Las Palmas by The Sea — Hotel in Jalisco

DO NOT STAY HERE!!!! You have been warned!!!!

We stayed at Las Palmas and I will NEVER go back!! We met this guy named Alex (Alejandro) the first day we went there. He seemed really nice and acted like he worked for the hotel, even helping us set up our card to charge things to our room and sort out getting extra pillows. After working with us all day and helping us out around the hotel and around town, he then asked us if we would be interested in going on a tour of their sister hotel Garza Blanca (time share... blah). We agreed to go because he said it would be 75 minutes (lies) and we would get 4 tickets to go on a bus tour of the city including the Malecon, Eden and a Tequila Distillery and he would give us 4 tickets to go to the Marietes Islands for a very discounted price. We went on the tour of Garza Blanca the next morning. The first thing they say when we get there is that the tour can take 4 hours!! Also, the city bus tour leaves in the morning so we already missed it! After we threatened to leave, they said they would pay for the taxi to take us to Eden and pick up the tour from there and go into Eden and into the Distillery. We went on the tour with a guy named Jimmy who presented himself as nice until he could tell we weren't interested in purchasing and then he was VERY RUDE!! He called is "Street People" and told us that us "Street People" weren't his clients and he didn't even know why we wasted his time. After that we got our tickets for the Marietes Island tour they gave us $80 pesos for the taxi to take us to Eden. When we got up to Eden in the taxi (45 minutes later) the taxi driver said it was $240 pesos and WOULDN'T LET US GET OUT OF THE CAR!! So we ended up having to go all the way back to Las Palmas and told them they had to pay for the taxi. We told Alex that because he wasted our entire day (it was 4pm by this point) on a tour for him that was completely nonsense that he owed us for our time! We agreed that he would pay for the taxi to take us to our 2 excursions the next 2 days and he would give us a gift certificate for dinner. At this time we also found out that he DOES NOT work for Las Palmas!! Even though he made us believe he did!! Then he wouldn't give us the gift certificate for dinner! He kept saying he would have it after our excursion, in the morning, after our excursion and when we came back from our excursion our last night in PV he said he would have it in one hour. He told us to go upstairs, get ready to go to dinner and then he would have it. We came back downstairs 45 minutes later and he LITERALLY RAN out of the hotel away from us and jumped on a bus! I talked to the manager of Las Palmas and explained what happened and he got a manager of Garza Blanca. She said she couldn't believe it and would take care of it, to give her 10 minutes and she would have it figured out. After 10 minutes we found out she too had left the hotel!! The manager of Las Palmas did end up paying for us to go to dinner that night and asked me to write a letter to the management explaining the situation. However, the very next morning Alex was back in the lobby talking to hotel guests!! And as soon as he saw us he ran away and hid again until we left for the airport. Also, the pool is FREEZING!! Colder than the ocean and the hot tub is cold. It was miserable considering it was raining and cold while we were there. We couldn't even escape it. Also, the beds are on concrete so they are so HARD and terrible...

We stayed here for two nights at the end of our vacation in Mexico, and had an absolutely horrible experience. Front desk staff were unfriendly upon check in, repeatedly said they only provide one room key for the two of us (which is normally fine, but what they don’t tell you is that you need to insert the key into the wall of the room to activate the AC and lights…this will matter very much later on). As soon as we checked in, I became very ill and after a few hours on the floor of our bathroom (laying on a wet moldy floor from a dripping shower, and next to an old bandaid from previous guests) we finally called the front desk to ask if there was medical staff on site. They were ‘kind’ enough to call a local doctor for us (and charged us an additional 1000 pesos for doing so), who came to our room quickly and then very quickly rushed me to a local clinic. We came back to the hotel hours later and asked for ice and water to take up to the room (I was better, but fighting very severe dehydration). They wouldn’t give us any ice, even after explaining I had just been discharged from the hospital, and only allowed us to have two small bottles of very warm water to take with us.

Still vomiting, still very ill, we get back up to our room with our two bottles of warm water, hoping to rest and proceed to have (what we can only imagine were) intoxicated people pounding on our door all night.

The next morning, still very sick & in bed, cleaning staff woke us up early by pounding on the door, followed an hour later by maintenance staff (who insisted on coming in to change a sign on the inside of the door?). We ran out of water in the early afternoon, so my mom went downstairs to ask for more and to maybe find some crackers or something light to eat. She was given again, only two bottles of warm water, no ice and was told by the staff that she was not allowed to bring food up to the room from the buffet (she had two bananas and a small box of fruit loops, not like she was taking plates of food).

The worst part was that whenever my mom left the room to go BEG for more water or ice, she had to take the one room key out of the wall, which turned off the AC and the lights, leaving me laying in the heat, with a fever and no water, for as long as she was gone.

The lunch buffet was absolutely horrendous (both days - same choices), different types of creamy pastas sitting in the sun, wilted salads, questionable chicken, dry fish and fruit that wasn’t ready to be eaten, etc. everything sitting out on a buffet line with birds actively picking food off of the trays.

Any and all interactions with staff were unpleasant (except for a bell hop named Nacho! He was so kind and genuinely tried to help us as much as he could) our room was noisy, dirty and damp/moldy.

I travel often and one of my biggest fears is becoming ill in a foreign country. This entire experience is exactly why; being surrounded by people unwilling to help or at the very least show any compassion.

the only highlight of our time in PV was the medical care I received at the nearby clinic. The doctors and nurses who cared for me were incredible, so knowledgeable and kind. The clinic was clean, and I felt very safe and well cared for while there. If you do find yourself sick in PV, the clinic across from the Sheraton is the best! My nurse Alexis and both doctors I saw...

We stayed at this wonderful resort from Dec 14th to Dec 21st 2019 for our Honeymoon. Firstly, some tips for the area. There is a pharmacy just at the end of the driveway outside the resort, if you head left at the end of the driveway (not the way with office Depot) and walk until you hit La Isla shopping centre there is a subway and starbucks, some high end shopping and some decent gift shops. There is fairly cheap options in the resort gift shop and I would check here first for souvenirs.

Some Hotel tips, upon check in ask for your safe lock and the foam mattress topper, the double sized beds are very firm and uncomfortable without it, I would also ask for extra pillows and bring a fan as the AC units aren't stellar (but hey it's Mexico drink until you forget you're hot!). You can get more bottles of water from the front desk do not drink from the tap! I would bring charcoal tablets and Imodium if you do drink a cup of the tap water to help with your impending stomach doom. The food service is not 24 hours, and the food closes down several hours before the bars do. There are some snacks at the gift shop but they close at 11:45pm.

The reservation office is just beside the coco lobby bar and opens at 11am, as part of your all inclusive package you get a reservation every night if you book early enough (the food at the guacamajazz and the fusion restaurants are both excellent. Fusion has a more seafood type menu and guacamajazz has many other options as well.

There is a show every night across from the coco lobby bar. The best views are from the tall round tables off to the side beside the coffee station.

The food here is good, it is a buffet style and is mostly spicy, the breads are always fresh, the fruit is great, and the chorizo pork is the best. You will get to know the people who serve you everyday, the staff here is smaller and more intimate which is something I very much appreciated, one of them is Guadalupe, super friendly and quick to help you out, he will help you with breakfast and runs drinks to the adults only pool. Another friend we made was David at the coco lobby bar, he was simply amazing, he made our trip special, he's very talkative, and very friendly and super knowledgeable about his work. Make sure to give them a review on Trip advisor to help them out.

All in all its a smaller scale resort, it is not a party resort. There are two pools separated by age, Three restaurants (fusion Guacamajazz and la pagoda) a snack shack (inside the guacamajazz) and the main eating hub. There are constant roving security that keep undesirable persons off the resort, and keep things in order while you are there, I felt safe leaving my wife by the pool and grabbing a snack at the restaurant. It is an awesome resort to keep to yourselves at, but there were several individuals we came across who were there to socialize. For a week of all inclusiveness, a quiet getaway with someone special or a new family, this resort is perfect, we will be staying here again the staff and environment is perfect for a...