We travelled to Cabo for a wedding in April and booked the Villa del Arco after reading positive reviews and available kids activities. We were "caught" at the airport with the timeshare people so we were well prepared when we got to the hotel. Check in took about 40 mins and we were told we could purchase the all-inclusive meal plan the next morning. We were approached by a time share person but declined firmly and were left alone. However the next morning when we went to purchase the meal plan, we were told it was too late, that we in fact needed to purchase it when we booked the package. The clerk was rude, dismissive and started a conversation with another clerk where they had a good old laugh in spanish. We showed him our documents which stated we could purchase the plan at any time for $66 per day and he informed us that he couldn't honour it, the manager was not available and the plan was actually $84.00 per day. After another 40 mins and three impatient young kids waiting with us, he agreed to call the manager and allowed us to purchase the meal plan. It was a bad start to our vacation. The rooms were very nice, clean and spacious and our balcony had a side view of the beach. We found the restaurant staff friendly but the service was so slow that one of our kids fell asleep between courses and the entrees came out at different stages. After fighting for the meal plan, it didn't pay off, the food was average and not worth the price. Breakfast was by far the best meal of the day. As for the kid's activities, there was none at Villa Del Arco. Their sister hotel had a kid's schedule for crazy golf and balloon painting but there weren't any kids participating and our three didn't want to hang around with a stranger so they stayed with us. It was a mediocre attempt for a kid's club though the water slide at the Palmer was a lot of fun for them. The Palmer also had more pool games and we stayed there one afternoon. There was a much better holiday atmosphere too. If you do purchase the meal plan, make sure to keep the wrist bands and return them when checking out. The clerk didn't tell us this - in fact he said absolutely nothing to us when he reluctantly allowed us to have the meal plan. We removed them the day before as we were attending a wedding at the Esperanza and didn't want to have to wear them. Luckily they were still in the garbage as they were charging us $84 per band not returned. We felt like we were doing them a favour by staying there. It was a huge damper on the vacation. All in all, I would not recommend this hotel. It has zero atmosphere and the reception clerks need to be sent on a customer service training course.

After looking at the deals on Travel Zoo and reading the reviews on Trip Advisor, I decided to book this hotel for my friends and I. We're all single and in our early 30's. The package was part of an all -inclusive deal, which was close to $1000 for airfare, 5 nights stay and all you can eat at their restaurants, as well as all you can drink.

Pluses:
- If you have a suite, it is quite large with 2 bathrooms, large bedroom, living/dining/kitchen area, washer/dryer, balcony with lounge chairs and table and chairs. Safe deposit in room.
- Iron with ironing board, plenty of towels, shampoo/conditioner/lotion.
- Right on the beach, large pools, hot tubs.
- If you have the all inclusive deal, it includes use of their gym which has a good amount of machines and weights.
- It's close enough that you can walk to downtown in about 15 minutes. If you take a cab(van styled) it's about $2 per person, unless you have more than 4 or 5, then it's $3 per person.

The restaurants:
- Breakfast is buffet style with plenty of selection. I think it's about $20 US, but if you have the all inclusive then don't worry about it.
- La Perrla has some Mexican food for lunch , dinner is more American style (Ribs, Seafood) with a few Mexican dishes. It was decent, but nothing to write home about.
-The sushi restaurant was pretty decent with rolls, sashimi and sushi (although if you're a sushi snob, then it's not the best).
- Bucaneero (pirate ship) is open for lunch and has salads, cerviche, sandwiches, fish tacos.
- good drinks, considering it's all you can drink!

Minuses:
- They do try to get you to do the time share presentation, although it wasn't too overbearing. If you do it, it's about 2 hours. The good thing for us was that it reduced the prices for a lot of activities (X-treme ziplining $80-> $64, Snorkeling with Pez Gato $40's -> $25, Jet skiing $60 -> 28 for half hour, lower prices for the spa).
- Although the pool is large and there are a lot of lounge chairs, they get taken up pretty quickly and people tend to save their chairs with their towels, which they're not supposed to.
- If you do the all inclusive deal, it gets a little old eating at the same restaurants for 5 days straight. They're decent, but not great, and there wasn't a wide selection at La Perrla.
- The clientele at the hotel was definitely older, with some families as well. It was quite dead at night, so if you want nightlife, you definitely need to go into town.

As an aside. You can book an airport shuttle to and from the hotel for $15 each way. The counter is right by where you pick up your bags, before you exit customs.

Nice place, new, clean, beautiful sandy beach, nice water, nice pool area. Ok that said, we booked with a relative who is a travelocity "agent". Normally we book with AAA and have always had a good experience with AAA. Long story short is, we wanted a ocean front room, AAA said they could do it. But we used a relative to help them out with their bookings. They assured us they called the hotel and we had the ocean front room. We arrived there, and no ocean front room, in fact the hotel said they "never" give ocean front to internet bookers. Later in the week when we were moving our room to a better room, I heard another couple at the counter complaining about the exact same thing, so if you book this hotel, i suggest calling them to make sure you are getting the view you are expecting. If your like me, i dont like to be suprised like that on my vacation. We did the time share tour, i was irritated for about half of the day after that. Its just not for me.
The beach is beautiful white sand, but if your thinking of relaxing on it forget it. Every 1 to 2 minuts you have some peddler coming by asking if you want to buy "a hat, a blanket, some silver jewelry, some pottery, some shell jewelry, t-shirts, and cover ups. Then when you have seen it all, another batch of peddlers comes by, with exactly the same stuff, ALL DAY LONG! over and over and over. Even walking down the beach, you are pestered by peddlers renting wave runners, water taxis, parasailing, massages, horseback rides and tours.
Dont get me wrong, we rode ATVs, did the Zip line at wild canyon, did the parasailing behind a sweet 34 foot carrera (carlos 3), took the snorkle tour by sunrider, saw 3 whales on the way to snorkle, went to lovers beach, and had a great time. But the constant sales people was not for me, in town was not much better, there you get the timeshare sales people on most corners all yelling for you to come over and hear their deals.
Ok i got all that out. i probally will never go back to cabo. been to Riviera Maya, and Puerto Vallarta, and i prefer either of them to cabo.
The ATV tour was great, we took the one to migrino beach, wow, that was a beautiful and empty beach, we were the only people as far as you could see. nice.
Wild canyon zip line, Crazy fun! 2,673 foot zip line, photos, nice!
Overall, had fun, nice hotel, fun activities.
Best meal was at "Ponchos" in downtown, any taxi can take you there, good mexican food, nice atmosphere.
We did notice that the prices in the souviner shops raised alot when the cruise ships came in. For example my wife was looking at some hand bags, they were from 18 to 20 dollars over the weekend, (all cruise ships gone during weekends). then on tuesday we were back in town looking at the same handbags. Guess what the prices were? 45 dollars, at shop after shop, amazing! we did finally get one, for 15 dollars! but they started at 45. oh well supply and demand i guess.
I like Mexico, its big and has so many places to see and such a variety of country side, we always feel safe and have never gotten sick or anything. Cabo at night in the city, a little bit to much on the party side for me, if your not a drinker there is not to much to do.
Next trip for me, Tulum, mexico. look it up, its nice. not resort nice, natural beauty nice, unspoiled nice.

I recently took a group of 386 people to Villa Del Arco for a wonderful 8 Days. The hotel is gorgeous and perfect for families and all ages. They keep the grounds immaculate! The staff of the hotel was always friendly, helpful and there to please. We presented them with many challenges with a group of this size, but they always delivered. We had no problem what so ever with the Time Share people. You simply say, "NO"....end of story.

We had a perfect location to town and were offered the facilities of the two Villa properties next to us. A convenient store to shop for groceries made it wonderful for the families. A first class Spa and wonderful pool area....it has it all!
!
The rooms were spacious and offered kitchenettes or full size kitchens that were amazing. All in all, I would stay there again in a heart beat and happily recommend it to any future groups. We
can't thank the staff enough for a fabulous experience!