Reseñas De Nuestro Hotel Boutique De Lujo En Puerto Vallarta

Casa Velas was recommended to us personally by two couples who we know travel a lot globally and have good taste. Their endorsement combined with the TA reviews made this seem like the perfect choice for our vacation. Maybe our expectations were too high, but we thought it was just ok. Before I dive into the details, let me preface my review by saying we are hotel snobs who have high standards and have traveled all over the world. Please take this review with a grain of salt since we tend to be pretty critical. Pros: Close to the airport Small resort - 80-ish rooms so not super crowded Hotel pool is well maintained Staff is very friendly and attentive Check-in process was very classy and welcoming Grounds are nicely manicured Although the property is pretty old, the public facilities don’t look dated Spa services were great Rooms were very sound proof Nice workout facility A/C worked very well Cons: Only one restaurant on property. Other dining options require shuttle service to other properties. Food at the on-property restaurant is above average but not outstanding. The Beach Club and Velas Vallarta were average and below average respectively. Water temperature and water pressure in our room were terrible. I only got a portion of one shower over the course of five days that was truly hot. Liquor was definitely not premium. My definition of premium liquor is Grey Goose, Hendricks gin, Bullit bourbon, etc. They had Absolute, Tanqueray and Jack Daniels. The resort is on a golf course. Seeing the ocean requires a shuttle. Not enough chairs/cabanas for the number of guests they have. They were 80% full when we were there. The room decor was pretty dated. Restaurant and poolside service was slow. Casa Velas was nice and we had a relaxing getaway, but for the price I expected more. It’s a solid 3 stars - not bad, not great - just average

If you want an immaculate hotel with outstanding food and a relaxing ambiance this is the place. However, a large wedding party can dominant the place and make it uncomfortable for the other guests. Call ahead to concierge before you book to make sure there is no wedding party, it nearly ruined our visit and ruined many others. Too bad they had little consideration for others at the hotel. On the plus side, the food is excellent. Service is somewhat uneven but everyone is always pleasant and they're trying. Fernando was the most outstanding server at Emiliano's. You could eat there everyday for a week and have something very special. The Beach Club is fantastic for those that just want to sit back and relax. Comfortable with great food service and exceptional drinks. Daniel is very accommodating to help make your day go smoothly. Evenings are somewhat quiet but some modest entertainment and the gathering at the lobby bar is fun to converse with others from around the world. I recommend Casa Velas highly if there is no wedding party at the time

Beautifully appointed hotel,stunning well kept grounds. Helpful,polite staff, especially Luis at the beach club Very clean,immaculate is a better description! Did not even see a creepy crawly for the week we were there. However.......... Sorry everyone, but I do not agree with the comments of amazing food at this hotel. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement.Let me explain... The Beach Club served Asian food, but could not cook it, Tempura Tuna, over cooked and grey,( I have never heard of tuna being deep fried) the sushi - the rice had no flavourings in it, ( sushi rice should be seasoned with mirin, rice vinegar etc etc)it was plain rice therefore tastless, since when has sushi had cream cheese in it, and every roll infact had some sort of cheese in it!!!I ate the most disgusting salad described as Thai vegatable salad, in fact it was finely diced carrot, cucumber with CRAB STICK and mayonnaise!!! Not a single Thai ingredient, no coriander, ginger,garlic, galagal, lime, kaffir etc etc.All of these ingrediants are available in Mexico, but if not DONT TRY AND COOK ASIAN FOOD!!! Mexican food is such a lovely cusine, they should not try and be smart as they have no idea on how to execute it! One night we had Nasi Goreng, a lovely Indonesian dish, murdered by the kitchen, in fact it was boiled rice, dry chicken and greasy zuccini with a revolting cream sauce on the side! It was all WRONG and makes me so mad. Maybe I am stupid but I went on the TA recommendations, bad idea. If you LOVE to eat GOOD food, stear clear. if you just like eating but dont really mind what ,then this is a wonderful hotel. I was under the illusion that a hotel that is a member of "Small Leading Hotel of the World" would have a far higher calibre of cooking. The best thing to order at The Beach Club, is guacamole, salsa etc. very good. Emilianos - we ate there the first night and were disappointed so did not return. There did not seem to be any continuity. At breakfast I would order a bowl of granola, one day it would be in a tiny ramekin the next in a huge bowl,enough to feed an army! The staff were helpful and pleasant. By invitation of the manager we were taken to Grand Velas ( as we had complained about the disappointing food) We did have far better food, however my query is. Why is the food better there and who wants to drive for 25 minutes to eat dinner. the food at Casa Velas should simply have been better. the menu read well, but the exectution was poor! We were not the only people who were not happy. I spoke to a number of guests who also complained and did not think much of the food. I felt ripped off that I had paid for AI but had to leave the hotel to find good food.Which we did on occasions and found great placed serving fish that was not over cooked in a modern and contemprary way with out thick,sickly unnecessary sauces etc etc Not sure I can name other establishments on here, but feel free to ask! If the food improved this could be an amazing hotel. At this moment in time I would not recommend any of my friends to this establishment as they would think I had lost the plot!!!!!

So I had very high hopes for this place... Unfortunately we had to travel separately and I arrived a couple of days in advance of my husband. 1st room I was showed was okay, but no tub. Exchanged thru RCI (Pueblo Bonito at Sunset Beach is home resort) and I was told by them that I would get a 1 bedroom Royal suite. But no, Velas said RCI exchanges get a Grand Class suite and as the hotel was practically empty I was expecting the Grand Class Plus suite with both the plunge pool and the tub. So they show me another room with a tub and plunge pool but said it would be an extra $60 USD per day. Tired from traveling so long, I said fine. Had lunch in Emiliano (the only formal dining there and where you would eat the majority of your meals). It was good; not great - but the place was so much smaller than I had imagined (or it appears on their website) that I think I would have gone a little stir crazy eating there every night. I went back to my "upgraded" room and fell asleep waking up well after dinner time so had to order room service. They were very nice and took my order of tortilla soup, shrimp fajita and some chocolate thing. Soup was good but fajitas and sides were stone cold, chocolate thing unremarkable...so much for the wonderful dining experience. I don't expect room service to be perfect, but stone cold? Not stressing over it I went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning more refreshed, I looked around and the room that I thought was nicer really wasn't. It was pretty much stating to show it's age. The tub didn't work and the hardware was pulling away from the tile. The nice courtyard you see on the website? Forget about it. I had a chipped plunge pool with leaves and sticks floating in it and there was a tiny patch of brownish grass around it. There was also a wood table with 4 chairs that was not luxurious or comfortable at all. I also woke up with bug bites, but hadn't really stayed out by the plunge pool for more than a minute, never mind going in it. So what to do? My husband was arriving on Tuesday night and he had planned some spa stuff, a dinner on the beach and some sort of romantic room set-up for after. All at an extra cost of course. It was for my birthday and even though we exchanged our week, paid them and additional $185 per person per day, that wasn't good enough. Dinner on the beach would be about another $200 USD and the romantic room set-up was an additional $50 USD??? Really, ever been to a Four Seasons for a special occasion? They certainly don't charge you extra to help you celebrate...they go out of their way to make you feel special. Oh, and btw...no one had yet to say happy birthday to me - only kept asking where my husband was?? At this point I was telling him to just forget everything because it probably wasn't worth the extra $$. So we decide that I would move to the other resort - Grand Velas and he would meet me there. They were nice about moving me and canceling everything he had booked, but they made sure they charged me that extra $60 USD for the 1 night upgrade. Also, they made sure they "inquired" if I had talked to any timeshare people at the airport...yeah, that was the reason I was moving to your sister resort. 1 other caution - if you get a room like I had, be aware of the 2 stone steps that lead up to where the bed is - it is easy to forget about them and you may do a header down on to the stone floor (I didn't, but was extremely careful) Arrived at Grand Velas and it was a much bigger resort with a very nice 3 tiered infinity pool and 3 specialty restaurants as well as a more casual all day open aired place called Azul. Room was nice, so thinking okay, this is good. Then I went down to get a chair by the pool. Place was packed and people are so rude to put an apple on a chair to reserve it for hours while they are not there. I couldn't find a place to even sit. Then the kids...TONS of unruly kids running around with no parental supervision at all. There were more kids sitting at the pool bar than adults. 1 little kid actually walked by me and stuck two of his fingers into my champagne glass that was sitting on the lobby bar table, turned to look at me and then put those same to fingers into his mouth and gave me a "ha-ha" look. Was somewhat funny, but just the tip of the iceberg of how kids rule this resort and run around doing anything they want. When my husband finally got there, he was like...really? This was the resort I've been hearing was so great? It was very hot, but that is to be expected - but no ceiling fans in the lobby, lobby bar or at Azul so having drinks / eating there was so uncomfortable. Breakfast was good, but lunch and dinner buffets at Azul = yuck so stuck with the pool menu for lunch and the 3 formal restaurants for dinner. And if the formal, they really expect you to make all your reservations for the week on the first day you get there? Give me a break. They told us they would "squeeze" us into the formal Italian place if we ran up to our room and changed from the pool and were back within 15 minutes. Rushing like crazy people (on vacation) we made it back in time only to see empty tables all around us from the time we got there until the time we left. Food was okay to good, but again, nothing outstanding. Being back 1 day I am still baffled by all the glowing reviews both places received on this site. The beach was nothing to write home about...dark dirty sand and murky water - I never even went in. Beach beds were tiny, close together and a little ratty with fraying fabric. Beach canopies were larger but chairs underneath not as nice - just basic mesh loungers. I expected so much more. The spa was nice and I did have 2 very nice treatments - the Diamond 80 minute facial and some type of specialty massage. Grounds are very nice, maid service was good and most of the people who work there are friendly..but safe to say we will not be returning to any Velas resorts in the future. There are too many nicer places to go in Mexico. This is a very fair and honest representation of both resorts so take this review for what you think it's worth. I am a little disappointed with all the great things I have read on Tripadvisor about both places and am starting to question some of them. When 1 person with 1 review in their history tells you to "ignore" someone else's negative comment, what does that tell you? Also btw, no one ever did say happy birthday