There are pros and cons. Here's the negatives first - there are lots of positives too, but the…read morenegatives are bringing out my inner "Karen."
There's an aggressive push at check-in to commit you (and pay to attend!) an aggressive 3-hour time-share presentation, asking detailed questions about the cost of your last 5 vacations to convince you their $11000-deposit, $900 annual subscription, $1300-minimum weekly rental commitment for 25 years is a bargain.
Food prices are higher than major-city downtown hotels - $30 for a cocktail, buffet $45. (Granted, most guests are all-inclusive or get food at 40% off if in the timeshare plan, but the full price is shown to you when asking for a tip to encourage larger tips.) And then after a surcharge to enter 2 of the fancier restaurants, there's still a further surcharge levied for half the items on the menu. The ice-cream shop is not included in the all-inclusive which seems an unfair money-grab. (When you are on an all-inclusive cruise ship, you are not handed receipts 8 times a day to sign and include a tip.)
Long waits at the hostess desk every time to enter the buffet, either when the restaurant is full, or empty; long waits for poolside service, and a long wait to get the bill from the waiter every time - sometimes 10 minutes or so. (When we stood up to leave without signing they snapped into action remarkably quickly.) We were asked to give our room number 3 times at every buffet meal which seemed a redundant interruption.
Not enough lounge chairs poolside - every single one was claimed before breakfast every day, despite unenforced signs that one cannot reserve chairs if not sitting in them. We did not get to sit in a lounge chair poolside the entire week. Most lounge chairs had lost their rubber wheels or the wheels didn't even turn. This seems like a simple investment that the hotel refuses to make.
Beach was closed for walking (enforced day and night by lifeguards) due to dangerous surf and undertow along nearly the entire length in front of the hotel.
Wifi does not reach all areas of hotel and requires a fastidious sign-in that takes longer than 75 seconds esp if the wifi is weak.
Outdoor hot tub was tepid - making the walk back to the room very cold.
Buffet items are not replenished near the end of the meal service. Tongs for serving at the buffet take a lot of force to close making self-serve difficult, with spilt food everywhere as a result. (Is management even looking at these things?) Although the buffet has a pork, a beef, a chicken, and a fish dish at every meal, and they vary, they are all stew-type dishes with a sameness to them all. When they did try something unusual, it was fish with vanilla sauce that was just a horrible unexpected combination. Authentic Mexican options abound, yet they are all very bland.
Two kinds of music playing on top of each other in the spa massage rooms, and the music is distorted as if the pre-amp is set too loud. Massages are $200 for 50 minutes - more than the most expensive US venues, yet the therapists do exactly the same technique in the same order every massage with no special attention to areas marked on the intake form. The therapists do not massage as if they understand specific muscle groups suggesting they are not licensed trained therapists.
The tiny general store had only candy; no basic toiletry supplies, and no over-the-counter medications for headache, colds, pain, sunburn etc. with the nearest pharmacy a ten minute drive away.
Positives:
Whales are abundantly in view constantly (it's March) and can be seen just offshore occasionally breaching - close enough you can hear the "slap" but too far to photograph without a telephoto lens.
Architecture and ambience feels grand, though just a little dated, and well-maintained. The villa rooms are remarkably quiet, with very quiet central air conditioning, and staff move quietly through the compound in electric carts.
Staff are consistently friendly, always very presentable, and greet every guest they pass.
Comfortable bed with perfectly-smoothed sheets and spacious rooms with esthetically pleasing furniture, lamps, fabrics. Toiletries had a nice scent of guava and citrus. Housekeeping was detail-oriented with whimsically folded towels, and florets made from toilet paper.
Efficient service at the coffee bar with great lattes.
Beautiful gardens are well maintained, with even the dirt raked in patterns at the base of each tree, and gardeners attending to upkeep every day.
Service is top-notch in restaurants that require a surcharge - such as cleaning all crumbs off the table between courses, coming by to place the napkin on your lap again after you visit the restroom, waiting with dessert in hand tableside until a break in the conversation, using extra staff to bring all plates simultaneously, offering a first sample taste of even the house wine. And the food is exceptional and imaginative in the surcharge restaurants.