Krystal Grand Los Cabos — Hotel in Baja California Sur

I usually don’t write reviews but I wanted to share our own opinion and experience with all the bad reviews. We loved our stay at Krystal Grand and had an amazing time. It was our first time in Cabo so we cannot compare to the other resorts and we went the first week of September which is not as crowded as July and August. Staff: except for one not very sympathetic server, staff was very friendly and they do speak English. One thing to have in mind is that service here is slow. Food: we really enjoyed the food, the buffet had a variety of choices and we liked most of the dishes we tried. We didn’t try all the restaurants as it was easier for us to go to the buffet with our young childrens but we tried Risotto and the Mexican restaurant and it was quite good. Portions are small but still enough. Maybe not fine dining but still of good quality. Food from the pool bar is all right, kids did enjoy the fries, nachos and pizzas. Drinks: cocktails from the pool bar are not the best, Tecate and Indio beers were good and so were the wine we tried at the restaurants. Rodrigo was a great pool server always bringing us more drinks! Kids club: our 5 years old went there twice and was the only kid there, although he would have preferred to meet other kids, he did enjoy the activities with Tania who made sure he was having a great time. Pools: we chose to stay here because of the pictures we saw and were not disappointed, pools are amazing! We didn’t go to the adults only pool because of our kids but it did look nice. Room: we had a deluxe standard room in the main building where there’s the reception with view on the pools and ocean. The room was basic and could use some renovation but was still okay and clean. I didn’t see any cockroach that some have mentioned in other reviews. There is just soap and a small bottle of shampoo and no hair dryer, but there was an iron and ironing board. Location: the hotel is closed to the freeway with not many things around to do. Noise: you can hear traffic when walking in the corridor to your room but not once you are inside. The music can be pretty loud by the pool, especially when there are activities like aquagym… There were a few evenings with special activities and loud music.

Check-in and check out: we arrived just after 12pm and the room was ready so they let us check in early which was great as we were able to enjoy our stay right away. Yes, you have to wear a wristband all the time and they will charge you if you lose it. Check out was fast without any issue and they did let us keep the wristbands until last minute so we could order drinks waiting for our ride to the airport. Time share presentation: that’s my only complaint, after check in we were sent to another desk where someone showed us a map of the resort and some activities they could organize for us. We told them we interested in scuba diving for myself and they said they could get us a great discount, to leave a $20 cash deposit and to come back the day after to finalize the booking. After seeing the receipt for the “Bel-Air owners circle”, I told my husband to cancel and get the deposit back. So my husband came back alone the day after and he was told that all family members (which includes 2 kids, 2 and 5 years old)had to come and watch a 90 minutes presentation!!! We refused and got our $20 back but it was something that we would have preferred not to have to deal with. Another small negative point is that it would be great if the hotel could advertise more clearly about the activities offered and the restaurants operating hours. If you are looking for a luxurious resort and experience I would not say this is the place for you but if you are looking for a good deal you might be pleasantly surprised. In the end, we loved our vacation here, the negative points being only minors details compared to other all...

My wife and I had an amazing four day stay at Krystal Grand. I wish I hadn't read all the reviews before we left. I almost canceled our stay here because of so many negative reviews. The check in process was smooth and easy. We were in our room within 10 minutes of setting foot on the grounds. We did not get hounded by time share folks or anyone else trying to upsell us. Maybe they knew were are poor folk. Yes, our room was by the highway and it was very noisy. There is no getting around that. We sleep with white noise and so we cranked that up and didn't really notice the noise at night. The room is a little outdated. There were some cracks in the tiles in places or some areas of chipped paint. Had we paid for a more expensive hotel I think that might have been disappointing, but this was one of the least expensive all inclusive resorts in Cabo. The shower leaked onto the floor in the bathroom. We tossed a towel on the ground and it didn't bother us a bit. Simply asked for more towels from the front desk. They brought a stack within 15 minutes. The room had plenty of water and drinks in the fridge. There were 6 bottles of water for my wife and I. After the maid service came back there were 6 full bottles again. Its like $2 is all to have things restocked multiple times in a day. We never needed that though. The grounds were pretty and well maintained. The pools were pretty and clean. The chairs were hard to get as people did save them, but there are chairs to be had. We brought a few beach towels and liked laying at the beach anyway. The staff came around frequently and offered us drinks. They were all very friendly. The kids there seemed to have a good time with the games put on by the staff. The food was fine. The snack bar next to the pools was awesome! They had fish tacos my wife liked. We both had nachos each day. They had burgers and pizza there as well as quesadillas. We stopped doing lunch at the buffet and did it at the snack shack after day one. The restaurants atmosphere was amazing, very pretty views and good service. The food is a little bland, but they are trying to cater to the 6 year old kid and adults at the same time. The buffet was really good and had lots of options. Its cafeteria style food, so set your expectations, but we really liked it. The fruit was very fresh and tasty. I am a big sweet tooth and the desserts were a little disappointing. The churros at the Mexican restaurant were really tasty, but aside from that, I didn't really care much for any of the desserts offered. A little ice cream with some of the cakes or things would have gone a long way to satisfying me in that regard. Overall it was an awesome stay! I am glad we gave it a go and didn't let the reviews sway us.

A couple things from the reviews: My wife and I don't drink alcohol. So if the drinks are watered down or the alcohol selection isn't great, we wouldn't know. We did enjoy virgin daiquiris by the pool multiple times a day. The noise from the highway is real. Be prepared with white noise. If you need it quiet to sleep and don't do white noise, this will be a deal breaker. Even us with our rose colored glasses recognize the noise was quite a bit. The resort is starting to age a bit, but overall it was clean (I even did the baby wipe test and the floors were really good). Portion sizes at the restaurant did tend to be on the smaller side from what a lot of Americans might expect...so order another entree. Its all free, just get more if you want to be totally stuffed. Or you can do what we did one night after going to the Grille restaurant and go to the buffet for a little extra food after. Internet was very solid overall. Yes there were a few spots where it might drop briefly (like in an elevator). I was able to stream my baseball games...

Sit back, relax and make yourself some tea. You’re gonna want to read this.

There are many 1 star reviews for this property. Please listen to them and to me. There is a great reason for that. This hotel and its employees are by far the worst I have ever experienced in 15+ years of worldwide travel.

Let’s start with the rooms. There are the “ocean view” rooms you think you are going to get based on the hotel’s website (with pictures) and the ones you really get where you can just kind of see the ocean between two buildings and over pools, restaurants and bars. They are LYING about what an ocean view “suite” is. The suite has a dirty roll out couch in it and a dining table, and sits way back on the property on a loud, busy street. The non-suites are closer to the beach for some reason. Both room types are small, old, dirty, and have broken fixtures.

Our room had a broken refrigerator that didn’t cool at all. Broken and dirty curtains that gaped open and let the light right in so we were waking up at sunrise every morning.

Best part, the room smells of MOLD or SEWAGE. The smell got progressively worse and on the third night of our stay, the smell was so strong we were nauseous and feeling sick from the smell. We went down to the front desk and were told to go back to the room, wait there and let the handyman in. The handyman came up and confirmed there is a rotten smell, but front desk refused to move us to a different room. Instead, they turned up the A/C until the room was freezing and tried to mask the odor with air fresheners.

It was an unbearable stench so after over an hour of standing outside of our room waiting for them to “fix” the problem, we went back to the front desk to ask to be moved again. The front desk person was extremely rude, unapologetic and wanted us to sign a statement as to why we needed to move rooms. Upon signing the statement we wanted a copy of it or to take a picture. The front desk person LITERALLY TORE THE PAPER OUT OF MY HAND, saying we can’t have a copy. There are no words to describe how aggressive and repulsive his behavior was. This is hospitality? It’s not even basic human decency.

Their main goal at this hotel is to sell you a timeshare. They will do anything to force the timeshare presentation on you. It’s borderline harassment how you constantly have that forced on you every time you go to the lobby.

The “all inclusive” food is not only disgusting but while we were eating at the buffet, we got up to get different food and the waitress threw out all of the stuff on our table. They also took all of the tongs and spoons away from the buffet so we couldn’t get anything even though the food was all still out. We had gone to the buffet way before closing and nobody warned us they were about to close breakfast buffet. Then all of a sudden the utensils are gone and our table is cleared. They basically kicked us out.

I can’t emphasize enough how this “vacation” was nothing but stressful, depressing and unpleasant. I needed a recharge so much and also I was at this hotel for my BIRTHDAY. It was ruined because this hotel is the WORST. The staff is a 0/5, food is a 0/5 (stale, old, cold), and the front desk gets a -100/5. Borderline abusive behavior and literally endangering guests by putting us in hazardous and unsanitary situations with obvious mold and sewage odor emanating from our room and that entire side of the building.

Not only does this hotel owe me a refund, but they should apologize and be ashamed of themselves. This hotel is an insult to the beautiful land and beach it sits upon. I wish they would tear this whole place down and build something...