Enjoy a Five Star Villa on a Three Star Budget

Villa Encantada, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

We were the ten amigos-a group of five couples who had heard a lot of great things about Puerto Vallarta and wanted to plan a group adventure.

Enjoy a Five Star Villa on a Three Star Budget

We were the ten amigos—a group of five couples who had heard a lot of great things about Puerto Vallarta and wanted to plan a group adventure.

Yes, we were spoiled.  We all worked hard and wanted to wrap ourselves in the luxury of a five star experience but didn’t want to break the bank in the process. Still, some of us had found that five star hotels were not always what they were cracked up to be.  Their five star reputations were sometimes twenty years old.  Along with their high prices, several of us were tired of being nickeled and dimed on charges for internet, phone, parking, and access to the fitness center.  Not to mention the high room service charges and the choice between valet charges or the 400 yard trek from the parking lot.  Yes, we spoiled bunch of amigos still wondered if a better deal was possible. 

Renting a Villa

After checking the internet, we found most of the five star Puerto Vallarta hotels were all inclusive meaning incessant buffets and sometimes less than stellar food.  The going rates were $350-450 per day per couple plus 17% tax.  That’s when the idea of renting a Villa in Puerto Vallarta came to mind.  Sounded sort of luxurious—kind of like Lifestyles Of the Rich and Famous.  It also sounded kind of chancy--would it really be a good deal and how would we separate the five star villa from the minus two star casita?  Our only previous experience as a group had been sharing a ski cabin.   One amigo had once used vrbo, vacation rental by owner, so we checked their website.  It has gorgeous rental properties.  Our dilemma—are they as advertised and what were we really getting?  Turns out to be easier than I thought.

We went to the Puerto Vallarta section and narrowed it down to five bedroom villas so that each couple would have a private bedroom.  We found that most of the more luxurious villas had individual bathrooms with each bedroom.  The next part was a little trickier.

Nearly all the luxury villas had a houseman and maid, but when it came to cooks, the service provided varied and in some cases there were extra charges for the cook.  There were also differences in taxes, with some villas charging 17% extra and others including it in the price.  After searching vrbo.com completely as well as alternative sites we found on Google, and with good deal of friendly debate about alternative villas, we finally settled on a luxurious air conditioned villa near Conchas Chinas, Puerto Vallarta’s best area. 

Seeing is Believing

Villa Encantada, our elegant home for a week was close to the beach and close to the best part of the City, and had both jungle and ocean views.  It rented for $1,100 a night and tax was included in the price, as well as a houseman, a maid, and a cook for two meals a day.  It even had a special that the seventh night was free which made it even more within our budget.  This worked out to $190 per day per couple.   We took the leap of faith that the pictures weren’t like a bad experience on match.com. 
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