Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal Review (Mexico)

Editor’s Note: The following review was written by MilesTalk Facebook group moderator Tim Ritsema. I’m posting on his behalf.

This is a property that is very high on my wishlist as it not only looks amazing, but Hilton Honors credit card “Free Night Award” certificates can be used here despite the steep 120,000 point per night award cost.

Here’s Tim’s review:

Booking the Waldorf Astoria Pedregal

The Waldorf Astoria Pedregal is a 115 room resort that joined Hilton Honors in 2019. Prior to that, the hotel was independent and known as the Resort at Pedregal. Since joining Hilton Honors program, it has become an aspirational booking for miles and points enthusiasts. Paid rates range from $1,000-$2,000/night depending on season plus 34% tax and service charge. Standard rooms cost 120K points per night and there is no tax/service charge when using points so it provides incredible value. In addition, one can use free night certificates earned from a Hilton Aspire credit card (anniversary) and from a Hilton Surpass card ($15K annual spend) if the base standard room is available on points. For my stay, I used 2 certs and 120K Hilton points for a 3 night stay. Use Hilton’s flexible search calendar to find standard room rates. At the time of this post (12/26), I see 3 night stays available in the middle of January and early May, 2022.

Waldorf Astoria Pedregal Location

The Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal is located about 45 minutes from Los Cabos International Airport (SJD). The hotel is very close to the town of Cabo San Lucas. You can either walk to the town (about 10-15 minutes), the hotel can drive you in a golf cart to the edge of the property or you can just take a taxi. Considering the hotel is within walking proximity to town, I decided to book to arrange private car transportation through Expedia to the hotel. My wife works for Expedia, so I could use a corporate discount on airport transfer. In order to arrive at the hotel you have to go through a long tunnel that belongs to the hotel, which essentially cuts through a mountain.

Check-In

All guests receive a complimentary welcome margarita at check-in. We were welcomed by name and given a quick tour of the facility grounds. After check-in, we were escorted to our room by an employee where our bag was waiting and walked through the features of the room. During our stay, the hotel was back to “fully operational” which meant that they provided daily housekeeping and turn down service which I appreciated. The hotel also provides a complimentary bottle of tequila that you can take home with you.

Waldorf Astoria Pedregal Room

All standard rooms have partial ocean view and private plunge pool. The room is marketed as being 856 square feet, which includes the outdoor terrace space. We were fortunate to be assigned to building 2, room 232 which is next to the lobby area and right above the main common grounds area. The assigned room was an “ocean view deluxe terrace plunge pool king room” which is the same size/layout as a standard room but a category above standard room in terms of view. The views of the Pacific Ocean from the room was fantastic.

The bathroom area included an open-air shower, a large free-standing tub plus a cushioned seating area. The area is separated from the primary bedroom area with sliding barn door. The bedroom area features a king bed, gas fireplace and a fully stocked complementary mini-fridge which included juice, water, soft drinks and Nespresso machine. The hotel is definitely meant for relaxation and not work as an office desk was noticeably absent should one want to set-up a laptop for work. 😉

Dining

Breakfast at the hotel is served daily from 7am to 11:30am at the hotel’s primary restaurant, Don Manuel’s, which is located right near the primary pools. Thanks to having Hilton Honors Diamond status, we received complementary continental buffet breakfast. I believe this is also offered to Hilton Gold members as well. As mentioned earlier, the hotel is back to “fully operational” which meant that buffet at the hotel was back open. The complementary buffet includes a variety of pastries, fresh fruit, granola, cereal, fresh juice, cheese, cold cuts and a couple rotating hot items daily (tamales, grilled vegetables, quesadillas for example). Alternatively, for an additional $9 per person one could upgrade to the Mexican buffet which included all the same items plus a couple eggs served to order (e.g. omelet, huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, chile relleno and the like). With buffet style, one can certainly get full with the complementary continental breakfast. We decided to do continental only one day, Mexican buffet the second day and the third day split.

The hotel’s signature restaurant is El Farallon, which is open for dinner only. El Farallon is located on the far end of the resort in the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The restaurant provides a set menu which soup, appetizer, choice of main entrée and sides and dessert. The food was excellent and views ambience overlooking the Pacific Ocean was stunning. The restaurant is very popular, even among non-hotel guests so I contacted the hotel’s concierge in advance for reservation. During our dinner time there must have been at least a half-dozen tables celebrating birthdays or other special occasions.

The hotels other restaurants are the Beach Club, located next to the kids pool which offers an all day menu, Crudo located in front of Don Manuel’s next to the primary pool which also offers an all day menu and Neutral Café which is a bakery/coffee shop next to the main lobby. We opted to have lunch one day at the Beach Club and another day at Crudo.

With the hotel being so close to the town of Cabo San Lucas, we decided to venture off property for dinner a couple nights. There are tons of cheap to moderately priced options nearby. We went to Las Guacayamas (recommended to us by our car driver) and Tacos Guss. We didn’t have the opportunity to get to Gardenias or The Office on the Beach although we plan to make it on a future trip.

Another cool amenity at the hotel is that they provide a daily “happy hour” where complimentary chips guacamole and pico de gallo along with coronitas are automatically delivered to your room. It was great to set up in the terrace and watch the sunset.

Hotel Grounds

The public spaces of the hotel are beautiful and immaculately maintained. The rooms are spread out throughout the property with many buildings consisting of just a few rooms. The upper level is where the lobby, gym are located along with several rooms. The lower level is where most of the restaurants, pools and beach access is located. The hotel has four public pools available to all guests. The two most popular are the infinity pools located right on the beach. One of the infinity pools located next to the Beach Club has a mini hot tub built in the middle of it. Further away from the beach was a circular kids pool as well as a spa pool with some waterfalls.

The hotel has a nice sand beach, though it is not particularly swimmable. If you enjoy beach walking, this is a great area as the beach extends quite a ways and shares access with a few other hotels along the beach.

The hotel as an excellent gym with plenty of cardio equipment, weights and even a separate yoga room. They even had a Peloton bike and an additional separate room for more free weights and TRX set-up. The gym also provides yoga and other training classes in the morning on a daily basis. The hotel also provides Covid tests located next to the gym at $30/USD per person which was convenient. Results are provided by e-mail within a couple hours and also a printed copy for you upon check-out.

Final Thoughts: Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal Review

The Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal is a spectacular hotel. The service was great without being over-bearing. The hotel belongs to a major hotel group (Hilton) with a great loyalty program to take advantage of perks such as redeeming certs/points. With the hotel being classified as a resort within the Hilton program, having the Aspire card provides phenomenal value as there is $250 annual credit that wipes out charges made to the room.

I wouldn’t hesitate to use free night certificates/points here again in the future. A 3 night stay was perfect to get away and relax and not too far away to feel fatigue from traveling.

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