Villa del Palmar Flamingos

Without a doubt, Villa Del Palmar is a super clean and beautiful hotel! However, if you’re considering it as an all-​inclusive option, I wouldn’t recommend it.
My wife and I just stayed for 7 nights and upgraded from an entry-​level room to a 1 bedroom with a kitchen for an extra $ 20 USD per night. My family stayed with us over the weekend so the kitchen really helped.
For a taxi at 120 pesos roundtrip, we spent 1,000 pesos (~$ 60) at the local MEGA market with food and drinks that lasted for 4 days for 5 people. The all-​inclusive here is $ 90 USD for each person, per day! With only 2 main restaurants to choose from, you’ll get tired of the food very quickly.
Like many other guests, we kind of got suckered into a timeshare meeting with a free «welcome» breakfast, a city tour, a 20% discount card for the hotel, and some drinks. Although generous and appreciated, the presentation took up 6 hours of our Monday morning and kind of ruined the rest of the day for us… don’t get me wrong, Lisa gave us an awesome tour, and Kurt was just a genuine guy that didn’t BS us… but after those two is when it went south.
Kurt’s boss Jose stepped in and was more of the numbers guy and a closer. I work in the car business, so it was all very similar and the process didn’t really bother me. As good of a deal as I thought the package was after negotiating for a few hours, we ultimately decided to pass because the upfront costs still didn’t make sense. So we left and were escorted out by an older gentleman who was new and claimed to be from corporate and asked us why we didn’t take the package. He offered us some pretty appealing items ($ 1,200 trip reimbursement, 0% for 3 years, waived maintenance fees, etc) but said he would «have to make some calls» and so we followed him back up to the office only for him to come back and say that he couldn’t do anything he just offered us. At that point, my wife and I were SO done, tired, frustrated, and hungry. It was horrible.
Aside from that, the rest of our trip was pleasant. The pool and gym areas were always well-​maintained and the staff constantly checked to see if we needed anything. The deli had numerous snacks and an ice cream/​milk shake area that we visited a few times.
Honestly, our only other complaint was that the jacuzzi tub in our room didn’t work and the walls are a little thin.
If I came back with a larger group, I would probably do VDP again because it’s great for the kitchen. For all-​inclusive, I would recommend a RIU resort or Royal Decameron a few minutes down.

We were treated very well! Every year we get a little spoiled when we do our ladies vacation! Waiters seem to remember us and even if they don’t we «feel» like they do and that’s what counts when on vacation! I would like to commend Jesus from the Italian restaurant for always making our crew feel special!

We purchased a Time Share from Villa del Palmar Flamingos, specifically from the team of Gloria/​Valerie. Both were no pressure hostesses, gracious and very accommodating. Sure their goal was to make a sale, but they didn’t rely on sneaky sales tactics, they were successful by just being informative, with the goal to get us a great deal.
Puerto Vallarta is a place to take your family and Villa del Pamar Flamingos is a great vacation asset for you to own.

I can’t get enough of this place. We’ve been here for at least 3 family and/​or friends vacations in the last 10 years, and one wedding. The rooms are nice, and the 2-​BR is quite spacious. The pool is what we really come for, as my kids can’t get enough of all the variety: zero-​depth entry in one location makes it feel like a calm beach; shallow areas elsewhere are great for kids’ play; water fountains that squirt up to play in provide great games; and the waterfalls also make for great, lavish fun. The staff is always very friendly, and usually helpful.
A few things have changed for the worse over the years I’ve been visiting, hence the four– and not five-​, star rating. First, the pool area is very loud most of the day, as the activities staff continually pumps up very loud music for activities like volleyball and water aerobics, and they regularly make the rounds to get everyone involved in the activities. What I did love about the activities staff was that they also made the rounds to get kids involved in activities, which my kids wouldn’t have participated in without solicitation, and which they loved doing. (The activities that the staff «solicits» for are all free to guests.)
The theme nights are generally fun, and I recommend attending at least a few. The food at all of the hotel restaurants is just okay; I cook fresher and better at home, and after a week of the all-​inclusive plan, we were pretty desperate for some higher quality fare.
Before going, keep in mind this is a timeshare, and so they’ll try to get you to a sales breakfast. In exchange, they offer a discount card good for 20% off most of the things in the hotel (restaurants and the little market). If you aren’t interested in learning about sales opportunities, skip the breakfast presentation, especially if: (1) you have the all-​inclusive, because you won’t get your value out of the 20% discount anyway; or (2) don’t plan on eating in the restaurants on-​site more than a day or two.
That said, we’ve been to the presentation and purchased a timeshare there, and we’re excited to use it to come back here and also visit other resorts.
Oh, I should add: The wifi is not great. It’s good in the pool area (although slow), but in most of the rooms, it’s really not accessible because the signal is too weak. What’s more, the Ethernet port in our room was damaged, and for reasons that were lost in translation (literally), the maintenance crew refused to fix it. So, don’t count on the wifi except at the pool, and don’t count on wired internet being available in your room.

Let’s start with the positives: Very large rooms (get a suite), lots of space. The hotel is somewhat quiet. They have daily activities posted on a board at the pool on the hour. The ocean is right there and is very warm you can walk right in. Mostly it is yellow or red flag for caution (there are NO lifeguards). Kayak rentals, paddleboard rentals and boogie boards are FREE from the hotel for the 1^st hour.
There are nightly shows with buffet and entertainment, I suggest you go to the BEACH party, on the beach for like $ 28 per person and its free drinks, good food but you do have to stand in a long line for BBQ guy who has beef, ribs and chicken
When you first check it they send you over to a desk to «get your welcome packet» which is a thick envelope full of rules and regulations and information, they go step by step and it takes like 15min (when all you really want to do is get to your room and unpack). Then they get to «here is your 20% discount coupon» BUT you dont get it unless you come to their «free breakfast meeting» WHICH is a TIMESHARE presentation.
Your biggest SHOCK is when you try to get wi-​fi (for the kids tablets/​games). They charge you $ 10 per day PER DEVICE, yes so if you have 3 kids who need wi-​fi and 2 parents that is $ 50 per day to get wi-​fi, you can buy a 5 day package then save $ 1 off per device. In this advanced world full of technology, do not charge for wi-​fi or if you charge DO NOT charge per device. Well you day, (it is Mexico) but they have Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Home Depot, so they are modernized in some aspects.
There are ONLY 2 restaurants at this property, so you will get sick of the food quickly. The room service food is not good quality so do not order that. The food at the pool is real good and the drinks (depending on what you order). They have happy hour from 12−1pm buy one get one free. The pool service guys are good.
I suggest you go to the town of Bucerias which is a small beach town and a short taxi ride from the hotel and eat at a couple of restaurants at the beach, either at The Fat Boy or El Brujo which are right on the beach. Or go next door to Villa la Estancia and eat at the Steak restaurant there which is like 5 start and really good food and service.

Beautiful & Relaxing place to spend vacation with family. Friendly staff and good food. My favorite thing to order by the pool was margaritas and aguachile. During the night we enjoyed the jacuzzi with fireplace, overlooking into the ocean. They have delicious pizzas from the little restaurant next to the jacuzzi. It’s more of a timeshare location with older people, so not recommended for a group of youngsters on spring break. It was perfect for my family and I.

Nice hotel
I give them a 3 stars bec I didn’t stay there I only show up for the tour «time share»
I was not impress with the food (breakfast was pretty basic and kind of gross)
The staff was pleasant and polite
The rooms (the one we show on the time share tour) were wonderful and extremely nice but I think only the time share room are made like that for people to sign up.

HORRIBLE. THIEVES. FALSE ADVERTISING. LIARS. DISHONEST.
I wholeheartedly DIS-​RECOMMEND this place. They will ruin your vacation like they ruined ours. I would give this place negative stars if it were possible.
Reasons as to why this place UTTERLY SUCKS:
1) EXPEDIA BOOKING IS SCAM, THE HOTEL KNOWS IT AND ISN’T DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
We booked through Expedia the «all inclusive» plan. We were SCAMED like too many others. Expedia and the ‘hotel’ advertise the hotel as «all inclusive», so it shows up in the «all inclusive» results page but the price they display is not for all inclusive, it’s for the european plan, which is just the lodging and not the food.
When you make the booking (which we did on the phone with an agent and checked 5 times the price we were paying was for the all inclusive plan), they booked the «european» plan instead. If you do it online by yourself, when you select the hotel, although you were in the «all inclusive» results page, when make the booking, it automatically changes it to european without notifying you. When you arrive at the hotel, you are left with 1 of 2 choices: pay for the food when you arrive for an additional $ 2000 for a week for 4 people or pay for a taxi to go to the nearest grocery store «el mega» that’s about a 10min car ride and cook everyday. We chose the later. The hotel is completely aware of this problem with Expedia because there were countless other outraged clients just like us before, during, and after our stay. The hotel isn’t doing a damn thing to change it because it’s bringing loads of money.
2) THE WELCOME BREAKFAST IS A SCAM — DO NOT GO!
After your check-​in at the reception, they send you to one of their supposedly «helpers» to give you the map of the hotel and the city, the list of activities etc. Those aren’t helpers, they’re lying dishonest sales people. They invite you to come to a «Welcome breakfast» of 1 hour where you get a free breakfast and they show you around the place and the activities to do. They ask for a $ 20 deposit in cash.
Instead, it’ 3 HOUR SALES PITCH where each family has to eat breakfast at a table with a sales man. You have to do the entire tour of the complex and have to see all the different units they want you to buy, and then you get stuck in their office for another 1.5 hours. All the sales men have the same story; their parents came here on vacation, bought a time share, they loved it and fell in love with the place and moved here. They’ll show you pictures on their phones of their family and etc.
Not only did you pay loads of money for an all inclusive stay when you you’re only getting lodging, but on top of that they take 3 hours out of each of your family’s member vacation to do their sales pitch.
3) THE INTERNET DOES NOT WORK ANYWHERE IN THE HOTEL BUT THEY CHARGE $ 10/​DAY/​DEVICE KNOWING IT DOESN’T WORK.
The only place the internet works reasonably well is in their «hospitality room» which is at the back of the hotel, you basically have to exit the building to go there. It’s not anywhere close to your room. Yet, they have no problem charging all their customers $ 10/​day/​device. You can’t even create a hubspot for your other devices because they do it in such way that you have to pay for every single device.
4) THE FOOD IS DISGUSTING.
5) WE HAD TO CHANGE ROOMS 4 TIMES.
When we first arrived, they put us in a room that had a view on the wall of the building next to us. You could see a bit of the pool and none of the beach. The 2^nd room was so close to the lobby we could hear everything, including the drunks at 1am screaming. The 3^rd room smelled like cleaning product trying to cover up the disgusting cigar and tobacco smell in the room — it was unbreathable. You can imagine how relaxing that was.
5) THERE’S ONLY 1 ELEVATOR FOR THE ENTIRE MAIN BUILDING. THERE’S ALWAYS A LONG LINE — YOU’LL WAIT AT LEAST 5 MIN WAIT EVERY TIME YOU NEED TO GO TO YOU ROOM.
6) THE RECEPTION DESK ALWAYS HAS A SUPER LONG LINE — A 15 MIN WAIT MINIMUM.
Because of all the issues above, all the clients of the hotel are at the reception voicing their complaints and trying to find a solution — that ultimately doesn’t exist because the hotel’s team is made up of greedy liars who just want your money and don’t care about your experience.
7) THE WATER SPORTS CLOSE SUPER EARLY.
8) THIS PLACE ISN’T FOR ANYONE UNDER 60, AND EVEN THEN, IT STILL SUCKS.

Our family has owned a timeshare from Flamingos for 7 years and love it!
This place is fantastic the people here are so nice and so helpful. The bellman are always there to help you with your bags opening the door when you get out of the car. I would recommend this place to anyone that is thinking about coming to Mexico!!! PS: don’t be afraid to pick their brain to upgrade on a room it is worth it!!!
Pros–
Helpful
Nice
Beautiful rooms w/​ocean views
Bellman
Activities

Our family of 6 adults– 5 grandchildren — stayed 1 week with all inclusive. Our rooms were clean and well maintained all week by the cleaning staff. Our food at all restaurants were beautiful, delicious, and relaxing. There was nothing that wasn’t excellent. And what made the stay so wonderful was the excellent service and personal attention. 2 birthday parties — piñiatas– singing with staff and guitars– were all memories we always will cherish. The entertainment people — who do much more than that– were enthusiastic, happy, and fun! What a wonderful trip. We bought a time share about 9 years ago but got better deal for all inclusive everyday and better price by far on Expedia.

It’s been almost a year since we stayed here (⁰⁷⁄₂₀₁₄). Our experience with this place was amazing. I was skeptical to book this resort just based on the companies web site. I did the most research I could and just went with my gut instinct.
Upon arrival we were greeted and immediately treated great. Before flying out to Mexico, I received an email from them and was told if I liked their page on Facebook or Twitter I would get a room upgrade. I informed the receptionist I had done that and they immediately upgraded our room to a suite. Big plus.
We were there for 3 days, all inclusive, $ 410 or so. One of the best most relaxing stays ever. The rooms where great, the food was good, the service was excellent and my only regret was not staying there longer. I have highly recommended this place to family and really hope to return one day. If you are staying here go with the all inclusive; you can’t beat that. The price of the food is very expensive if you don’t have the all inclusive. Great views, cool swimming pool, great service.
Ps. There will be a sales pitch. It was my first one ever. It does get kinda annoying but I get it, it’s their job. I didn’t buy anything but they were highly persuasive. But this was only the first morning there, after that I wasn’t bothered about it for the rest of my stay.

Our family has owned timeshares for over 15 years throughout Mexico. Upon arrival, the check in process was delayed due to the sales rep trying to push a sales pitch. Upon refusing the offer, we were finally able to proceed to the actual check in counter. I have traveled around Mexico and was well aware of the timeshare scams and pushy sales tactics. I refused the offer to sit in on the presentation, or receive the «VIP» card which according to them, offers you a discount on the resort. For the next 3 days, we were continuously approached by numerous sales staff asking if we interested in sitting in on a presentation. This was particularly disrespectful, given the fact that we already own it. This made us feel uncomfortable as we were there for vacation. As we were tired from traveling, we decided to stay at the resort for dinner. We were approached by a waiter who offered us a BBQ dinner for $ 30 per person. The BBQ consisted of low quality food options, accompanied by an even worse show. But here is where things got really good: On the 5^th day there, around 4 pm, we decided to go to MEGA (a nearby supermarket) to stock up on some groceries. Upon exiting the store, we got into a cab to be taken back to the hotel, which was a quarter of a mile away on a private access road shared between two other resorts. As we were pulling out into the intersection, a vehicle with 4 men cut us off and began following us (we learned from the driver that he had just subdued an intoxicated male, in assistance with MEGAS’s security moments before). My husband advised the driver to keep driving towards the security checkpoint, as it was our best option given the circumstances. Villa Del Palmar is located inside a gated area, every vehicle entering, has to go past a security check point. As we were being chased down the private access road, the vehicle began ramming our car. My husband told me to keep my head down as we did not know if they would start shooting or cause us to crash. Once we got to the security checkpoint, the driver screamed at the guard not to let the car behind in. The guard lifted the gate and let us in, he failed at closing the gate in a timely manner to avoid the other vehicle coming in, therefore, disregarding our safety. After we realized that the vehicle was let in, they continued ramming our vehicle in an effort to flip the car. After numerous attempts, they drove to the side of the vehicle and began hitting the front of the car, causing us to crash into the curb, totaling the vehicle. My husband and I, including the driver, got out of the vehicle and started running towards the hotel, leaving all our valuables behind. As we ran towards the resort, the vehicle circled once and fled after seeing a parked security truck. Juan Carlos Parra, the front desk supervisor sat down with us, hearing out what happened. He immediately began to tell us that we were OK, and should have no concerns. He promised that he would follow up with the security company and try to obtain the video recording from the check point, along with the police report. After several hours of zero communication, we reached out to the security supervisor to see if the incident was reported. We learned that there was NO report made locally, or to the police. We then received a report which was overdue and fabricated with incorrect information, placing our driver as the perpetrator. Gabriel Ramirez, the supervisor of the checkpoint. We requested the report and video tape of the incident to bring to the police. We were met with hostility and told that we would have to speak with their lawyer. At this point, it became evident that security and hotel management were doing everything possible to hide the incident from higher management. We were told by several supervisors that the General Manager, Luis Quintero was off site and rarely makes visits. Once we informed them that we will be speaking with other guests about this, Luis Quintero came out of his on-​site office to pacify us, proving that everyone had been lying and covering up. His response was that if we attempted to talk to other guests, they would «take measures into their own hands.» At this point, it was made clear that we were no longer safe at this resort and needed to leave, we left immediately, 3 days sooner than planned. We decided to contact the U.S. Consulate after numerous staff members asked us if we were going to reach out to the media, this showed us that our safety was not a priority. While our visit to Mexico was pleasant, our experience with Villa Del Palmar has left us very concerned for the safety of all future guests. We are currently speaking with our family attorney regarding this matter, as it has left a young man, the driver of the cab who saved our lives, in jail on false charges based on fabricated reports supplied by hotel management to local police.