After being and living together for 18 years, my lady and I decided to get married. We decided to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for our vacation/honeymoon. The experience was mixed at best.
we get out of the airport looking for the shuttle to the hotel. a nice man with airport credentials asks where we're going and directs us to a desk. When we researched the whole thing, we found that the shuttle services don't depart from the hotel (or the hotel cannot help us schedule it), so when this guy tells us he can arrange it, we feel a little relieved. What happened was we got roped into a time share promo for 60 dollars (same price as the R/T shuttle ride). Once the duh moment settles, we try to bail out of the whole thing, but instead wind up negotiating with the promoter for money instead of activities and all the other junk they offer.
The irony of it was that my wife was commenting how she might be interested in checking out the possibilities of a time share in the area. They say: "careful what you wish for", and boy, was it apropos this time!
The basic hook of these setup goes like this: They ask you for some deposit (varies all the time depending on how you get roped in) and ask you to go to a 90 min presentation. In exchange, you get free transportation to and from the place, breakfast or lunch, one or two tickets for activities, dinner certificates, and in our case, transport back to the airport. You need to bring an ID and a Visa or Mastercard because (supposedly) they're sponsoring the promotion. Sounds pretty harmless, doesn't it? Just listen to a sales pitch and that's it...
We go to the place and do the initial meet and greet. Somehow, we know this is going to be a bit awkward. We meet the sales guy (Ernesto) play along regarding questions, etc. and tell them straight up not buying. we're just curious about the process.
The easy stuff begins. We're explained the way this particular setup works. Shared ownership, not a time share, premium properties better than four seasons, ritz, etc. They show us the grounds and pitch their other properties (only in mexico and south america). How the owner is a mexican guy with oodles of cash and how they got an american corp from Texas to manage the place, etc. We go to the breakfast, which was good. So far, everything is going okay. we still mention that we're primarily curious about the experience, etc. One of the things I notice is that we're probably one of the youngest couples there (we're pushing 40, by the way), so we're felling a bit funny about that. The guy chats up about how successful they are about getting people to buy (50% supposedly), and how owners love their setup, etc. To me, it sounds like a load of crap, but that's mainly because I don't trust sales people especially.
Then, the fun starts: we go to what I like to call the kill room. This is where they sit you on a table with the guy that gave you the tour and talked you up, tell you all the other deals they have with other companies (so you don't feel like you're buying just mexican property), and all the other poo. The initial salvo gets tossed: You can buy 4 weeks with a huge apartment for 189K and you can easily start with a 17K deposit using your Visa or Mastercard.
Now, remember how Visa/MC supposedly sponsors the promotion? well, depending on how you look at it, it may be true. Considering that there's a percentage fee associated with credit transactions, you could say they're promoting the whole thing. I seriously doubt the CC companies have any direct involvement in this bullshit, but I give them an A on creative shit shoveling. :)
Back to the "present": we repeat that we're not buying anything. The price and options begin to drop, giving at least 6 or 7 more times to say "No". The guy's face begins to turn to frown... By the time we're done with him, the price dropped to something like 5K for a week, timeshare-like bennies, for a 600 Visa/MC deposit. We repeat: no, and now, I add the closing argument: "we're done".
In their last-ditch effort, they bring you down to do an "exit interview" with a no-pressure-like young man, now from the US, to ask you what was the reason you didn't buy and to tell you that your gifts will be ready in 10 minutes because there's someone ahead of you. I repeated the same thing, and told them their switch from friend to douche bag didn't help. He concurs, and proceeds to make us a final final effort to take our cash. At this point, I'm pretty pissed off, but I refrain from calling him out, so I conclude with "I'm not interested. We want to leave now".
By the time the whole thing's done, they load you in a van that brings you to the front of the property where you pick up your stuffs and taxi money to your place. Even then, after all that, the last person that handles the cab call and pay the driver to take you to your hotel tries to sell you some other non-descript shit. I felt like punching someone at that point.
On the way back, the Wife and I look at each other and agree that it was both an infuriating and enlightening experience. When we get to our hotel, they're doing the same thing, so we proceed to set them up straight fast. That didn't stop them from trying at least twice more to get us in. Come to find out: every hotel in the area work the same way. It was so disappointing!
I will finalize the rant about the vultures soon. If you're going to Cabo, the moment you step out of the customs area, skip the fist room and go to the next one to get a shuttle and/or taxi. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.
...However... If you have the stomach to withstand high-pressure sales turds and you enjoy making people suffer AND want to get free money and/or activities while there in exchange for about 2hrs time, then do stop by the first booth, negotiate for just about anything you want, then go get a free breakfast and piss of the sales people. Remembering that you can do this in every single place in Cabo, you can effectively eat and keep busy effectively for free. If I had the disposition and or necessity, I would clean these people out to the point of being black-listed. I just can't. My time is precious, and fortunately, I can afford to do the stuff on my own.
Apartment hawking notwithstanding, the town is effectively a tourist trap mainly designed for prototypical herds of tourists getting off cruise ships and timesharing people looking to golf and drink. Some activities like hiking fishing etc. are thee, but still designed with these people in mind. There's little to no character to the place. The locals are piss-poor and we're the best thing they have since we give them money all the time and tip well, even if it is in Pesos.
For the most part, it is relatively inexpensive-unless you do the american thing and stick with american franchises which make about 90% of the places. The rest of the allure is drinking on the cheap and shopping on outlets at prices that are decent but not great in my opinion. Being foodies, it was disappointing to see such a meager dining scene. The main food is seafood. It's very fresh, but it is more of the same every time, so there's no major variety. For some bizarre reason, the main cuisine attraction seems to be Mediterranean and primarily Italian. That makes no sense to me, but I'm crazy like that...
We went off the beaten path and checked out a local taqueria that served typical bite-sized tacos for 10-20 pesos (0.80 to 1.60 US) Frankly, that was probably the best food we had there.
Besides the critiques, the weather was great. Sunny, not too hot, and great wait staff at the pool keeping us well fed and hydrated. Our last dinner experience at La Frida at a resort called Pueblo Bonito in the Pedregal region. We had considered this place when booking the vacation. It is a very beautiful place, but I'm glad we didn't stay there. It was very very seculded with an entrance way at least a mile long. When I got there, I even bet the wife that they'd offer us a 90 minute presentation before we leave. She didn't think they'd do it, but alas, she lost the bet...
The La Frida choice was a recommendation from one of the locals as authentic mex, but it was mostly a fusion place. The decor was hacienda style Mexican room. The most authentic thing was a chicken in mole given to us as a chef taste (not on the menu). The wife had sea bass (again) and I had a guajillo chile short rib that was good, but not authentic mexican in any way. The wait staff was wonderful and the live singer added an extra bit of romance to the place. Once again, I noticed we were the youngest people in the room. We were very happy until they took over an hour to deliver the final dish, which was extremely excessive in my opinion. Either the waitress messed up the order, or they were killing the cow for the rib and/or went down to the water to fish out the sea bass... That alone buzz-killed the experience for me. The prices were very high compared to the rest of the experience, so that was another negative.
Would I return to Cabo? Unlikely. The place is just another american-ready tourist trap with good weather. It's just another box checked on the list. My verdict? skip it unless you like the trap concept