This article is reprinted from a WeChat reader’s public account, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.

Overview

This trip started because Hyatt announced award-category changes earlier this year, and this Hyatt Ziva was set to go up by two categories. So we booked before the devaluation kicked in. We had never been to Cabo/PV before, but based on prior research, both seemed like fairly underwhelming resort destinations, so we decided to try it out first over Thanksgiving long weekend for 4 days and 3 nights.

After taking out the travel days, we really only had two full days. A few weeks before departure, I did more trip planning and honestly felt there was not much worth leaving the resort for. Other than the Arch, everything else seemed like overpriced tourist traps without much character, and we had done similar things before anyway. Even the Arch didn’t look especially necessary from photos, and it felt more suited to first-time visitors.

So we decided to just stay at the resort and fully relax. Overall, this wasn’t a great experience, so I’m not going to do a chronological trip report. I’ll just talk about whatever comes to mind, so this may be a little scattered. I’ll bold the main topics.

Private Cabanas

About two or three weeks before departure, I was contacted by the hotel’s spa department, and I went ahead and booked private cabanas for two days. Their email is [email protected]. A private cabana costs $129 per day, from 9AM-6PM, and it was very roomy for the three of us, two adults and one child. World of Hyatt members also get an extra 20% off, so it came out to a little over $100 per day. That’s a great value. At the very least, it was much more worthwhile than the $200 private cabana at wild waves. The beds in the private cabanas are all cushioned and covered with towels, so lying there all day is no problem.

Another option, which costs over $200 per day, is called bali beds. They’re in the shallow part of the pool. Personally, I think the value is nowhere near as good as the private cabanas. The lounge chairs are just regular hard chairs, and there are no curtains on all four sides for shade, only a canopy on top, yet the price is double. Really not worth it. The private cabanas have curtains on all four sides, so you don’t have to worry about the sun.

You can choose private cabanas near the infinity pool / main pool / adults-only pool. We picked #60, which was near the main pool and closest to the kids club. During the day, all the hotel activities were either at the main pool or on the beach near the infinity pool. I was pretty happy with the location of #60, since it was not far from the bar selling burgers/tacos, the kids club, and the Italian restaurant.

Around 10 every day, the staff would come on duty and first bring over a bucket of ice water.

On the right are the bali beds.

The private cabana also came with two complimentary coconuts each day, though my partner strongly suspected that some of them were not fresh. The private cabanas also have dedicated attendants who kept bringing us food and drinks.

Basically all the hotel information is in the QR code below. It includes the map, restaurants, activities, and so on. The activity info there isn’t completely comprehensive; the scrolling information on the room TV was more complete.

Hotel layout

Room numbers are four digits. The first digit is 2 or 3, which represents the building; from what I could tell, there are only these two buildings. The second digit is the floor, and the third and fourth digits are the room number. If you enter the lobby and face the pool, Building 2 is on the right, which is the standard-room building, and Building 3 is on the left, which is the suite building. The hotel has a lot of Ziva suites, and from what I could tell they’re all in Building 3. Even at a very slow pace, it only takes about 5-10 minutes to walk from one end of the resort to the other.

Hotel Restaurants

The hotel lists a lot of restaurants, but in reality there aren’t that many actual choices.

Buffet

It’s on the second floor of Building 2. It’s actually the same venue as the Mexican restaurant, so in practice there isn’t really a separate Mexican restaurant. It serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We went for dinner on Friday night and there was no line. Other than a few made-to-order griddle stations, like seafood, meats, and tacos, which were decent enough, almost everything else was basically inedible.

There’s a sandbox outside the buffet, and the sandbox kid made another appearance.

Italian Restaurant

It’s outdoors on the first floor at the far corner of Building 3, near the beach and the infinity pool. It’s a bit of a walk from Building 2. It serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We ate here for lunch on Friday and breakfast on Saturday. On Sunday morning, my husband also brought our kid here to eat. We ordered a bunch of things for lunch, and only the fish tacos were barely acceptable. The portions were all small. Breakfast was much better, just a standard American brunch, and the eggs Benedict were pretty good.

Below is breakfast.

The restaurant is right by the beach, and the view is great. But because it’s outdoors, the fly problem was pretty bad. Flies kept landing on the food from time to time.

Asian Restaurant

We had originally planned to eat at the Italian restaurant on Thursday night, but we walked past this place and just decided to go in instead. At 5:30, there was no line. On Saturday night, the concierge helped us book the teppanyaki. Ordering from the regular menu was much better than the teppanyaki. The fish in the sushi was pretty fresh, but the sinew wasn’t trimmed at all. For the other dishes, we asked the server to go light on salt. The fried rice and garlic noodles were both okay, and the tempura was also passable. The edamame had Mexican seasoning, which was a little odd. But the portions were tiny! The teppanyaki was a complete disaster. Everything tasted the same. The chef’s performance was decent, but almost all the food was basically inedible.

All the photos below are from Thursday night. By Saturday night, we weren’t even in the mood to take pictures.

There was a casual snack bar by the main pool. On Saturday we just asked the cabana staff to help grab lunch for us, so we could fully commit to doing absolutely nothing. I had read online that the tacos here were supposed to be the best tacos on the property, but after trying them... they were just okay? Everything else was standard fast food. Not bad, just nothing special.

There was also a steakhouse-style grill restaurant. We went to ask on Friday night and were told the wait would be 1-2 hours, so we gave up.

There was also a French restaurant, adults only. If you want to eat there, you can drop your kid off at the kids club's paid evening program. My kid didn't want to go to the kids club, so that was the end of that.

My biggest complaint, though, was this: I can tolerate mediocre food, but my partner and I were genuinely skeptical about the hotel's food hygiene. Between the flies all over the Italian restaurant, the not-so-fresh fruit in the club, and the ice cream scoops at the buffet that guests handled directly and then tossed back into the ice cream container, the hotel seemed pretty careless about food sanitation across the board.

Sure enough, I got hit first on Saturday afternoon. We had actually been eating pretty moderately the whole trip, so I'm confident this wasn't caused by overeating. It felt much more like some kind of food hygiene issue. By the time we went to teppanyaki that night, my kid suddenly said their stomach hurt, refused to eat anything, and then promptly fell asleep on my partner. I had no appetite either and couldn't eat at all. I forced myself to sit through the whole meal, went back to the room, and just tried to sleep through the discomfort, waking up several times in the middle of the night. My kid seemed better Sunday morning, but I still wasn't doing great and skipped breakfast entirely. I only started feeling better at the airport that afternoon and was finally able to eat normally again. My partner started feeling sick Sunday morning after breakfast. Feeling unwell really puts a damper on a trip, and from Saturday afternoon on, I could not wait to go home. Even after we got back, my stomach took a few more days to fully recover.

Airport Transfers

We booked round-trip private transfers on the Cabo Airport Shuttle website. There was a small Thanksgiving discount, and a child seat was +$3. The cars were all Suburbans. The pickup experience at the airport wasn't super smooth—we had to stand outside and wait about 5-10 minutes before the car arrived. The ride back to the airport was much better; the driver got to the hotel very early. The A/C in the vehicle wasn't very strong, though, and it felt like the cars could use better maintenance.

Just like in Cancun, once you get off the plane, keep walking all the way outside—and don't let the timeshare salespeople along the way stop you.

Flights

This year I was still a proud Delta Gold member, so I figured I'd squeeze out a few more perks before the end. We were upgraded to Comfort+ both ways. But wow, the Delta plane on this Cabo route was old—old and dirty.

On the return, they upgraded all three of us but didn't seat us together. Ridiculous. They were also very late assigning seats at the gate. Later we went to the gate and switched into seats that had been gate agent locked, which ended up being the first row of Comfort+.

Landing at the Cabo airport, the view outside the window was absolutely gorgeous.

I also brought a new Miamily that I picked up on Black Friday. It rolled very smoothly—much better than Samsonite, though still not quite as good as Rimowa. It definitely got a lot of looks along the way. That said, the suitcase is a little taller than a standard 20-inch carry-on, so on this ancient plane it could only fit sideways in the overhead bin.

Cabo Hotel Rooms

The hotel is definitely pretty old. We checked into room 3325 on Thursday night, and it was a connecting room. At bedtime we could hear the conversation in the next room almost word for word. They also had a baby who was crying and shrieking, which was really rough if you're a light sleeper. I can't sleep with earplugs in, so in the end I had to blast the A/C and use the white noise to cover it up.

Later we moved to Ziva Suite 2435, which was also a connecting room. The noise from the connecting room itself was much better this time, but there was still plenty of noise from people passing outside, old plumbing, and furniture being dragged around upstairs.

Other than that, for an older hotel, the rooms were actually maintained pretty well. In both rooms we stayed in, there wasn't really anything broken or unusable.

Pool and Other Facilities

The pool water was completely unheated and very cold. It took a long time to adjust after getting in, and you had to keep moving a lot before it stopped feeling so painfully cold. You'd think it would warm up a bit by the afternoon sun, but only slightly—it was still cold. The website says the infinity pool is heated, but it definitely didn't feel any warmer to us. We didn't use the adults-only pool or the kids pool.

The photo below shows the adults-only pool and adults-only bar.

There was a telescope next to the lobby, and my kid finally got unlimited telescope access.

Downstairs from the lobby was a pond and the party area.

On Thanksgiving night there was a night market and turkey. One of the staff members enthusiastically brought us a bag of freshly fried Churros, and they were surprisingly good.

Globalist Treatment

Globalist check-in was in a separate area, but staff were only there during check-in itself. After that, you had to line up at the regular front desk.

As usual, I asked for a suite upgrade at check-in. Since I was already a Globalist, I was determined not to use the sandwich trick—otherwise wouldn't that mean I was basically getting played? But the front desk agent firmly said there were no suites available. That sounded ridiculous, considering nearly half the rooms at this hotel are Ziva Suites. I pulled up the Hyatt app right there on the spot, and suites were clearly showing as available. The heavyset older guy at the front desk still insisted there was nothing, saying that if I actually tried to book one, I'd find out it wasn't bookable. I didn't believe him at all. He also had that unmistakable "waiting for a tip" look, and I was annoyed enough that I absolutely refused to give him one. So we spent the first night in a standard room. Because of the soundproofing issues, I asked to switch rooms and upgrade the next day. At first the front desk again said there was nothing available, but somehow later they suddenly found a Ziva Suite, and the upgrade came through.

The first night, room 3325 was next to the adults-only pool and had an absolutely beautiful sunset every evening.

After that we moved to 2435, which also had a nice view.

The hotel’s club is on the fourth floor via a very inconspicuous elevator in the lobby; ask the front desk if you can’t find it. Access control at the club was basically nonexistent. We went three times, and every time the door was wide open, so people could come and go freely, with no one checking inside. Honestly, even if you’re not a water-something guest, if the other restaurants have long waits, you could probably come take a look. The club is very small and has a pool table. Food is available all day, but because traffic was low, some items—especially the fruit—didn’t look very fresh. At breakfast, once the eggs were gone, they weren’t replenished for a long time.

The food was only a little better than what you’d get in a U.S. airport lounge. We had breakfast there Friday morning, and on Sunday around noon before leaving, we stopped by to grab sandwiches and bread.

Oh, and water-something guests also get a butler. Other than showing up briefly after check-in on the first day, our butler went off duty on day two and then basically disappeared.

Service

You could already tell from the treatment for water-something guests that, aside from the food, service at this hotel was also very inconsistent.

When we switched rooms on Friday, the guy at the front desk said they would move our packed suitcases to the new room. But when we came back after eating—four hours later—the bags still hadn’t arrived. After we called to complain, they still couldn’t figure out what was going on and even blamed us for not having the luggage claim ticket.

The rest of the time, service was basically tip-driven. If you came prepared with enough cash for tips, you could still get a corresponding level of response. But don’t expect thoughtful, detail-oriented service. Everything felt pretty rough around the edges.

Shop

Our cabana #60 was right next to Pier 27, the poolside water-toy shop. Before the trip, we debated whether to bring our own pool float, then decided not to pack it, and of course still ended up buying one at the resort. The giant burger float pictured below was $50, and we also bought a large sand-toy set for $20. Prices were even higher than Hawaii. If you have room in your suitcase, bring your own. Our kid’s life vest was also one we brought ourselves. The hotel doesn’t provide any of these items.

Hotel Activities

Some of the activities listed via the QR code just mysteriously got skipped. Based on our observations from spending two days parked at the main pool, there were three activities there each day: water aerobics at 11 a.m., plus interactive activities at noon and 2 p.m. I joined the water aerobics every day—otherwise I would’ve felt too guilty just lying there the whole time. The interactive stuff was mostly dancing and similar things; I passed on making a spectacle of myself. We were too lazy to drag ourselves to the beach activities, and it was way too sunny during the day anyway. The evening shows were all at 8:45, but our kid goes to sleep early, so we didn’t make any of them. One night they had a piñata activity, and we went to watch, though our kid didn’t participate. One toddler was hilarious: the host asked, “where are you from,” and she said, “I’m from grandma’s house.”

There was also a random turkey person by the pool? No idea what that was for. They showed up briefly and then disappeared.

There was a wedding on Friday night, and the wedding party went late into the night. The room soundproofing was terrible, so it was very noisy. There was also a private all-white-themed event by the beach on Saturday night.

This is what the theater looked like.

Kids Club

Ever since our kid almost got lost in Japan, he’s had a bit of lingering trauma and is very afraid of getting separated from us. So this time he didn’t want to go to the kids club either. There was supposed to be a cupcake decoration activity on Thursday, but we missed it. The TV said there would also be cupcake decoration on Friday. So Friday morning, we took our kid over to scout things out, and the kids club staff told us they had messed up the schedule and there would be no cupcake activity on Friday after all.

There was, however, a pizza-making activity at 3 p.m., so we signed him up for that. At 3 p.m. sharp, we waited at the Italian restaurant and told him we’d pick him up as soon as he was done. I went to the kids club at 4 p.m., but the kids still hadn’t come back. I went again at 4:30, and our kid was sitting inside crying, with one staff member beside him. He was still holding the pizza he had made, wrapped in paper. He said I had promised to pick him up as soon as he finished, but then didn’t come, so he thought I had abandoned him... Well, that was that. He clung to the poolside the entire rest of Friday and refused to go back to the kids club no matter what we said. I asked whether he was bored, and he said he was, but that it was okay. Haha.

The kids club has a capacity of 25 children, but it was never full, even over Thanksgiving.

The kids club closes at 5 p.m. There is paid childcare from 6:30–9:30 p.m., with small tents and an inflatable bounce house on the beach. It costs $59/night.

On Saturday night I took our kid to the beach to play and happened to run into the kids club teachers there with the other kids. From what I observed, the staff all seemed competent enough. I wouldn’t say they were especially warm or patient, but at least they weren’t just going through the motions or being negligent.

Beach

You can’t really swim in the ocean at this hotel. The waves are just too big, and no one was going in. On Friday and Saturday evenings, we brought our kid to dig in the sand. The temperature was pleasant then and the sun wasn’t harsh, so it was nice. The sand is pretty coarse, but thankfully there weren’t many impurities, so walking barefoot was fine.

There were lots of hustle-type activities along the beach too—horseback riding, bracelet braiding, and so on—with vendors lined up in a row.

Our kid has loved digging in the sand since he was little and can sit there for one or two hours at a time...

Cabos Airport

Immigration took about half an hour, which felt pretty long. There was no fast-track lane for families traveling with kids.

On the way out, we visited the Vip Lounge, which had just recently been renovated and looked quite nice. Food and drinks had to be ordered à la carte. I had already spent all our pesos before getting to the airport, only to discover that the tipping culture was still waiting for me here. The pasta and rice dishes were barely edible. The Wi‑Fi was good. This lounge was pretty popular too; not long after we sat down, it filled up, and people were waiting outside in line.

On the return trip, our bags yet again did not come out first despite priority tags. I really don’t know what the point of Delta priority is... I filed a complaint afterward and they gave each member of our family 7500 points.

This time when we came back through global entry, our kid had clearly taken the photo, but the officer said it didn’t register and asked us to show our kid’s ge card. Looks like we still need to carry the card in the future—there’s some risk in relying on face scan alone.

Summary

Cabos is still an easy getaway because it’s close by. But after this trip, I’d say don’t cheap out just for the sake of saving money. Even for me—someone who rarely redeems points and still felt this stay wasn’t a great value—it’s even harder to justify for anyone paying the high cash rates.

This hotel has some pretty major issues, from elite treatment to food hygiene to room soundproofing. The pool water was freezing cold, and the beach wasn’t even swimmable, both of which are major turnoffs.

If I come back in the future, I’d probably choose Waldorf instead. But since Waldorf isn’t an all-inclusive resort either, if the prices are similar, why not just go relax on Oahu instead, where the food is better and there’s more to do?