Hotel Santa Fe Los Cabos by Villa Group

First of all, don’t let the photos fool you. It’s a small hotel with minimal amenities, located near the beach, but in a rather unattractive area. That said, I didn’t really mind, as long as it was in a safe neighborhood, which it was. Unfortunately, despite what my phone carrier promised (AT&T Prepaid), I had no internet and my phone didn’t work at all. So, while at the hotel with access to Wi-Fi, I had to rely heavily on Google Translate to communicate with the staff. The front desk staff were polite and helpful, but the people working in the kitchen during breakfast didn’t seem to have much patience for guests who couldn’t speak their language. The breakfast itself was very basic: you had to get a coupon from the office, hand it to the kitchen, and they would prepare a pancake, some cut fruit, and offer either orange juice or coffee. If you asked for extra hot water, you had to deal with a bit of an attitude. Maybe the lady was tired or overwhelmed with morning requests, but either way—she wasn’t friendly. And of course, if I wanted to add eggs to my breakfast, I had to pay 30 pezos which is almost $1.5. On the first day, it took 40 minutes for my breakfast to arrive after I ordered it. After I complained, service was quicker on the following days. In general, Cabo is an expensive city. Prices are comparable to Los Angeles. And unless you do your research in advance, you might get ripped off. Many of the online reviews for hotels, restaurant and services are misleading or fake. A common trick is to offer you a promotion (you see their sign everywhere and everyone is selling it) in exchange for attending a 90-minute timeshare presentation—and then they pressure you to leave a 5-star review. This hotel was okay at best, but definitely not worth $125 per night. The pool was tiny, located in the middle of the courtyard. There was hot water in the shower, but not even a blow dryer in the room.