30 years. Plus there are other yearly costs which could very well be enough to pay for a vacation!!?!
Our room only had one double bed which was hard for a couple who always slept in a king to adjust to. The room was clean but when the a/c was on it smelled like bacon! There was a lot of noise that came through our door from the lobby area too.
Most staff were nice and helpful but when passing thru the lobby we were constantly asked to make an appointment for a presentation. Very disappointing was no wireless internet service in the rooms. Their internet cafe was a joke and expensive. We are in the 21st century and a real resort should have free wireless in all rooms as part of their amenities.
We were impressed with the Mexican people, even tho there was much selling of their wares. where ever we went.
The Marina area is very nice. Forget Margaritaville....it is too expensive( 9.50 for a glass of wine??)! The Mexican restaurants down the side streets are a much better value plus you get the real feel of Cabo. We'll go back becaue the weather and people are great...but will not stay at the Villa del Palmar.