PV Hotel help

[carni05]

Hi! I'm looking for a hotel in PV ( trading my timeshare in NYC) I am entiltled to a gold crown resort 5*). RCI has had a search in for the Westin for over a year ,but nothing has opened up. Has anyone stayed at any hotels in PV? We are looking for something on beach, w/ pools, child activitis etc. We do not want an all inclusive hotel! Thanks for any suggestions! Any PV residents out there????? thanks Holly

[gregkn]

I stayed at the Sheraton Bouganvillias on a few occasions when I used to vacation here.....easy walk to downtown, new pool area (rebuilt after 2002 hurricane), on the beach, good restaurant poolside, clean ocean view rooms. Ten minutes from airport.......hopes this helps.

Greg Kneale.

[carni05]

thanks! that was one of the ones that I had selected as an option- the reviews on tripadvisor however weren't all favorable- but I guess not everyone can be pleased!

[MSN-Travelers]

We have one of our timeshares at the Sheraton. You won't find a better place to stay that is this close to town. We love it! :D

[gottago2mexico]

We have also used RCI in the past to exchange to Puerto Vallarta.

 

The first time, we stayed at the Mayan Palace Nuevo Vallarta, which is about 20 minutes by taxi out of town (not cool), but the resort was great. Loved it. It's not all-inclusive, and you can often grab it with an extra vacations or last minute exchange deal for as little as $99 for a week. That's how much it cost us. Good place if you're not wanting AI, and you don't have a problem with some bus or cab rides into town.

 

We also exchanged to the AI Royal Decameron, which is about 30 minutes by taxi out of town - great place, but too far out. We also learned the hard way how AI with RCI works - they don't honor the price that you book at. The AI price is "subject to change". We saw this and figured - oh well, we're paying $99 for a week plus $29 per person AI per day - even if it goes up a little, it's still cheaper than anything else we could find that was decent. Well, we showed up at the hotel desk and were informed that it had more than tripled in price and nobody told us about it.

 

We freaked out, of course, since we had really inconvenienced ourselves to save some money on this trip, but ended up paying twice what we would have paid elsewhere without any inconvenience. Too bad was what we were told. We even talked to a manager at RCI who told us "yeah, I will never exchange with AI either - this stuff happens all the time".

 

Moral to the story - if exchanging with RCI, DON'T risk doing AI - plus it's usually more expensive to exchange AI than just to book it through the resort!

[carni05]

Thanks everyone! The AI price for us would be outrageous $165 pp per day!!! If I wanted to spend $5000 on food and drink I could take us all on a 2 week cruise! It's really a rip off- my sister and her family are going to the Dominican Republic for around $1000 pp including airfare for more than a week- go figure- I'm not sure if we will ever trade our property again- this has been a hassle! the beaches in PV are getting poor reviews- We just came back from a 7 day E Caribbean cruise and the water was crystal clear and so sandy- not sure if I want to go to a rocky beach- especially if I can't get the Westin! any other suggestions for a place to trade to? WE won't go to Aruba (imo all Americans should be boycotting it), we're open to any other suggestions!! thanks Holly

[gottago2mexico]

That is ridiculous - I'm with you! Trading your property is actually good sometimes. We do it when we have enough frequent flyer miles for a free flight - then we do a non-AI exchange. It works very nicely. A little exchange fee and taxes on the airline tickets and you've got a week vacation for less than $200 for 2 people! Buying tickets with timeshare isn't good because you usually have to fly Saturday to Saturday etc when the tickets are more expensive and harder to come by.

 

PV does not have the beaches and water of the Caribbean - if that's what you're after on your vacation look elsewhere like the Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Bonaire, Jamaica, Bahamas, or Belize - pretty much anywhere in the Caribbean will have this type of water and beaches. If you've ever been to California, Cabo, the Pacific Northwest, or anywhere else along the Pacific coast, it's the same kind of beaches and water - just a lot warmer and clearer. Greyish sand - a little rocky in town, much nicer up north by Nuevo Vallarta and Bucerias, and greyish blue water from the beach (green when snorkeling and a nice deep blue color from the boat).

[malibu]

did you say you went to the grand myan in nuevo vallirta? My friends and I want to go there for the day while in pv does this sound good? Is it a fun place to go??? Im not sure if you can get a day pass there or what??? Any help??/:) thanks