In my opinion, this is one of the worst Cabo San Lucas resorts out there. If you’re planning a vacation to Cabo San Lucas, I recommend avoiding this all inclusive resort called Hacienda Encantada Resort & Residences. We recently booked a 7 day all inclusive vacation package here based on the excellent reviews and relatively reasonable price (for Cabo) – but it was not at all what I expected. I’ve stayed at many all inclusive resorts throughout Mexico, and this property offered substandard service and amenities. In this video, I provide a tour of the entire resort here in Los Cabos, and let you in on where we were severely disappointed and why we would never stay here again.
If you’re planning to stay at an all inclusive resort for the first time, this resort does not provide the typical experience you should be expecting.
Throughout our stay we communicated numerous times with various staff and management and nothing was done to resolve our issues.
If you watch the whole video, I mention at the end who this resort might appeal to.
I was mostly disappointed because I’ve paid much, much less for superior resorts that offer more amenities and outstanding service.
Other Cabo Videos:
Top Things to do in Cabo:
Must Know Cabo Travel Tips:
Cabo Packing List for All Inclusive:
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:30 The Resort
1:27 Arrival & Check-in
2:22 Premium vs. Regular
2:54 Timeshare annoyances
3:10 Rooms
4: 20 Housekeeping
4:34 Early pool closures
4:56 Pools
6:26 Signing Issues
7:42 Room Service
8:28 Coffee Issues
9:01 Lack of Water
9:53 Restaurant Issues
10:52 The Food
13:46 Drinks
14:13 Getting Around
15:11 Amenities
16:36 Nightlife?
I also have a travel blog with more Cabo information – please read if you’re interested!
//
MORE CABO TIPS:
16 Essential Cabo Travel Tips for a Better Vacation:
The Ultimate Cabo Packing List (Everything Fits in Your Carry On):
//
About me – Aly Smalls:
I’m the CFF (Chief Fun Finder) of my travel website – Like Where You’re Going.
A former Tourism Development Officer who now makes fun and easy to follow travel itineraries for your next trip. Wherever your travels take you, I’ll help make sure you like where you’re going!
My free travel and destination guides focus on unique & fresh itineraries – showcasing Canada, USA, Mexico and a bit of Europe.
#mexico #cabosanlucas #loscabos #allinclusiveresort
//
Some of my videos contain affiliate links meaning I may make a small commission if you make a qualifying purchase. I only share products, services and experiences I use, love and trust. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
MUSIC:
I use Epidemic Sound for my music
Sign up for a free 30 day trial
Business inquiries:
[email protected]
source
Here's a resort that I ACTUALLY loved, watch the video here: https://youtu.be/UKU5BLQRYIA
Wow! Thank you for this review. Definitely this resort is not "all inclusive" and the place looks dead.
Good thing I saw your video, I’m about to book a trip and I was considering this property based on the stars and reasonable pricing, but I’m just going to cross it off the list. Thank you
Thanks for this great review. I would agree with you on all points. I've been to all in inclusive resorts like Iberostar that are completely all inclusive and are spot on with their customer service. I will not be booking at this resort anytime time soon. Thanks for the video.
We just finished our week (5/26) there and could not have had a better time. We did experience a slow response from house keeping on one occasion, but that's it. From the looks of your room – you booked the lower tier room they offer and maybe the services are different at the room level, I don't know. We did get a free upgrade on our room to the luxury suite and didn't even ask for it. The room had a full fridge and stove with double bathroom sink, walk-in shower and separate tub. The only separate level of all inclusive we found were the drink packages. We booked and paid in full in advance and found no reason to select the upper tier drink package. All our drinks were on par with what we would normally drink here at home.
We were there with 10 other family members and only 2 of them reported they were approached by someone from their timeshare group nor did they try to sale us an upgraded drink package.
When we checked out 5/26 the only additional charges we had were for the one excursion we had planned on taking. All the staff were very polite and accommodating, we never passed anyone on the grounds that did not say hello or asked how we were doing or did we need anything. Even the carts would stop every time and ask if we needed a ride.
If you want them in your room every day, yes you have to pay, but we kept our room as tidy as at home and found no need to pay someone to make our beds, but they came in every day and restocked the fridge for us at no charge and made the beds, but we didnt pay extra. We spent some time at the adult only pool since it was real close to our room but not in the evening so cant speak on their closing time, but we had no issues otherwise.
We found signing the bill constantly a little weird , but we didn't sign every single time. Seems like some of the waiters or bar tenders just didn't push that policy for whatever reason. We were told the bill was only for inventory tracking which did seem weird and one waiter at the breakfast buffet told us, they get charged for the bill if we don't sign it. We never once signed for any towels….
So, if the staff get charged, which isn't right, no wonder they all but insist you wait.
We had no problem getting coffee in the mornings, especially their "mexican coffee" from the breakfast buffet on the hill "Los Marias" I think is the name.. We always had plenty of water in our fridge with coke, coke lite and beers. Not sure why you had an issue. The service wait times weren't bad except on one occasion we wondered what was taking so long, but then here he came..
The carts – if you just sit there and wait, you probably gonna wait til one comes by. You should have called 1509 (Think that the number we called). We called and they were right there by the time we got off the elevator. Walking was never an issue, granted you are either on that sidewalk leading to and from the gift shop but there is plenty of room for you to walk safely with the carts going by.
They have at least two fitness centers. The one you took your video in and one down the hill right past the volleyball court. We also went into cabo to their sister marina, which we booked in advance and never had an issue waiting. Not sure why you had such a hard time. Im really thrown off by your claim of no nightlife or evening nite cap. The little bar outside our room had something going on every night when it got dark, cant remember its name, the music helped me sleep…lol
In closing – your experience was totally opposite of ours. There were an occasional wait or slowness, signing for things seemed weird, but like i said, one waiter at the hill top buffet said they get charged if we dont sign. We had two family members that just spent time at a Sandals all inclusive resort earlier in the year and actually like this place better. Maybe over the last six months since your stay, they changed some things because we had almost zero issues our whole time there and the one issue. House keeping forgot to restock the TP and wash cloths. They were on our floor and I just asked and it was provided.
We've already started talking about going back… The WORST all inclusive resort in Mexico !! Seems a bit harsh, but either my expectations were low or yours were to high. Just Sayin !!!!
Our experience was not like yours…
I just came back from the Pueblo Bonito Sunset and felt exactly the same you felt staying there. If your not a timeshare owner, they really do treat you like your 2nd class at those types of places.
We just got back from home from the resort all payed exclusive the thing you missed or maybe not is the sports equipment there pickle ball paddles suck there broken surprised nobody told them that. but we payed with the staff members bc sports stuff happens around 12:00 so sport trainers train people to play pickle-ball it was fun to look at and the staff members were also pickle-ball trainers and there another jobs is working the bar area. But that lose wrists band thing we’re the WORST you can’t take them off they stay there till you leave so your wear it in the pool you sweat in it so all of that bacterial goes on the wrist band so I think that’s a health hazard but the number one rule is DONT DRINK THE GYM WATER OR ANY TYPE OF TAP WATER someone got sick stomach problems and some other things
I’m here at the resort for a wedding so everything is payed off we’ll they didn’t bring are luggage in 2 or more hours. Food is expensive asf we just small tacos and other stuff and costed $128 but it’s a beautiful place
Sounds awful… who would ever go there especially after paying so much money.
Im staying at hacienda encantada rn I’m a time share guest so it’s pretty nice
Thanks for the review. It helped me decide not to stay here even after the reviews online were not that good for an all inclusive.
Want a room key? You have to be a timeshare member 🤢 horrible. Thanks for the video
We just got back from there, we were booked at the Marina Fiesta but they upgraded us to the Hacienda Encantada because they said we were eligible because it might be too crowded and noisy because of all the spring breakers and it was a nicer resort. I wasn't a big fan of signing after each thing ordered as well. The service was super slow, we got in an big argument with the staff at La Pergola, because we had to catch the shuttle to town because we had tickets for the glass bottom boats, and the shuttle only ran every two hours. Either catch the shutttle or pay 25.00 taxi to the marina. Make sure you don't lose the ticket for the shuttle otherwise they won't let you one the shuttle coming back. The food took almost an hour to get to us and we ended up only have having to eat our lunch in 9 minutes to be on time to catch the shuttle which including the time to get the bill and sign for it which I had to go up to the cashier to get it and sign it. Apparently they only had one cook for the entire patio restaurant and they only cook one order at a time, and they said we ordered a lot of dishes because there was 4 of us. We made it to the shuttle walking super fast and they were loading people into the shuttle already, we were the last 4 to make it on shuttle before it was totally full. You are right, night life was virtually none existent, we had stayed at other resorts and they would have evening shows and people gather around the bars, but it was virtually dead at around 9 around there. We didn't hate our stay, but it was just kind of really quiet and the rooms were clean. Checking out go over your charges carefully, somebody had charge a meal on our room, but they charged it to my room which is separate from on the all inclusive. They took the charges off when they saw the signature did match. But I was a charged 60.00 additional because they said there were additional charges for backend service for all the other staff they we didn't see which was not revealed to me at the time of booking. The other couple had a charge of 5.00 each day for room sanitizing, when questioned about it they clerk immediately took the charge off which over 6 days was over 30.00. I think they put charges on the bill and if you don't question it they get away with it.
Uuuufff so glad I saw this. I almost booked it last night 😅😅😅. Thank you
you get what you pay for
I can see most of the stuff you mentioned would be annoying, though I usually travel alone so I usually reject housekeeping, don't really wanna be bothered anyways. I don't mind tipping but I do expect half way decent service.
Thanks for your feedback I truly value your opinion and will avoid this place like the plague 🙂
Not the place for us!! Thanks for the warning!
Thank you for this review. I am looking to go to Cabo next February 2024.
I think the main reason for most of those service issues is staff shortages due to covid. Places all over the world are still recovering & trying to get back to normal operating levels.
This is our favorite resort! We love it so much and we are not owners.
i was going to book it … not anymore ! thanks
Thank you so much for the video! I would never put up with this.
I had a completely different experience at this resort. You never mentioned Mestizo which is one of the most beautiful restaurants in Cabo. I walked to the lighthouse/church many mornings to watch the sunrise. You also did not mention that they are aligned with restaurants at the Marina like the Oyster Bar. I think I might have had the premium all inclusive though. My stay there was awesome !! Signing the bills was a pain , I have to agree with you there.
I bought 300 point and please do not buy this time share is no good I am trying to get ride of this contract and nobody wants it !! Is a scam please
could you include prices in the future? thank you! 🙂
Doesn’t sound all inclusive 😊
I'm at Pueblo Bonita sunset Beach. It's absolutely incredible. And absolutely all inclusive. I'd recommend this place to anyone.
Wow just wow… soon as I heard time share I was thinking not this mommas baby boy… and signiong checks for something that you've already paid for…no thank you… I would have seen the manager more than onc e givi89ng him or her a piece of mind… paying for house keeping say what… I'll have this palce engraved in my mind as a NO GO place.. not exactly what I would call all inclusive…
Thanks for the exposing the REAL Cabo, unlike all these other fake reviews that are just sales pitches. I have my own experience to share when I walked around the CSL marina. The touts(salespeople) in the marina are incredibly rude and aggressive. One of them followed me yelling "WHAT YOU WANT?!! You WANT something? BUY this ticket! AMIGO! AMIGO!! The boat is leaving soon! You will miss! Buy this ticket NOW! What you want?!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? BUY THIS TICKET! YOU WILL MISS THE BOAT!" I told him "No thanks", but he kept yelling in my ear. Extremely rude. The marina is a cesspool of rude, aggressive touts. I don't want to hear about how poor and hard-working they are. They really suck. They harass you.
I don’t think anybody would want to go on a vacation and endure what you guys just endured. Thanks for the heads up!
I’ve stayed here many times both as a timeshare member and as a normal all-inclusive guest. There are different tiers of all-inclusive, which I’m sure you knew before arriving. They do welcome drinks on Saturdays only. There are many staff members that come up to you after check in to tell you about the amenities. Signing the checks is really not a big deal and is the norm in Cabo. This whole review was very biased and feels super entitled. Do better prep and research before you buy something next time.
The reason everything is empty or closing early is because the word is out no one goes there. I'm sorry u guys waisted yr money. This place makes Cobo look bad. Smfh. We definitely will never spend money in this NOT all inclusive
Thanks for the review. I'm doing some research for a trip to Los Cabos this summer. This resort does offer all-inclusive option or not, so I'll definitely factor that into my consideration on what location I choose.
Thanks for the well edited and quality review. It gave a very thorough explanation of what's to expect. We are part of that "timeshare" group and its unfortunate that others are treated less than. I would hope they would just allow timeshare holders maybe a first come first serve but then open to the public, but that aside, there are some serious cons to this resort. Thanks for sharing your experience and including the good things too.
Wouldn’t stay there
Mexican desserts are not very good
Please make sure you put this on trip advisor
Wow this resort sounds like the biggest pain in the butt! Thank you so much for the review you just saved me from making a huge mistake!
Thank you for doing this review! We are spoiled after years staying at Iberostar resorts with attentive service and beautiful well planned hotels and grounds. So glad I found your channel as I’m considering Cabo or PV as an alternative destination to Riviera Maya.