Garza Blanca Preserve Resort & Spa

The hotel is beautiful, the views are amazing, and the service was good. Everyone was nice. But Garza Blanca has put tons of rocks along the beachfront, and slippery moss is growing on them. It’s not a nice beach anymore, and I didn’t go into the ocean this time. I was there for four all-inclusive days. The pool water was cold, so all that was left was sunbathing and drinking, since I didn’t enjoy the food either. The pool area closed around 7 p.m., leaving nothing to do, and they kept trying to get me to attend a timeshare presentation, which I didn’t. I don’t think I’ll return.

The property is beautiful, and most of the staff were wonderful. That part of our stay was great. But the membership presentation completely spoiled the experience. We were told it would take 90 minutes, yet it went on for more than four hours. We came to relax, but it felt like they were wearing us down to buy an extremely expensive package. After we said no, they kept sending people to our table to press us with different tactics. It became aggressive and manipulative, not hospitable. Guests shouldn’t feel trapped or pushed into a major financial decision during their valuable vacation time. Management needs to address how these presentations are handled.

We eventually checked out halfway through our trip. The hotel kept denying amenities that were part of our package, restricted our access to paid services, and repeatedly harassed us about timeshare presentations. We made several good-faith attempts to sort things out on the property and through direct contact with tafer, but got nowhere. For a high-end hotel, this was not what we expected. Our booking confirmation and November screenshots, plus direct phone and email confirmation from tafer resorts while we were there, showed these benefits: a $600 resort and spa credit based on honeymoon suit level, daily breakfast, access to four pools including the -Sanctuary rooftop pool, complimentary airport transportation, daily housekeeping and turndown service, premium WiFi because we are platinum members, and a bottle of wine offered by tafer. Staff repeatedly denied or restricted these benefits. Each day we declined the timeshare breakfast, another amenity was taken away, including pool access. It started at the airport. A representative wearing a Garza Blanca badge told us to wait while he “paged our driver.” He repeatedly offered alcohol and pressured us to attend a timeshare presentation. After saying no several times over an hour, the interaction grew more aggressive. We paid him $20 so we could disengage and continue to our transportation. At the hotel, we were told airport transportation would cost over $100, even though our documents said it was included. A concierge then pressed us to attend a timeshare presentation to receive all our amenities. When we declined, she argued with us. The whole process kept us from accessing the resort until after 5 p.m., costing us beach time and our first vacation day. The next morning we spent hours at the front desk trying to get the confirmed benefits honored. They asked us to sign a new contract that changed or removed important terms, including swapping the resort credit for a 20% restaurant discount and adding blackout dates that conflicted with our confirmed booking. We refused. They wouldn’t let us use the amenities without signing, so I wrote a sentence of my own on the contract to make clear why, which really irritated them. A new concierge called our room to push the timeshare breakfast. When we declined, she stopped us by the elevator on our way to the rooftop pool and said we couldn’t go without attending the meeting, even though our access had been confirmed. We went ahead anyway. She followed us to the roof and pointed us out to the bartenders and staff. Our waiter confirmed we were allowed to be there, but that was the only time we got to use the pool. After dealing with the concierge, staff behavior toward us noticeably changed. At another point, a different female concierge said we couldn’t use the restaurants or pools at Mousai, despite what our package and dinner reservations said. When we tried to get on the trolley, the concierge ran after us, yelled that we couldn’t access anything at Mousai, then rolled her eyes and stormed off while we took the trolley anyway. After we kept declining the timeshare, basic cleaning and turndown service stopped. That affected our access to drinking water, which is essential in mexico. They also turned off our premium WiFi access and never gave us the wine package.

The property itself is decent, but every part of the stay seemed to become another chance to push a membership. The sales pitches felt manipulative and dishonest. Even more frustrating, the contact kept coming after I left. More than 2.5 years after my visit to Garza Blanca, I still get calls and texts, despite clearly asking them to stop contacting me. The whole thing feels like a nightmare relationship that won't let go. Find somewhere else in Puerta Vallarta and skip the Garza Blanca BS.