Used our Interval time share points for hotel. Nice hotel, great views, great location, but there is noise everywhere. One bedroom was large, but not that comfortable. You can hear every toilet flush, every drunk person walking down hallway and every piece of furniture move. During the day, the music starts at 9am and is moderately loud. If it was just that, it would be OK. But then the games coordinator starts games for adults and kids and the microphone announcing everything can be heard throughout the entire resort. (If they lost the mic, it would have been tolerable.)

Our 10 and 6 year olds loved the whale slide and didn't seem to mind the party atmosphere, nor did the partying 20-somethings. Us 40-somethings and the other adults we met were equally uncomfortable with the noise.

If we would have seen a posting like this before booking, we would have tried one of their other resorts.

The Villa Del Arco, two hotels down and their sister resort, is brand new, much nicer and very quiet. Rooms are first class with marble tile, new kitchens, and jacuzzi tubs.

Food at the restaurant was marginal and they made it hard for our kids to order smoothies or lunch for take out. No other resort we've stayed at made it so difficult.

Our trip was 7/15-7/21. We were worried after reading some of the bad experiences others have had at this hotel but this wasn't the case w/us. We rented a 1 bedroom suite and loved having the extra room so our son could sleep and we didin't have to tiptoe around. We were in Bldg 1 w/a view of the pool, it was loud during the day but w/our door closed it wasn't an issue. At night the hotel was quiet. We didn't have any problems getting chairs at any pool area, even by 11 am. We were only asked about the time share once, that was on arrival, no one bothered us again at the hotel but in town they do ask. The hotel was clean, the staff was attentive to anything we needed. We had to call maintenance once for an issue and it was resolved right away. Anytime we called for xtra towels, etc they were brought immediately also. The only issue we had was when we booked our trip w/Expedia we thought we were booking the all inclusive plan based on their descriptions on their site and statements made by them when we inquired as to the "plans", the European Plan does not include anything besides the room, so therefore not a "plan". So we did end up going to the local grocery store, the one at Villa and we ate in town also. The food is a little pricey at the hotel and not great but I don't think it's a far reach from others either.

My wife and I exchanged our time share in Key West for a week at Villa del Palmar and we were definitely happy with our decision to do so. Rooms were clean, pool was great, staff was very friendly and the location was easily accessible to downtown. If you go, take advantage of the timeshare offers if available to you. If you have no problem saying no, you can pick up some nice benefits and save yourself some money. We are planning on a return this winter so we could see the whales and purchase a timeshare there.

Okay, the title might be an exaggeration. However, this was the worst 5 star resort experience we've stayed at. The resort as a whole is decent. It's more geared toward the young wild crowd rather than the conservative/family groups. There is a lot of yelling and screaming by drunk teenagers. The pool is very loud all day making it hard to relax peacefully in your room. We were waken numerous times just about every night because of inconsiderate patrons.

But by far and away, the worst part of the resort was the timeshare pressure and the concierge girls. They fool you into thinking that they're going to give you all kinds of coupons, discounts and gifts in a welcome package. Turns out their sole interest is to sign you up for a sales presentation. I've never attended a sales presentation where they are so aggressive toward the customer. I lost count of how many times I had to say "No" before they let us go. I had to grab the salesman's pen to get him to stop trying to restruct the deal because we said no. Of course he was pissed because he felt like he was doing us this big favor by letting us buy their property. Believe me when I say that the sales presentations are not worth it.

Our Concierge Mariana was so friendly to us when we first arrived. She quickly became very rude and unhospitable when we declined her sales invite (we later accepted from someone else). I'm guessing she must have found out, because she would give us dirty looks and when we asked for info, she practically ignored us. We received some Tour tickets from outside the resort. It says on the ticket to ask your Resort Concierge to make the reservations (day and time) for you. She rudely said, "I can't do that for you". We were pissed. We waited for Mariana to leave her desk and asked another Concierge. Not surprisingly, she said "Sure" and made the reservation quickly and with a smile. We left a really bad review regarding Mariana but never heard back from Villa Del Palmar.