Puerto Vallarta

The Hyatt Ziva is a small, 2 tower resort with a private beach and a few small pools. Whatever you're in the mood for, an adult only pool, kids pool, activities pool, shady pool - it's all there for the taking. Great beach area. They do allow a handful of vendors on the beach so it's the same vendors every day. Great food. You have a choice between buffet or a la carte restaurants or room service. Friendly staff. Gift shop. Jewelry shop. Spa. Fitness centre. Sports bar. This small resort has everything. A quick 10 minute taxi to the downtown area. Great cleanliness and covid precautions. We had a fantastic week and would recommend this property for families, couples or a friends vacation. Every room is ocean front so get ready for the beautiful view and the amazing sunsets.

The best parts were the weather , the city was moderately interesting, beach was good and the waters of the Pacific were great . The Sheraton is a well kept property and the room was excellent . The restaurants and the food at the hotel were patchy -- the Mexican restaurant( Gaviota) was good to very good with excellent service, the Italian ( Alfresco )which doubled up as the seafood restaurant for half the days, was a disappointment both in the flavors of the food and the poor service. On the Sunday, the hotel had a brunch( in a newly renovated large facility ) which was excellent .The Expo restaurant was not a great experience either in setting or food flavors. The hotel had only half their restaurants open and so one had to make reservations for dinner around 8.00 am --anything later than 9.00 am would lead to no space or a reservation at a very inconvenient hour .During dinners, the restaurants were at least one third empty( although we were often told that the restaurant was full), we believe due to shortage of staff . We learnt to navigate this .Although their website indicated that they had an Asian restaurant ( which got good reviews on Trip Advisor ), it was not part of their hotel facilities and was not part of their "all inclusive plan".. So the food front was a bit suboptimal . We made up for this by going into town and having two excellent meals ( a Mexican and a Thai ). We would have preferred a plan with room and breakfast alone or with vouchers for half the dinners, which will allow flexibility in dining in or out. It also appears that the hotel restaurants had not made adequate planning to staff restaurants properly for the high occupancy after the Covid slow downs. We discussed our experiences with the manager on duty, Mr Bermuda ( especially the very poor service at Alfresco) and he was very responsive and helpful. Things were smoother after that as we avoided the Alfresco restaurant and minimized dining in the hotel . . The tennis courts were excellent ,the pros were helpful and the spa was excellent.. If the dining experience and the flavor of food were improved, I would consider returning to this hotel in future.

We enjoyed our trip! We will return. Great atmosphere and location.The buffet was delicious during breakfast. Lunch and supper was the same each day so we skipped most days to venture out.Staff was excellent!

During our 14 day stay at Velas, we hit a couple "road bumps" early but the management and staff were very accommodating and helpful in finding resolutions. Would be nice to have a third restaurant option, but the ones that are available changed up their menus regularly and provided excellent tasting food and great service. It was great to see grounds staff maintaining the common areas constantly. Nightly entertainment in the lobby was fun. Mexican night dinner was fun. The kids loved the pool and lazy river. Its too bad the staff still have to wear masks - it must be very uncomfortable for them. We were very surprised (and dismayed) to see that children under 5 were required to wear masks in the kids zone (even outdoors).

The hotel was clean and the lobby was beautiful. Rooms were dated and needed some upgrades (we had a cracked sink, lots of dents and damage to furniture and walls), but they wee still beautiful. The ocean views were amazing. Service was outstanding, but they were starting to get busy at the end of our stay as it was nearing Spring Break. Overall a good stay. Beach was VERY rocky and was the most disappointing part.

We have travelled a lot in Mexico and normally not super hard to please, however this resort was a disappointment. Paid for a Crown Suite Plus, which is advertised as an Ocean front room....it is not...overlooked the tennis court and the building in front of our room, balcony was very small. The resort needs a major facelift and a deep cleaning. Main pool is in desperate need of repairs to tiles and ladders.

My wife and I came down here with a mother couple for 2 weeks. The service by the staff was spectacular. We tried the food at all of the restaurants. French and oceana were our favourite. The rooms all had excellent ocean views. We would return for sure.

The Hacienda Buenaventura Hotel And Mexican Charm is an Amazing Resort with Great Hospitality. The Staff and Management treat the guests with sincerity and warmth.

After two and a half years, friends and I were ready to board a plane and head to Mexico, a destination we all love. We booked through a tour operator that rated this hotel a four star. It was not that, by far, a three star at best. Check in went smoothly, but my first surprise was that there was a charge for WiFi in the room. I have not had to pay for that at an all inclusive resort in many years. It isn't a big deal, but it surprised me. I would like to commend the staff at the resort. If it were not for the staff, this trip would have been a disaster. We had an amazing roaming concierge who took care of us like we were the only ones on the resort. We had a server at the food truck, who reserved a table for us and always ensured we were happy. My friends celebrated their wedding anniversary while we were there and the staff did a great job showing them the love they deserve on their special day. The pool is in bad need of repairs. Firstly it is a large pool and there was only one entrance by stairs, otherwise you had to enter and exit by ladders. The stairs were on very bad shape and I thought I had cut my foot more than once. It is the only area that is shallow and therefore full of children and hard to pass through. The rest of the pool has missing tiles, missing plaster, not well maintained with dirt, leaves and more floating around. I saw a family with a naked baby in the pool. No one said anything and I had to finally tell a lifeguard to talk to the parents, but again, the clientele had a sense of entitlement the whole week we were there, like they were in their own home with no lack of regard for others. The group I travelled with and myself are foodies and where this hotel lacked was in the food department. I am sure prior to the pandemic there were more food options, but what is there now was very disappointing. The buffet was not a bad option, but I don't know anyone that wants to eat buffet three times a day for seven days, which is pretty much what we did. It is also challenging during a pandemic where many of the guests were touching food with their hands and it really was not always a comfortable experience. We did like the food truck burgers, but again, after three days of burgers we wished for more options. Foods like pizza and ice cream, which are available at every single all inclusive I have ever been to were non existent here. Christmas Eve was our last day and we were shocked that there was in fact ice cream served at lunch that day. On our second night we thought we would try Tiki Taco, and to our surprise was a buffet, not an a la carte option. The options (in my opinion) were less than impressive and we did not want buffet, we wanted to be served. Let me address the Italian restaurant. We arrived at the location and were told that men could not enter with sandals. Excuse me, why is that? Our husbands were wearing collared shirts, dress shorts and dress sandals. We were turned away. We attempted a second time, men in closed toe shoes, and this time were told there is a waitlist and we would not be able to dine there. Twice turned away. This resort is a small resort and all of the evening entertainment was poolside and was very loud late until the night. The week we were there it was clear that the clientele was largely local, and all of the on resort activities were catering to them. Thankfully we booked the sun club rooms and had access to lounge. It was a nice escape for guests to go to escape the noise of the main floor. There was a server to serve drinks, but food was non existent. Again, a disappointment. On Christmas Eve the party went on very late into the evening and for this of us who were not Spanish speaking, we had to escape to our rooms and try to sleep with pillows over our heads. I would not return to this resort. I had a great time with my friends, and if it weren't for the staff we met along the way it would have had a much different outcome.

My families experience at this hotel was okay. Not great, but not awful.