It doesn't seem right for YOU to be thanking ME! I totally understand that you're busy, so no rush. Hahaha... what am I saying? Seriously though -- I'm sure all of this travel (and work!) is tiring for you!
We really liked Las Ventanas better than Palmilla. Although there are several small similarities (the turndown service is EXACTLY the same... down to the same type of clay figures they put on your bed), the two resorts are very different. Ben is going to upload our pictures when he gets home tonight & I'll post a link to those, so you can see some of the differences. But generally, Las Ventanas would probably be much better for a romantic vacation, IMO. Palmilla would be better for a family vacation b/c there are a lot more people around, it's a lot noisier (after Las Ventanas, prob anything would seem noisy), and there are a lot of families.
We actually thought that the service was better at Palmilla, mostly b/c all of the employees there are super friendly and warm. Although there were a couple of small service issues (after being spoiled for 7 nights, we probably turned into slight divas... hahaha), everyone at Las Ventanas was nice and very accomodating, but they are more formal and sometimes seemed snobby. It wasn't ever that way at Palmilla and the service was flawless. It's kind of hard to describe the difference, but both Ben and I felt the same way about the friendliness. The Palmilla driver that took us to the airport said that the hospitality manager at Las Ventanas moved over to Palmilla as soon as he had the opportunity. That, combined with the fact that both of the wedding planners we worked with at Las Ventanas no longer work there, makes me wonder if employees are happier @ Palmilla. But that's total speculation on my part. Maybe Las Ventanas encourages their employees to be formal. Since we're both pretty laid back, we definitely preferred the people at Palmilla, though.
Our room at Las Ventanas was A LOT nicer. I think the room at Palmilla was 600 sq feet, as opposed to the 960 sq feet (or so) at Las Ventanas. The bathroom at Las Ventanas was a lot bigger and we didn't have a bathtub at Palmilla. Probably the thing I liked least about Palmilla is that the people in neighboring rooms could see onto each other's balconies. There was a wall between the two patios, but it didn't extend out all the way and it wasn't quite tall enough. You didn't even have to try to see onto your neighbor's patio (and into their room), which is a bit awkward.
Also, Palmilla only has 2 pools & the chair space around the pools seemed crowded after being at Las Ventanas. The adult pool was pretty small & seemed like a bit of a scene, so we stuck to the family pool, which was much larger and prettier. We tried to go to the larger (family) pool one day & there weren't any free chairs.
Honestly, I'm sure that if we hadn't already been spoiled by Las Ventanas we wouldn't have had any "complaints" about Palmilla. It's a gorgeous resort & the service was great. Ben and I decided that, in a perfect world, Las Ventanas would be in the same location as Palmilla (b/c of the swimmable beach and proximity to San Jose) and would be staffed with Palmilla employees.
Next time we go to Cabo (yeah, we're already planning our anniversary trip!), we'll probably to back to Las Ventanas b/c it's more "us." But, if we were going with friends and weren't really worried about total peace and quiet, we'd go to Palmilla.
Wow... that's really long! Hopefully it helps! I'm definitely happy to answer any questions!