Liberia

This hotel is amazingly well run. The entire experience was amazing.

I was very happy with the resort, but more importantly I was even more impressed with the staff. Every staff member we interacted with was exceptionally friendly and excited to help us.

Disappointing vacation. No 'star" welcome, room with broken shower, shower tiles falling off, terrible concierge, numerous food mistakes that got me severely sick. What is happening to resorts? The beach - if you can call it that - you couldn't use, as there was a warning about sea urchins and crocodiles. The entire trip was one of the worse I have ever been on. Tried to talk to hotel about it and they did absolutely nothing. Didn't care one bit. It has really gone downhill and I would never recommend this place to anyone!

The hotel grounds are very nice, not too large a resort. The soft sandy beach is adjacent to the hotel, however is not private and as such there's a charge for chairs, etc. Some locals there attempting to sell goods, massages, tours, etc. The room was well furnished and comfortable, excellent bed. There was a number of minor issues, and although the front desk told us that someone had come by the next day, nothing was done, and after we complained again were they fixed (after 2 days). The pool was excellent, however shaded spots were limited, so getting them early in the day was required. The 3 main restaurants/bars have very similar offerings, some dishes are hit or miss (the ropa vieja was pretty good). The Italian resto (you need to reserve in the morning) had better food quality (although not spectacular), presentation and service; there was no a/c there for the week, so it was uncomfortably hot. Beverage choices are good as are the quality of drinks. No organized activities in the evenings. Some of the staff have difficulties understanding & speaking English. There is an excursion desk in the lobby, we took one to the Monteverde cloud forest/coffee plantation; it was excellent (great tour guide Carlos), although due to much of the roads being single lane (barely) and in poor condition, the 3-1/2 hour trip (each way) made for a long day.

A nice hotel as long as you understand that it is a 3 star. Features are dated, bathroom shows signs of wear, but the pool and beach are great. Staff are friendly and majority speak great English so communication is not difficult. Avoid the Palo Verde boat tour during (Canadian) Summer as many of the animals are not there during that time of year- making it a waste of money, especially since there are monkeys on the beach at the resort and by the main lobby. If you manage your expectations and expect 3 star quality it's a great hotel, but don't expect to be getting 4/5 staff quality at a 3 star price. It is an older hotel, the rooms and communal spaces show their age but things are still clean and well maintained. It is outside of Liberia (20 Minutes) and between 2-3 hours away from most major attractions (rainforests/volcanoes) so if you are hoping to do a lot of sight-seeing be prepared for a long, bumpy bus ride.

This hotel is operating at about 50% or less than what they are offering. Several major health violations. The pool is a major health and safety concern - water is not above the jets or being filtered by the pump or skimmers (only time you do this is when you are closing your pool - but this pool had covers over the jets and black gunk in the skimmers - ie they have not been used for a long time)- only thing circulating the pool is the waterfall, only way they have to clean this pool is using a skimmer bag to remove leaves ( I have a pool this is not ok). This pool should be closed until they can properly fill it and filter it using the pump and skimmers - pool staff sprinkled chlorine in the pool while people were swimming and we only saw them using a sump pump to vacuum it - but that is not filtering! In a commercial pool - this is seriously hazardous - not just because the water isn't being filtered - but also because they are not taking accurate measurements to determine what chemicals are needed. We also got serious ill (we still are sick) from the food - or improper food care - we often had fruit in the am - that tasted like onions or garlic - so food safety isn't being adhered to either. We were not the only guests that got sick - several others were as well. Also this hotel only had about 12 guests max at any time and only one resto was open (some of the food seemed fine - but after we got sick - we weren't really interested in the food), and only some of the rooms are available - the rest have doors open without locks and no furniture (back in family villas). Our room was not what we paid for (the photos are really of one room - everything else is older) but i admit -i really don't normally care about the room - i don't expect to spend my time there - but it was very old, dated and there was one room next to us that had been fancied up for the photos. The staff were very nice, they tried very hard - but there is no management presence here and nothing is being done to repair anything - real lack of any kind of management leadership at all - I think this hotel is in transition - the owners are not here and don't seem to care about how bad it is - or they are just waiting for someone to buy it - all of my complaints are really about the owners and really Nolitours (Air Transat) and iTravel2000 - should not offer this hotel again until they can guarantee there are no health violations and the pool is fixed. WIFI worked fine for us (no charge).