Travel with Kevin and Ruth: Huatulco (day 5)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Huatulco (day 5)

Saturday February 14…11:00pm

An hour or so before lunch, we went for a walk next door to the Barcelo Premium all inclusive resort. We stood in the lobby area wondering who we should talk to about a tour of the resort.

There was nobody at the concierge desk, so eventually we went to the check out counter and asked there. She said that we needed a reservation to do that, so we asked if we could look around on our own. She said “fine, but only to look”. So we wandered around for 15 minutes. When we came back, I wanted to check the prices. We were the only ones standing at the counter for a couple of minutes while the only girl on the other side of the counter chatted with a luggage guy. She totally ignored us, until I finally got her attention and gestured her over. I asked about pricing and she pointed to a board on the sidewall. 3100 pesos ($279 CAN $225 US) per couple, per night, all inclusive. I asked about a weekly rate and she said she didn’t know, and I would have to check the website. Not helpful at all. I know, we weren’t interested in staying anyhow, but they weren’t to know that. If I was a prospective guest, there’s no way I would stay there.

So we walked further down the road to the Dreams Huatulco Resort and Spa. This apparently was the Gala Resort for the last 15 years or so and was taken over last year by the Dreams chain. They did a bunch of renovations and reopened in December. It’s still not complete although that is expected by the end of this month. What a difference in attitude though. They helped us right away and got one of the three people from the concierge desk to show us around. They couldn’t show us a room because they are completely booked up. But they definitely tried harder to get our business, although we still didn’t get a free drink or anything! This place was much nicer than the Barcelo, and the rate is slightly better too at 2990 pesos $269 CAN, $215 US) per couple per night. Keeping in mind of course that the vast majority of people staying here have come on an all inclusive package from Canada.

A dogs life...

We relaxed the afternoon, and then were invited to join our friends Steve and Glen with two other couples from the trailer park who have vehicles. They took us into town and we had supper at a seafood restaurant. After all, it was Valentines Day and we don’t go out very often. Including tip, 273 pesos ($24.57 CAN, $19.75 US) for dinner. We both had shrimp and rice. Then, we went down to the wharf where there is a fancy restaurant that has a bar overlooking the water. Very nice, and we had an expensive after dinner drink each before heading home around 9pm.