Playa Grande Resort & Grand Spa — Hotel in Baja California Sur

Playa grande is a huge property. Location: It’s about 45 minutes from the airport. Close to downtown and next to the marina and the beach. Location is perfect for boat and downtown activities. Checkin: we arrived around 6:00/6:30. Karen checked us in. I payed extra for a ocean view but smaller room. We were voluntold that we are “upgraded” to a bigger room but a different view. Decided not to argue. Than Karen proceeded to check us in and we were immediately grabbed by Erick for “welcome drink” and towel package. But actually it was invitation to listen to their presentation. Wasted about 20 min. Friend we’ve been there, not doing that again! The funny thing is he gave his whole shabang and said bye. Excuse me. Where is my welcome drink? When I asked he opened the drawer like it was in there. “Oh we usually have them here but not at this time” than why did you say that? The towel system is a little slip and they make you sign that if you don’t return the towels it’s 4$/towel but than there is no system to track if you actually return the towels like the other resorts where you get a card. We didn’t get anything. Then the mission to get to the room. Karen literally couldn’t get rid of us fast enough and told us to go find the bell boys and they will take us to the room. After our no welcome drinks and just lots of talk from Erick we went to find bell boys. (Took one star for wasting our time and no welcome drinks as promised) (The tall skinny one I forget the name but not the face!) was friendly until he realized we don’t have any luggage just our back packs and gave us vague directions to go down the hall, take the elevator up, walk down the hall etc. Our room was in building E it is, not exaggeration 7 minutes walk from the lobby, down the hallway, up an elevator, down the hall, out the building, up the hill, down the elevator and than the room. Not exaggerating at all!! We stopped at several points, asked directions, stopped again and asked directions. So if you don’t have luggage, bell boys will not be interested! That’s why I took one star. We were in room 3044, building E. The room was clean, our family of 4 was comfortable. We couldn’t find remote to one TV and asked several people but they kept mentioning other people we should contact. Didn’t find it until the end. The family staying on the right of us, was constantly smoking weed so it was impossible to sit in the balcony while they were out there. We also found and killed a lizard, which was still there after housekeeping! The hotel has several restaurants, cafes & an expensive but very convenient little general store. Room service is 24 hour and has a good little menu. The pool near our side of the hotel was quiet and peaceful. It wasn’t crowded like the one downstairs near the beach, that was the part I enjoyed the most about staying in this part. The cafe near the pool had good breakfast & no crowd The last day of our stay on 20th at night the electricity went out at night and didn’t come back for several hours until the morning around 10am The hot water stopped coming. We couldn’t watch TV or even make coffee. We planned to spend the day enjoying the resort so that wasn’t ok at all. The electricity came back in the morning but hot water wasn’t available until 5/6pm. The hotel refused to take any responsibility at all. We were told it was overall so it’s not our problem. It’s your resort it’s your problem. At checkout I checked the bill and we were voluncharged for a donation to their organization. NO NO! I don’t care if it’s $1 or $10 or $100! You will not charge me without asking me first! I pointed it out and the girl I believe Lisa checking is out looked at me like really and told me with an attitude I can take it off if you want. YEAH! You shouldn’t have charged me anything in the first place! Overall our stay was pleasant. The hotel is comfortable, conveniently location, the staff is ok but not hospitable and friendly like Cozumel or Cancun, I was not impressed. I would probably not stay here again. But one...

I have stayed at playa grande 8 times now. In all types of rooms. Here’s all of my opinions on Playa Grande.

1. There is so much to do at the resort. This is great if you’re active, have a family or kids, or if you don’t want to just lay by the pool all day. Every day there are different activities and they have the best entertainment staff of anywhere I’ve ever stayed. Aimee, Salma, Rodrigo, and Eduardo are all incredible at their jobs and they truly do treat you like family. Daily activities can include: beach and/or pool volleyball, poker, black jack, Spanish lessons, yoga, water aerobics, bracelet making, stretching classes, cornhole or ping pong tournaments, among many other things. Things start to shut down pretty early though which leaves not much to do during the evenings.

2. I don’t think the all inclusive is worth it unless you plan to do nothing in town and you plan to drink A LOT. Instead, we drink during happy hour which is twice a day (11am-noon and 3pm-4pm) and all the drinks are 2 for 1. They also have a daily drink special that is 2 for 1 the whole day. Drinks are $12-16 each so that makes them much more reasonable and affordable. Lunch by the pool is good but we much prefer to walk into town for breakfast and dinner because there are just so many great options. They have normal bar food, sushi, a taco bar, and other good lunch options if you don’t want to leave. The breakfast buffet is also really good (~$30 per person all you can eat).

3. This is the best location. It is much quieter on this side of the marina and everything is walkable. We walk everywhere and it is so nice. You get to see so much and it’s not bad at all. It’s about 1.3 miles from the resort to the farthest side of the marina one way and we usually walk 7-12 miles a day while we’re there. You also get to watch whales jump from the poolside and they have baby turtle releases in the mornings in the winter months. The only downside is you can’t swim in the ocean at this resort due to the riptides (though in my opinion, the water is cold and not very fun to swim in)

4. I think it is better to stay below than up at the ridge. A lot of people will say the ridge is quieter, this is ONLY during the day time. At night, there is a lot of sound from the marina so you can hear music all night. (Pro tip - hang pool towels over your balcony to absorb most* of the sound). With that being said, the ridge does have its own private pools. There are 2 hot tubs and then 3 pools. One has a slide, one has a swim up bar, and one is an infinity pool with a great pool but they are all a bit chilly. Also from the ridge, it is a bit of a hike down to the normal pools and for that reason I like to stay down below where all the action is during the day. There is also an adults only area with a few pools and hot tub if you are worried about kids.

5. As for the rooms, they are fine… Nothing incredibly spectacular but they are clean and will do. The rooms on the ridge seem to be a bit older and more disgruntled. I think the best rooms are the 2 bedrooms if you have 2 families or couples, or if you have kids. The master suite does not truly sleep 5 in my opinion - in one room you have a king bed with a private bathroom. In the other room you have EITHER a futon couch thing (not a pullout mattress couch more like you move the cushions to make a bed) or it has a full sized Murphy bed. It also has a very small twin Murphy bed (only made for people under 5’10”). This is all in the common area where the kitchen and living room are and then there is another small bathroom for thus area.

Overall, as a younger person who wants to do things, this is my favorite place to stay. It’s the right balance of fun and engaging without being too much of a party scene. There’s fun things to do during the day and you can go into town for fun in the evenings. The food is 7/10 overall and the drinks are great (not strong at all which I like). The location is tough to beat and the staff are...

The room and grounds are gorgeous, spacious, and clean. The beds are comfortable, and there is plenty of room to feel at home. At check-in, we were told we had to see another person to get towel keys and that even though check-in was at 3 pm (it was 3:30 when we checked in), our room would not be ready until 4 (enough time to sit and try to be sold). Then we were told we had been upgraded to a suite. They could see by our passports how much we traveled internationally and thought we’d be an easy target.

We sat with Patricia, and the harassment to purchase a timeshare began. We stayed on several occasions but were not interested; we were just here for a few days and wanted to relax. We were offered a $300 meal voucher and spa services or activities. We continued to decline. Can we have our pool key and go, we asked. Finally, to get away and get to our room, we agreed. We said we would do the 8 am tour for 90 minutes and return to our vacation. Luckily, we received our pool keys and were able to walk away.

The room would not open; we thought we had the wrong room, then realized it wasn’t 4 pm, so we still had to wait by the door until the timer unlocked it. Again, the room was beautiful.

We walked into town for the evening and had a great dinner.

At 7 am the next, the calls to our room began. Stating we need a valid credit card. My husband asked why? It was to flash, he was told. We learned it was for a deposit. We arrived at 7:55 and said we missed the shuttle as everyone else came early; we were okay with that. They said no, we would bring in another shuttle. We were told that you need a credit card and an ID. I didn’t get my ID; no one mentioned it. So, my husband went back to the room for my ID. One shuttle drove us to a sister property to ride a large bus. There they heard of people, and eventually, off we went. The property was about 25 minutes away, out in the middle of nowhere, and owned by Greg Norman. The grounds were covered with sand and underdeveloped. We all had to wait on the bus until our name was called, even though we wore name badges. Once off, we met a charming woman named Lindsey. She told us she had three children, one grandson who was two, and she was working this job to stay in the county. Yes, a lot of information. We ate a buffet breakfast that was just ok. The tour began, and the units were beautiful and decorated to perfection. I fell in love with them, with only one problem, the mountains of sand around us. Lindsey was wearing sky-high heels; I asked how she walked the grounds all day. She commented she doesn’t usually show property; she manages the team. She selected us personally. Hmmm After the tour, we went to the “Shark Tank” to be eaten alive. Not a chance. She made us a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime deal. We respectfully declined, stating we had to speak to our financial advisor. She noted the agreement would not be available tomorrow, and the price would double. We stood firm. She said she had to get another colleague that would verify she did her job correctly. We agreed she was great. Then came this guy; I can’t remember his name. But he looked like he had just stepped out of a bar. His eyes were bloodshot, and looked like he had pulled an all-night drinking binge. He tried to sell us as well. Once he realized it was not going to happen, he asked why are you here? Why did you take the tour and our money for food? We had to defend ourselves against him, saying we tried to decline on several fronts. He said we should waste their time in the future. We said we had every intention of buying a timeshare, just not like this. He handed us off and was gone. We thought we were free and clear; nope, one last attempt to sell us; then we were home free. Finally. The hotel's meals were typical, nothing spectacular at all. Everything was lukewarm and tasted average. We dined at Brigantine, the Mexican Fiesta, and a few breakfast places. All are very average. I don’t think we even used the...