Vista Club Playa de Oro

[soccer8]

I am staying at the Playa de Oro December 13th to the 20th, now I have never been to this resort but i was wondering if anyone out there had any information on this hotel. How is it after the hurricane? I heard the rooms were redone is this true? How is the food and drinks? Do all the rooms have balconies?

[eck]

Facilities are fine. No remnants of hurricane damage. Employees are very courteous. A word of advise. Do NOT get sucked into a timeshare pitch. Avoid offers of "free" breakfasts, tours, etc unless you want to waste a morning listing to a pitch. You do not want to own a timeshare in Mexico, especially at Marina de Oro which is part of the Playa de Oro complex. Other than that, you will have a great time at Playa de Oro, which is a short cab ride from the center of town.

[CdnEvilWoman]

We will be returning to the Vista Club for our 4th time Feb. 20/04. We have a great time each visit. Staff is friendly and courtious. Three choices of restaurants for meals. Timeshare people don't bother us after they ask the first time - wouldn't worry about them. Rooms are very clean and lots of closet space.

[tojol57]

Hey CdnEvilWoman....

don't forget cocktails on the beach... as we will be next door at the Crown Paradise... Maybe we will have to venture over to your resort for dinner sometime during our two weeks in paradise... (Feb 14 - 28th).... see you in 61 days... you just as well as say today is over with LOL......

catch up with you soon

[Aprilraine]

Hi there. My husband and I stayed at the Vista Playa de Oro. We stayed for two weeks. We had a nice time because I was with my husband for two weeks.
I would never go back to this resort. We were treated pooly. We even tipped well. I found that they catered to their own culture before they would help us. Example...more times than I'm willing to admit, we would sit down for dinner and we would wait patiently for the waiter to come and take our order for a drink. A few minutes later, another table would arrive (mexicans) and they would be served first!!

Not a good experience

Aprilraine

[eck]

You don't know what "treated poorly" really means unless you happen to own a timeshare next door at Marina de Oro, which is part of the same complex.

[Aprilraine]

ECK...sounds like a story there!
If its anything like what my husband and I went through, I can believe it!
We were told we couldn't go over to the timeshare building, not even to walk around!
The only thing I can say that was good about this place was, they made there drinks well. The bartenders served without a smile.
My experience in other resorts was the bartenders would get to know you by name or at least remembered your face after the first week. They would also joke around with you. Not at the Vista Playa de Oro!
Like the old saying goes "you get what you pay for!"

[PETER]

"They catered to their own culture"

I have heard this remark before and I have to say it sounds pretty bigotted to me , my own expieriences with the Mexican people has always been a good one and they do not treat anyone differently if this was truly the case at your hotel then you should have
gone immediatly to management .As for catering to their own culture I feel this remark is uncalled for if your service was bad then say so dont slam these hard working people for your own perception maybe you got lousy service because of another reason ????

[pvrichard]

We haven't stayed at either the Vista Club Playa de Oro or its sister timeshare resort, ... and we haven't had that kind of experience in PV, but I certainly appreciate forthright comments. It seems to me that part of the value of a board where experiences are shared comes from honest evaluation. I want to see the bad along with all the good, in order that I can make educated choices next trip. Richard

[eck]

Aprilraine (Dec 24, 2003 01:11 p.m.):
ECK...sounds like a story there!
If its anything like what my husband and I went through, I can believe it!
We were told we couldn't go over to the timeshare building, not even to walk around!
The only thing I can say that was good about this place was, they made there drinks well. The bartenders served without a smile.
My experience in other resorts was the bartenders would get to know you by name or at least remembered your face after the first week. They would also joke around with you. Not at the Vista Playa de Oro!
Like the old saying goes "you get what you pay for!"

There's a story her alright! Over 100 timeshare owners have banded together and have hired a lawyer to take action against the owners of the Marina de Oro faclility (they also own Crown Paradise and Playa de Oro) for various grievances. I could write a book on the subject. Just remember this: Never buy a timeshare in Mexico from a Mexican company. You have no rights down here!!

[Aprilraine]

PETER (Dec 24, 2003 02:19 p.m.):
"They catered to their own culture"

I have heard this remark before and I have to say it sounds pretty bigotted to me , my own expieriences with the Mexican people has always been a good one and they do not treat anyone differently if this was truly the case at your hotel then you should have
gone immediatly to management .As for catering to their own culture I feel this remark is uncalled for if your service was bad then say so dont slam these hard working people for your own perception maybe you got lousy service because of another reason ????

You are entitled to your own comments. I respect them. Please respect mine. I love PV and the mexican people and their culture. If I didn't I wouldn't keep going back. My comment was to a specific resort. I as well as others place comments such as these as they want reviews on different peoples experiences. I was saying that mine was mostly a bad experience. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and beliefs. I would never slam the mexicans. Again, I respect the culture. I have several mexican friends!
I did go to the management and got no where. I did voice I would not be returning to their resort. My husband and I are very easy going people and don't ask for alot, but the service was very poor. Again I'm entitled to my own opinion as you are yours!

Merry Christmas
Aprilraine

[Aprilraine]

eck (Dec 24, 2003 04:19 p.m.):

Aprilraine (Dec 24, 2003 01:11 p.m.):
ECK...sounds like a story there!
If its anything like what my husband and I went through, I can believe it!
We were told we couldn't go over to the timeshare building, not even to walk around!
The only thing I can say that was good about this place was, they made there drinks well. The bartenders served without a smile.
My experience in other resorts was the bartenders would get to know you by name or at least remembered your face after the first week. They would also joke around with you. Not at the Vista Playa de Oro!
Like the old saying goes "you get what you pay for!"

I heard that from many people when I was staying at the resort. There weren't too many happy people when we were there!
Be careful what you say on here Eck or people like Peter will think you are knocking the mexicans!

There's a story her alright! Over 100 timeshare owners have banded together and have hired a lawyer to take action against the owners of the Marina de Oro faclility (they also own Crown Paradise and Playa de Oro) for various grievances. I could write a book on the subject. Just remember this: Never buy a timeshare in Mexico from a Mexican company. You have no rights down here!!

[PETER]

A few minutes later, another table would arrive (mexicans) and they would be served first!!

The words dont seem very friendly to me ....I do not have to respect an idea that I feel is based in bigotry .

Reread your own post you refer to the Mexican people as" their culture" and (mexicans) people who use the terms your people and their culture are basing an opinion on the race of the person or nationality. We agree to disagree I stand by my statement , I feel that its smacks of bigotry.

[CdnEvilWoman]

After reading many of these posts I felt compelled to reply (probably should not but I rarely back down). We have been to the Vista Club four times (returning again in February 2004) and have ALWAYS enjoyed the workers there. The bar tenders have always remembered our names and what we are drinking - usually takes a day but after that we usually just have to arrive at the bar and our drinks have arrived. The bar tenders usually call us by name or if one of them forgets calls us "Senor Canadian" and "Senora Canadian". We always leave a small tip each time we are at the bar. After telling the time share people we are not interested they leave us alone for the remainder of our holiday - most will even say hi and state yes they remember us and know we are not interested. Maybe these people (time share, waiters, etc.) treat guests the same way they are treated.

[Pete]

Thank you finally a voice of reason ,

[howard_jax]

I have seen Eck's remarks before and even wrote him an email at one time. I was most curious as to the problem he and the other 99 owners have had. I have owned there since pre-construction, staying there for the first time in Oct of 1986. We liked it enough to upgrade to the new Ocean front wing they added in 1996 from our existing 2 B/R ( originally an Ocean front) . I will admit it took some stiff negotiating to satisfy what we felt we were entitled to. In the end we were most pleased with the final deal. As it turned out we bought another place after one year in the new Condo. We have kept the one at the Marina for use of guests when we get there. It is now 5 years that we have done this and we do go there to welcome our guests each year and spend some time. We have never encountered a single problem and our guests have always been delighted. I have to say, I have never been anywhere in PV in 20 years there, where they did not treat the tourists well.

[peter]

I have seen these kind of remarks before El Cuchillo and I agree , people who come to Mexico as guests and are ignorant of the customs and traditions as well as how hard the people here have to work sometimes just dont get it. You are not at home its not the US or Cnada or wherever and I also must say we have had dinner at Playa many times with friends and have always been treated well of course as in all things you must give respect to get it maybe the complainers (Eck and Aprilraine) should take a look at their own actions before judging those of the hardworking Mexican people .

[eck]

For the record, I have been coming to Puerto Vallarta for years and have always found the people at Playa de Oro and throughout the entire city to be friendly, courteous and hard working. My complaint is not with the citizens of Puerto Vallarta. If it were, I would not come back every year. It is with the owners of Marina de Oro who continually overcharge the timeshare owners by amounts exceeding those spelled out in written agreements.

[Crown Paradise Returnees]

A lot of across the board comments about the Vista Club... As you can see we spend a lot of our time at the Crown Paradise next door... we have had a few up and down experiences coming over there to eat or have a cocktail... because we stay at the Adults only All-Inclusive we get the "look" because we can come over to your resort but you can't come to ours... i realize that creates some annomosity, but you know what, i paid not to have children under my feet.... but i know a lot of people out on the beach that love the resort and we love to party with them over at the Factory Club after the shows... it is a great time... We know a young couple from Canada that bought a time share there cause they wanted to bring the boys down and they love it... we met them the first time over at Crown Paradise.... but everybody has their nitches in this world.... Russ and Jodi are a blast to hang with and party with.... hopefully they will be down again soon....

Tom and Lorrie
Grundy Center, Iowa