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Westin Los Cabos Resort - Outstanding!

JIMinNC

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We've just finished our first full day at the Westin Los Cabos Resort on a four-night $299 Vistana VIP Promo package. We've also added a fifth night with a cash reservation. We own Marriott and HGVC, so we are not currently Vistana owners, but this is a beautiful resort, one of the best we've ever visited anywhere. It really combines the best of a top-tier hotel with the amenities you would expect at a timeshare - it is the best of both worlds.

Everyone on the staff has been exceptional, and we were fortunate to be assigned a 7th floor ocean front room (my wife's Platinum Preferred status with SPG may have helped with room assignment). The promo packages are for an Ocean Studio Villa, but for just the two of us, this is the best Studio we've seen anywhere - it has a basically full kitchen with an apartment sized refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, and 2-burner cooktop. It also has a washer-dryer. We generally prefer 1BR units when it's just the two of us, but I can honestly say this Westin Los Cabos studio is more than adequate for our needs. If I were a Vistana owner, an Ocean Studio would be all we would need at Westin Los Cabos.

The resort also features the pools, services, spa, bell services, and multiple restaurants that you would expect at a Westin hotel, so you really have everything here. We have to do a sales presentation on Monday, which we hope won't be too painful, but this place is causing us to think about possibly adding a resale "mandatory" Vistana Unit like SVV Bella or Key West to get the StarOptions we need to be able to return here in the future. We're brand new HGVC owners and this is also our first trip to Los Cabos, so we haven't stayed at HGVC's Los Cabos affiliate - Fiesta Americana - but it's hard to believe it could top the Westin Los Cabos.

Attached are a couple shots of the view from our balcony - an afternoon shot and a sunrise shot. The black speck in the water just to the right of the sun in the sunrise photo is a young humpback whale tail-slapping and frolicking in the early morning. We have watched numerous humpbacks breaching and swimming, from both our balcony and from the beach/pool areas.

LosCabos-3.jpg


LosCabos-41.jpg
 
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JIMinNC

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...Oh and to add one more thing, we did a whale watch cruise this AM, so I thought I would add two more close-up whale shots, in case anyone else out there is a humpback fan. We fell in love with whale watching in Maui, so it's great to have found another place we can see whales in years we don't go to Maui.

LosCabos-82.jpg
LosCabos-380.jpg
 
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capjak

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The promo packages are for an Ocean Studio Villa, but for just the two of us, this is the best Studio we've seen anywhere - it has a basically full kitchen with an apartment sized refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, and 2-burner cooktop. It also has a washer-dryer. We generally prefer 1BR units when it's just the two of us, but I can honestly say this Westin Los Cabos studio is more than adequate for our needs. If I were a Vistana owner, an Ocean Studio would be all we would need at Westin Los Cabos.
Sounds like the studios are the same as the ones in Maui at WKORV and WKORV-North works out great for a couple spending 2 weeks via lock off studio/1 bedroom and having a Washer/dryer and kitchen for both weeks.
 

CalGalTraveler

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Thanks for sharing @JIMinNC. We recently stayed at the HGVC Fiesta Americana and was quite pleased. We also discovered that Cabo is a less expensive and closer alternative than Maui for whale watching. With Southwest fares and less distance, it is more practical and economical to take a 4 - 5 day weekend in Cabo than a full week++ in Hawaii for a winter getaway. (We prefer Hawaii for summer with our college kids where there is less access to alcohol and more legal and healthcare protections if something goes wrong.)

We are now curious to try this resort since we are new owners in Vistana (WKORVN). I have few questions:

1) Do the studios have balconies? If so, how large? e.g. does it accommodate a dining table or just two chairs?

2) Is this the same resort as the Regina/BajaPoint conversion discussed on the other Vistana thread? If so, do we need to request a particular part of the resort to get this studio?

3) Is this resort available at times as cash getaways in II? (I would prefer cash vs. trading.)

4) How many staroptions does this unit require?
 
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JIMinNC

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Thanks for sharing @JIMinNC. We recently stayed at the HGVC Fiesta Americana and was quite pleased. We also discovered that Cabo is a less expensive and closer alternative than Maui for whale watching. With Southwest fares and less distance, it is more practical and economical to take a 4 - 5 day weekend in Cabo than a full week++ in Hawaii for a winter getaway. (We prefer Hawaii for summer with our college kids where there is less access to alcohol and more legal and healthcare protections if something goes wrong.)

We are now curious to try this resort since we are new owners in Vistana (WKORVN). I have few questions:

1) Do the studios have balconies? If so, how large? e.g. does it accommodate a dining table or just two chairs?

2) Is this the same resort as the Regina/BajaPoint conversion discussed on the other Vistana thread? If so, do we need to request a particular part of the resort to get this studio?

3) Is this resort available at times as cash getaways in II? (I would prefer cash vs. trading.)

4) How many staroptions does this unit require?

1) Yes, they have balconies. See attached photo.

2) I think the Regina/Baja Point resorts are totally separate. This is the conversion of the former Westin hotel that was damaged during the hurricane several years ago and rebuilt as a VSE owned and managed resort. See attached photo of the buildings. Our studio is in the building on the right in the photo.

3) I have no idea. We are on a Vistana preview package, but the resort does not seem crowded, so not sure if VSE might opt to try to fill rooms with II getaways.

4) I have this same question. Hope to learn the answer when we endure our sales presentation today.

IMG_1947.JPG


IMG_1941.JPG
 

Sea Six

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Is it true that swimming in the ocean is not allowed? What is there to do?
 

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Jim, can you post pictures of the room itself? That's a great view you have from your balcony and I appreciate the positive comments on this resort. Enjoy you trip and I'm sure you will be buying StarOptions soon.

Best,

Greg
 

JIMinNC

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Is it true that swimming in the ocean is not allowed? What is there to do?

The surf is indeed rough and there are rocks, but I’ve seen a number of folks in the surf in the small area that is rock free.

As for things to do, the pools are terrific, multiple levels and a swim up bar. Beach umbrellas and chairs are free to guests. We went into Cabo San Lucas yesterday for the whale watch and had lunch at The Office, a great beach restaurant at Medano Beach. We’re doing a Sunset catamaran sailing cruise this evening. There are many beautiful golf courses, but we probably won’t have time to play on this trip.
 

JIMinNC

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Jim, can you post pictures of the room itself? That's a great view you have from your balcony and I appreciate the positive comments on this resort. Enjoy you trip and I'm sure you will be buying StarOptions soon.

Best,

Greg

Will do tonight. Already have the pics, just need to post.
 
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Does the studio have a Q or K bed?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

CalGalTraveler

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Is the resort inside a gated community? One of the things I enjoyed about HGVC FA Cabo is that I could feel safe running on the roads and trails in the adjacent golf course community (which also shared with the Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar). The staff placed towels and chilled water bottles out for early morning runners.

Anything similar at this resort?
 
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dioxide45

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Sounds nice! I'm glad to have gotten an II exchange in November for a 2 bdrm, for me half the star options cost than VSN!
I looked in VSN over a month ago, but don't recall seeing studios available, or even those not yet reservable.
VSN showed only 2 bdrm units. Hope they make more available later; or is most of it all going to Adventuras program?
 

JIMinNC

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Does the studio have a Q or K bed?

According to the villa page on Vistana.com it is a King, though it would be good to get confirmation from someone there. The queen in the studio is the one downer about the studios at Lagunamar.

https://www.vistana.com/destinations/the-westin-los-cabos-resort-villas-spa/villas/300#studio-villa

Studio does have a king. In fact, when we did our presentation today, they showed us a 2BR Premium and a 3BR - all the bedrooms in all the units appear to have kings - a king in each bedroom in the 2BR and three kings in the 3BR lockoff. The third bedroom in the 3BR is the studio/lockoff.

As dioxide45 noted, the studio is 67,100 during peak season (week 1-23 & 44-52), 51,700 during weeks 24-33 & 41-43, and 37,000 during weeks 34-40.
 
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JIMinNC

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Is the resort inside a gated community? One of the things I enjoyed about HGVC FA Cabo is that I could feel safe running on the roads and trails in the adjacent golf course community (which also shared with the Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar). The staff placed towels and chilled water bottles out for early morning runners.

Anything similar at this resort?

It is not inside a gated community, but there is a guard gate at the entrance to the resort. The resort has an access road that is directly off of the main road. This is the same road used to access Raintree Vacation Club and Baha Point. So there is not a community that could be used for walking/running, but there is security for the resort itself.
 
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JIMinNC

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Jim, can you post pictures of the room itself?

Attached are two views of the studio, plus a closer shot of the kitchen area. That's a three seat counter on the right side of the kitchen photo. The sofa in the studio is a sleeper sofa.

LosCabos-9.jpg


LosCabos-15.jpg


LosCabos-16.jpg
 

JIMinNC

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Here are two more photos I snapped with my iPhone during our presentation today - the kitchen area on the 2BR Premium and the balcony of the 2BR Premium, complete with a private hot tub. That's a four seat table on the balcony. The 2BR Premium is 176,700 StarOptions during high season.

IMG_1955-2.jpg


IMG_1954-2.jpg
 

JIMinNC

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I'll add that the Westin Los Cabos is a great place for people who love to watch humpback whales. Over our first two full days, we've seen many young humpbacks breaching and tail slapping in the waters just offshore. Almost every time we're looking out at the water, we'll spot a whale blow within a couple of minutes. There appear to be a lot of mothers with their calves. We were told by two different people on boats down in Cabo San Lucas that the area in front of the Westin is called "The Nursery" because it is fairly shallow and protected and is a place mother humpbacks bring their young until they are ready to venture out into deeper water. Based on what we've seen, that seems to be true.
 

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These are great pictures and the Studio looks terrific -- thanks for posting this!

Best,

Greg
 

JIMinNC

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For what it's worth, here's the "great deal" we were offered during our required sales presentation on Monday:

They are selling StarOptions in Westin Aventuras, which includes the Los Cabos and Cancun resorts now, but will eventually include Puerto Vallarta and other "future" Latin American Vistana resorts. They offered 148,100 StarOptions EOY for about $29,000. Alternatively, they pitched 81,000 EOY at about $16,000. Their last offer was $8,800 for 44,000 SOs EOY. We never got to the point of discussing maintenance fees before he figured out we weren't buying and sent us on our way, so I never learned what Aventuras maintenance fees were. He implied they were lower than the other Westin MF, so he said that would be a reason to buy in Aventuras.

I asked why should we spend that much when we could buy 148,100 EY at Kierland Villas for less than half of what they were selling an EOY package for, or 81,000 at SVV Bella/Key West for $1500 or so. The only real counter they offered - other than the standard "we exercise ROFR on most units that go on resale" line - was a pitch that by buying from them we would get four certificates that would allow us to buy 110,000 StarPoints each for a discounted price, allowing us to go to SPG hotel properties around the world. He used the value of those stays to try to justify the purchase of the 44K package.

Once it became clear we weren't biting, the manager floated the idea of an Explorer package to get us to return, but we said we already had our trips planned for the next 12-18 months, so it would probably be 2020 before we could benefit from a Los Cabos Explorer package. At that point, he terminated the presentation without even bringing in the Explorer sales person.

We would love to return to Westin Los Cabos again during this time of year. The studio at 67,100 SOs would be perfect for the two of us, but post #17 above from dsmrp is not the first time I've read here on TUG that studios at Westin Los Cabos haven't been available for VSN bookings. Studios can easily be booked for cash on Westin.com and they are obviously using the studios for the VIP promo packages, so maybe VSE is opting to use all of their studio inventory for those purposes, rather than making them available to VSN owners. It appears there are no 1BR units at Westin Los Cabos - only 2BR, 3BR, and studios. If studios become available in the future for VSN bookings, the Westin Los Cabos would certainly add to the appeal of adding some StarOptions to our Marriott and HGVC ownerships.
 
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JIMinNC

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Wow. What a great five nights at the Westin Los Cabos! Just got back to NC last night.

Interestingly, when we were leaving waiting for our airport transportation, the Concierge offered us another 4-night package to return to the Westin within 18 months. This time, instead of the $299 offer we used this week, it was $449, but that's still a wonderful deal for this beautiful resort. We put down a $99 deposit with the balance to be paid upon booking. Now that we own at HGVC, we may combine the four nights at the Westin with a three-night HGVC booking at Fiesta Americana Los Cabos and stay for a full week, so we can compare the two resorts.

And to top off a great week, our new Marriott Maui Ocean Club resale week was transferred into our account last night!
 
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