Great place, will likely not go back very soon

We had 2 weeks off for the winter holidays and decided to head over to Cabo.I found award availability for 5 night between 26-31 December for a whooping 240k HH points (60k/night + 5th night free) and decided to book it. Since we went there with 2 kids (5 and 7) we booked a double queen room.

The hotel is by the beach, in the middle of nowhere, equally far from Los Cabos and San Jose del Cabo. It is easiest if you have a car, with no car you are dependant on taxis or hotel cars (some nice Suburbans and Escalades). It is very easy to reach by car as there is only one highway between these two cities, and a visible roundabout right in front of the Hilton.

I was checking for available rooms for online checkin 24 hrs in advance, and only 1K rooms (1 King bed) on the 1st floor were showing up and one2QQ (Double Queen) room, with a view to the exterior side of the hotel.On the day of checking we were assigned room 4075 which is seaview (perpendicular to the beach), however it is 1K and situated in the furthest corner possible from the restaurants, reception and pools.

We arrived at the hotel exactly 3PM by car. A person who was at the valet parking booth already had our check-in package ready and showed us to our pre-assigned room. I asked and he confirmed it is 4075 (1K). Room was great, no way though for us to fit in one large bed. I asked him to check for a room according to what we booked, and ideally with a view to the interior side of the hotel (pools area). He called someone at Reception and said that the only room available was the one I saw online :(.

We were checked-in to room 1060, which is OKin size and ammenities, however offers unobstructed views to the abandoned hotel next door, and partial sea view :(.

I was very dissapointed with the room. I did not expect the Presidential Suite, however for a hotel who actively advertises their Vist Club rooms with Lounge, I felt cheated on technicalities (Vista Club level is a hotel within the hotel, that way they don't have to give access to HH Diamonds to it, and 2QQrooms are only on the undesirable parts of the hotel).

Most rooms in the hotel are identical. I saw some that had "Suite" writen on the door, however the floor map showed exactly the same room size.

The room itself is large and brightly colored, with very nice tones of turqouise. 2 queen beds + a small sofa still left room to comfortably walk around. The beds were great, exactly what we would expect from an international Hilton hotel (outside US). 2 things stood out for me in the room:one was the large TV with plenty of english movie channels (3xHBO), and the other one was the very good speed of WiFi.

The bathroom was huge by all standards with separate shower area (good for 2), separate toilet "space", double sink and large bathtub. Not a big fan of the wooden panels between the bathroom and the main room,especially since therewas no way to lock them in the closed position. Nice romantic touch for a couple, not ideal for families, and 2QQ rooms are for families.

We found the service at and around the pool areas to be impecable. You could have called someone to blow your nose and likely someone would have showed up in under a minute. From security staff, pool boys, bar staff, they were all great. I felt bad many times seeing the staff moving sunbeds around so large groups of families (10-15 people could have one sunbed per person and then only use 5-6 of them during the day...

The service at the Mason restaurant was also very good during busy times.

In one of the days we spotted on our way back from the pool an area where a reception was being organized, and heared a staff member inviting all passing guests to the GM's Reception. We had plans that evening which we could have moved with at least ~4hrs notice. In the past I had received a small invite note in the room to GM Receptions, especially when it was open to all guests in the hotel...

The only area where I think the overall service coudl have been better is on the management side. On all other award bookings we have received exceptional recognition from the hotels. This time not only that I we were notupgraded, but felt completely ignored. We were assigned in the poorest room in the hoteland forgot about until check-out day.

We received 2 breakfast certificates for every day of our stay. On them it was stated that they are valid for continental breakfast, and that gratuity of 15% will be added to the bill.

Day-1 we were told that we have to pay for the 7-yr old, as it is hotel policy to charge for kids between 7-12 yrs old. This was a first for us as everywhere else in the Hilton chain so far our kids ate for free with us. There used to be part of the Terms & Conditions, however HHonors must have taken it out recently... They agreed to waive it as our kid had just turned 7, in silent exchange of a tip :)

Our surprise was at check-out where we noticed that we were charged by default with 15% gratuity on the base cost of the breakfast. Front Desk staff member said that this is what they meant by the text on the breakfast coupons that were saying that a gratuity of 15% will be added to the bill. I guess it's good they don't put a tag of 50$ breakfast per person and then give breakfast free to all guests :)

We did not try the hotel restaurants for dinner as they had no menu for kids and the prices were quite high. We opted to drive to 15-20 minutes to Los Cabos for dinner instead, and enjoyed a more vibrant atmosphere.

​We liked the hotel a lot, they have really put a lot of effort into every detail. The rooms are nice, everything is new since the hotel was only recently renovated. The pools are heated in winter and awesome for tourists all ages.

I can't overlook the poor experience related to the room assigned, the lack of access to the on-site Lounge and all the little "technicalities" meant to over-charge the guests. All hotels work for profit, I guess most hotels I stayed at before do it more tactfully.

For the value received it's not a place where we look to come back very soon.