Westin Puerto Vallarta January 2020

January 06, 2020

After a week down in Old Town with a group of friends I moved out to my favorite hotel the Westin Puerto Vallarta. As always, the hotel takes such good care of its guests especially Angel in the Club Lounge/Royal Beach Club. I can get lots of work done while still having plenty of time for the beach and the amazing gym. I have plenty of posts and pics on my old starwood blog on the Westin PV https://starwoodguy.blogspot.com/

On this trip with Oliver waking me up early I manged some amazing sunrise photos around the marina.

Angel is still outstanding, and while many regulars complain the warm options have been removed from the night time selections in the Royal Beach Club, there is still a selection of cheeses, sandwiches and desserts and they keep the cocktails flowing, and the breakfast has remained extensive. The hotel is gearing up for major renovations with the Royal Beach Club scheduled to be closed permanently as Marriott, unlike Starwood/SPG does not want Club Lounges at its resorts, only at city hotels. Another downside of the new Marriott Bonvoy world for properties such as these if using status and for those accustomed to the old way at SPG. It is difficult to know at this time how many changes will happen when the hotel planning to turn into a timeshare property.

Also, the beach staff are the best, the drinks seem to get stronger every year, all while doing hard work in the heat keeping the guests happy.

As with the lower Canadian dollar, the Peso is noticeably weaker, with food and drinks in the hotel and in Puerto Vallarta in general being a great deal for Americans. The only huge downside currently is how busy the city has become. I have been coming down since 1998 when Alaska Airlines had one flight and there were only a few other options for coming down to Puerto Vallarta. Now the airport is overflowing with planes stuck on the tarmac for hours and not enough gates to accommodate the increased traffic. I cannot remember ever seeing Delta Airlines here a few years ago and now the seem to be every other plane taking off with wide body plans coming in from Canada and even England now. The airport, only recently expanded a few years ago, is already in need of another expansion due to the huge demand. It is likely only a seasonal issue from November through March with spring breakers coming in at the latter month, but the increased business is a great thing considering the close escape the city had with last year's hurricane.

I did manage a large walk along the beach all the way up to Nuevo Vallarta on my own, but with Oliver, it was morning and night walks around the marina, and daytime beach walks by myself while he stayed in the AC.

Typical with this time of year the humpback whales were out in full force. I see them occasionally off of the hotel, but this year we were treated to a mother and calf who spent an entire day splashing and jumping just off of the beach. A truly amazing sight to see all day long from the Royal Beach Club, your balcony, and just watching on the beach.

As always, an amazing stay, great service, and perfect weather! Hopefully all changes under Marriott will be for the better...or please make no further changes at all!