Great resort

Great resort, food,rooms,staff ,garden and beach are well care for. Internet is only free in the reception area. If you want it in your room its $70.00 US dollar per week. It is a non-smoking resort, no smoking on balcaney or anywhere. There are four small smoking area which are not sign post very well. It took us a week to find the one in front of the hotel. I understand not smoking indoor but you should be able to smoke on you Balcaney. I would only recommend to my non smoking friend [... read more]s.

Typically Excellent Riu Resort.

My wife and I had a wonderful two-week vacation at the Hotel Riu Guanacaste resort in Costa Rica. The resort reached, or exceeded all our expectations with regard to location, accommodation, service, food, cleanliness, friendly staff, pools, beach, bars and entertainment. The evening entertainment was exceptionally professional. We cannot think of anything to complain about.

Very nice stay!

We visited the Rui Guanacaste on our honeymoon and loved the experience. The restaurant staff were very friendly and always prepared. They would come up to ask what you wanted within a minute or two of you entering the restaurant. The cleaning staff were very friendly, and having a minibar in our room was a nice touch. The beach is not amazing, but that is fairly expected in Costa Rica. The pool was awesome, but very busy during the afternoon and it's just one large pool. I recommend going on ex [... read more]cursions as the area surrounding the hotel is beautiful and there are tons of things to do!

Best vacation ever!

Beautiful resort with a natural black sand beach. Good food and staff was super helpful. Great near by areas with many activities. This resort is surrounded by amazing wilderness. We got to see Dolphins, whales, and many other animals in their own habitat. Best vacation we've ever been on! Can't wait to go back.

Amazing resort

The resort is surrounded by trees and rocks covered in greenery. Walking distance to hiking tails and zip lines, volcanic and yellow sandy beaches. Staff at the resort are very helpful. Tips are welcome but you don't feel are required. Rooms are very clean, roomy and full equipped, such as alcohol bar and safe. Pool section is huge and spots are always available. 24h sport bar available. In the resort there are several restaurants and bars. A dance group kinda makes staying every nig [... read more]ht.

Amazing Experience!!

Very clean, beautiful, beautiful grounds, lots of beautiful plants and trees. Well maintained. Beautiful views, very picturesque, great pool with lots of shade and no issues getting chairs by the beach and pool. Lots of amazing excursions to choose from. Great entertainment group! great friendly staff who are always willing to help out!

Amazing Resort

The hotel's grounds are beautiful. The people are nice. The buffet & a la carte's were really good too. Lots of variety considering I gave to eat Gluten free. The resort is super clean. They are constantly mopping the resort grounds, and cleaning the washrooms. I've never seen people clean so much. I've been to Cuba, Mexico, punta Cana, and Jamaica, and i can say that this was one of the best. The only thing that wasn't amazing was the beach. It is a little rocky, so bring water shoes.

Okay resort, lacked energy

The grounds were beautiful but my room was dirty. Cockroach in bathroom and fecese left in the toilet. Musty smell in room and had to request new sheets. Food was excellent. Sunset is at 6 and no entertainment til 9, no music in lounge etc... im a low key person but I felt this hotel lacked energy. Spa was awesome. Went here to surf, highlight of trip.

Need more daily activities

Overall the resort was ok. Food was ok, good variety. Rooms were good and the resort was clean. Disappointed in the lack of daily activities especially for children. There is a small children's area, but was geared towards very young children and does not allow parents in. Considering there is a long rainy season, there needs to be more activities indoor and out. This is a good resort for adults, but not ideal for those travelling with children. Had an incident with a staff member assaulting a f [... read more]amily member. Need to have much more stringent background checks on staff.

Good resort

Great... food and restaurants needs some work as well as the bars. The service was great. Too short time. The location of the hotels wonderful. We enjoyed the servuces and people. The pool and bars closed too early...minutes to 6.00pm

Best vacation yet!!

My family have done a lot of travelling and this was the best vacation yet. This hotel is magnificent. The food was delicious and plentiful everyday...i've never seen so much variety. The rooms were clean and modern, the grounds were beautifully kept and the beach was clean with chairs for everyone. The pool area offered lots of shade and lots of sun and no matter what time of day there were always pool loungers available. No getting up at 6:00am required just to save a seat. The staff were all  [... read more]fantastic and so focused on making their guests happy. I could say so much more but when it comes down to it this was just a perfect vacation.

Set your expectations before booking

The resort: The resort looks beautiful and the grounds are well kept. However there are bad smells coming from the pool bar area and in some of the restaurants. I think it's a fertilizer they use on the plants but it smells like sewage at some points in the day, it's unbearable to even sit there. The beach area is a bit rocky but you can walk 5 minutes down the beach and have softer sand. There's also a place called the monkey bar 10 minutes down the beach and early morning between 7-8am you can [... read more] feed the monkeys, they are all over the place. They like watermelon and mango is their favorite. Don't bring bananas it makes the pregnant monkeys abort their babies. Entertainment: The evening shows are fantastic, you can tell the entertainers love what they do. There is usually some form of activity you can take part in from pool/beach volleyball, dance lessons, beer pong (if you are into that) etc. Overall they have a lot of activities for people to take part in. The Rooms: I typically don't care about the rooms, you are on vacation get outside! there is no English channels other then CNN and the rooms don't come with any toiletries other then hand soap which gave me a rash. I typically bring my own shampoo and conditioner but if you are expecting a shower cap or something, they are only available if you purchase a suite. Our toilet over flowed when we got there (we hadn't even used it yet) but when we called the front desk the maintenance crew was there in literally 1 minute taking care of the issue. Another night water started coming through our ceiling vents so I have a feeling we weren't the only people with this toilet issue. If you flushed the toilet it would run constantly. I don't know if this was just our room or an ongoing problem with the resort. The beds were fine, not extremely comfortable but not horrible either. Towels were always available if needed. They were good about filling our fridge and there are liquor dispensers in the room and variety of sodas and couple beers. The Food: the buffet was good, it was often the same food but there was lots of variety so you could eat a different meal each time. The service (for us) at the buffet was really great too. Always someone offering coffee, water, and drinks. At Breakfast they had fresh juices which was great because the rest of the day they just had sugar filled juices. One morning we watched someone run to get a juice before they took them away and the cook said no more and took it away from them. It was ridiculous. We started going to the buffet and getting a cup of fruit and bringing it to the bar so they could blend a smoothie for us. We only got to eat at the steakhouse and Asian restaurant because we had so many excursions booked that we couldn't make a reservation from 8am until noon. The steak at the steakhouse was awful! It was a huge piece of steak that was pure fat and the rest was rare and bleeding all over my plate, I asked to put it back on the grille and they never came back. No one around us ate it, they all complained but I heard that other nights people enjoyed it so maybe it was just a bad night, who knows. I really liked the sushi at the Asian restaurant and the service was good there. Front desk: Awful. We had a ton of excursions booked where we would leave early morning. I asked if they would leave a note for person making the dinner reservations to book is one at any restaurant for any time and we would check with each restaurant when we got back. They said absolutely not, I would have to wait in line to make the reservations or go to the buffet. I lost my wifi password and asked if they could give it to me again and they acted as if I was annoying them. We were going to miss our bus for the airport when leaving, I came down and asked about where I pay the exit fee tax and they said "if you are leaving you must hand in your towel cards and keys (which we left in the room on the night table) or else we wouldn't be able to get on the bus. An elderly couple asked about a shower cap and they said "if you aren't staying in a suite, you don't get one." There were lots of little things like this that added up. Overall a Motel 6 is more accommodating. Other things to note: -we asked about mimosas and they said they didn't do those, but then they appeared on the last night - they are lots of excursion companies in the lobby charging double the price as the other companies on the beach. -wifi in the lobby is free but if you want it for the rest of the resort its $15 USD a day, $39 USD for 3 days, or $70 USD for the week. -if you are a smoker, you can only smoke in a designated area, on the beach or in the parking lot. -there's a disco but you have to pay for drinks there (I thought this was all inclusive but apparently not) Overall - The hospitality that comes with booking any other 5 star resort in DR, Cuba or Mexico isn't the same here but Costa Rica is beautiful and the excursions are all great. I would definitely go back to Costa Rica but not this resort.

Excellent food and pool

The food at the buffet was excellent, no need to go al la carte. Rooms are nice but the view was average. Resort grounds are in excellent shape. A great place to get away and do some eco-tours or just relax in the sun.

Amazing weather

Gorgeous resort the staff was very helpful . Went on a catamaran to see the sunset that was amazing. I found the tours guides were wonderful and helpful I would return to this wonderful place because the weather is guarantie

LOVED IT!

Everything about this resort was fantastic! The people are so friendly, the grounds are immaculate, the food is delicious with a very large variety, the pool area is awesome, the beach is terrific and our ocean view room was spectacular!

A Middling Experience

This is a huge resort - 1,300 rooms. The grounds are beautiful, but we felt there were not enough pools. The beach is rocky. In February, the surrounding area is rather bleak. The food was very good..

Absolutely amazing resort

Amazing resort ! Spotless and very friendly staff. With amazing food and drinks and guarantee sun shine ever day . What more could you ask for . We'll be going back ! Highly recommended. Entertainment was amazing also .

Terrific resort

Great pool, very clean, courteous staff - numerous excursions available, terrific pool and bar service, lots of lounge chairs in sun or shade. Beach nice to walk along but with a strong surf. Rooms immaculate with well stocked mini bar. Extensive food selections for all meals with attentive staff and a fun entertainment program.

Wonderful resort

This resort was very well laid out. Very easy to find all the restaurants and the facilities the hotel offered. The food was excellent in the buffets and the Italian was our favorite for the ala carts. The staff was very friendly and helpful. I would definitely recommend this hotel and can't wait to return to Costa Rica.

Love It!!

The layout of this resort is well laid out. Restaurants and Al Cartes are easy to find and are close to one another. No problem with booking a reservation. The pool has lots of space with lots of seating in the water and around the pool area. Rooms are large and clean but the beds were on the very firm side and pillows are small. The staff around the whole resort are extremely pleasant and willing to please and speak really good English. They are very helpful as well. The nightly entertainment i [... read more]s very good and the daytime pool entertainers are also. Will definitely be returning to this resort.