Riu Guanacaste: 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.

Villas Sol: Friendly, cosy, and most staff very helpful.

The grounds of Villas So was kept up on a regular bases. Even the 4 legged staff where friendly at arms lengths. The view from our dinning area was beautiful and a joy to see every morning for breakfast. The weather was very kind during our 7 days away. Every person we came into contact with at the resort (staff) pleasant, helpful and always a smile and greeting with a joyful conversation. We did come in contact with a very few staff that did not wish to help us out with a question or problem so [... read more]lution....so we moved on and found someone that was very open to help us out and provide us an answer. This can happen anywhere...and any place you go. Nothing is perfect and people have bad days. So we moved on and our trip was amazing, and lots of fun and full of laughter.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Super holiday

Our stay at the Riu Palace Costa Rica Hotel was very enjoyable and relaxing. The food was amazing and delicious. There were so many choices. The only restaurant that we didn' t care for was the one beside the Japanese restaurant. We ate lobster, salmon, steak etc. The disinfectant used to clean the rooms seemed very strong as we had to open the windows daily to air out the room.

Fiesta Resort: Doubletree central pacific

Very nice place to stay in Costa rica. Lovely pools, great food, friendly staff. Black sand beach which doesn't get groomed, so not my favorite beach. Many fun activities in the surrounding area; pay a visit to Victor Hugo and Green Bean for the best tours ever!!!

Fiesta Resort: Beautiful resort!

The hotel was beautiful and the public grounds were kept clean. The size of the hotel room and view was perfect. Friendly hotel staff and great service. The one thing that I did not like was that I found the food to be very salty a couple of times at the buffet restaurant at Doubletree resort. The food was very good at the Macondo restaurant. We had our dinner there a couple of nights.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: AWESOME RESORT!

EVERYTHING WAS FABULOUS AT THIS RESORT! ROOMS, SERVICE, WEATHER WAS EXCELLENT. TRAVEL A LOT AND THE RIU IS ONE OF THE NICEST PLACES WE HAVE STAYED...NOT TO MENTION THE AMAZING FOOD! WOULD RETURN TO THIS RESORT AGAIN.

Beach Break Resort: Great Vacation

Beautiful setting, ocean on one side mountains on the other.Comfortable rooms, well kept grounds, walking distance to interesting town, lots of tours on offer but the staff really made the place, friendly , helpful . Outstanding

Occidental Papagayo: 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.

Best Western Jaco Beach: comfortable stay

This was a nice hotel. It was clean, we'll kept and quiet. Staff were very polite, helpful and we're always available to answer questions. The food was okay. It wasn't as varied as I might have hoped but reasonable decent fare. The grounds were well kept but I was disappointed that it closed at 7:00 pm every evening as a night swim would have been refreshing. Great beach access and in close proximity to the town of Jaco which was a bonus. Overall it felt more akin to a hotel than a resort as the [... read more]re weren't as many organized activities as I thought. Two bars and tennis courts and billiards were a nice touch.

Riu Guanacaste: 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.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: 2nd time there, love it.

The entire place is just beautiful, well kept. Food is excellent. Pools and fountains are nice. Service is excellent. Complained about room floor not being clean the 2nd day and from that point no problem anymore.

CC Beach Front Papagayo: Excellent, except for food

We loved the smaller resort size and the familiarity you have with all the staff. Our room was 204B, perfect, the only improvement would have been a king bed. All the service was excellent in every way and genuine smiles were the norm. The cocktails were fresh and delicious with almost anything you wanted available. The staff were all wonderful, the grounds were lush and beautiful and were kept immaculately. Our only complaint is the food was very mediocre, so we ventured into Coco Beach a coupl [... read more]e times to have really delicious dinners. I would not recommend for kids as the 'kids club and teen club does not appear to be up to much. If food is important to your vacation enjoyment I would not stay here.. Pools are lovely, the beach is public so you do not have chairs and umbrellas to enjoy on the beach.

Occidental Tamarindo: amazing resort

very nice resort with great people that work there and awesome food. thank you jorge for making our stay more memorable. there is alot to do on the resort with live music everyday and a relaxing atmosphere.

Riu Guanacaste: 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.

Riu Guanacaste: 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

Riu Guanacaste: 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!

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Paradise

Lovely small resort. Very relaxing and laid back. Beautiful beach. Food was good but did get very sick the first day. When talking to others turns out a lot of people were I'll during their stay. Service was good and room was clean.

Best Western Irazu Hotel: Mediocre

The hotel structurally was average and the maid service was very good. The food availability was limited to a Denny's with a standard chain restaurant menu and very expensive and a bar with primary bar type offerings. There were no restaurants closer than an $8-10 taxi ride with the exception of one a few minutes away inside a small mall that hotel staff don't mention. A local told us about it after we were there 9 days but the food was excellent and worth overlooking the facilities. The hotel i [... read more]s located in primarily an industrial area and sidewalks are either broken or non existent so going for a walk is not much pleasure. The location is very poor but in fairness to Best Western other large hotels other than in the city Center are no better e.g. Hilton, Country Inn &Suites.

The Westin Reserva Conchal Golf Resort & Spa: Great location... but....

Let me start by saying the staff is amazing at the Westin. The rooms are dated but the beds are comfy. Lighting in the bathroom is not great. The resort is huge so expect alot of walking. Lots of chairs by the pool if you are up by 9 am. Our mini bar was never refilled... we had to call everyday for water and beer to be brought. The food is great at the a la carte restaurants but the buffet is terrible... everything is cold unless you get the made to order pasta or omlette. Make your dinner rese [... read more]rvations as soon as you get to the resort... it took me 35 minutes to try to get through to the reservation desk which is insane. They can only book until each Thursday as a new schedule starts friday... so that left us without reservations on friday, saturday and sunday because we had an early excursion on the friday and by the time we got back to the room to call they were totally booked... which left us with buffet ...but we complained and were able to get 2 reservations. When we complained they told us its because of the big groups that they have this issue?? The resort has lots of wildlife to see which was my favorite part. We used Aaron on the beach for excursions, he was great and less expensive than the Nexus tours. Take a walk to Brasilito if you want to bring home some coffee or gifts as they are not as expensive as the gift shops. It was a great trip but I wouldnt recommend this hotel to my friends, you pay a premium price you expect a premium service.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: We found paradise!

RIU Palace is a beautiful resort. "Five Star" in everyway the way! Fantastic food, great service and spotless clean. Truly one of the most beautiful places we have been in our travels. Weather was fantastic and people were friendly. Smiles everywhere we went. Special recognition to NICOLE our sweet server at the pool. Always a smile and fantastic service!