We love Costa Rica -- been there 4 times just this year. It's a gorgeous country, which even though it's small there is an almost infinite number of things to see and experience.
That does make up for what we have experienced as a lower standard of service than the average -- by that I mean that in the dozen or so hotels and resorts we have been to in Costa Rica, the service quality is consistently below the average of the hundred or so places we have been to elsewhere in the world. We learnt to accept that.
But what we experienced at Nayara Springs is really an outlier, and really can't be forgiven, especially in context.
Let me start with the good: as many reviews have said, this is a beautiful property -- the villas are gorgeous, very well designed and appointed and the plunge pool is just perfect. The mattress is literally the only thing we can complain about in the villa -- our mattress was definitely in need of replacement, since there were several sunken spots.
The onsite restaurants are very good, and we really had consistently good meals, including amazing breakfasts.
Our first few moments at Nayara Springs impressed us greatly in terms of service: our welcoming team was outstanding, promptly received us and gave us a tour of the property. At that point we were feeling very good about the service quality at Nayara Springs.
We also had a great experience at the Spa -- amazing massages, great facilities -- and, again, the service at the restaurants was as good as the food. The Yoga instructor that delivers the daily 8:15am Yoga class was also solid.
Laundry service was also very good.
But what happened on Day 2 and then at Check Out was simply ridiculous.
Let me set the context: Nayara Springs is kinda of in the middle of nowhere. It's far from downtown La Fortuna, for example. UberX does exist in La Fortuna but Nayara is far enough, and gated, that using UberX would involve long wait times. Same thing with Taxis. So we rented a car, so we would have some mobility and not be "stuck" at Nayara Springs for our whole trip (which would be sad since there is so much to see in La Fortuna and Arenal).
When we arrived we were warned that due to construction Valet times are long. To call 20 minutes in advance or more. So on Day 2 when we needed the car so we called it 30 minutes in advance, and only after those 30 minutes we walked down to the reception.
Car was nowhere to be seen... we pointed this out, waited 10 more minutes and... the wrong car shows up. 30 minutes, 45 minutes... eventually the right car shows up. At this point way over 1 hour after we called it in. Excuse? "We mixed up your car with your neighbor's". Sigh...
Fast forward to our check out day...
We call both the car in as well as a golf cart to pick our luggage up (it's a long walk to the reception, where the car would be delivered, and it was raining).
1 hour passes. No golf cart.
We give up on waiting, drag our luggage down to the reception, expecting the car to be there.
Nope. Nobody even tried to get our car for us. We point it out... 30 minutes... 45 minutes... 1 more hour. The car finally shows up.
So: we had to drag the bags ourselves and wait 2 full hours for the car.
Absolutely insane. The excuse? "We are really busy today". There was like one other couple checking out the whole period we were waiting. That should not qualify as "really busy". It was a Tuesday. Sigh...
So -- if you're planning on never leaving the property and have packed light, you're probably in for a good experience. Otherwise... not sure. Just bear in mind it may take you 2 hours to check out...
