TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Besides the resort being in the middle of no where and ridiculously high prices for everything the one thing that was the most disappointing is being double billed. We are Villa Group members for over 3 years now but the shadiness of this resort is beyond belief. When we were checking out on April 6/26 they ran my credit card for about $1,250 CAN in US funds, $950 US to The Tafer Group for our drink and meal tab. They said it was declined and I thought, “what the heck.” So they tried it again but this time under The Villa Group and in Mexican pesos and low and behold it went through. The next day I checked my credit card online and realized that both charges went through, the front desk lied to me. So I contacted them from home in Canada and they wouldn’t even talk about what happened let alone try and fix it. I put in a complaint with my credit card company and when doing so they informed me that this seems to be a common problem with the Villa group and Tafer, they’re owed by the same person. They do this then hope the person never notices it and when they do they deny it happened. The Credit Card company says I’ll get my money back but it’ll take about 3 months for it to happen. You buy into their membership, you pay good money to stay there, than they turn around and try and screw you out of more money. Please everyone, BEWARE

Everything about our stay at Villa del Palmar Cancun was incredibly disappointing. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. I sent this feedback by email after our trip and no one ever responded. The overall service culture was rigid and unhelpful, with too many rules and little flexibility. One example: at the pool, every chair and table was occupied. I simply wanted to order a bottle of water and a quesadilla for my 4-year-old daughter, who was perfectly happy to eat standing or sitting on the grass. Pool servers refused to take my order because I didn’t have a chair or table and directed me elsewhere. At the pool bar and tiki bar, I was told I could get water, but not food without a seat. When I asked where I could find seating, I was told everything was taken. I was then told to go the lunch restaurants, where I was told we couldn’t dine without proper attire (shirt and shoes). When I asked for a quesadilla to-go, I was told to return to my room and order room service instead. I visited five different locations trying to get a simple quesadilla for my child... and was turned away each time. For a resort that markets itself as all-inclusive and family-friendly, this level of inflexibility and lack of service is unacceptable. I came here to enjoy time at the pool and outdoors, not to go to my room mid-day to order room service that would take 60+ minutes. At the time of booking, we were told we would need to switch rooms on the second day because of availability, but no one explained how complicated and disruptive that process would be. We spent nearly an hour waiting in line to check out of the first room, followed by another 45 minutes waiting to check into the second. In between (from 11am–3pm), our bracelets were deactivated, which meant we couldn’t access the all-inclusive food and drink services at the pool or beach. This resulted in multiple trips and calls to the front desk just to resolve this issue. To make matters worse, the second room wasn’t even ready until 3:30pm because it hadn’t been cleaned on time. All adults in our group had to repeatedly return to the front desk to have bracelets reactivated. We ended up spending a significant portion of our second day of vacation standing in lines in the lobby and dealing with administrative issues. At other hotels, this process is handled seamlessly. Staff transfer your luggage, ensure continuous access to amenities and all inclusive food/beverage, and deliver new room keys or bracelets to you wherever you are. Here, it was the opposite: disorganized, time-consuming, and extremely frustrating. Throughout the stay, the problems continued. Our bracelets frequently stopped working, so they gave us room keycards which were unreliable. The door locks repeatedly malfunctioned and were only repaired after I called maintenance five times. Each issue required more time standing in long front desk lines. Simply getting into our room became an ongoing hassle. We also reported a broken toilet three separate times. Although someone came each time, it was never actually fixed. I reported the broken washing machine twice and it was only fixed when someone came to fix the door. And the crib they sent was broken with a sharp piece of wood and staples sticking out of it. Transportation arranged through the hotel was another disappointment. From the time we checked in with the Qwantour representative to when the van arrived, we waited 32 minutes. It would have been faster, easier, and more affordable to arrange transportation independently. Do not recommend the hotel transportation. The “premium service” team (Eduardo and Rodrigo) reached out and offered a resort credit to make up for the experience. I instead requested a reservation at a restaurant nearby. Rodrigo said he would look into it available times, but never followed up. He wanted me to come to the front desk to sign something that this would be in exchange for the inconvenience. This was never resolved and they never tried to fix anything. Overall, the hotel is plagued by inefficiency, poor communication, excessive rules, and consistently unhelpful staff. Between not being able to reliably access our room, ongoing maintenance issues, and being unable to get basic food service at the pool, this was not just disappointing... it was unacceptable. I cannot believe how much we paid for this experience. I will never stay here again and will not recommend it to anyone.

This resort is my home away from home. It is my happy place. The all the ladies in Elite services we’re outstanding. Housekeeping was impeccable. However, the Pool Concierge‘s (Jared, Kevin , Alejandro, Angel and Jorge ) they were astounded all of them these man work incredibly hard to please all the guests. Thank you for making this my happy place.

Alejandro went above and beyond, service was top notch!! Highly recommend asking for him if you visit this resort! Waiters were all (Edgar) amazing kept surprising us with fun new shots!! Service was just sooo good! Can’t say enough great things!

We’ve been Villa Preferred Access since 2013 and have been to most of the VDP resorts! Cancun is the closest so most frequently visited. To a person, everyone was cordial, smiling, happy to converse in English and of good humor, keeping the atmosphere happy. Everyone greets you with hand over heart and I believe they are sincere! The concierge arranged our airport transportation and there was zero delay. Very clean Suburbans with very good drivers! We did not do AI! We ate at the pool restaurant for lunch and at the main restaurants for dinner and our total bill for food was half the cost of AI!! Still high but not super high! Favorite restaurant was Hiroshi at Garza! Restaurants at VDP were periodically closed so making pre-trip reservations isn’t worth the time! Mine were completely changed. To make up for the closures, restaurants at Garza Blanca are available. Minor deficiencies: housekeeping inconsistent (no towels), cleaning eqpt/products left behind, the music for water aerobics and entertainment were too loud, there are no handrails at hot tubs and NO safety features such as handrails in the villa showers.