ILX Resorts - Premiere Vacation Club - San Carlos RUN AND DON'T LOOK BACK - NO TELL MOTEL IS A BETTER DEAL - EVERYONE ON THE STAFF HAS THEIR HAND OUT FOR A TIP FOR DOING NOTHING- GREAT PLACE FOR TAKING LONG NAPS WITH EAR PLUGS Phoenix Arizona

I stayed at the ILX resort, where I am an owner, in October 2005. We're going back in June this year because our experience was so positive.

I refute most of what the reviewer has to say. Huis comments are between the
"---"s - mine follow below each part.


---Everything is at the Plaza-which you have to walk through a construction site of homes --approx 1/4 mile-- to get there (not adjacent); ; only one restaurant at PVC---
There's refreshment service and a bar at the resort as well as a pool and beach access. The hotel where there are three restaurants is 200 yards away and you walk along a paved street through up-market homes. Some were under construction while we were there but it most certainly was not a construction site.

---shuttle does not vary on times; need to take a taxi to get anywhere---
When we were there, we could get a shuttle service to downtown when we needed it so long as we requested it at least a couple of hours in advance. Taxi service is incredibly cheap and the taxi drivers understood our English as do many of the residents of San Carlos.

---not much to do there; oceans sports sunset cruise -no beer provided even though they said there would be beer; snorkling --poor visibility---
I don't know which tour the reviewer went on. We went horseback riding, on a 4x4 tour of the desert, a day-cruise and a guided tour of downtown. There were plenty of other things to do as well. Our day-cruise was probably with the same company, that did the sunset cruise. We did snorkeling, played with the sea lions; there was beer and, frankly you can't design your own weather.

---everyone expects tips even when service is poor; no accomodations or flexibility to provide good service---
The ILX staff were wonderful to us and never had their hands out for money. They were polite, helpful and quick. They arranged many activities for us that the reviewer obviously didn't ask about.

---need to have some spanish speaking knowledge---
The maids admittedly didn't speak great English - show me a hotel in Mexico where they do. Everyone else at the resort, in the stores and restaurants and attractions spoke good English. I guess if you go to a foreign country you need to have the right expectations - I hate to think what the reviewer would do in Tokyo or Luxor.

---hot tub was broken the entire time except for one day on our weeks stay;---
Mexican time is manana and people who have experience with Mexico expect that. Sorry you had to wait. Everything certainly worked while we were there.

---guaymas airport is small--only one flight in and out with America West; America West lost our luggage-which is very common--
If your reviewer would have read other travel information easily available on the internet, he would have discovered that you can fly into Hermosillo which is only an hour further away and rent a car, rather than fly into Guaymas. There's no difference in overall cost because the flights to Hermosillo are generally $100-150 cheaper. There are at least three flights a day from Phoenix to Hermosillo.

---it was extremely difficult to find basic toiletries in town---
There are two supermarkets, both of which carry the same brand toiletries we use at home in Minnesota. There's a convenient drug store near the harbor that was equally well stocked.

---no wonderful restaurants---
There were at least three great restaurants in town when we were there because we ate at them. They're not Don Pablos and they don't serve Tex Mex and there aren't any fast food places. If your reviewer wanted this kind of thng, he should have gone to Nogales.

---town was run down; lots of grafftti everywhere---
This is Mexico and there are parts of San Carlos where there is graffiti. It's not everywhere and there's not lots of it. It's a typical small Mexican town - not San Diego or NYC where of course there's no graffiti.

---PVC walls are paper thin--can hear everything
Ours certainly weren't like this.

---Conclusion: Not recommended for the money spent! Go to the Caribbean instead!---
I think this reviewer had unrealistic expectations and didn't do his research ahead of time. I wonder how much he spent on the trip. As for the Carribean, there are certainly great resorts in St. Martin, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St, Johns, Tortola, Aruba and Anguila, all of which I've visited. San Carlos stacks up well against most of them - except they're overcrowded with toursits who want everything to be just like it is back home!