GR Solaris Lighthouse — Attraction in Baja California Sur

At first I gave the hotel ample opportunities to make things right with this stay. I did it in person multiple times, then I was told to email them, then I was told to contact my travel agent, then I was told to fill out a complaint form on their website. I have not received a response from any outlet, so I am forced to write this review. It's actually funny, when you go to submit the form on their website, an error code keeps coming up, so this hotel must have turned this function off because they were getting so many complaints! LOL

Please see attached pictures. The water coming out of the faucet in the tub is yellow/green. This is normally enough to get 1 stars, but I must keep going. The water in all the rooms are probably the same, it's just unfortunate that we only knew because we had a tub to see it once you fill it. Most rooms only have a shower in which you are unaware you are bathing in swamp water.

Broken furniture in the room. To expensive to replace broken items Barcelo?

Water leaking from the ceiling for 2 days straight. We informed the front desk and nothing happened. If we didn't get more towels frequently, our whole room would have been flooded.

Only one restaurant is open per night. And space is limited. If you don't make your reservation early enough in the day, you risk having to eat the disgusting buffet food. Good thing there are other restaurants nearby that are good.

I almost got into a fight with an employee at the breakfast buffet because he wouldn't let me take a croissant up to my wife in the hotel room.

This one is actually funny. We asked the front desk why the jacuzzis weren't turned on when we went to sit in there after dinner. They said they turn the hot tubs off after 8pm. We thought that was strange. Then we go to sit in the jacuzzi at 2pm the next day...still cold. It's colder than the pool water. I ended up reading a lot of reviews from months past. And noticed a number of people said the jacuzzi didn't work then either. So they literally lie right to your face when they tell you things. So no hot tubs at all. They don't turn on the ones near the pool and the tub in your room has green water. Got it.

The afternoon pool buffet is the only thing open if you are hungry mid day. We checked in at 4pm, and went to get a bite. I decided to go hungry because this all looked like cat food.

I am truly eager to wait for the hotel to write their automated response to this review by saying they are "sorry to hear the stay was not met to their expectations and they are in contact with their management to make sure necessary steps are taken to...." blah blah blah. Get me a human to call or email me back. This won't be the only platform I review. And please take down all the fake 5 star reviews that you make on google with your burner accounts. Nobody is rating this 5 stars.

And just to make sure this doesn't happen to someone else. When Google has this hotel rated 5 stars, that is fake. Hotels basically get to rate themselves on here. We fell for that. Most reliable source is AAA's rating.

If you speak to all the locals that live in Los Cabos, and you mention that you are staying at the Barcelo, they literally throw up in their mouth because they know this place is trash. The one good thing is they keep the restaurants across the street in business because people don't want to eat the cat food at the Barcelo. Decent pizza place across the street.

Lastly, the reason this hotel still exists is because they only get business from other hotel groups putting their guests there cheaply so they sit through other hotel's timeshare presentations. And also airlines put people there after cancelled flights because it's cheap. Not many other people are staying here at their own will. It was only about 25% full when we were there. Now I know why. Do yourself a favor, pay the extra small amount to stay at a hotel where you get clear, regular water. Because the people running Barcelo are frauds. Good thing the bartenders weren't shy to make us doubles, otherwise it would have been...

This was our second vacation at Barcelo. The stay was excellent. We had Premium level reservations and appreciate the excellent attention and assistance given in the premium concierge lounge by Ezra, Pablo and Axle. We had a billing issue and Ezra was diligent in getting it worked out and very patient in explaining the issue to us. Jose’ at Gondola restaurant was very attentive and our meal was delicious. Pool bar tended by Francisco who worked nonstop making tasty beverages. Luis circled by our pool chairs often to make sure we stayed hydrated. The buffets were very well tended. The made-to-order food was good: Grilled rib eyes, chicken, pork chops. Pasta bar. Love the breakfast omelet bar. The evening entertainment was good and lively. Salsa dancers and also a Las Vegas review. The beach was spotless. A couple vendors were stationed on the beach but remained outside hotel perimeters. Swimming is too risky as the water is extremely rough and the undertow is evident.

The negatives: The resort is tired and deserves a serious remodel. The food is hit or miss. As is common at All Inclusive places, You will see many dishes reinvented at later meals, several times. Sadly, we skipped 50% of the buffet options due to the birds on the food, with occasional flies and gnats. It’s a large, multi-stationed buffet and inadequate measures to keep the food free from critters. I watched birds help themselves at the cold-cut, cheese and dessert tables. Pecking on plates of tiramisu while gnats and flies sampled the flan and sliced ham. Every day. Unsuspecting guests selected and dined on the same lightly sampled food items that the birds were pecking. 🤢 Several dining chairs had dried bird poop on the seats. At least it was dried and the birds are small 🫤 and we eventually gave up and ignored it. The pool grill is a huge Fail. It has gone way down since our visit 6 years ago. We looked forward to grilled burgers by the pool. No more. The grill was only used to warm food. The burger was lukewarm mushy and rare in the center. Very dodgy. There was greasy, tired bar food in heated tins, none of which looked remotely appealing. We ditched the burger and tried the hot dogs that looked like convenience store cast-offs. Gummy and tepid. Even the fries were not edible; like they’d been recycled once too many times and were like chewy sticks. The overall LaPlaya pool grill area reeked of old grease. Luckily the buffet is available for other lunch options. Skip the grill until Barcelo is given better tools to work with, hopefully with new food vendors and a fresher options. Our king bed room was unavailable on arrival. We were told to check back the next day. We decided to skip it rather than pack up and move out, with luggage, for a few hours until a new room was made ready. Plus, our current view is (We’re here now) outstanding as was our a/c. We didn’t want to mess with that. Housekeeping was great but wash clothes are a rare commodity. The staff simply isn’t given the necessary tools. The bath towels are definitely not luxury quality. They are scratchy and it’s hard to tell the difference between a bath towel and the floor mat. We had our rooms tidied daily. Turn down service was provided on the last night only. Tip: My tiny glass spray bottle (Amazon) of peppermint essential oil worked wonderfully to keep flies and birds off our pool and dinner table areas. A light misting is all it takes. On arms/legs too, if the flies or no-see-ums find you. Tip: Spray the shower walls with the peppermint oil before a hot shower… instant spa-like scent. Massage into sore muscles or neck for headache or sinus relief. Keep out of eyes! Tip: Bring your personal insulated water bottle for your pool beverages. Bartender filled it up and kept my yummy Lava Flow nicely chilled. Tip: Bring lots of singles for tips. Tip: Bring extension cord if you like to charge your device near you while you sleep.

The entire Barcelo staff, from registration to wait staff to housekeeping was phenomenal and hard working. Very, very polite, professional...

I stayed at this property in the past when operated by Barcelo and it was exceptional. This is what brought me back despite the change of hands, and I’m filled with regret. The landscaping and pools are still beautiful although slowly degrading. Feels like there hasn’t been upkeep on the property since my previous visit 6 years ago. I had emailed the hotel two weeks before arrival requesting a specific side of the hotel due to being placed previously overtop of the restaurant (and paying for an ocean view) only to stare at the cement rooftop which feels like a parking lot looking out to the horizon. Nobody responded. A few days before arriving I was able to reach the neighbouring property who forwarded the email- no response. At check in I made the request but was told they were sold out for two days but could move us then. No problem… except the hotel was a ghost town. Nobody at the pools. One of the main restaurants was closed entirely. No eye contact from passing staff where previously it was always smiles and Buenos Dias. Every elevator was broken with a sign, and the main staircase was cordoned off with scaffolding on the entry piece water feature. I had happened to jarred my back the day before departure so this was hell to arrive too. Made accessibility horrible. We arrived to breakfast the first day was just pointed away by the host without any attempt to explain why. Randomly hobbling all over trying to figure out where this person meant, we cornered a grounds guy (no English, yet he still smiled and was happy to try and help) who assisted in finding us to the makeshift breakfast location in one of the reservation restaurants. Chafers weren’t even lit (I pointed it out to staff who didn’t seem to understand and then all of a sudden came the frenzy of them fixing it). Every restaurant had a fire detector that beeped the entire meal. Not at all relaxing. Breakfast buffet honesty…was very undesirable. Every morning the same slop of meat/onion/pepper variations, lack of protein choices and lacking pastries. Crepe guy was miserable and was never found. Always wandering making plates of food and disappearing. I managed to enjoy Chilequilles every single morning as my breakfast but even that was blah. Coffee- blah. Service- blah. Staff- blah. (Except Marta and Moises. Diamonds in the rough). Do you like baileys in your coffee? Can’t have it. Dinner was equally as boring. I needn’t go on. The room is where it really goes sideways. As mentioned, we eventually moved rooms two days after arrival. The second room certainly had the view we paid for, but smelled horribly of mold. A broken bed that angled sideways and really just overall, rates a roadside motel. After mentioning this we were moved after having to reach out to make them aware by email. We were moved yet again. This time, the AC barely worked. Gaslit into believing it did, or at least backing down to just tolerate a 24degree room, the ceiling began to heavily drip water directly outside of our door. Then! The began to drip from the light fixture inside our doorway. Then from a hole in the bathroom ceiling. I woke directly with their marketing person who brought a team into the room to deal with it… but- nothing was ever fixed. Same dank temperature, hole in the ceiling. Bar fridge leaked water. No snacks. Patio light automatically comes on at 630 filling the entire deck with moths making it uninhabitable to enjoy the evening. The family pool and activity pool are the only ones cleaned at night, while the adult pool had sand all over the bottom and a skim of sunscreen every single day. Only Club Solaris is tended to. You can just drink yourself silly on watered down drinks that have no flavour of alcohol. Honestly the entire thing was laughable. But I’m the clown who paid $3600 to fly and stay here. I’m ashamed of myself and GR Solaris should be ashamed of themselves too. Luis! You and Zarel are the hardest working people in the place. You are the exceptions. I will...