Villa del Arco Beach Resort & Spa

Eduardo from pool services was amazing

Villa del Arco continues to be a favorite resort in Cabo San Lucas for our family. Overall a good experience and stay, most staff members are friendly and attentive. The rooms are starting to show wear and tear but overall well maintained property. We used the all-inclusive meal plan for the days we stayed there so it made it easier to dine even without reservations. The only negative I have is the upselling we received by our server at the Neptune Restaurant, he offered us their featured drinks once we ordered he proceeded to tell us they were premium drinks therefore not included in our all inclusive plans. When our bill arrived our drinks were $60+ for two mediocre margaritas! I wish resorts would stop this nonsense and make an all inclusive plan, just that, ALL INCLUSIVE. Stop nickel and dimming customers, it’s obnoxious. The resort is centrally located and a great place for families to vacation. This was our 20th year visiting CSL, home away from home.

I wanted to love this place. The pools are beautiful, the views are incredible, the mojitos are actually fantastic, and the tacos at the boat bar deserve a standing ovation. Which somehow makes everything else even more frustrating because this resort could be amazing if the service wasn't so spectacularly committed to making everything harder than necessary. We called ahead and specifically requested our group's rooms be together. We ended up spread across THREE different buildings. Before arriving, we also called to ask whether it was cheaper to purchase the all-inclusive package early. We were told we'd get a better price at check-in. Then we checked in... and were told the exact opposite. Great start. Dinner our first night at Patron was an endurance event. The dining room felt like the lowest circle of hell—absolutely no airflow—and they gave 14 people two menus to share. Then the food took literal hours to arrive. By the time dinner was over, I think we'd all aged. The all-inclusive rules deserve their own comedy special. At the pool, they wouldn't let us take bottled water down to our toddlers playing on the beach. Their solution? Bring the toddlers back up to "prove" we had all-inclusive. When we questioned it, they actually suggested we might be selling bottled water to strangers on the beach. Yes, that's definitely the black-market enterprise I started on vacation. The next morning my baby got cranky, so I took him back to the room for a nap. My husband tried to leave breakfast with the avocado toast we'd already ordered—for me—and was stopped because we might be "cheating the system." Sir. You literally watched me leave wearing an all-inclusive wristband while carrying our baby. It is avocado toast, not contraband. Restaurant reservations were equally confusing. At check-in we were told none of the restaurants took reservations anymore. Then we showed up to Neptune and were turned away because... reservations were required. By the time we finally ate, the kids were melting down and our family had been split between two different restaurants. To make things even better, we finally managed to get a reservation for the following day, only to be told we had to physically return two hours beforehand just to reconfirm it. Because apparently making a reservation isn't enough—you also have to RSVP to your RSVP. The nickel-and-diming never stopped. You can't leave a tab open at the pool all day, despite giving your room number and the fact that you're very obviously a guest staying at the resort. Every interaction felt like someone was trying to catch you committing vacation fraud. The housekeeping also missed the mark. We stayed in a suite, and before anyone even used the shower, the conditioner bottle had someone else's black hair stuck to it. Not exactly the welcome amenity I was hoping for. The suite includes a washer and dryer, but you're given exactly one laundry pod for your entire stay. Use it wisely, because apparently laundry detergent is rarer than gold. Room service was another mixed bag. The delivery staff member was kind, courteous, and clearly working incredibly hard, which honestly made me feel bad because the resort seems seriously understaffed. Unfortunately, the person taking the order was incredibly rude. After asking me a clarifying question, he responded with, "Uh, you already told me that," in the most irritated tone imaginable. As I was thanking him, he hung up on me. To top it all off, three restaurants were closed during our stay. The frustrating part is that this place has so much potential. The pools are gorgeous. The beach is beautiful. The drinks are good. There are moments where you can see what this resort wants to be. But instead of creating an experience where guests feel taken care of, management seems laser-focused on policing bottled water, avocado toast, laundry detergent, and pool tabs. They're pinching pennies over things that cost almost nothing while missing the much bigger picture. Happy guests spend more money, tip more generously, and come back. This resort isn't failing because of the views or the amenities. It's failing because every interaction somehow manages to make you feel like you're trying to scam the place instead of enjoy your vacation.

Mariano was fantastic and so personable! He gave us a hug as we came and left just like family would at check in and check out! Looking forward to seeing him again next year!

Mariano the bell hop was great