christianj

Looking to book 5 nights at the Westin in Cabo during April 2004. When I pull up the reservation menu, it gives me an option to reserve a deluxe room or a "Royal Beach Club" room. Does anyone know what the difference is? Are the Royal Beach Club rooms not in the main building? Are they decorated differently? The hotels website show rooms with different decors. One being Mexican modern and the other more traditional with four-poster beds. Any info is appreciated!

FYI, yes I did searched the boards and could not find the differences b/t the two. Don't want to get yelled at!

[This message has been edited by christianj (edited 10-06-2003).]

Herb687

If memory serves, Royal Beach Club at the Westin Regina SJD is just the top floor(s) of the building. Basically akin to a towers floor. All the rooms at this hotel (beach club or otherwise) face the sea. I think that by staying on the Royal Beach Club level I got free breakfast and vouchers for free drinks but served in the main restaurant/bar, not in a club lounge (don't think there was one). Can't comment on how upgraded the amenities/decor was in RBC versus rest of the hotel - probably similar. My RBC room did not have a four-post bed. I would consider it "Mexican modern" decor for what it's worth. Comfortable room but average in size with a very small patio. This is a very nice property but Cabo in general is vastly overpriced in my opinion.

CKL

When we stayed at the Westin in Cabo, we were given a RBC room. We were on the top floor almost dead center (first room from the suite). We had access to the club lounge (located on the 4th floor (I think). We sat outside on the balcony for complimentary breakfast, afternoon/evening snacks etc. They did have free beverages and appetizers in the evening.

CKL

when we stayed there, it was 10k points per night - 5th night free. So, 40k = 5 nights.

we loved it, the cab fares are astronomical though!

767300ER

I was given a room in the RBC at my last 2 stays. For what I have seen the rooms are the same size and look the same that the other rooms in the hotel. RBC rooms are on the top floor providing a better view and the lounge is 3-4 floor down.

The hotel architecture is quite stunning but the rooms are nice but nothing to talk about exept for the nice glass shower in the bathroom. Balcony is very small. Yes it is probably overpriced but the resort is quiet and secluded...

The RBC difference is the access to the lounge providing cold and hot breakfast in the morning and apetizers and free drinks in the evening.

papa3

I booked a 3 night stay at the Cabo Westin in March. I upgraded to the Royal Beach Club Room for an additional 1500 points/night. Is this worth the points? Rate description says free continental brkfst & nightly drinks/hor d oeuvres.
Also says that rate does not include 10% VAT, 2% lodging tax, and 3.5% Service Charge. Are these all fees that I pay for my "free nights"?
Thanks for your help - These are my first experiences redeeming Starwood, and I'm not real versed in how everything works. I tried some searches but am not sure I was using the correct terms.
Papa3

CKL

If you are Plat, they will upgrade you to a RBC room when you check in (based on availability). They had us preblocked last time we were there.

Is it worth it... IMHO, Yes. You can have a relaxing breakfast in the morning on the balcony in the center of the hotel. YOu can watch the wales (seasonal) and the waves. You can have a cocktail or 3 and a snack before dinner. We enjoyed the lounge every night and breakfast every morning.

have fun!

papa3

Just a follow-up from my trip to Cabo. I tried twice to e-mail a request for info on instant awards to the address provided by Lurker. Request was ignored both times. Got to hotel and asked at the front desk about them. I was told they they would have to check and that they would call me in my room. Never happened.
Disappointed on a couple items at the hotel itself. After enduring the timeshare tango at the airport (didn't know it was coming) I was looking forward to checking in and relaxing at the hotel. The first person who met us was nice. Asked if we had been hounded at the airport regarding timeshares. Then he introduced us to a woman that promised to show us what was available in the area for us to do. After she gets through her binder on what is available and what they could book for us she starts to try to talk us into a free breakfast among other things for going to "see" the presentation.
This was the last thing I wanted to hear about upon checking in. Room was not ready for a couple hours even though we were told 45 minutes.
Charged us for mini-bar items we did not take (later removed from bill). Asked about a late check-out and was told not available. I informed them that this was supposed to be available for SPG Gold and they then agreed.
All in all not what I would call a first-rate experience. We stayed at the Hilton down the road at the end of our trip and experienced none of the above problems.

ILUVCITIBANK

Would like to BUMP the CABO thread....headed there next week. Can't wait.

papa3, FWIW, my email also went unanswered from several weeks ago. My stay will start with two nights at Westin/CABO, and then ends with several nights' award stay at the CABO/Hilton (had to burn one of my last HHONORS GLON awards by end of May, 2004), and when I wrote the Hilton/CABO, I got a response from their concierge within a day. To date, I have never had my email answered by the Westin/CABO.

I could easily have "made do" with the 6-night Hilton award, but thought it would be nice to try this Westin out for two nights on the front-end of my trip and am paying a fairly high rate for these two nights ($250+/nt) just to "experience" this Westin and ensure an ocean view and club level. Guess it would be nice if the Westin/CABO responded to their email.

Separately, can anyone add comments or a trip report, per se, for recent trips to Westin/CABO ?

kindra178

Just returned from a fantastic 7 night stay at the Westin Regina in Los Cabos (6 nights on points (12,500 for upgrade to Royal Beach Club) and one paid night with SPG50). The room was large with a great view. Bathroom had large shower (light bulb out) and separate bathtub. If you are tub person, the bathtub was not as deep as newer properties, but it was still nice to have a separate bathtub.

The property itself if stunning, affording great views of mountains and water from various locations. The Westin has a great feel because you don't see any other hotels while on the property. You just feel as is if you are in the middle of nowhere. The closest property is a good hike down the beach (we took a great walk to the Hilton, climbing over some gorgeous rock formations). The Hilton was pretty and had a swimmable beach, but certainly not as stunning as the Westin. It seems a bit newer than the Westin.

The RBC lounge was great, with breakfast (eggs, sausage, fruit, yogurt, Mexican pastries, toast, delicious orange juice) and drinks and appetizers (chips and salsa, mini pizzas) in the evening. It was well worth the points upgrade as the breakfast buffet at Las Cascatas was $26/person. The buffet there had the same food as the RBC lounge but a few more options, including a breakfast burrito station and delicious waffles. Although I heard mixed reviews regarding food on the property, it wasn't bad. El Set, a poolside restaurant, was better than the other poolside restaurant La Playa, which had terrible service and below average food. We didn't eat at the fancy restaurant (the one night we wanted to go it was packed) Arrecifes. We took advantage of the shuttle to both San Jose ($9/person) and Cabo San Lucas ($11/person) and had some great meals. Don't miss La Cocina and El Chilar in San Jose as well as Mi Casa in Cabo San Lucas.

We had wonderful beachside massages. The gym, located in the spa, was more than adequate but got very crowded between the hours of 8-11. It was $10/person if you didn't have a spa service. The people working at the spa didn't know that rule and often it was a bit of a hassle convincing certain staff of that. I read somewhere that if you booked services before you arrived, you would get 20% off. I did book ahead, and confirmed the 20% off with guest services before I arrived. It's a good thing because nobody knew that rule, including the people at the spa or the front desk at checkout.

Checkout was by far the worse part of the trip (other than the 55 degree weather and pouring rain on Friday). It took over twenty minutes (my shuttle was waiting) to get the erroneous minibar charges removed and to have the discount on the spa services applied.

We used Transcabo to and from the airport (Arturo, the concierge at the Westin set it up). The airport is very confusing and Transcabo was 20 minutes late to pick us up when we arrived.

A fantastic vacation all around. I highly recommend this property to anyone interested Cabo.

kindra178

Transcabo was $65 each way, up to four people. It would have been perfect and worth the money if the fellow was there to pick us up on time. I am not sure on what you mean on "much to do." In Cabo, there are tons of stores and restaurants. We went in for dinners, so we didn't avail ourselves to the shopping really in either town. San Jose is smaller with restaurants, some shopping and a church. We saw a movie theater in Cabo that has a VIP room with leather recliners. People we met said it was only $8/person for the VIP movie.

The Westin seems like it would be good for kids, lots of pools that aren't too deep. There is a kids' club by the tennis courts, but I thought it was weird that there were a lot of kids inside and not outside on a nice day. We saw kids, but not at the pools because we sat by the adult pool, which was amazingly quiet.

One thing I forget to mention in my original report. The Westin needs to change the spa robes. The robes are something you would get in a doctor's office. There are terribly thin and very short. I saw all sorts of people of varying sizes trying to fit in these robes; most looked uncomfortable, particularly anyone over 6 feet tall or overweight.

Ken in Phx

I felt it was a good place for kids. Lots of pools and neat thing to do. Also there is a little grocery mart near the Timeshares at the Westin. Someone in a golf cart will run you over there to pick up milk and other kid things if you need them. I thought that was a lot easier than going into town to get food/snacks and bottled water.

I agree that the Royal Beach Club is awesome and the only downside is the no swimming beach.

Seems as if the shuttles are slow. Our return to the airport was 1/2 hr late, which made it frustrating because we paid in advance, you'd probably be better off taking a taxi back to the airport.

Ken in Phx

sammylee

The Westin was great whenwe stayed there but the downfall is that there is no swimming at the beach. It is a shame to be in such a beautiful spot and not be able to swim. There was often a sewage smell at the infinity pool in front of the timeshares. It would come and go but was not pleasant. I have heard great things about the Sheraton but have not been there.

trvlr70

I stayed at the Westin Regina Los Cabos a couple of years ago. The suites are called the Royal Beach Club and they are unbelieveable. Imagine, a huge two bedroom suite with kitchen, perched right over the ocean, jacuzzi tub overlooking the pacific in the bedroom, huge walk in shower, Pinon pine ceiling, large private patio, etc.. It was just incredible. Try to make it work. It may be the best suite I've ever had in my life....loved it.

Good luck!

John

uschpr

Was there last month. As a plat, I got Royal Beach Club lounge access, but did not get an upgrade to the Royal Beach Club tower area of the hotel due to the fact that the hotel was completely sold out. The base room is actually a partial ocean view and is really quite nice. Hope this helps.