Riu Guanacaste: Great Experience

I thought the hotel was great. Plenty of seats in the shade. Friendly staff. Was a great time. The only thing I did not like is you have to line up to get into any of the 4 restaurants that were not the buffet. But that was a minor irritation. I also appreciate that smoking is only allowed in certain places - not everywhere.

JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort and Spa: Peaceful and beautiful

Resort was incredible, grounds are gorgeous, lush and very well kept. Beach is quiet and sunsets are gorgeous. Staff all very nice. Rooms well appointed. We stayed in building 8A which had a Beira of the ocean but very private. A bit of a walk to the main lobby and most restaurants but very close to pools and beach and oceana restaurant. Food was absolutely outstanding. All the seafood is fresh, presentation incredible. Cant say enough about the food. In fact best food we have ever had at an all [... read more] inclusive specifically Oceana, the Sushi at the Japenese restaurant, Mexican restaurant and the pool grill was also amazing. Would def recommend to anyone. Preferred club allows you access to a lounge where they have a small buffet and also top shelf liquors. Well worth it for us! Only downside is the 2 hour drive from airport but we knew that going in. Take a trip to the rainforest- def a highlight of our trip.

JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort and Spa: Dreams Costa Rica

Fantastic all-inclusive resort, if you don’t mind things a little quieter and lots of privacy. We stayed in preferred near the beach with an ocean view, well worth the upgrade. The food and restaurants are very good, the seafood is outstanding! No signing up for restaurants, pagers are given if you have to wait a bit, no more than 20 minutes for 2 ppl. Service was good and gets better when you take the time to get to know the staff. Be prepared to travel a bit (1-2hrs) for off resort excursio [... read more]ns but the sloth jungle trail we did was a highlight. Gorgeous grounds and new clean and spacious rooms. Lots of pools and activities. Beach is clean brown sand and water clear. It is the only resort in the bay. I would recommend this resort to anyone, and we’re not all-inclusive lovers. Who doesn’t like seeing monkeys on the beach:). Great selection at the hotel souvenir shop however I must complain that the prices were the worst price gouging I have seen, worse that the airport even.

Riu Guanacaste: Great location

Was lack of restrooms near beach and a constant line up at women’s washrooms at nearest restraunt. There was no beverage service at beach . Overall a great vacation and excellent dining facilities . Would definitely return

Riu Palace Costa Rica: an amazing experience

i took my wife to this wonderful resort it was our first time in costa rica..the RIU palace was amazing i knew we were in a very special place because the bell boy made us feel very welcome the general manager and the reception desk made our stay extra special this trip was to celebrate my wife's 60th birthday..and we love it..

Riu Guanacaste: February stay

This was our second stay at this hotel. Everything was great. The only thing that was not as expected was the beach. It was rockier than I remembered but that is due to the tides. Sometimes there was rocks then a few hours later it was nice and sandy. If you walk just past the Palace there's a nice stretch of beach there. Lots of wild life to see. Overall nice vacation

Riu Guanacaste: Great Value for this Resort

This resort is considered to be a 5 star hotel, but based on my opinion, I believe it is a 4 start hotel in international rating standards. For the price we paid, the food quality and variety is strong. The nightly entertainment is fun to watch, but a few more optional nightly entertainment options would be great. The hotel looks nice, and the pools and beach are typical to other resorts. The staff are nice and friendly. The sports bar and the 24 hour snacks is the worst part of it. They p [... read more]rovide ready made food in a fridge that requires guests to microwave and eat. Overall, great value for what you pay, but if you are a luxury 5 star all inclusive customer, I would pass on this.

Planet Hollywood Costa Rica: Best of the best

An excellent resort that provided for our every want. The food was superb, especially the buffet meals at SoCal. The extent of the food choices available and the superior quality sure looked as though they cared and did not take any shortcuts. The pastries and desserts were also excellent as was the main courses at all the themed restaurants; from Japanese to Italian to Mexican, everything was delicious and memorable. The pools were nice areas with two swim up bars. Lots of drinks offered but we [... read more] never felt bothered by anyone, just great service. Definitely recommend this super resort. The only negative would be the beach, not the greatest and the black volcanic sand is very hot and can actually burn your feet, so stick to the pools. They also go out of their way to provide very good nightly entertainment. Everyone tries really hard to make sure you have a great vacation.

Planet Hollywood Costa Rica: Wonderfull

We rate this resort a four plus, with spacious bed rooms, great food, huge pools and wonderfull service with very warming staff that is second to none. The only draw back is the beach, it has black sand and can get very hot in the late morning. We will come back again and maybe upgrade to star class that will allow us to reserve our meals and get special privileges.

Planet Hollywood Costa Rica: Top notch resort

The hotel & grounds were impeccably clean & the food was amazing. There was always great entertainment every night & the Queen cover band was amazing. The staff was very courteous & most of them spoke English. We were at the top of the hill & the electric golf carts come every 5 min. to take you to the pool/beach at the bottom (and top) of the hill. Lots of excursions are available through the hotel ( hot springs, mud baths, rainforests etc.)

Riu Guanacaste: Amazing resort

Very clean resort, staff working around the clock cleaning. Pool was amazing. Staff were friendly and helpful. Food was incredible, ate at all of the restaurants never left disappointment. Would recommend to anyone.

Margaritaville Beach Resort Playa Flamingo: Top notch!! 10++

If I were to list the “pros” we (mother/daughter) experienced while vacationing at Margaritaville, Playa Flamingo; Costa Rica, it would far exceed the 200 character limit. I decided instead to list the “cons” .... yeah, I got nothin’, not a single complaint!!!! The people who work at this resort are some of the most genuinely kind people I’ve ever met. Our room was gorgeous; 2 rooms, 2 balconies but honestly, I believe that as long as there were 2 beds, the people would have made up [... read more] for anything that may have been lacking! Top Notch; 10++

Riu Guanacaste: Beautiful resort

The resort it’s very nice clean with good services in all areas from the staff. Long sandy beach therefore not many long chairs available and not very easy to do kayaking cuz the red flag is almost every day even with small waves. Many food choices fresh and good quality

Riu Guanacaste: We have enjoyed every minute of our stay!

Such a beautiful hotel, gardens and beach. The food was excellent, the staff friendly, professional and helpful. We had a wonderful time and we hope to be back again. It's the perfect location to rejuvenate mind, body and soul. Although we have truly enjoyed our stay, we would suggest to modernize and give the hotel a little bit of upkeep, especially when it comes to the room doors, metal keys should be replaced by with electronic card keys for convenience and added security. Riu Guanac [... read more]aste was our home away from home during our all-inclusive week in Costa Rica.

Riu Guanacaste: Nice place, wonderfull people, what a place on earth!

We asked for personal reasons a room not on the ground level. It was exactly what we got, a room at ground level. But thanks to Diego, that night, he found a solution, and we were good after all that stress. Thank you ! And the stay and vacation at riu guanacaste was so comfortable and happy! Thank you Diego!

Riu Guanacaste: Outstanding resort

I have nothing bad to write about this resort. It was perfect. Check in was extremely fast and pleasant. Our room was just as requested with added bonus of partial ocean view. Everywhere was spotlessly clean. Fridge was well stocked. The food was wonderful and there is something for everyone’s taste. The staff were very good and always happy to help. They work extremely hard. There were always plenty of loungers on the beach. A few vendors who were not really a bother. We took several ex [... read more]cursions and booked them all with the Sunwing rep. The Sunwing reps were excellent and we found the trips very reasonable. All in all it was a perfect vacation

Occidental Papagayo: A Wonderful Place, with Great Staff

I loved my stay here. The grounds were immaculate, the food great (whomever makes their bread is a certified genius), and the beach was spotless. More important than that, however, I have to commend the staff. During my stay I had a bad reaction to newly prescribed antibiotics which caused severe digestive upset. I had already booked an excursion the morning after a major night-time episode, and spoke to the concierge about the advisability of actually going on the excursion (the policy is n [... read more]o refunds, if cancelled in less than 24 hours), as I did feel slightly better than I had. The front desk staff went out of their way to re-arrange it so that I could go on the excursion the following day. I didn't ask them to - I fully expected to lose my money, if I was unable to go on the excursion. I profusely expressed my gratitude. Well, I spent the rest of that day alternating between sleeping in my room and trying to eat something (at first all I could tolerate the thought of was dry bread and watermelon) in the buffet restaurant. The wait staff noticed, and several of them asked if I was okay. Then one of the waiters quietly brought me a glass of ginger ale (unbidden - I don't like ginger ale, and it would never have occurred to me to try this) and suggested I sip it throughout the day. It worked like a charm to settle my stomach, and I was extremely grateful. I slowly began to feel better, and went on the excursion the next morning. A day or two later, one of the staff approached me to ask if I was enjoying myself - he knew I was travelling alone, and had been ill, and wanted to know if I needed anything. At first suspicious (I live in Toronto), as he spoke I quickly realized that the staff had been keeping an eye on me and that they were genuinely concerned about my well-being. These are people who work 12 hour days, six days a week, and most probably will never see me again. Yes, I wholeheartedly recommend this resort.

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Great renewed clean

Grounds are clean and lush with palm trees and other plants. Plenty of birds sing pretty songs and even colibers fly around. Eguanas are walking around near the dining room chilling in the hot sun. There is even a friendly duck that gets fed by the guests. Bar and dining room staff is welcoming and helpful. They try to be fair and serve everyone equally regardless of how much you tip them. The cleaning ladies are polite and quiet :) ... The beach is amazing except for the murky wat [... read more]er makes it hard to snorkel and see anything. But the sunsets over the ocean more then make up for that. The only issue I can think of I had was when we got a "Garden View Room" that had a view out to the laundry facility and parking and the generator was making noise in the afternoon. When I asked to be moved I was denied with a cold shoulder. It was a solid NO and I'm a type of guy that always 'eventually' get a room I like. Would I go back to Villas Playa Samara? YES!!! Way more good things about this resort then the few issues I had.

Riu Guanacaste: Fantastic vacation

Thìs was our first time to the Riu Guanacaste. Right from the time we arrived until the time we left we were treated very well. All the staff is friendly, very helpful and always with a smile when they great you. The resort is beautiful and clean. The grounds are kept in pristine condition. The main buffet is fantastic. You could not ask for anything more. The restaurants were Amazing. The entertainment was satisfactory. The whole experience was terrific. Pools are great and the entire poo [... read more]l area is clean all day long. The only thing I was not thrilled about us the lack of washrooms by the pools. I would definitely go back to this resort.

Planet Hollywood Costa Rica: Great Resort

Just finished a trip to Planet Hollywood in Costa Rica from Jan19-26. I traveled with my wife, my brother and his wife (all between the ages of 34&37). Overall the resort was great! Staff were friendly, everything was clean and the grounds were very nice. We also just staying in a regular junior suite with no Star Class (I don't thinks the upgrade is worth it unless you can get it for a good price. Only thing that would have been nice having star class is the extra booze selection, but extra tip [... read more] money goes a long way if you know what I mean). FOOD: I've been to several All Inclusive resorts in the past and the food here rated up with the best of them! The only this we didn't do was the Teppanyaki, although we did go for sushi in the restaurant portion twice which was also fantastic. Steak house was awesome and Italian and Tex Mex were, you guessed it, great as well (we went to Italian and Tex Mex 2 times too). There was also Guy's Burger place by the pool for lunch and that might have been my favorite of them all, great selection and absolutely delicious....burgers, chicken tenders, loaded fries!! Then only thing i wasn't really impressed with was the pizza next the the burger place, meh. I should also include, although I myself enjoyed almost everything, my wife is vegan so there weren't many options for her at all the restaurants although the lunch buffet had many options for her. I'd assume the dinner buffet would have as well but we never ended up making it there, but we were the every morning and might have been one of the best breakfast buffet's I've seen. POOLS/BEACH: Beaches with the black sand were something new to us although we actually loved it. Tide would go out leaving tons of beach exposed (had fun flying my drone around). Had a great time walking along the shore, sand was soft, almost no rocks (lots of sea shells) and zero sea weed! One thing to note would be that hot sun + black sand = burn your feet!! Stay close to the water. As for the pools, I wouldn't say they were anything special but nice nonetheless. having 2 pool bars is nice as well. We ended up getting a cabana for 2 of the days, those were really nice but not sure they are worth the $$$ (got both of ours for free). ROOMS: As stated above, we just a regular junior suite with no star class. the rooms were really nice, different layout than usual but we liked it. the one major complaint would be the A/C wouldn't get cool enough. This was not just an issue with our room, but several of the ppl we spoke with as well. We did have another issue as well, being our anniversary trip, I had contacted the hotel several times to inform them of this, as well as mentioned it to our travel agent. We arrived to a room with 2 double beds, and there was also no mention the entire week of it being our anniversary. normally they put a banner on the door, bottle of champagne or something on arrival, maybe extra chocolates or cake or something but we got absolutely nothing which was kind of disappointing. We did complain about the double bed situation and their solution was to move us to the opposite end of the resort (away from the people we came with), when i said that wouldn't cut it, all they offered was a cabana for the day. better than nothing i guess, but definitely left a sour taste in our mouths. ENTERTAINMENT: Entertainment around the pool was mediocre. I won the aquafit challenge one day which got us our second cabana of the trip which was alright. The foam party was pretty fun too, other than that, pool entertainment didn't do much for us. Nightly entertainment was quick good from what we made it too, live bands were great, beach party was quite good too. 80's party was also fun, except lots of the music was from the 70's lol, still good music tho. OVERALL: Loved the resort overall, top notch food, good booze selection, would definitely recommend to a friend, the landscape in Costa Rica are amazing. Couple things to be aware of: long wait at restaurants (45min-1.5hrs) but just plan for it and remember you're on vacation, aka don't come on here and whine. also, something that has nothing to do with the hotel is save a little cash for your departure at the airport, $29/per to leave country.