We traveled with our kids to Los Cabos, Mexico for spring break 2016. We stayed at the Hyatt Ziva. This is an all-inclusive resort.
LOCATION: The location of the property was in San Jose and was approximately 25 minutes from the airport as well as 25 minutes from the city of Cabo San Lucas. The water that it sits on is the Sea of Cortez. This area has some strong undertows. Therefore, the beach is not swimmable. In fact, they say the current is “fatal” and indicate this with a black flag.
People on the beach but not in the water
PROPERTY GROUNDS: The grounds of this Hyatt are close to immaculate. It is obviously well cared for and beautiful.
ALL-INCLUSIVE: One of the perks of this property is that it is all-inclusive. This means all your food and drinks are included in the reservation price. The downside to this is that the food is average at best. I believe we tried all the restaurants, and none of them were “good.” The food was a huge disappointment. We had read mixed reviews about this before we traveled. We had also heard that the quality of meat was poor as it must not be USDA approved. It is surprising to me that Hyatt as a corporation hasn't come in and done more about the food situation.
GYM: Access to the gym was part of the all-inclusive status. The gym was busy in the morning but still manageable. If you could wait until late afternoon to workout, the gym was not busy at all. It was equipped well with half of the gym set up for weight training and the other half for cardio.
POOLS: There are 3 pools and one water feature as well as some hot tubs. There are two main pools, both located in the center of the property. Off to one side of the property is an adult only pool. Off to the other side of the property is a kid zone with a water feature including a few slides and water buckets that fill up and dump out on the kids. All of the pool areas were nice. The infinity pool included a swim up bar. The pools are not heated. Cabo is in the desert and while there are hot days, there are cool evenings. The pool water was too chilly for me (and most adults as we would talk to them around the pool). The kids seemed okay with it but only for a few minutes and then would head to the hot tub. We visited the last week of March. I could not recommend this property if you were hoping to enjoy the pool in winter months. If the pool were heated, it would make a huge difference. One last note about the pool, the pool chairs are reserved by 6:30am. NO JOKE! People told us they would get up at 5am to go down and put their items on chairs. We did not do this, but we couldn't find chairs when we wanted them later in the day. The two solutions to this:
a. Find a “pool guy” and ask him to bring you chairs from the back. We tipped him $10 and it was never a problem.
b. Head to the beach area to get a chair. The beach seemed to always have loungers available.
This was the main area of the hotel. Behind M&B are the two main pools and then the Sea of Cortez.
This is the adult pool. As you can see it is shaded for a large portion of the morning.
KIDS CLUB: Another perk about the property was that they had a kids' club. We learned this trip that our kids (ages 10 and 8) might be aging out of the kids' club. While we were visiting, the property manager told us that they had over 300 children on property at the time. Yet, the kids' club activities seemed to be geared to younger kids. Our boys were not interested in being checked into the kids club for any amount of time.
HOLIDAYS: It was Easter while we were there. The hotel did a lovely job of having extra activities geared just for the Easter holiday. They had egg decorating and painting for the kids. There were live bunnies available to play with, pet, and take your photo with at the Easter brunch. They had someone dressed up as the Easter bunny for photos. They also had games in the grassy area such as Find The Golden Egg, Don't Break The Egg, and an Egg Hunt. These activities were a nice touch to the holiday.
A photo opportunity set up by the hotel at the entrance to the Easter brunch.
Live bunnies at the Easter brunch
ROOM: The room was nice. We booked an ocean view, two double bed master suite. It was much like what I refer to on this blog as a “standard” room. There was a larger sitting area with a couch. The room was nice and laid out well with a large bathroom, pantry/mini-fridge area, sitting area, beds, and balcony. The shower had a whirlpool tub (which the boys loved) and a rain head for the shower. One suggestion would be to change out the double beds for two queen beds. The rooms were large enough to accommodate this change. TravelMan and I enjoyed sitting out on the balcony while watching the waves crash on the beach.
Two double beds -- the boys were already settling in theirs to watch some TV after a day at the pool.
Sitting area
Double sinks
Tub and shower area
View from the balcony
SERVICE: There are many, many employees at Hyatt Ziva. Everyone that we encountered seemed to want to please the guest. They work hard to make sure you are happy.
TravelLady Rating: We had a wonderful vacation, so it pains me to say we most likely will not stay at the Hyatt Ziva again. There are too many great vacation spots in Cabo to go back to a location with poor food and cold pools.