Velas Vallarta

We have been going to Velas since the early 90's when my parents took my brother and I. At the time, the tennis pro, Paolo, was my coach. Fast forward 35 years, and I'm taking my family and children to our treasured family vacation spot and the tennis pro is the son of Paolo - Roberto! This review is mainly for him. We were beyond thrilled with his coaching. Not only was he technically in sync with what our son needed, but he was also in tune with him as a person and treated him so well. Our son wanted to bring Roberto to continue coaching him but we were happy to promise we would be going back soon. Thanks Roberto!

We have been to all of the Velas Hotels but with adult kids in tow, we booked this one. Stayed 2 weeks with my family. We had a great time at Velas Vallarta! This is my 2nd time at this resort. Last time I booked through the Hotel but this time we stayed at a VRBO. Our 3 bedroom suite was perfect! We loved the space and loved the fact we could enjoy All Inclusive at the Hotel, which we did on a couple days. It's $$$ but we thought it was worth it when our plans were to stay and have pool days. The prices for booze and food are pricy otherwise. We wished the lobby was better laid out and had a better set up for a bar that you could sit at and enjoy a cocktail prior to dinner. It also would have been nice to have a place to go to for a night cap. The tucked away bar was a weird set up. So was the crape bar. Why they wouldn't remake that to make a lovely lobby bar is questionable? The entire area needs a makeover. Pro's: - Service is top notch - Quality of drinks were as well top notch - FOOD...very good! Only 2 restaurants but we enjoyed the menu change - Pool Temp is amazing - Chairs around the pool is plentiful except for Christmas and New Years. That was a nightmare but once everyone left....LOTS of room and no need to save chairs unless you were an idiot who wakes up at 3am to get that prime seat. (My kids did witness this) Such a joke!! We also seen 5 chairs and a table saved when we went to the pool at 10am. There were towels on the chairs and a couple noodles. This group was a "no show" but many noticed their absence and laid the "DO NOT save towel" cards on the chairs. There was a pile on there by the end of the day. I think if they did come by to grab the seats, they wouldn't have sat there anyway. lol Con's: - No where to get a drink past 11pm - The resort pretty much shuts done after the entertainment at 10:30 - The chairs are plentiful but it's annoying to manoeuvrer around them. There's so many. Less tables and more cocktail tables for your drinks would be better but the only way to get an umbrella is a table. Again, it's is a weird set up. - No adult pool. Why NOT?? 3 pools and we couldn't get away from all the kids...especially between Christmas and New Years. Pretty much all staff were amazing but a shout out to Marcella at the front desk. She was just wonderful. Marcella please teach the Carla's about service!! The one Carla, who was teaching the other Carla was very unpleasant. The only staff member during our stay, we found to be rude. She shouldn't be teaching the new Carla...just say'n. Grounds are beautiful...except the Kids Club building. Why they would do that and paint it blue...again weird. It's ugly in the middle of beautifully maintained gardens.

Our family of 5 loved our stay at Velas Vallarta. It was fantastic to have a 3-bedroom suite that provided a shared living room and kitchen where we could gather. The grounds were beautiful, and we appreciated the tennis courts, spa, swim-up bar, and water aerobics classes. We wish there had been a hot tub and access to water sports like paddleboarding. The dining options were limited (only two restaurants, one of which required reservations for dinner) but the beachside restaurant was quite lovely and service was good throughout.

Stayed with several family members during the week between Christmas and New Year. We expected it to be crowded, so having to secure seating by the pool early in the day was not a surprise. Unfortunately there really isn’t anywhere else to hang out as a group besides the lobby. Food was mostly ok with an occasional standout when ordering off the menu (which could take awhile to be delivered). We were not informed about the significant upcharge necessary for New Year’s Eve when we booked or during checking in. It was only a day or two later that we stumbled on the area where reservations were being booked that it became clear that we might have a problem feeding our group of 16 if we didn’t sign up.

This is truly an amazing resort and we had a wonderful time. The staff are consistently great and very responsive. We would definitely like to go there again and I would totally recommend the all-inclusive