Hotel Riu Guanacaste 5*

The resort is really beautiful. The rooms are all you could ask for and more. The food is great at the main dining hall, lots to choose from, really fresh. Where the resort falls down is the bartenders at the many bars. They have an attitude that is unreal, even down to openly rolling their eyes at you. The "American bar" was the absolute worst for this attitude. We spoke to many others that had the same complaint. The good thing is they can easily rectify this issue and get back to 5 Star reviews. We did two big excursions while on our trip. Both were booked with Daniel on the beach (Matapalo Adventures), just walk to the beach and ask for Daniel. He booked organized our trips for 8 people for a 4hr boat trip to swim with turtles, see the caves, fishing and general site seeing, it was so professional and fun. The other trip was to see the volcanos, sloths, rainforest and thermal spas, 8hrs with a traditional Costa Rican Lunch. Superb trip, led by a local who was born there and loved sharing his country with us. Please go with the locals and not the corporate trips. Matapalo Adventures, 508 8396 5035 Daniel Gutierrez.

PLEASE NOTE: THE WATER IN THE HOTEL ROOMS IS NOT SAFE TO DRINK OR USE FOR TOOTH BRUSHING. There are small plaques next to the bathroom sinks that say the water is non-potable. Many people in our large party (spread out across 11 rooms) had not noticed the small signs and would have used the water had we not told them to look for the sign. The mini bar has a large bottle of water that can be used for tooth brushing. Two of the members of our party got very sick with vomiting and severe diarrhea halfway through the trip. I don't know if it was food poisoning or if they accidentally ingested some of the water, but they were quite ill for several days. By the last day of the trip and the first day back home, a total of 14 of our party of 23 were ill with "stomach virus" symptoms. Our extended family of 23 people spent a week here. Before going I was puzzled how there could be so many one-star reviews and also so many five-star. Looking at the experiences we had, spread out across 11 rooms and in several different buildings, we did experience both extremes. Specifically... One-star: Money stolen by housekeeping (10 dollars), Irregular housekeeping and mini-bar refills in some rooms Extremely slow check-in, in an unairconditioned lobby. Slow/borderline rude service to the 90-year-old traveling in our party who needed a wheelchair. (Unlike the other resorts down there, a wheelchair or golf cart for movement around the large resort for older people is NOT provided. You have to rent it. The first one they gave us was broken, so we had to wait for a long time in the un-air conditioned lobby to get another. THEN we saw a lady using a motorized wheelchair - they hadn't offered that as an option! So, back to the lobby for the 90-year old with the painful hip to wait once again for another rental.) Almost all of the staff are kind and helpful - sadly, none of those people work in the lobby! Bad first impression, Riu! For the gluten-free celiac and for the food allergy sufferer who can't eat any: gluten, dairy, soy or citric acid: the chefs told us not to trust the little wheat symbol or other food symbols on the labels in the buffet- they are not accurate. Two nights no one could tell us anything safe to eat so we had pineapple slices for dinner. The head chef could only say he didn't speak English. We told him of our allergies in Spanish, but he made no movement to show us any safe foods. Sometimes there is no hot water for showers, just tepid. One of our rooms only had cold shower water. After a few days of trying to get hot water there, we contacted maintenance, who came and told us the handle was installed upside down and fixed it. Five star: The specific hotel room I stayed in was kept very clean (except one day when they took the tip, but didn't clean, just left towels). The days they did clean, it was very, very clean- even newly mopped. (Hint: do leave a tip each day to keep the good service coming.) Some of the nights in the buffet, the head chefs were WONDERFUL and spent a lot of time showing us which foods were safe for our allergies/celiac. They are obviously professionally trained chefs and did understand food allergies and cross-contamination. The two wonderful chefs who helped us on different nights were named Aldo, and Nelson. Two other nights we were PAMPERED by a head chef who refused to feed us from the buffet, but went back to the kitchen and cooked for us from scratch - even dessert! Safe and delicious - she is an amazing woman! Her name is Zadie. (I may be spelling it wrong.) The pools were clean and fun. The free cocktails were good. The views were lovely. We got to see monkeys on the beach - so wonderful! Our young adults got a bit restless so we rented a car and took them to see a waterfall and some beaches. We do recommend excursions. We took a rain forest boat tour and saw crocs and monkeys and bats. Our teen never got bored at the resort and loved the water park. You can rent a car from Avis if you walk over to the Palace Riu, BUT the car was not there when promised and when it showed up, held fewer people than they said it would. They also charged for gas when they shouldn't have. ANOTHER ITEM OF NOTE: colored wrist bands indicate who is old enough to drink alcohol. DRINKING IS LEGAL for 18 and older. If you don't want your teens drinking, this might not be your resort. It's hard to keep an eye on them because there are many bars across the property. I'm not sure how closely the bartenders look at the wristbands. ALSO OF INTEREST: Tipping (even just a dollar or two) keeps good service coming. And, interesting, the sun rises AND sets around 5:30 each day. Overall, some of us had more fun than others. I would suggest you pick a resort with fewer one-star reviews and with safe water in the rooms. Especially avoid if you need food allergy or wheelchair/movement accommodations or have members of your group (such as little ones) who can't understand not to use the tap water or open their mouth in the shower.