Grand Solmar Pacific Dunes Golf and Spa — Hotel in Baja California Sur

What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.... In the world of travel, timeshares and vacation clubs what's in a name is what tends to make your memories so sweet. Today at Grand Solmar at Rancho San Lucas I was reminded of the realities of the world we live in regardless of our age, ethnicity or origin. Tonight at our facility there was a company Christmas party for primarily those whom sell the timeshares for Grand Solmar, and above, upon my travels to get dinner with my two girls (ages 5 and 7) we overheard several resort employees attending the party at THEIR resort verbally abuse the waiting staff of their very own hotel! The same waiting staff that found my glasses by the pool and returned them! Thank you Victor! The same staff that remembers our names, preferences, and my kids favorite colors, he actually takes time to talk to them and makes them feel important!, Thank you Joel. The same staff that took the time to paint with my daughters, make her a dreamcatcher, and actually make her feel special. Yet tonight, those same beautiful, amazing, wonderful, and astonishing people that made our stay thus far memorable were treated with disrespect and degraded by the very people that work alongside them as my daughter watched as asked "Dad why is that lady being so mean to my friend?". Who are you to sell a dream vacation and timeshare that is a blessing, yet treat those who make it a gift to others and true value with such disrespect. Throughout the years we have stayed at many resorts and to be honest they are all similar, Hawaii, Cabo, Cancun, Tahoe, etc... similar rooms, similar pools, similar drinks, similar perks, but what makes them unique and what can never be bought, sold or replaced is the people. The AMAZING waiters, security, front desk personnel, managers and activities staff here at Rancho are beyond words EXCELLENT and AMAZING. We would have loved to be a part of this family here at Rancho, if as teachers we could have afforded to but sadly we cannot. However, when we attended the presentation, heard the history and how the owner made this resort we were impressed with his story and character as a man. He seems like an honorable, smart and trustworthy man that found value in a dream and worked from nothing to the gift this resort is and will become (it is being built around us as we speak but you can barely tell when your here and enjoying it). It is sad his dream, and those that SELL it are so RUDE to the very people that make our dreams and memories so amazing here during our stay. I wish I was him and had the ability to take the timeshare sales people for his resort at the party tonight and ask them to walk in the shoes of the waiting staff I watched them belittle. The very people that take Shakespeare's words and exemplify what's in a name. To the owner/developer of Grand Solmar what is in your name? Luckily, not the titles of those whom sell your dream and vision, but the amazing staff that works here each day doing the little things that to those of us whom stay mean so much. I wish I could visit again and I will enjoy the rest of my week appreciating the true people that make Grand Solmar GRAND, the staff, not the people that try to sell a dream yet belittle the people that make it a reality. My wife and I are both teachers and we save up to create holiday memories for our family. I will always cherish the gift of those who work here with heart, pride and passion, and pray to forget what I watched tonight as those attending their employee party, here at their family facility, belittled the very people that make this place AMAZING. If I am blessed to return in time, I will to see the Joel's of this place that greet us with a smile and make us feel like family. I hope you have the privilege to visit this resort and its amazing food, pools, activities, and amenities, but most of ALL it has amazing people. Not those who SELL you the dream apparently, but those whom experience the memories with you on your stay and take the time to make you feel...

Just spent 8 nights there with my wife and 2 teenagers. We had a good family time overall and we want to highlight the friendliness and service of most of the staff. But we will never come back as too many negatives to this resort.

The very good: The pool/entertainment staff/bellboys is very nice and helpful The pools are super warm General cleanliness

The good: the room/apartment is spacious, nice, pretty modern design compared to most American hotel standards The view on the pool/ocean is very nice, you can see whales from your balcony (far but you see them) After we checked-in they tried to get us to book a breakfast for a timeshare presentation. We declined and that was it for the week, no other tentative to sell us anything

The not so good: Overall, feels like the resort is struggling financially While the resort is not so old, some stuff in the rooms feels already worn out and not fixed (cabinets) shower is leaking all over the bathroom Strong humidity smell in the room No basic amenities like salt, pepper, coffee.. to start the week knowing it is hard to get anything there. Not even shower gel (only shampoo/conditioner), just a hard soap… While the pool staff is super friendly and helpful, they are in very limited number - expect to wait at rush hour The resort is not fully constructed, the surroundings are “OK” but not 4 stars… the pools are super warm but also pretty small/narrow. Do not expect to play water volley-ball there. You can do so in the artificial lagoon but the water temperature is much fresher... Only 2 restaurants on site so limited choice - 1 basic one - not bad, rolling menu every day but really basic cuisine and still expect $30/40pp excl. drinks - and 1 higher end - $100pp excl. drinks (you could make it for $50 but most nice mains are super expensive like $70/80 steaks or $95 lobster). There is also a Deli. There is a Free shuttle to the sister resort in the city but it runs only every 2 hoursStill a good 10/20mn walk from the marina and the shuttle will not stop anywhere else. If you plan to do grocery shopping while in town, forget, you are not allowed to bring them back in the bus

The BAD My wife and daughter paid $50 each for a cooking CLASS - ended being a 1h20mn demonstration by one of the restaurants cook of how to do shrimp ceviche - roughly cut onions and tomatoes - and Fajitas - the stove did not work so the cook disappeared for some time and came back… with the food all prepared. No cooking at all. Super disappointing when you expect to share an experience and a total rip-off. Not even a drink offered. Had to pay extra. Paying is the theme in this resort - everything is ridiculously priced (and we are from the Bay Area!) $7 for a Coke, $14 Pinada, $17 for a cocktail (just a shot of alcohol, some prepared mix and tons of ice), $23 for a baguette sandwich, $7.5 for a croissant, $60 for a mediocre wine Interestingly, there are 2 happy hours but we only discovered it after 5 days as it was never mentioned nor advertised… Tempted by the All-Inclusive? Nearly $500 per day for 2 adults and 2 teenagers The onsite market can cover basic needs like some drinks, cookies, chips but completely overpriced like$8-10 bags of chips Want to indulge yourself with a massage? $150 for an hour… If you wonder how they can charge such ridiculous prices it is simple - once you are there you are kind of stuck. On the map it looks not too far from the city but most of the time it is a 35-45mn ride due to traffic. You can get to the city with the free shuttle but if you need to get there early (like a 9am diving class) or do not want to wait 2 hours for the next one (last minute plan) then your only option is a taxi - $44 one way as Uber is not allowed to pick you up, only drop-off. I went to the reception to express my frustration ($44 for 14km!!!). The manager just pulled the Resort rules (the one you sign when you check-in with tons of stuff you never read) and told me - “you signed it so you knew”. He was right but what...

Grand Solmar Rancho SHOULD NOT be open to the public yet! Their web-site is false advertising! There are some renderings of what it is going to look like. There are fake photos representing their deli and gift shop that must be from another property. There is ONLY 1 restaurant open! Pros: The rooms are fantastic. The people for the most part were great with the exception of having to fight to change rooms. The room we booked: Grand Studio This was a gorgeous room. As you can see it states “unmatched ocean views in an ultra-luxurious setting” - Well, NOT true. It was like being in the dessert! Our view was of construction 12 hours a day 6 days a week. An employee informed us that there were over 200 construction employees there a day. We were woken up every day by the sound of concrete saws, dump trucks, back hoes, hammering and had to deal with lots of dust. The entire facility is mostly dirt. Most of the palm trees they had planted even looked dead. As soon as the bellboy took us to our room we immediate told the bell boy that this is not acceptable. We phoned the front desk and explained to them that the room is not what was advertised. They informed us that there was nothing else available. I asked if there was a manager on duty and they said yes. The manager said that they do not guaranty ocean views and once again informed us that they did not have anything else available. I pulled out the page I had printed off of my computer before leaving home that stated “unmatched ocean views in an ultra-luxurious setting” After much arguing and me starting to look at other hotels on my Ipad in the area for vacancies, he said that they could move us on Tuesday. Room Change - They did inform us on Tuesday that we could use the services at the other Grand Solmar resorts but we had to stay there waiting for our room change. They have a major sewage problem ion that building. The elevator always smelled like a sewer (building A) the front restroom in our suite always smelled like a sewer. The one and only restaurant. We ate there for dinner when we arrived. Meal Plan- What a JOKE! $140.00 a day per person for one restaurant. Because of the sand flies we did order room service a few times which is only covered 50% with the meal plan. The pools - There were only 2 VERY small pools. 1 was down by the beach with no completed buildings around it so it was very windy. The other pool faced construction. Free shuttle to other resorts - OMG! Where do I start!?!? There weren’t enough shuttles. It was first come, first serve. People were like animals! Even when Mark and I were there first we would get pushed out of the way. When we missed the shuttle we either had to take a $45.00 taxi or wait for the next shuttle. Every shuttle was full of disgruntled people, all owners that we could tell. It only made for a worse experience. All bitching and complaining EVERY time we were on the shuttle! The facilities were for “owners” only. We tried to fly out Sunday but it was going to cost us an additional $824.00 per person plus the $200.00 per person change fee so we waited and flew out Monday. We initially had a direct flight home but in order to get out of there and not pay too much we took a flight that connected in Las Angeles and were not even able to sit together! The Basic Financials 10 days room and meal plan to $9136.48. Not including time off work, airfare etc. Total for the basic travel: $12,132.28

We overheard so many things on those shuttle rides! They flat out lied to people, their “owners” over the phone up top 3 days before their “owners” arrived. Everyone had the same complaints about: Flies, Rooks facing dirt pits and construction, NO Ice in rooms Food, lack of, how long it took for full service, many people did not even like the food, Construction dirt and noise, Lack of pools, Lack of relaxing atmosphere, Shuttle service, Etc.

Please visit their web-site. This is what they told their owners to do before they got there: FALSE...