Hotel San Marino

San Marino Plaza is your...

by sandramariey

San Marino Plaza is your average hotel with very friendly staff. Nice pool/suntan area. Nice bar just above the beach - you can people watch all day/all night.
All inclusive per person was $1300 cnd Great views. The evening entertainment was outstanding. Every night we had a dance/singing show except for Fiesta Night. Fiesta Night was an awesome Mexican show and authentic mexican cuisine.

great location to everything

by A TripAdvisor Member

we spent a week at the san marino plaza hotel. the location is perfect if you enjoy spending time in viejo vallarta zona romantica. there are 2 swimming pools and one is strictly for adults (i loved that). the beach was right outside of the hotel. our vacation package included a full breakfast buffet everyday. the food was good but they served the same everyday. the room was very clean and so was the hotel. the shower actually had glass doors! the t.v. didn't work too well though. i enjoyed this hotel so much i am already booked to go back!

A Good Value, Great Downtown Location, Great Service

by TripAdvisor Member johninajijic

This review is a bit late. We stayed there on November 16, 2003 for 5 nights. The San Marino hotel was a good value. An oceanfront room on the top floor on a promo for $72. per night in P.V.!!!!! Almost unheard of. The king size bed was hard, so I complained to the front desk. They called housekeeping and within an hour put 2" of foam on top.
The room was clean,air conditioning excellent, good maid service. I cannot say enough how polite the desk, staff and housekeeping was. We were greeted all the time with buenos dias, como esta. I think may have been due to the fact it's Mexico where "everyone" is polite. We were not surprised.
We may be partial to the Mexican culture since we have lived in Ajijic, MX, for 3 years, a gringo retirement community on Lake Chapala, south of Guadalajara. We were not surprised.
The downtown, zona romantica location made it easy to walk to everything. The beachfront location was gorgeous, always a surf, the pools very clean and grounds and landscaping always being worked on. There were fireworks every night oofshore.
Stay here, you'll like it.

Great location, good value

by TripAdvisor Member regis293

If you go on vacation to stay in a fancy hotel room-don't stay here. If you go on vacation to have a very reasonably priced, clean safe place to sleep, eat, and get dressed before you go see the sights, then the Hotel San Marino is for you.
The all inclusive beer that they served sucked (Sol Brand served from 40 oz bottles), but there is a little drug store next door where you can get a case of Coronas for about $7 US, and they give you $2 off your next case for bringing the bottles back. If that weren't enough, if you tip the barkeep at the San Marino a few bucks, he'll keep them on ice and serve them to you.
The food was ample, as we only ate breakfast and lunch there. You are right on the beach, and there are several very wonderful restaurants in the immediate area. There is nowhere in Puerto Vallarta that you can't get to from the San Marino in a taxi for $5 US.
I highly recommend the Hotel San Marino for hard working folks who are looking for a reasonably priced place to have an unforgettable vacation.
Be sure to visit Cuates e Cuetas while you are there. It's a little beachfront cafe right next to the San Marino. VERY reasonable prices on beer and cocktails, and the salsa and seafood dishes are great (and they only use purified water).
To get the most bang for your all inclusive buck, visit the hotel San Marino.

NEVER AGAIN!!!

by A TripAdvisor Member

The worst experience was getting stuck in the elevator for a couple of hours. They thought it was funny and actually laughed at us when we got out - incredibly insensitive. My friend and I stayed there in May 2003. We had each booked an ocean front room but were initially given rooms overlooking the courtyard and when we complained they moved us to rooms that overlooked the street (that at least had balconies) but they wanted an extra $100.00 US for ocean front.
The food for the all inclusive was a mediocre (at best) buffet. I was quite disappointed. Perhaps because it was "off season" they seemed to be running on half staff.
I have visited PV many times and this was my worst experience. Puerto Vallarta is a wonderful town and well worth visiting - just find another hotel.

Extremely Disappointed! Look Elsewhere Before Booking!

by TripAdvisor Member Ovalita-StocktonCA

We were in family group of 48 persons, 47 of which were adults, all booked through SunTrips. Our vacation was between Dec. 6-13, 2004, which is also during the processions and celebrations for the the Virgin (Our Lady of Guadalupe - a deep-rooted Mexican/Catholic honoring), which is cool to see even if you're not Catholic.

From the beginning it was chaotic. When we arrived Monday night at 10 pm (PV time), there were only two staff workers at the counter, even though they knew a group of 48 was arriving at one time. Our luggage was left on the sidewalk and scattered througout the small lobby, and when we tried finding our luggage we were barked at to leave it alone. I guess it's different in PV, but I don't feel comfortable just leaving my bags on the sidewalk.

All of us had the "Almost-All Inclusive" option, which included domestic beer, cocktails, buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. What was misleading was that "domestic beer" was only one type, Sol beer!!! We expected at least a couple others to choose from. We also knew that cocktails were not going to be made from "top-shelf" liquor, but we didn't anticipate having to specifically request our margaritas be made with tequila, not vodka and gin as they did it! This is something everyone should look into if it is important to them. On top of this, every time we would ask for mixed drinks, such as pina coladas, margaritas, screwdrivers, we were literally met with clearly audible sighs! Mind you, we were a very polite group, never rude or demanding and tipped fairly (even though tips are covered with the all-inclusive stuff). Since there was only one tiny bar near the pool, we had no options to go to other places unless we paid out-of-pocket somewhere outside the hotel. On one night in particular, they shut the bar early by one hour. When we asked to be served, they simply replied they had a private dinner (wedding of sorts?) to take care of at the hotel.

Breakfast is worth having at the hotel. We ended up paying to eat elsewhere for lunch and dinner. Guacamole was soupy...you needed a spoon to eat it! Unless you like eating tuna goulash, fried weenies, hamburger patties floating in broth (literally), and questionable stews, you're okay! They didn't even have beans at lunch or dinner.

The kids pool had great music playing during the day, however the adult pool (by the bar) had the same tape playing over and over with "elevator music" and it really was all instrumental! When we asked if they could play other music, they flat-out said NO. We had to buy a cheap radio to play.

Cleaning staff (maids) were EXCELLENT! They were the best group out of hotel staff. Rooms were always cleaned well.

OVERALL I FELT A LITTLE CHEATED. I will definitely return to PV, but NEVER will stay at this hotel, regardless of it's ideal location.

Decent -- An OK Place

by TripAdvisor Member Mongar

The good - great location, friendly staff, clean basic rooms, beach front
The bad - it is pretty loud but I think this is probably the case with many of the hotels in the center of town. There is non-stop music playing all day at the pool which can be a little annoying but other than this it is a good basic place to stay.

sandramariey's new Mexico page

by sandramariey

"Puerto Vallarta!"

We decided to do the "all-inclusive" holiday and had a blast. Brought our 10 year old daughter with us. Eat all food you can and drink all the sol you dare, relax, enjoy the service and activities at your hotel. We would definately go back to PV. It's a safe place to bring your kids and the people treat you like you're royalty! Our hotel was 21/2 - 3 star and we thought the activities, food, entertaining and security OUTSTANDING!!!!! San Marino Plaza Rocks.