Villa Del Arco - check in was a little slow, no upgrades possible even though we saw many of the penthouse suites sitting empty for the week. After an extra long flight (courtesy of US Airways having problems) we were tired and thirsty when we got to the hotel. Being members at Villa Del Arco and according to hotel policy, first thing they want to do is take you over to talk to their timeshare representative to give you the "gold card" and schedule your members update.

We were taken over to a desk at the side of the lobby and introduced to Erica. No keys yet for the other 5 members of the family to get comfortable! No cold drinks giving us a nice member's welcome. Erica wanted to schedule our member's update meeting. I told Erica that we already had 2 timeshare tours booked for $300 each, she said she can not match that, she has no budget. She then told us that when we try to leave to go on the tours that someone will try to stop us and not to let them book us for the member’s update or it will look bad on her that she wasn’t able to get us to go. At least they are honest about the game.

Up to the room, very nice room, we will ask for that suite again. It was about 6:00 by now. Room was awesome. We had a room with a view facing up the beach towards Rose/Blanco on the back patio. We also were the last room on the 3rd floor at the front of the resort. The sales / activities office was in front of us and it had a full patio that wrapped around the whole front of Medano on that side of the resort. We made use of that patio every night and our patio too. Great views!

Our first morning when we went off to view Playa Grande, Erica was right, someone stopped us at the door leaving the resort and asked us where we were going. She was kind of rude in her approach - "where are you going", followed by an "if I may ask". Then again at the bottom of the hill we were stopped by a very personable guy who told us he could match our deal if we stayed and did the member's update with him. No thanks, maybe later this week.

When we first met Erica she had given us coupons for 6 free drinks, not to be used during happy hour 5-7. We assumed it was pool side happy hour like it had been the year before and like it is at Villa Del Palmar - nope, it's only at the sushi restaurant!! That is crazy. We were able to use our 6 free drinks by the pool anytime except 5-7 - even though they do not have happy hour.

We had lunch 3 times poolside from the Bucaneer grill – 7 burgers & fries with bacon, grilled onions, very good value, $90 including tip. We did not enjoy anything except the burgers. The wrap, chicken wings and pizza were not good. They use strange seasonings and a creamy cheese.

Since we were there during Hurricane Henriette we got to experience the how Villa Del Arco handled the hurricane. They were very good through the storm. They provided lunch in the storm shelter (we had it in our room). Chicken fajitas, rice, beans, salsa, tortillas. Dinner the same, flank steak, bean soup, potato salad, pico de gallo, guacamole, vegetables, rigatoni & cheese and many dessert cakes. Power was out all day except for our refrigerator and one light per room. Power was returned about 8:00 p.m. The food and organization at the resort was excellent. They even gave the guests flashlights in case of power outage. We even had maid service stop by the day of the hurricane to replenish our towels and take out trash.

Elevators were out and they had major problems returning the elevators to proper service. It seemed they had them locked for them to move patio furniture back out to the pool. We let them know we had a wheelchair and a stroller and they were not helpful in getting a consistently working elevator for 2 days after the hurricane. If we didn't know that the elevators were functioning fine for employees using them to transport furniture we would not have pressed the issue.

The day after the hurricane, the Villa Del Arco pool was still not open. The Villa Del Palmar pool was open.... 2 days of vacation with no pool at Villa Del Arco. They should have tried harder to have the pool open to guests that day.

The pool was pretty crowed every day. You had to get down there by about 9:00 if you wanted to get more then 2 spots together. They have removed several lounge chairs and replace them with table and chairs for eating from the bucaneer. Usually they tables were not in use.

We arrived in Cabo on Saturday and the first day we got 6 spots together by the pool was Friday! On Friday we noticed that the Villa Del Arco pool held water aerobics. It looked fun. We ate again at Bucaneer, 5 burgers, 5 cokes, 1 Miami vice, 2 smoothies, 1 hot wings (gross), 1 buccaneer wrap (no bueno), 1 cheese pizza – weird cheese. $100. Waiter asked for tip in cash. This afternoon, first time this trip, VDA was having volleyball at the pool!! Nice, no need to go over to VDP now.

Upon check out we had major issues. I had signed up for the wireless service at Villa Del Arco by following their procedures. I logged onto the internet - it directed me to a website to order wireless internet service, I turned on my TV and got my username (room number) and passcode. I bought the internet for $50 for the week. Little did I know but found out this week at home, I had somehow picked up a signal from Club Cascadas and bought their package - unfortunately that was the ONLY day I could get any signal! So I paid $50 for one day, probably 1 hour of internet usage (working with that company to reverse the charge).

On the days that I was unable to get a wireless signal (every day)I called the front desk and they told me to just use the wired connection behind the TV. I did so and was charge $14,95 a day billed to the room. For the first day, they waved the charges, upon check out we tried to get them to wave the other 3 or 4 days and they refused. The girl we worked with, Myra, was extremely rude. She made me prove by showing her my credit card statement that I was charge the $50, and then after I showed her she didn't reverse their charges!

To make matters worse we had another unpleasant encounter with Myra. When we were in her office trying to figure out the billing, we picked up their copy of our check in card and took it back to our room. It wasn't long before Myra was at our door very rudely telling us that we had her paperwork and she wanted it back. We thumbed through our stack and didn't see it, she said "well, I SAW you take it". This enfuriated my husband. The way we were treated was terrible. We eventually found her card and returned it to the assistant manager when we checked out an hour or so later.

After I got home, I emailed the internet provider and Villa Del Arco's General Manager, Rene Van Balderen. He is the one who helped me figure out that I had inadvertantly gotten connected to the Club Cascadas wireless service. He offered to help me pursue a refund with that wireless provider. He offered NO apology for the way we were treated.

Upon check out they also had to re-verify our honor bar, they had miscounted and were going to charge us for items used. When they had a recount they found that we had not used anything.

Overall, the hotel is excellent. The rooms great. The poolside service adequate - one female server is excellent, the rest were not so good. Bell service was excellent. Front Desk, marketing girls and marketing manager, and all of the morning timeshare watchers were rude and unprofessional, with the exception of the gate keeper, he was a friendly guy trying to get us to stay to do the member's update rather than attend a presentation elsewhere.

Advice, always watch your billing and GOOD LUCK if you have any discrepancies. The front desk staff acts like it comes out of their own pocket if they have to credit you for anything billed erroneously. Even though the network charges from Villa Del Arco were legitimate because I had inadvertantly signed up for Club Cascadas internet - a total fluke - the way it was handled was inexcusable. I had NO clue that I did not buy the Villa Del Arco wireless internet service. My Villa Del Arco room number and passcode worked for the Club Cascadas internet... very very strange.

We are used to being treated in a "customer is always right" mentality and that did not happen at Villa Del Arco. I also expected more from the General Manager.

Although we were there when type one Hurricane Henrietta hit Los Cabos, we loved our extended stay at Villa del Arco.

The newest addition to the Villa Group (Villa del Palmar & Villa de la Estancia) Villa del Arco offered 4 star accommodations at a very reasonable price. My wife and I recently spend 6 nights in a one bedroom suite (we were upgraded free of charge upon arrival) The Hotel is about a 20 min walk to downtown Cabo and the Marina. The nice thing about this place is that you could lay out by the pool, go to the spa, work out, or check out the shopping center all with out leaving the facility. As a guest in the Villa del Arco you are also welcome to use the pool/gym at the VIlla del Palmar. The pool at Palmar is more like a mellow Spring Break, while the Arco pool is more family orientated.

We would highly recommend Villa del Arco for any young couples, families, honeymooners, or singles because it has a wide variety of amenities to offer.

I am just returning from a seven day stay at the Villa Del Arco. Our stay was supposed to be for six days, but on the sixth day, Hurricane Felix hit, and we were grounded for another day.

The hotel grounds are lovely, the rooms clean and beautifully appointed. We were given an ocean front room on the sixth floor, and it was really a world class accomodation. I can actually say it was one of the most beautiful views from a hotel room that I have ever experienced.

The staff at the hotel handled the hurricane situation very professionally. We were very grateful for our treatment, especially after we heard a few stories about how other hotels treated their guests during the hurricane. The Villa Del Arco provided an underground shelter for evacuation of the guests, and then provided free meals for the duration of the hurricane. The staff was very professional and accomodating throughout the entire ordeal. They all seemed genuinely concerned for the welfare and comfort of their guests.

My only recommendation for improvement might be a little more effort toward providing a few activities at the hotel. I have stayed at other hotels in Cabo where they have ping pong, water volleyball, and other activities which make it fun to spend time at the hotel during the day.

I would definitely stay here again, and highly recommend this hotel for your next stay in Cabo San Lucas.

Jose at the front desk also told us we had a "BIG" surprise waiting for our group of 9 ladies. We were delighted to discover that he upgraded our 3 garden view suites into one huge ocean-view 3-bedroom/3.5bath penthouse condo equipped with full-size kitchen, living area, jacuzzi, and outdoor gas grill! The beds were Cal-King size, the floor was marble throughout, and there was a bathroom in every room and a half bathroom in the living area. We have no complaints whatsoever about the quality of our room because we got hooked up with the best of the best. Patty from housekeeping was very polite and worked around us quietly if we were in the suite, and made our towels into cute stuffed animals before she left. We made sure to leave her VIP status tips for the VIP treatment the hotel gave us.

Their pool was a perfect place to lounge around during the day and the staff would occasionally walk around to serve guests food and drinks. The frozen drinks and ceviche we ordered for poolside snacking were excellent. They have comfy chaise lounges surrounding the perimeter of all three of their pools which we saw were cleaned daily. We constantly saw the staff cleaning the exterior of the hotel's building as much as Patty must've cleaned our suite. They took great care of their landscaping as well.

The crowd that was staying there at the time was a good balance of families, couples, and young singles. We never had to complain about another guest being too rowdy and we never received any complaints about our own rowdiness.

We were able to arrange a horseback riding excursion through the activity center without any hassles and at a reasonable cost. Then our tour guide met us with our horses right outside the security gate of the hotel which saved us cab fare.

We had a great stay at Villa del Arco and didn't want to leave!