This is a pleasant, well-run resort. We stayed for 2 weeks. There is a wonderful buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and there are several "full service" restaurants on site. You do have to book these in advance, and reservations are not always available. Service was overall very good, with only a few minor complaints. Most rooms have an excellent view of the ocean (and there were whales to watch every day during our stay). There's a Mega store you can walk to if you've forgotten anything. The shows at night were for the most part very good.

The drinking water was excellent, which means a lot to me.

One small complaint: swimming in the ocean is strongly discouraged, and a flag, which is supposed to be changed to indicate the safety or danger of swimming at any given time, is always flying black: Danger. There is a large sign saying that the beach is not the property of the resort and that you swim at your own risk, so I swam every day. There's one wave you have to get past, and if the surf is high and you're inexperienced, it could be a problem. One day a man in uniform from the resort stood at the shore and waved a clipboard at me, so I waded back to shore to see what the problem was. He told me that swimming was not allowed, and took down my room and bracelet number, making me feel a bit like a criminal. But I was willing to assume any risk involved in swimming in the ocean, so I continued to do it (despite being a little weirded out by the rays that jump right at the wave break). A lifeguard later told us that the resort just doesn't want to be dealing with little kids and drunk people out there in the surf, and I do sympathize with them about that. Even if it's not the resort's responsibility, who wants a newspaper headline: " Drunk tourist drowns at Barcelo Los Cabos"?

Internet was a bit patchy.

This is a great place to come if you have kids, as they have their own play area. There are also "adults only" areas. The blaring disco music every afternoon and the entertainment around the pool got a bit oppressive, as it was loud even in our room, where I retreated for some quiet time during the heat of the day. If you want quiet during the day, bring ear plugs. There was a private function one night in the pool area, with a live band that played till 11:00 p.m. I didn't like that.

Make sure you tip: these people work very hard, especially the housekeepers and restaurant staff.

I think the staff pretty much knocked themselves out, and overall our experience was very good.

The resort is perfect, great views, beach, pools however, the service, food and quality of drinks needs to be improved. The international buffet was pretty good with the best overall service. The difficulty in getting a reservation at the al a carte restaurants is unwarranted. When we ate and anytime we walked by, half the tables were empty yet they kept offering us 9:00pm seating. They seemed under staffed. We could not even get a drink at the lobby bar and when my husband asked the server to come take our drink order he was very rude. The bartenders had poor English skills did not understand our drink orders the consistency in making the drinks was also poor. At the seafood restaurant I asked for a Cosmo and received strawberry daiquiri mix in a martini glass not even sure if it had vodka in it. Due to our frustration with the bars and service we upgraded to club premium. Our waiter up at the club lounge, Pedro Lopez was excellent he remembered us and our drinks. Unfortunately, they ran out of cranberry and the vodka I wanted. So even in the club drink selection was limited. I would also mention that they should develop a drink menu for the martini bar and put in flavored vodka. We loved the beach and saw whales from the beach and our room. The sunrises were spectacular. With better staffing and training this will be a perfect resort!

My Husband and I just returned from the Barcelo on Monday. We were in Cabo for 1 week (Feb 10th - 17th) with our friends and family for our wedding! We originally choose the Barcelo for our wedding venue, though after numerous emails and phone calls, we could not get through to the wedding coordinator. Trying to organize our wedding at the Barcelo became a complete nightmare, the wedding coordinator who I guess is no longer with the hotel, couldn't understand that we wanted a casual wedding ceremony on the beach, and that we wanted our reception on the beach as well. The Barcelo has a big conference room they use for wedding receptions, though doesn't that defeat the purpose of getting married in Mexico??? We could have a party in a conference room anywhere?

Regardless, after months of getting nowhere, we decided to have our wedding at a different location. We choose the Baja Cantina Beach, on Medano Beach. They did an AMAZING job and it was everything we wanted and more! Patricia the wedding coordinator at the Baja Cantina was so great to work with and our wedding was perfect!!!!

As for the Barcelo, I had let them know that we would be having our wedding at a different location. I had specifically asked the Barcelo if they could ensure all our 34 guests, who were booked and staying at the Barcelo, rooms were somewhat together. I was asked to write a list of everyone’s names and they said it would be no problem putting everyone close to each other. When we arrived, I asked the front desk again, if they had put all our guests rooms together, and the guy at the front desk said yes. Once meeting up with our guests, we noticed they had lied to us, and all of our guests were scattered all over the hotel.

Once we made it up to our room, we were very disappointed to find that our room out of all our guests had the worst view!!! I figured as the bride and groom, they might give you at least the same quality view as our guests? Some of our guests even got the decorative swan towels when they entered their room, we had nothing special? When I went down to the front desk to complain, the guy at the front desk said to me, "We'll you’re not getting married at the hotel". I was so angry!!! Yes we weren't getting married at the hotel, though we still brought 34 people to the hotel and we shouldn't get treated any different!!!! They ended up moving us to a family suite. They view wasn't much better, but we had a bigger room.

We had visited the Barcelo at Christmas time, to check everything out. I had asked at that time if it would be an issue for making large group reservations at the a la carte restaurants. I was told it would be no problem and to ensure availability to make our reservations right way when we arrived. As soon as we arrived at the Barcelo, I went to make our dinner reservations. To my surprise it was a problem making big group reservations. We were told that they wouldn't be able to accommodate that many people at one time (25 people) and the restaurants were too small. After fighting with the reservations lady for at least half an hour, we tried to explain, we didn't need a huge table for all of us, we just wanted to all sit in the same area. They still didn't get it. We ended up getting a reservation one night for all of us in the French restaurant and one night in the Japanese. The night in the French restaurant worked out well. They had 3 larger tables and we all could sit somewhat together. The food was great in the French restaurant and my guests were happy. I was surprised to see that after all the fuss about the restaurants being small and full, there were at least 15 empty tables still in the French restaurant.

As for the Japanese, they kept saying to us we couldn't have a large group reservation unless it was our rehearsal dinner. Even though it wasn't our rehearsal dinner, I just said sure, let’s call it that. They said they wouldn't be able to do the a la carte menu for us, so instead we would have a set menu, at this point I didn't care anymore, I said sure, as long as we are all together in the restaurant. We had a few guests staying at other resorts, so I asked what the price would be for them to join us for dinner. The Barcelo said $95 for the day pass and then another $45 for the dinner at the Japanese restaurant, CRAZY!!! Once we got there, they had set up a big table for us to all sit at. (Like I said before, it didn't have to be a 1 large table, but they obviously didn't understand) I swear there were only 2 other tables in the restaurant being used at that time, it was fairly empty other than us, why they made such a big deal about it being full, I can't understand??? Our set menu consisted of 3 tiny courses, and they didn't even let our guests choose out of the 2 choices for dinner we were supposed to have. It was a mess, and then at the end of the dinner, we were all quickly shooed out!

When we were making reservations in the lobby, the lady kept telling us that you need a reservation at the a la carte restaurants otherwise they wouldn't let you in. Well by the end of the week, our guests were having no problems getting into the a la carte restaurants without reservations!

One other thing, it took a good 10 minutes before the shower in our room got hot.

I have to say the Barcelo is a beautiful resort, the rooms were clean, the food was great, and the bar staff were awesome. If you’re planning your wedding at the Barcelo, or any other big group event, plan to have your dinners at the buffet, because the a la carte restaurants are a pain to get large group reservations at. Would I stay at the Barcelo again? Probably not. I wasn't at all happy with the service and they have too many stupid rules.

We stayed here for a week in early February 2013. Great rooms excellent service and friendly professional staff. Spa was awesome, and trip planners were great for day trips, whale watching, snorkelling, horse back riding or lying by the pool. Don't expect the restaurants, as per say the French, Spanish and Japanese to be authentic. They do the best they can. Sometimes service wasn't the best but the effort was. My wife and I are both longtime food service industry pros who've travelled all over the world. That being said we relaxed, had a good time and when service slipped a few times we said so what their trying, that's what counts.