LRobs

Wrapped up a 5 night stay here a few days ago and now wrapping up a 5 night stay at the Hilton Vallarta Riviera. We also visited someone for a day at the Four Seasons Punta Mita so we experienced three different levels of hotel. I don't think we will return to the Conrad. One thing that annoyed me is that it honestly seems like they are trying to hide the ocean from you. As diamonds we got an upgrade to a beachfront room so we did, fortunately, have a great view in the room but the vegetation is so dense elsewhere that very few common areas have a view of the ocean. In fact, even at Codex where you're maybe 50' from the ocean, you can barely see it! There is a dense patch of trees between the table and the water. Mezquite and the front-most pool are really the only places to see the ocean. This is in sharp contrast to both the Hilton at the Four Seasons which are both ocean-first and feature incredible views everywhere including infinity pools that each that overlook the ocean (whereas the Conrad has a 150' grass field between the front-most pool and the beach).
Like the Four Seasons (and unlike the Hilton), the Conrad is patrolled by trained falcons that scare away the small nuisance birds which was really quite cool, I had not seen this before.
I didn't get the bill for anything at the Four Seasons and the Hilton was All-Inclusive so hard to compare to other places in PVR but the food at the Conrad was crazy expensive not just for Mexico but for America as well. After the tax and service fee it is more than $35 for fried fish tacos at the casual lunch restaurant. A fresh coconut water is nearly $15. Bottles of beer were $10+ after tax/service for Mexican domestics, more for US/Mexican craft. You get the idea. The one exception to this would be Codex where you're paying maybe $10-12 more per entree but getting some really excellent food that was indeed worth the money, in my view. In fact, if you're in the area you might even consider getting a reservation at Codex one night and coming just for that.
We took an Uber from the airport to the Conrad which was easy but once at the Conrad ubers are typically listed as 17 minutes away so you'll probably want the hotel to get you a cab to go anywhere. Fortunately, after waiting about 10 minutes to be assigned a driver and 15m for the driver to arrive, we were able to Uber to the Hilton which was great, that cost $40 vs the $150 it would have cost to book a cab through the Conrad.
On the dates we were there it would have cost more then $750/nt with cash, not sure if this is typical as 130 rooms were occupied by a company on some sort of retreat. I would definitely not pay $750/nt to stay here. If you're looking to burn some Hilton FNCs and want to go to the west coast of Mexico I would definitely shoot for the W-A Cabo, instead, which we love. If you're looking to save some money consider the Hilton Vallarta Riviera which is not as nice but has better views and will cost less per night all-in that you'd spend just on food/transport at the Conrad.
The Conrad is a missed opportunity, in my view. There probably is room in PVR for Hilton to have something nicer than the Hilton Vallarta Riviera but the Conrad is overpriced (which is fixable) and had a weird layout that doesn't take advantage of its location on the coast (probably not fixable).
I don't think we will return to the Conrad.

Zeromus-X

Thanks for posting this review. We stayed at the Hilton Riviera last year and loved it, and we recently booked the Conrad thinking it will be a significant step up in quality. We are looking for relaxation primarily and found that when we stay at AIs we don’t necessarily eat that much and figured maybe pay-as-you-go would work out for us. (Anecdotally this is untrue as our stay at Atlantis cost a small fortune in poolside drinks, but I guess I was hoping the Conrad wouldn’t be as bad as Atlantis when it comes to those).

We’re mostly looking for a beach and pool destination and figured Conrad being more secluded would satisfy that, but now I’m admittedly a bit nervous given your comments about the ‘beach’ situation. We booked through AmEx FHR and with the various resort credits and such our out-of-pocket room cost is about $375/night and we‘ll have about $550 in resort credit to spend on F&B. That’s still more than the Vallarta Riviera and is about equivalent to what we’d pay at the Hard Rock Vallarta (which is AI). Hmm.

LRobs

Conrad has much fewer guests per square foot of pool but this is mostly from giant pools that can't see the ocean. Food is better at the Conrad but, except for codex not worth nearly what they charge for it. IIRC the IC Cancun has $14 fish tacos at the beach club, those are just as good at Conrad Punta de Mita's $35 fish tacos

Zeromus-X

Do you have any experience with the other Punta de Mita area hotels to compare to your experience at the Conrad? We were also looking at the W and the Hard Rock; the W appears to have the nicer beach but restaurants don't seem to rate well, and I have no experience at all with the Hard Rock except that they're the cheapest option and I'm worried it will be more 'party' than 'relax'.

araknis

Not sure I agree with your statement about Conrad being crazy expensive. 3x fried taco plate at Paletas is $26 USD (this INCLUDES tax and service). Unless you are tipping an additional $9 USD, I don't know how you are getting $35. I can't speak about the beer prices, but the cocktail prices are an absolute bargain. Craft mixed cocktails are $12-14USD (inclusive of tax and service). As a comparison, US resorts such as GW Maui charge $20-$23++ which ends up being $24-$28 after tax and gratuity.

LifetimeUpgrade

I stayed at both W and Conrad. I found the food to be better at the W, and more variety of cuisines / restaurants. The vibe was very different between the two. W felt a bit higher end / trendy / boutique, and the Conrad was a sterile mega resort with lots of pools. The beach at the W was nicer as well. If you are traveling with kids, Conrad is the better option. If its a couple trip, then W is the way to go

swatkins818

On last day today, been on-site all week. Booked entirely on free night rewards, some of which were going to expire and this was best option for us that had availability 1 month ahead of our stay. As diamond was upgraded to ocean view king which has view partially blocked by the beach restaurant but seems others have gotten better upgrades than us. There's a wedding going on today and was a business retreat earlier in the week so maybe that's why. YMMV. Also diamond only gets $19 per person per day reimbursed, not a free breakfast.

Trying codex tonight but definitely agree everything else was pretty overpriced for what we got. Food is good but nothing to write home about. Cocktails were generally good and prices were fine. Cafe drinks were watery and overpriced. We started going offsite for a lot of our meals which we've been happy with. And that's the nice thing about not being AI, you have no obligation to stick around for your meals. We rented a car that's proving to come in handy.

Ate a dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant Dos Catrinas that was great, probably just as expensive or even a bit more, but significantly better food. La Rustica Mita in town had great brunch and cocktails with a beautiful view, all at reasonable price. Hector's Kitchen also in town was incredible with a 5 course "experience" and Mexican wine pairing. Very expensive but worth it. No view though. Also had a day in Sayulita for a nice break from resort life to experience a Mexican beach town (albeit still filled with us tourists). Much cheaper and great food, cute streets and shops etc.

The main restaurants on site are imo fine as backup options or if you just don't feel like going out that day. But not first choice. If you don't want to leave site and don't mind the food being a bit lower quality an AI gives more bang for buck.

araknis

Maybe I shouldn't have highlighted the value of the mixed cocktails back in Feb. Now mixed drink prices have increased 40%.

tinkerbell78

i think the issue is that this resort ISNT in the US! why are we paying US prices?!? i have stayed at approx 10 conrads - and ones not in the US are not priced like a US property! they also have better service, better amenities and better food quality than US properties, IMO. The Conrad Punta Mita is a disappointment in all these areas.

gobears293

Thanks to everyone who has added great information in this thread. Super helpful as my wife and I will be visiting next month for baby moon #2. Can get away for just three nights (child care for #1, work commitments, blah blah) so we’re simply looking forward to sleeping in and quiet beach time. Noticed many comments about lots of families here. Wondering if that won’t be the case considering school year just started and it won’t be a holiday weekend.

Thanks to an amazing corporate rate, we’re going to rent a car from PVR. And then enjoy breakfasts and maybe one dinner off the resort.

My wife and I value beach access (and ocean sounds) more than a huge room. So, as a Diamond, hoping we can get an upgrade to the regular Beachfront King. And we’d probably prefer that over a partial view suite with plunge pool. Assuming the room is available, is there any chance we get a huge upgrade to the beachfront suite with plunge pool?

garney89

You definitely have a chance...I had booked the cheapest room possible, partial ocean view king, which at the time was only $225 per night. We were upgraded as HH diamond to their king beachfront signature suite with plunge pool without hesitation. I believe we were in casa #7 which had a great view of the ocean. I would note when we stayed occupancy was only around 20%.
They really have great staff so hopefully you'll get upgraded. My only disappointment in this property was breakfast. I feel the breakfast offered to HH diamonds was probably the worst Conrad breakfast I've ever had (unless they've made some changes) but everything else was perfect.

grantsi

Retracted

david55

What are the airlines saying? You'd have a better chance if your flights were canceled or the airline offered a change waiver.

jason1991

Thanks for the review. I see you mentioned $19 breakfast credit—Does Diamond not give continental breakfast?

bruno-s

For those that have stayed there recently, does the hotel have the stuffed animal again? It seems they used to have it but posts from last year suggest they no longer have it. Thanks