JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa

The overall stay was great, from the physical room to the check in to the service at the restaurants and pool. We were also there in December after the earthquakes, and the hotel was not very full. HOWEVER, I am a loyal Marriott customer and I have NEVER been made to feel like I did this trip. One of my girlfriends and I had brought our flat irons on the trip. On the 4th night, her flat iron burned out. She asked to borrow mine and within 15 minutes, it burned out as well. We had used them both every night and morning before and they were fine. If one had broke, we would have understood it was probably a malfunction. But, it was both flat irons within 15 minutes. The manager reviewed the facts that the maintenance staff brought her and we talked. She offered a few points for my rewards account, which wasn't enough to have one stay at the lowest tier hotel. And if you're a loyal Marriott customer, you know many nights, you cannot even use points. It was ridiculous. I had asked for 50% of the retail value of the flat irons, which equalled one night's stay. That would not oblige and still have not done anything to compensate us. The rest of the trip we were all afraid to use any electrical outlets for fear it would randomly burn out any other electronic equipment that we had. Regardless, you don't treat customers like this. It would have been easy to make us feel like they had taken care of the situation and we had been made whole, but they didn't. I will NEVER go back there again. I should have stayed at Villa Deevena or even the Four Seasons right down the way. They have never treated me like this there.

The hotel was nice - the beach was beautiful (and they do have these really nice pillows for the beach chairs) - but the rooms were overpriced for what they were and the location is too far in the middle of nothing to be worth it. The restaurant on the beach is pretty good, but the others are way too overpriced for what they are. Staff is nice (but the front desk staff was pretty rude upon check-in). Overall I would not recommend and would not stay there again just because it wasn't worth the high price of the rooms. Next time I'd either pay more for the Four Seasons etc or less for a different place.

Stayed here with a tour group (Caravan). Nice beach, great looking facility. Access road is a big disappointment; last 9 km from Liberia are dirt. Large room, comfortable beds. Breakfast buffet in the main courtyard; dinner in Mansita. Food was only mediocre; maybe it's better if you eat at the real restaurants. Nothing special about the breakfast buffet. At dinner, steaks and carved meats were all very tough. On the other hand, the fish was excellent. Deserts were not restocked in a timely manner (or at all, if you were eating on the second dinner shift). Had to ask multiple times for water or coffee (both in Mansita and upstairs at breakfast). Hard to evaluate value, as it was part of a package tour (which itself was an excellent value)

Did not have a good experience at all. First, the security in the evening is non existent. Upon arriving to the resort from daily activities, there is not a person in site to greet you or any security around the resort. It is very dark and there are no lights around the resort. Secondly, room service will enter your room each and every time you leave. We left or room for an hour massage and when we got back money was stolen from the room. Although it was not a large sum, with the number of rooms at the resort, someone is making a small fortune. I spoke to security about this matter and they did nothing except speak in spanish to each other, saying it not a big deal. Little did they know I spoke spanish. Right after this incident occured, we left for dinner, and once again, room service came in, after we specifically requested they not enter. There are many better resorts in Costa Rica....GO THERE!!!!!!

The hotel itself is beautifully designed. The rooms are very stylish, with beautiful bathrooms and comfortable beds. The pool is huge. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Special thanks to the people at the free (!) Kids' Club, who took great care of our 6-year old son (who insisted on going back to the Kids Club again and again after trying it once). There are several restaurants within the hotel, but we did not like the food in any of them, except, ironically, for the little poolside cafe. In addition to the not-so-good food, we thought the hotel was too isolated - it takes about 30 minutes to get to the nearest town, Tamarindo. But, frankly, that was not such a big deal. Overall, we had a wonderful experience and will definitely come back.

When I arrived at hotel, they did not have my room ready. Had to wait a long time with them on phone with [...] for them to clear up their confusion. On night one, the air conditioning went out. Was out for five nights. Claim they will reimburse us for the cost -- but that remains to be seen. Location is far from town.On night three, my ceiling fan FELL from the ceiling. They moved my room to one with an inferior location. They never even apologized or did ANYTHING to make up for the inconvenience -- and SAFETY issue associated with this. I had to pack my room and move to another room -- They seemed very unconcerned.A great place -- very nice -- but they need to learn a bit about customer service. The young people working were nice -- but there was never a decision maker present. Very disappointing and inappropriate for a Marriott property.

The hotel is beautiful, and the staff tries to be very helpful. They always have a smile on their faces. [...] the hotel is very beautiful. The rooms are spacious and clean. The food is good. The pool is beautiful, and for the most part you didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get a chair. We have traveled extensively, and I would put this hotel at 4 stars. We went off the resort to go on a canopy zipline tour. Which was alot of fun. We also went into Tamarindo. You can do the whole town in about 2 hours. My husband played golf and he said the monkeys were watching in laughing.Overall a good resort, with a couple issues.

The JW Marriott Guanacaste was a very nice resort hotel. The service was outstanding, the food was excellent (but a bit overpriced), the pool was fantastic and the hotel was right on the beach. There were a few rocks to be careful of in the ocean just off the beach, but not too bad. We had very clean rooms. The bad part about the location is that you have to drive down a DIRT road for at least 2 - 3 miles to get there. Unless you are planning on staying at the hotel to do everything (which we didn't) it's just not the best location.

This was truly an excellent hotel. Grounds, rooms, and pool, jacuzzi was very beautiful. Only issue was that the beach is not the greatest. A lot of rocks when the tide was out, although we found this to be a minor issue. We still swam everyday but saw many nicer beaches in Costa Rica.

I made one phone call home for 16 minutes, it cost $56.00 RIDICULOUS. Internet for $3.00/half hour Expensive. Breakfast Very expensive $25.00 per person. Steakhouse very nice but also expensive $180.00/couple. Not a good location and beach has a fair amount of rocks and can be a problem.