Hacienda del Mar Los Cabos — Hotel in Baja California Sur

I'm only posting thisdue to the way it was handled. We'd been gifted a week at the vacation club side and are very grateful for it.

The majority of the people working here are awesome, but also are truly limited in what they are able to do for guests. A special thanks to the all the bellmen and Denzel at the front desk. Beware of how hard they push the timeshare sales breakfast. Don't expect any specials unless you have a contract already.

We'd been there one night, missing many kitchen necessities and had to ask for basics like ice bucket , toaster, and kitchen towels.

We woke to a shower that takes an hour to drain and fills with four inches of filthy water in a ten-minute shower. Well wait ... The toilet was leaking all around the base, likely failing wax ring and missing caulk in the back. And we have company... See photos. La cockroaches! Giant! Likely wood roaches from rotting wood and water but cmon, I know it's common in Mexico, but in the rooms of a 500 per night (minimum ) resort??

The answer in front was "oh", followed by "were really full and have one option to move you, but its the back of the convention center building with a parking lot view. We had ocean view!

What can we do? "I'll ask management to look at the drain and leaking toilet and spray for bugs. We can talk to housekeeping about the roaches.... maybe they can help.

Not one we are sorry. Not one utter of empathy. Just sorry we are full. No answer when they'll do these things, a lot of talking among one another in Spanish.

Well, at 10:30 that night, even though the toilet caulk had been fixed and they came and sprayed for the roaches, the toilet wouldn't flush correctly and so we called for plumbing.

After 35 minutes he told us he can't fix it, that there are blocked lines under the shower and the sink and the toilet preventing everything from going down and he needs to get more plumbers in there. We then got a call from the front desk asking us how long we need to pack so we can go to a different room overnight. At least that was a clean room with a new bed.

Barbara, the apparent assistant manager, was rude, uncaring, speaks out of her butt like she actually is on top of things. The next morning when I asked what was going to be done she said they are in there fixing it. I said I can't even have breakfast. I had to verbally ask a free breakfast instead of offering it to us because we couldn't get into our room to our own food.

She called at 11am and told us our room was ready we could go back from the temporary room they put us in overnight. She told me that housekeeping was cleaning our bathroom. When I asked her what else we could get for this inconvenience. Her only statement was that they did all they need to do and were already "more than gracious".

Amazing.... Who says this????

We get to our room, one sink is still leaking from the complete repairs, housekeeping had not been there and the shower was so gross! When we call housekeeping they didn't know they were supposed to come. When I call to talk to her and tell her that one sink was still leaking, she would not come to the phone instead telling the front desk person who answered that she told me it was already done and all is good.

"I'm sorry" would be so simple. It's a creepy place and we don't live with roaches. I wouldn't even think to keep any bags on the floor and won't go anywhere without shoes or lights on.

Aside from that, It's a beautiful property in the gardens and the view is amazing , but clearly quite old, unkempt buildings and losing a lot every day. And they don't seem to care.

But hey, come to the timeshare breakfast! It's the least we can do ...and wow, try saying no! Corina will chase you down and send others to do the same.

Well, NO.

The person who gave us the timeshare week will not be renewing because they are taking away all of the benefits including the former 50% discounts, owners bracelets for family, etc.

The four seasons is opening next door! Wait.

But I thank you to those wonderful people, the...

From the moment we arrived we were badgered by sales people. I have several email communications (at least 6) between Juan Carlos Ramos Bazan and myself, half of them including the owners of the timeshare. Despite the emails and following ALL the instructions, they had no record of us upon arrival. Luckily, I had my confirmation printed out.. After that, (while our groceries we had picked up on the way were melting in the sun), we were passed on to a person that claimed they were providing us with a welcome package - they were actually trying to get us to a timeshare meeting. We were told we would receive wristbands, which we never received because we did not go to the timeshare meetings. When we tried to inquire about things to do - we were routed to the timeshare salespeople. We received calls to our room inviting us to pick up welcome packets (nope - timeshare meetings). However, the four different times WE called down to the front desk - NO ONE ANSWERED. We had to walk down to the office. Finally, after a few days when I made it clear that we were NOT going to be buying timeshare, they told us where the REAL concierge's desk was. By now we had made our own plans and we STILL never received our wristbands. If not for our kind bellhop, Joel, we would have been completely clueless about the property and how things worked, I purchased this week's stay condo at a fundraising dinner - we were badgered and treated like second class citizens when we declined the timeshare meeting. We are Marriott rewards members - we were surprised a Marriott property would operate this way. The property is stunning, but we would never stay there again, We could have stayed elsewhere for cheaper and been treated better.

There is no denying that the property is BEAUTIFUL and that CABO is amazing, however, the way everything was handled made it a very frustrating experience. When we visit somewhere, we want to experience the new place we are at. MY kids LOVED Cabo, and everyone wanted to return, but definitely not there. Everything about the property is designed to keep you trapped there instead of just letting us pay to stay there and enjoy the beautiful city. ($14.00 round trip for a shuttle ride - with 5 of us, that would have been $70 for a 15 minute trip into town for dinner or to the beach of shopping)

One shower had amazing water pressure. The other two showers would just randomly stop working. Right in the middle of your shower it would just reduce to a dribble and you had to turn it off and back on several times to get it to work - sometimes this would happen 2 or 3 times. Sometimes it never increased. Same thing with the kitchen sink - it would just randomly stop working. We tried to call the front desk several times, but as mentioned above, no one would answer our calls. We just worked around it. It also seems crazy to me that you would provide a coffee maker, but no coffee - or even filters. I did not mind buying the laundry detergent, as the washer/dryer was a nice bonus, but having to buy our own coffee and hunt down filters that would not even fit the coffee maker properly was not well done at all. Again - not Marriott level service, in...

Put simply the location is amazing and with views to match. The rooms have become dated and in need of renovation and upgrade - we were in unit 9 (apparently 1-7 has been completed. The AC noisy (imagine a 1955 Chevvy Truck starting and stopping every five minutes) and the toilet flush is like those on an aircraft and you can hear both from the rooms above and below. The facilities and the local beaches, golf courses etc would make you believe all is good, that is until you see the danger that lurks at every bar (assume also every food handling area on site and kitchens) - We sat on day 2 at Sirenas Bar while waiting for a taxi, during the time it took to consume one Margarita we saw this busy midday bar in full flow. EVERY drink that was served got a slice of lime/lemon or melon taken by hand (fingers) from a large serving unit (sat atop the SE corner) We counted 20 different occasion (in the same number of minutes) where waiters plucked garnishes to place in guest drinks without tongs. Now, you might think this is okay, but after 20 years in the food service industry I can tell you that this is NOT. We saw multiple occasions where bar staff touched their faces, ears, noses and hair before garnishing drinks, multiply this hundreds of times a day and imagine what bacteria goes into your cocktail - all the while we saw nobody washing their hands. So let's assume it is a one off, nope, same situation evident at the bars at Pitihayas and Tortugas onsite. Then add the clearing of guest drinks from tables....if the guest has 'toileted' and not washed hands, then there is bacteria on his glass, this then carried to the bar washer by the waiter who then transfers same to your drink via a slice of lime (again, multiply by maybe 100 times in a day then that portion of melon (often eaten) and citrus 'center' is a major health hazard. Did we report it to the manager? Well, we were going to until we saw the little (white-shirted) guy do the same thing. At reception when I asked for a private place to discuss a 'guest issue' I was told I'd have to make an appointment with the guest service manager - He will probably respond here with a lame "this is not our normal practice" and another generic apology - but it is normal at HDM, every bar has the same lack of BASIC food hygiene practice on display for all to see. My wife who has a cast iron stomach and constitution has been woefully ill with sickness at both ends since Saturday (28th Oct and day 5 of 7) Upon return home we visited a Dr. as things didn't improve, he prescribed help but two days later my wife was hospitalized via ER as she weakened - we await the results of tests for various nasties like CDiff and Hepatitis A - she is on IVs being plied with massive doses of Ciproflaxin and Fagyl Sadly it spoiled a very expensive stay in the most horrible way - be warned the food hygiene and handling at this resort could kill a weaker person.

We also never got an email copy of the final bill as promised - we were asked to use 'fast checkout' to save time - but we have been back a week?

We saw the response from the owners - but with a $46,000 hospital bill in the U.S do you really think we would take another...