Riu Guanacaste

This review is an honest one and is not intended to put anyone off either Costa Rica or the hotel. First of all Costa Rica is an amazing country to visit especially if you enjoy wildlife, birds, animals reptiles etc etc you will not be disappointed. While enjoying the pool or the beach you see Black and Green Iguanas, they are everywhere and will come very close to you, the Crackle is a very striking glossy blue/black bird that is bold and very common and can been seen even inside the hotel, the sky is constantly patrolled by Turkey Vultures and Magnificent Frigate birds and Brown Pelicans patrol the beach nearby so you don’t have to leave the gardens to spot some wonderful creatures. The hotel is huge, 700 large double/king size bedrooms, with restaurants and bars to cater for the number of guests, I cannot fault the hotel or its staff, they are amazing, always friendly and helpful and the service was brilliant, the bedroom was huge and probably the biggest bed I have ever slept in, which was firm and very comfortable with air conditioning and a well stocked minibar and 4 optics with Gin, Vodka white and dark rum, all of which is free. The entertainment was pretty rubbish, it consisted of dancers miming to films, and when you consider the size of the hotel and the amount of income from the guests it could have been better, there were singers and musicians in one of the bars and they were very good and in my opinion should have been given more time and opportunity on the main theatre stage. We booked the hotel and holiday through TUI and in my opinion did not give a clear description of the hotel, no where on the description did it say this is a lively hotel, in fact lively is an understatement, for the British visitor this is a very expensive long haul holiday of a lifetime, but for guests from the USA it’s a short haul favourite for short breaks, 2 or 3 days is common and being all inclusive it is also popular with corporate company breaks for staff and groups or clubs, it was very noisy around the pool area, the hotel does not have a quiet area, not even a quiet bar, I am not being unkind or anti-American, in fact I have a lot of American friends, but we experienced the worst behaviour I have seen from our fellow guests, the pool had two areas, an upper pool with swim up bar and a slightly larger lower pool, you could barely move in the upper pool for most of the day, it was dominated by the US guests who stood in the water drinking free booze from just after breakfast until around 4:30. They were loud drunken rude and we saw several drunken brawls, both in the pool and the adjacent restaurant, strangely the lower pool tended to be occupied by families, Canadians and the British, and to make matters more annoying they even hogged the sun beds, leaving towels very early,especially ones with shade, but never used them, they literally stood in the pool drinking all day, TUI should have at least said the hotel is lively and guests can make their own minds up, this behaviour was not exclusive to this hotel, it was pretty much the same comment from all the British tourists we met at the airport. TUI also said the average temperature is 28C, where the figures came from to obtain that “average “ is open to speculation, from 10am till around 4pm the heat and humidity was oppressive and exhausting, around 38 to 40C, all you could do was either stand in the pool or find shade, which you couldn’t because any shade had been taken by people not using it. I loved Costa Rica, I loved the local people, they were friendly and warm, the tours were amazing and worth every penny apart from the Diamonte Park next door, which was a small zoo, with small enclosures and not worth the $42 each entrance fee. You could see more for free just walking to Monkeys Bar along the beach, take some grapes from the hotel and the white faced monkeys will take them from your hands. Sadly this amazing place is spoilt by guests who are staying for a short break and have no interest in the environment and wildlife, it was all about how much can be consumed with no regard for anyone else.

Prior to going to Costa Rica, and after booking I read 1 or 2 bad reviews, but mostly very good reviews, and after just coming back after 2 weeks in the Hotel I cannot understand where the bad reviews originated other than somebody having a bad hair day or a regular bad viewer, as our experience was that nothing in the main could be faulted. Check in, and out was fairly timely as we filled in the relevant passport information details etc on the coach from the airport, and we did not have long to wait to be giving our room details, and the staff were friendly and gave us all the details needed for our stay. The dinning room staff were always smiling and on hand to offer drinks, and water etc with our meals, and deserve some credit for the way some of our younger American cousins spoke to them. Our particular room was on the first floor and overlooked the Diamante eco park which was really good as early in the mornings you heard the howler monkeys calling out to each other whilst around 5 pm each evening they starting moving around the trees, and although they were in the park they were all in full view from our room. Although we did venture onto the beach, but we did not actually spend any time in the sea, and preferred the swimming pools. The staff both around the pools, and in the eating places were always cleaning. The entertainment team were always on hand, and the evening shows were 1st class. Our room consisted of a huge bed which allowed a good sleep, within the room they have a huge ceiling fan which goes 24hrs unless you actually turn it off whilst the actual air conditioning unit only works when the actual balcony door was closed, and again you had a separate control unit which allows the temp to be controlled, an ample fridge which was re-stocked every 2 days with 4 cans of beer, 3 bottles of coke etc plus a couple of other cans plus a couple of large bottles of water, also you have 4 stand alone optics although personally we did not use the latter. There was plenty of lizards, and iguanas strolling around the gardens to put a smile on your faces as most of them appear to be standing around awaiting for their pictures to be taken. For the food eating side they have 4 specialty restaurants, and the main dinning room which is where we always ate, and you had so many choices that nobody could complain about the quality on offer. All the bar staff are all very efficient, and you did not have to wait long to be served. Next door to our hotel is the sister hotel Riu Palace, but due to the remoteness you are restricted to where you can walk at nights after dinner as the beach itself is dark so basically you can only follow the near beach paths to the next hotel and come back via the well lit road. On the beach they have a baby turtle nursery, and apparently they had a releasing whilst we were at the hotel, but for us nobody appeared to know when it would happen other than the beach security guard, and the one day we forgot to ask him was the evening they let them go, and it would be nicer if signage went up saying when it would happen rather than it has already happened or if the security guard told the hotel reception. If I was to find anything that needs to be improved and/or commented on then it would be the entertainment host who spoke so many languages both prior, and after the evening shows, but for me he spoke too fast so by the time he spoke in English you missed half of what he actually said, but overall that does not warrant a bad remark just more an observation. I would also comment that they have a swim up bar, and which I did use, but it also joins onto another part of the pool, and even in a completely separate pool you have mainly American guests walking about the pools (which are only about 4ft deep) with either plastic glasses, or their own small flasks drinking away, and in some instances drinking more than they should, and for this I think the onus is on the hotel to restrict where pool drinks can be served, and consumed, but saying this I would definitely recommend this hotel, and would personally come back again