We just got back and I can't wait to go again, the food and restaurant choices were excellent including the buffet breakfasts with so many choices, the concierge services were quick, responsive and we felt completely catered to in all aspects of our stay. The gym and spa were awesome. Jump out of the infinity pool and run down to the ocean just a few steps away, this place is fabulous. Exquisite decor, clean rooms, great beds, jetted tubs and huge showers, dual vanities, large closets, in-room safes, balconies or patios in every room (most with incredible views) WOW.... And less than 10 minutes by shuttle or taxi to downtown for the crazy night life or shopping during the day. We will definitely go back to the Hacienda del Mar every year and will recommend it to all of my friends and family.

Friends of mine and myself vacationed in Cabo for the 1st time in October 2004. We were absolutely blown away by every aspect of this trip!!! We stayed at the Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar and we extremely pleased with it. The asthetics, ambiance, staff and service we extraordinary! We loved it so much that we planned our next trip to Cabo while we were there! We are going back in January!!! (just 3 months later)
I highly recommend this area and hotel!!! Good job Sheraton!!

We just returned from a fabulous week at the Sheraton. Early in the planning, we actually thought we'd be staying at the Westin Regina. We were sure glad we didn't. That hotel had the funky look of a modern hotel done for the 1988 World's Fair, while the Sheraton truly was lush and exhaustingly detailed in unique artwork, furniture, and landscaping. Overall, the experience was exceptional, but there were some letdowns. First, the good: we were upgraded from our oceanfront room to a suite because of my girlfriend's Starwood status. Awesome! the rooms were huge, but the wraparound balcony had us believing we were in a restaurant! The service at the hotel was impeccable. The poolside service was timely. We found out that two happy hours existed down there -- 11-Noon at the pool, and 2-4 on the beach. That's 2 for 1 drinks! We had a car and stopped twice at Costco to buy beer and wine. The car rental through National was only $65 for the week, so I'm a little perplexed as to why anyone wouldn't get a car. The drinks and snacks we bought helped mitigate our lushness, although we still seemed to drop about $40/day at the pool. The mixed drinks were $9, and the beers were $4. We worked out every morning in the gym -- a small space which included 2 elipticals, 2 treadmills, a handful of lifecycle bikes, and some weights. It was nice to make us feel not as guilty when it came time to eat. Very disappointed in the food at the resort, though. Room service was average, but had an uninspired menu. It actually shared the same menu as the Tomatoes restaurant. It was very American-ized -- with $17 pizzas, $13 hamburgers, and very very little Mexican food. The shrimp ceviche, though, was wonderful. We ate at Girasoles for breakfast (very good) and for dinner (average), and had the buffet at Tomatoes one morning (average). The best thing we ate on property was the lobster taco plate at the main pool's bar. The food we did love didn't come from the resort. Based on reviews here, we ate at both The Office and Trailer Park. Both were amazing. In fact, we ended up at The Office twice! It's hard to beat sinking your feet in the sand while you eat amazing food like carne asada & the best chicken enchiladas I've ever had! The Trailer Park helped wipe out a terrible meal we had at Cabo Wabo (great bar, awful restaurant). The Trailer Park had a deal that we chose for $60 total, it included 2 lobster tails (succulent), 2 filet mignons (must have been 14 ozs. each, perfectly medium rare), 2 baked potatoes with cheese, steamed vegetables, and a bottle of wine. I have bad luck with restaurant lobster (almost always overcooked), but the Trailer Park's was the best I've had! The dinner at Cabo Wabo found me eating a rubber-like lobster tail with a tiny filet mignon for $55 USD. What a welcome change at the Trailer Park! We also tried some small sidewalk taco bars for lunch and the like. Nothing like 4 tacos and a beer for $6! I'd really recommend going the car rental route and driving the easy 6 miles to town for the good stuff. I just found the resort's offerings very uninspired -- or rather -- too Americanized -- and too expensive. Parking was free everywhere, including the valet at the hotel. We did horseback riding on the beach (in town), which was awesome, but ran out of time for the parasailing. Unfortunately, the ocean course at Cabo del Sol was closed, so our golf day was detoured to the pool. What a beautiful clubhouse and setting though! The concierge arranged for us to play tennis at the neighboring Fiesta Americana hotel. Beautiful mountain-top setting, but man was it hot! Felt like a prison camp by mid morning! We both had a massage at the spa (20% off for Starwood elite), and it was easily the best massage either of us had ever experienced. Another nice thing about the pool was that someone would come around late in the day and offer you a frozen rolled up towel. Now, on to the negative. We had some ants in our second floor kitchen. And, I noticed that the spa was being "protected" by towels on the floor to ward off like insects. Minor quibble. Room service was slow, and really bad about coming to take the plates away. The real problem was the timeshare setup. Now, we were paying hotel guests, and upon checking in our room was not ready. We said that we'd go sit at the pool bar and have a drink until the room was ready. Ok. But, we're routed to the "concierge," only it was a vacation club representative who sat at a neighboring desk to the real concierge. It started off innocently, with a map of the property, and a folder of stuff to do in Cabo. Then, it quickly shifted into "what time would you like to have breakfast with us?" She explained that we were invited to have breakfast at Pitahaya's, their 5 star restaurant, and in exchange for seeing a timeshare presentation, we'd be awarded with discounts for local activities and a $50 dining certificate for use at the hotel (hmmm, we heard here it was $100). We'd already decided to sacrifice that time in exchange for the gift, so we agreed to breakfast on our 2nd morning. We showed up at that desk again that morning, and were escorted to a building connected-to-but-behind the 5 star Pitahaya's (which doesn't seem to serve breakfast anyway), and asked to fill out paperwork. Alright. Then, we meet our salesman, whom I'll euphemistically say reminded me of Nick Nolte's Malibu mugshot, and he led us to this little permanent timeshare banquet room not in the award winning restaurant, which had a very meager array of breakfast items (like cold eggs, hash browns, and hard french toast). He actually ate with us and small talked us for the first 30 minutes (which was not what we expected). Then, the presentation. All I can say is that he kept writing things, talking out of sequence -- throwing anything against the wall -- and 2 1/2 hours after arriving for breakfast, I'd had enough. I said we weren't interested, and that we wanted to leave. Then, it became very hard to extricate ourselves from the pitch. I don't think there's anyway it's a good deal, but to each his/her own. I found it funny that he was offering tax advice and even suggested we put the down payment ($20k) on a new airline credit card we could apply for because then we'd get miles. This left a bad taste in our mouth, but it's when we actually tried to use the certificate that all hell broke loose. We were told that you could exchange the coupon to use in any restaurant. We were also told that you could use the coupon at checkout against dining charges on your room's bill. Now, on further inspection on the certificate, it says you need to present it. But, when we inquired at the desk of the Vacation Club in the lobby, we were told that we were lying -- that we couldn't have heard those things. Plus, she refused to exchange the certificate for another restaurant. Hotel guys were ineffectual too. Long story short, walking back to the timeshare office produced a coupon for us to use, but damned if the whole thing wasn't handled horribly. It's a very visible black mark on an otherwise wonderful hotel/resort. Lesson learned for me, but I'm still ticked about being routed to the timeshare desk by the hotel's front desk upon check-in! In summary, we did have an awesome trip -- great weather -- great hotel -- neat town. But, the beach was unswimmable everyday (just like rumoured). The whole thing, save for the timeshare crap, was about what I had hoped it would be. I would absolutely recommend the hotel to anyone going to Cabo. It's truly one of the most beautiful places I've stayed. But, beware of the sharks that swim around in that timeshare operation!

We stayed at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar for three days around labor day. The resort employees were friendly and helpful on all fronts, from the check in - front desk, concierge, waiters, bell boys and maids - to the check out. The resort is lushly landscaped, with 3 beautiful pools. The ocean was not swimmable due to a hurricane, but I was told it was normally a good snorkle spot. The restaurant Pittihyas had excellent, inventive but expensive food. The Sports Bar was very busy and service was extremely slow but the food was good and worth the wait. We attended the timeshare presentation (hurricane weather) which wasn't high pressure. The rooms were nicely done in dark woods with a white on white, plush and comfy bed with four down pillows and two foam pillows. The bathroom was large with a nice sized jacuzzi, separate shower and a lighted makeup mirror. The weather was mid 90's and relatively humid, normal for September, my sunglasses would fog up when we first left the room. The A/C didn't work in our room or in the entire main building when we first arrived and after a bit of telephone tag we were moved to a timeshare suite at no extra cost. We had a rental car and were able to get into Cabo which is about 15 minutes away by car. The taxis can be quite expensive, so if you stay for any length a rental car is a good idea.