my family stayed at marbella suite en la playa Dec 22-29..we had a great time there....the room we had was a 2 bedroom executive suite..the two problems that we had were...the bedrooms are small and walking around the bed was sometimes a chore...also there is no dresser to put folded clothes in...The resort itself is gorgeous. the pool was heated and was very relaxing...We ate at the restaurant for 3 meals and it was quite tassty..the kids were able to order things off the lunch menu when the dinner menu didnt have what they wanted...the staff was very welcoming and cordial...we had a bonfire on the beach one night, i believe it was christmas night...we saw several whales from the beach while laying out in the sun..and also a sea lion..there was some kids that were running around un-supervised, they ended up breaking the ping pong ball on Monday night and it was never replaced....the maids kept the rooms very clean!! we asked the front desk lots of questions and was always given the best advice...we had a very pleasant stay and loved being secluded...

If not for my experience at the check-out, my review would be much more positive. But when my family and I were checking out we experienced such rude and reckless behavior from a service oriented business that I would never stay at this hotel again. Allow me to explain.

We arrived on a Thursday for four nights in Cabo and checked into out room without any problems. We had to lug all our bags down several flights of stairs because the single employee at the front desk did not seem very enthused about getting anyone to help us (there is no such thing as a staff member devoted to helping guests with bags, or the assignment of persons to any particular jobs, such as seeing to housekeeping requests, as far as I could tell ). No mind. We were happy to be in Cabo and to be at our hotel ready to start our vacation.

We stayed in the "Presidential Suite"--which is a two BR room suite with a living room, dining area, and kitchenette. Going on their posted quotes, this is their most expensive room. Generally we were pleased with the space and quality of the room and the amenities--especially the private patio leading out from the living room where we could relax and get a pretty clear ocean view. The features of the room were certainly not five star--perhaps what you would expect from a small, old hotel in Europe in regards to the decent but not great bathrooms, bedspreads, linens, dishes, etc.--but this is what we expected given the relatively low price we were paying for a room of such size in a hotel on the "Corridor." It also should be noted that our bathroom sometimes had a nasty stench, and a couple of cockroaches and even small lizards were a constant presence until we had them removed (we determined there was a hole in the stucco wall near the front door which may very well have served as their point of entry). Everything was expected except for the bugs and lizards--which to my mind is unacceptable in any resort hotel, and especially unfortunate when a hotel has lots of potential. Finally, the living room had a nice large Sony TV with dish network service, in case this is at all important to you.

The main issue I had with the hotel was upon checkout. My father had checked out and paid the bill when, upon reviewing it, I noticed that the bill came to about $100 more than I was quoted in an e-mail confirmation. When I dared ask about the discrepancy, the trouble started. I first politely approached the woman at the front desk, who immediately raised her voice and in a tone of derision yelled that the hotel converted the hotel rate in dollars to pesos at a conversion rate of 11 pesos to 1 dollar. So what's wrong with that, you might wonder. For starters, our room rate was quoted in dollars--not pesos. This includes the e-mail confirmation we received about our reservation. There was no mention of being charged in pesos or what the hotel's conversion rate would be. Second, an 11 to 1 ratio is high, especially considering that everywhere we went in Cabo the conversion was 10 to 1. So I guess the game is for you to get a low conversion rate when the price is quoted in pesos and you are paying in dollars (e.g. the price is 100 pesos, which at 10 to 1 is $10, but which at 11 to 1 is $9.10) and get a high conversion rate when the price is quoted in dollars and you are paying in pesos (e.g. the price is $200/night, and at 11 to 1 this comes to 2200 pesos whereas at 10 to 1 it is only 2000 pesos). BUT at least other hotels and businesses have the decency to accept payment in pesos when they quote pesos and accept payment IN DOLLARS when they quote IN DOLLARS. This hotel quoted in dollars and then charged us in pesos at a jacked up exchange rate (the real exchange rate is roughly 10.5 pesos to $1). Without prior notice of such a practice. It's one thing if a business is going to announce a price in pesos, accept dollars when someone wishes to pay in dollars, but then also charge a favorable exchange rate. This is pretty common, at least in Cabo. But to quote in dollars and then inflate the amount you owe by claminig only to accept payment in pesos--without advance notice--borders on fraud. Of course we paid with a credit card, which means that that credit card company converts the (inflated) peso amount that the hotel charged into dollars at the going exchange rate and then charges us this amount in dollars. Nice little scam for some extra petty cash.

But the worse part of the experience was asking management about our bill. After being rudely and agressively brushed aside by the woman at front desk, she houghed off to the back and brought out a manager--apparently to intimidate us. He did no real explaining, but also with a tone of extreme derision informed us that somehow the Mexican government required the hotel to follow this absurd policy. Then another male manager leapt out from behind an office door and screamed and yelled at us as with his finger pointed in a threatening manner. We had a plane to catch, and I could see this was going nowhere. So we left with a dismal end to an otherwise enjoyable stay. I seemed very clear to me that they had gotten their money and therefore felt like they had carte blanche to talk to and treat us anyway they wanted.

My bottom line advice to travelers: Do not stay at this hotel.
To the owners: get rid of the bugs and varmints and other removable blights, especially whatever employees, managers or supervisors feel that it is OK to behave so rudely and aggressively to paying (actuallly paid) customers. The behavior on the part of your employees was simply unacceptable. It is also unfortunate because the hotel does have so much potential--the grounds are well kept, and walking on the lovely tiled steps to a room, the pool, or the beach has the feel of staying at an intimate Spanish villa. The beach is beautiful and close to being private, providing guests with a welcoming feel into a Pacific paradise. If only the same could be said of the above mentioned staff.

Marbella Suites has lots of potential. It is a beautifully designed property, the rooms are clean and neat and It is on a beautiful stretch of the beach, wonderful, peaceful view of the ocean. Pleasant staff for the most part but that's really where the positive review ends.

I would not recommend staying there. We were there for four nights in the Presidential Suite-- close to $400 per day-- and not a day went by without roaches, gekos or various spiders crawling around. I literally could not sleep for fear of being bitten and the only reason I could not leave is b/c my family was with me and they have a high tolerence for wildlife and didn't want to hassle with it. But if there are any other ladies out there like myself who aren't into killing roaches every day-- don't stay here.

The place was clean so I think the roaches were coming in from under the door and through the walls. It is not an upscale resort. The sheets, bedding amenitites are no more than you'd find in a Motel 6, Holiday Inn or Ramada Inn. They have AC units in each room but they are so loud that my husband had to turn them off at night which made the room sweltering hot.

One other thing to keep in mind. This hotel is a "smaller boutique hotel" so they quote you a price but then charge you another exchange rate which can be more than the going rate, i.e. even if the exchange rate is 10.5 pesos to the dollar they may charge you 11.3 pesos to the dollar in order to make a little more money. They said that this was standard in the area for smaller hotels, which is probably true but we were not aware of it.

Overall-- I cannot recommend this hotel. If you're going to Cabo-- spend a little more and stay at a nicer place.

Marbella En La Playa is a great place to stay if you're looking for a private beach and peaceful, serene surroundings. The place is like a villa nested on the beach. The staff was pleasant, the restaurant food was good and reasonably priced, and the pool and bar were very nice and clean.

I think my room was priced a bit on the high side for what it was (we rented the royal suite for a family of four). It was large, but the air cond. in the living room did not work very well even after asking to have it serviced.

The house keeping people were very dilligent and our suite was maintained nicely and consistently.

Pros:

Beautiful and well-maintained surroundings (trees, gardens, pathways, tiled stairs, etc. Place was like fantasy island.

Very nice restaurant--excellent views from every table, sun shaded with bamboo overhang, and very picturesque. Food was priced well and quality of food was super--never had a bad meal.

Staff is cordial--not necessarily jumping out of their skin to help you and their English (waiters, pool people) not as good as some of the larger hotels, but nonetheless they did a great job. I speak Spanish so this was a non-issue for me. Front desk staff always there to help and service by all was very good indeed.

Beach is excellent. Probably one of the best beach experiences I have had in Mexico, chase lounges are padded, you get nice, big pool towells at the pool bar to use anywhere, and the beach is clean and has virtually no traffic.

Safety/security: nobody in my family ever felt scared or insecure while at Marbella. They provide a safe in your room, and staff watched over things carefully.

Parking was great--they let you park inside the compound near the fountain if there was room, and have a small parking area right outside. It was like coming home each night and parking in your own carport.

WiFi Access is free in the relaxing lobby of the front desk area. It is an outdoor area with comfortable furniture and gorgeous views of the ocean.

Free telephone room with two phone lines linked to the USA--you can call home for free to USA and Canada. Nice feature, considering roaming cell phones will likely cost you 1.00/1.50 per minute for calling back home.

Satellite TV (we had a huge Sony TV) - nice.

Cons:

Lots of stairs and no elevators--those with weak knees or cardio/pulmonary issues should consider this fact. The trip between the front desk and our suite was a work out. If you buy groceries, you'll have to carry them to your suite. They do have a non-staired ramp for a section of the stair area, but most areas are Mexican tiled stairs. They are pretty, but will still excersize your legs.

Telephone room and computer room were not air conditioned, while we were there, making them very uncomfortable to use. The computer room appeared to have air, but when I turned it on, it did not work. Hey, you're supposed to be on vacation anyway, so what the heck! That's what my wife told me, anyway.

We had three power outages whlie there during a week's time. Not sure if this is the local facility pushing their breakers too hard or what. My parents were staying up the road and did not have any power outages. Hmmm.

Beer selection: it appears that the local distributors of beer must make good deals if hotels and time shares only sell certain brands. I found this the same at the TrendWest Coral Baja. They only sell Tecate, Dos Equis, and Sol--three beers I cannot stand the taste of. If you don't like those beers or you like something other than your typical "coke and sprite" selecton of soft drinks, you best be visiting Costco of Cabo or Megafoods. I like Modelo, Pacifico (made in Mazatlan), and Carta Blanca--none of those were available here.

Screens: there are no screens on the windows or for the giant sliding glass doors. I'm blaming the huge cockroaches on my leaving windows open during the day. So, if you don't like bugs, keep the windows and sliders closed.

View: the view from our Royal Suite was very pretty, but partially obscured by a red roof in front of us, which was of another suite. You could see the ocean, but could not see the sand on the beach. I'm not sure that the view is like of the smaller suites.

Room quality. The rooms have nice amentities, but our particular suite, the Royal Suite, had dilapitated grout, some bathroom doors in bad shape, and though nice and clean, seemed a bit outdated. We were still happy with it, but if you're picky about things like that, it is something to consider.

Sewer smell: two days when the wind was not strong, there was a horrible sewer stench. One day it was so bad we stayed inside until it passed. I think this is a Mexico (Cabo) issue, not Marbella, as we experienced this at two other resorts in the area while visiting.

All in all, I'd recommend the Marbella. I don't know what the smaller rooms have for amentities, but the reservations manager is excellent at communicating via phone and email and can answer any questions you have. I think this would be an excellent place for a couple going on a honeymoon or a family looking for an alternative to the noisy and crowded hotel scene. And for those wanting to tan on the beach without being disturbed, this place is super for just that.