Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa at The Islands of Loreto
Loreto
Stayed here for a week as a couple in April and would comment as follows:
Location:
Beautiful setting in a large sheltered bay, but it's remote - Loreto is 30kms to the north and there is nothing else around.
Accommodation:
Our suite was very spacious, clean and well appointed with a huge wrap-around balcony - a third of which was wasted space. However, building has been constructed cheaply with little or no sound insulation between the floors and with a central open space for stairways and elevator shaft and so any noise is excessively amplified. The HVAC and mechanicals (refrigerator, jacuzzi) are also very noisy. The safe didn't work and despite reporting it at least 4 times it still wasn't attended to. Much better to say that they couldn't deal with it than ignoring the problem.
Food quality:
The food at the Danzante restaurant (for which there is a $20 dollar cover charge per person) was very good. The Casa Mia is an open-plan facility serving mainly Italian style food - pizza's and pasta are prepared fresh but everything is drowned in too much cheese or sauce or both. The Market is buffet style fare, which was pleasant enough but I raised serious food hygiene concerns here with the F&B manager. His response was that they needed more staff training - but hold on a mo' - this was basic food hygiene practice that was being disregarded so why are they letting someone cook in the first place that doesn't know the basics? Serious flaw. If this was a mainstream restaurant it would be closed down by the Authorities.
Drinks:
Premium drinks are excluded from the all-inclusive package and oddly there is no separate cocktail bar or lounge even though there is plenty of space available. All the restaurants have bar facilities (as does the pool and beach) but if you want a pre-dinner drink to watch the sunset or an after dinner digestif away from the smell of food then then there is nowhere to go.
Service:
As expected, all the front line staff were excellent - special mention to Gabriel, Christian and Cesar in Danzante's, to Edgar, Roberto and Benjamin in Casa, to Manuel in the Market and to Manny and his team around the pool who work their butts off providing excellent service. Management on the other hand were largely invisible - I never saw anyone in Authority greeting guests or asking how their stay was going.
Facilities:
The spa is very nice and there are paddle boards and kayaks for the bay area. The beach is safe to walk on but you will need shoes or trainers. There are hiking trails around the property of varying lengths. The golf course looks very nice but at over $200 per person there was no one using it - I only saw 2 couples playing golf during the whole week. Maybe if they offered an introductory first round for $75 then they'd get some income flowing and people would then pay the $200 for subsequent rounds.
Overall:
This is a time share resort where the first phase only has been completed. The rest of the bay is a construction site and will remain so for the long term. This poses two fundamental problems - do you want to spend your vacation on a construction site with the attendant problems of noise and dust and secondly when will it all be completed, if ever, assuming they don't run out of money first as commonly happens with developments of this nature. This resort has the potential to be a top notch facility but is sadly lacking in the important distinguishing features. If you want to experience first class all inclusive's then try Secrets Golf Resort at San Jose del Cabo or Pueblo Bonita Pacifica at Cabo San Lucas. This resort simply does not deliver anywhere near its competitors.
