Awesome resort!

The hotel and the whole experience were wonderful. The grounds are beautiful and well kept. We dined at the Italian and Oriental restaurants during our stay. The Italian was amazing and except for the mains that were a little bland, the Oriental was good too. We definitely frequented the main pool and swim up bar which were perfect. All of the staff went out of their way to make sure our visit was what we expected, especially the bartenders! We plan on going back to Occidental Papagayo soon!

Below my expectations

what I do not like there is: Very poor buffet. In Dominican resorts it was, at least, 5 times more variety! Minimum sea food. beef, chicken, chicken, beef.... Boring - no entertainments No shuttle bus service. Hm. $50 from air port + $50 back = $100 Sorry, will not come there any more.

Very nice resort!

Good services, hospitality, quality in entertaining. We are not happy with the credit card that you send us by mail to use it, can not be used for the services and locations listed so what is the point of sending such kind of " gifts"?

Great all adult resort

The food was excellent as was the staff. The grounds make you feel like you are in Paradise . Was quite pleased that trip central sent out numbers in case there were issues. Peace of mind. Great trip.

Not the adult only youd expect.

Pool bar closed at 5pm, next to no entertainment, disco was a 30 by 20 room which bad sound system. Pool music started at 7am, Bar doesnt open until 9am. Buffet was small but nice! A la cartes were ok. Resort was clean and well taken care of. Lisbeth in the buffet was EXTREMELY helpful with my food allergies and she made sure everyday i was taken care of during breakfast and lunch. The dinner host Manwell (not completely sure of his name) wasnt pleasant and didnt go through the buffet with  [... read more]me. He just said oh you cant eat anything and then walked away. (I am gluten adnd dairy free.) The Air transat rep Benoit was ok but did NOT explain the excursions well and he convinced us to go through him to rent a car at a whopping 73$USD a day. We should have shopped around but he was very persuasive. He also offered us a discount on the excursion but then did not honour it. I have been disappointed twice with Barcelo resorts. Also the wifi wasnt free (but free for air transat customers) and was horrible service expect for in the lobby when and if it worked. I also asked the front dest to move rooms because the pool was SOOO loud and they couldnt accomodate.

Adequate Only

Very hilly and beautiful BUT no hand railing. Poor at replenishing water, coffee and towels. Requested supplies several times to no avail. Terrific breakfast and large enough buffet to find something to eat. Fabulous fruit! We got a good deal and paid little so it was good value.

Occidental Papagayo

Resort is stunning, has quiet ambient atmosphere. Beautiful beach and lovely pool.... Would love to come back! Staff is very helpful and kind. We had few out of resort adventures which we loved. We were very well taken care of! Thank you Occidental :) Pura Vida!

Great Service! Very Welcoming

Great service! All that staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. Breakfast and dinner were always fantastic - less variety than some all inclusive resorts but I think better quality. Grounds were well kept and pools were very nice as they came around to take drink orders while you could continue to relax. Beach was clean but left a little be desired. Overall great report and would definitely recommend :)

Occidential Papagayo Costa Rica

The resort was absolutely amazing. We found that the grounds were well maintained everything was very clean, the food was excellent, our room was kept very clean. The two a la carte were excellent service very good food was fantastic. The beach unfortunately was not the best but understandable because of all the rain and hurricane nate but overall it was an excellent trip for us and would definitely go back to Costa Rica.

Guest Services Huge Disappointment

The rooms were mediocre, especially the bathrooms. Housekeeping could have been better and replacing used toiletries would have been appreciated. We were short towels a couple of times, called Housekeeping and nobody showed up to bring the towels we were missing. The grounds were ok, pool needed to be cleaned better. The best resort feature was the restaurant and bar staff. They were all very courteous, friendly, and eager to please. Food in the a-la carte restaurants was very good. Buffets at [... read more] breakfast and lunch were good, but dinners could have been better. Lots of rice, beans, potatoes, cassava, and the same vegetables everyday. We could have overlooked all of this if we hadn't received such horrible and disrespectful treatment at the guest services desk. Trying to make dinner reservations was a nightmare! Saturday and Sunday reservations could only be made the day of. We would go first thing in the morning, line up, only to be told there was NOTHING available at any of the restaurants. They suggested we try again in an hour, so we did and again NOTHING was available. Some days we had to make 3 trips and still did not get reservations. We were told that on Monday we could reserve for the entire week. However, when we lined up on Monday we were told we could only reserve for 2 days. Although we did manage to get reservations for a few dinners during our week stay, the time and effort involved was ridiculous. On Wednesday guest services said there was a problem with his excel program, come back in an hour and he would give us a reservation. Once again, we go back only to be told there was NOTHING available. To add to this, errors were made with reservations we did get on other days. One evening we received a call to go to the buffet, since the Grill was closed, and order from the Grill menu. We were given reservations for the Grill for Thursday and it was closed when we showed up. When we went to speak to guest services AGAIN we were given the blame. This was our last evening and we had had enough and asked to file a written complaint, (as stated in the guest book in our room), and guest services said NO! We reminded him that this was clearly written in the guest book as the only procedure that they would follow up on regarding complaints and he insisted that he would not allow us to file a complaint. We asked to speak to the manager and he REFUSED to let us speak to him!!! We have travelled extensively all over the world and have never been treated in such a manner at any of the places we have stayed at. When we informed him that we would be writing to Air Transat and Trip Advisor, he got on the phone with someone and then offered us a bottle of wine. We told him we were leaving in the morning and had no room for a bottle of wine in our luggage and couldn't bring it in our carry-on. Needless to say, this was a terrible way to end our vacation, especially after all the hassle we went through all week. Worst Guest Servive ever!!!

Has potential but not well run.

Beautiful property and location. Check in was really late and unorganized. Guest services was not available nearly enough. You had to go through them to make a la carte reservations but could only book 24 hours before. Because they start late and finish early, if you are on an excursion you can't make a reservation. We were able to eat at the Italian and it was good. The wait Staff were lovely but didn't know anything about wine in terms of what kinds they had to offer. We came back late after a [... read more] 17 hour excursion and we could get nothing to eat. We were told by one employee that there was nowhere to get food, then another employee told us to go into the disco and we would find finger food there which was adequate. We ran out of hot water in our room and had to have keys redone 3 times and the safe re-keyed once. Rooms were clean but air conditioning was very poor considering the heat. Wifi was scetchy at best. Nightly entertainment was one man with a sax in the lobby. Entertainment staff were great. The only bar around the pool was only for show. It wasn't functional and only one staff member taking drink orders for the entire pool. Again they were great doing the best they could to keep up, there simply were not enough staff. The pool was cloudy and murky all week. Food was good but a very small buffet. The Grille by the pool had good food as well at lunchtime. The bar "by the beach" is nowhere near the beach or the pool. It is in between the two and there are no toilets close by. When we checked out we paid our bill in cash and they had no change available. Do not book tours with Benito from Air Transat. He is misleading and uses scare tactics to get your business. He shows you one tour and you think that is the one you are buying then you go on a different one day of. Very disappointing. He just walked away when we questioned him at the airport. That was the first opportunity we saw him after the tour. All in all not a terrible place and it has so much potential. We got a good deal in terms of cost and I feel it was good for what we paid. Just needs some TLC.

Fantastic!!

We had an amazing time! The resort staff were terrific and always willing to help. The beach was secluded and uncrowded. The room was clean and very comfortable. While the soundproofing was poor between rooms, it didn't pose a problem as we were only in our room to sleep. There was a lovely lounge where you could play board games or chess. There was musical entertainment in the lobby each evening and plenty of activities during the day, such as yoga, archery and aquasizes, to name a few. We did  [... read more]a few tours. I would highly recommend the catamaran snorkel and sunset tour. We caught the bus to the local town, Coco Beach, to do some shopping, as the resort gift shop was very pricey. All in all, it was a wonderful trip.

Excellent resort in a beautiful country!

Everything was fantastic! Food was great at all areas! Selection at buffet wasn't great but all good! The grounds were well kept up! Nice to see monkeys iguanas and birds of all kinds! When tide was low the beach was great to walk and explore! The staff in all areas were great! There were language barriers. The entertainment they had was good! More would have been great! Discover was fun! Karaoke and trivia were my favourites! It was a cozy warm feeling resort and you saw the same people during  [... read more]to its size! Loved it!!

Beautiful resort

Amazing views from every direction. Not for the elderly or handicapped due to the stairs. Food was great, staff was amazing and the tours were worth every penny. You need to get off the resort to get the full enjoyment of Costa Rica. Hotel had monkeys, birds and iguana's roaming around. Would definitely return to this resort. Very clean and safe country to visit.

Amazing , Beautiful Hotel with Wonderful Staff!

Wonderful, helpful, friendly staff. Beautiful grounds. Cleanest well kept resort I have ever been too! LOTS of stairs and walking though so those with mobility problems should not go here. Food was good, Lots to do. Can't say enough good things about this resort. Will definitely be back!

Outstanding Resort and trip

The hotel was awesome. Beautiful grounds, super friendly staff, great food and abundant wildlife right on the resort. Monkeys, iguanas and many different birds. The staff were all very helpful and friendly. The resort is quite hilly so be prepared to walk up hills and steps. It's not bad at all and there are shuttles readily available to take you from place to place. The ocean was beautiful and warm.

Great Resort, Rock Star Staff..too many stairs

Hotel was beautiful. We went April 3-10, 2016 so we were at the end of the dry season so it wasn't as lush as it would be during other times of the year. We stayed in Room #806 Royal Luxury Package. Wine and chocolates were in the room upon arrival -- GREAT view! -- Room Service is free with the Luxury package. -- Wifi was available but VERY spotty, so it was better to just take my tablet to breakfast and dinner with me as there always seemed to be a good signal at reception --- Just too many st [... read more]airs to get to the room. Seriously, I can't see any senior or anyone with a disability being able to do that for a week let alone after laying in the sun and drained of energy. There are carts that you can call and have pick you up and take you to the lobby or wherever, but if you don't want to wait then you have quite a hike ahead of you. Food was fantastic and so was the variety. Staff could not have been nicer or more cheerful (Katherine "Katy Perry" is a rock star staff member...remembered everyone's names, always made it a point to speak to us, and has a FANTASTIC personality). There are many scheduled activities at this resort (snorkeling, rifle shooting, cooking lesson, archery, water volleyball, etc) but some of the equipment needs tending to (ie. archery....the arrow rest was like a plastic 3M mug hook that was falling off so it was hard to hold the arrow to shoot it). My only two complaints would be: ONE: there are NO CLOCKS ANYWHERE! This drove me nuts sicne I had no watch. There are activities that you have to sign up for and arrive at specific times. Also the snack bar and buffets close at certain hours so it would be helpful to have at least 2 clocks on the premises. II suggest one by reception for those catching buses to Coco Beach or the airport and one outside the snack bar so it is near the Activity center where you show up for scheduled activities and can be seen at the pool as well. TWO: it would be nice to have shelves in the shower. We had to line all our stuff around the floor of the shower and being low, water was getting in some of my shampoos that had paper-tear tops (like samples) rather than lids. I would suggest bringing eye moisturizer as well as there were several dry fires on the hills outside the resort and the smoke made my eyes dry and burn for the first couple of days...again, dry season issues. Rooms were cleaned well, but the last 2 days there our rooms were not tended to until around 4pm so we had no water or drinks. Also, that defeats the purpose of the nightime "turndown" other than to take our used towels from the morning. When we first arrived they came before noon, so I'm not sure what changed. Overall a great resort and we would go back again!

Hot hot hot and awesome

The grounds were well maintained,buffets a little smaller then we were use to. But the food was fantastic. Room was beautiful. They are a little understaffed (especially in some of the bars..ie.beach area the bartender worked very hard to serve everyone...another person in this area would improve the service). The people are very friendly and willing to share there knowledge about the birds,trees culture truly enjoyable trip. Snorkeling off the beach was amazing even had a chance to swim with a  [... read more]Hawkbilled turtle no once but on three different occasion. The weather was hot everyday above 35 degrees C. Would recommend for everyone if your have leg issues or heat issues maybe another location would be better.

Great Time!

This resort is well laid out on the hills leading to the beach. The staff are outstanding and exemplify what service is. The food at the buffet was a great mixture of areas of the world and local cuisine. Occasional evening entertainment would bring this resort to the next level, it would be a great chance to display local customs and arts.

Amazing Resort

Beautiful location! Service was excellent especially Jose-Maria who looked after us poolside and in the snack bar! Activities team was great. It was nice to have a fellow Canadian working there. Michael you are awesome. Everything was fantastic, the only thing I would say as a negative was all the stairs(which could be avoided) and check-in was confusing. Would definitely go back!!