Hotel Bintang 5 di Guanacaste, Kosta Rika

Just returned from our stay at the Planet Hollywood and have mixed feelings.  There were some excellent aspects… but also a few areas for improvement!  Let’s start with the good stuff: Edu (bartender at the lobby bar) was a STAR.  Trust him to make your drinks, just tell him the flavor or preference for liquor) and he will spin you up something completely magical!! We LOVED spending our nights sitting at the bar watching Edu make peoples evenings.  We also loved the included watersports like paddleboarding and kayaking ( unfortunately the big water tricycle was out of order).  The Fuel Coffee bar is also a fabulous addition and great place to escape the heat for a cold coffee.  Now, the negatives - the front desk staff was pretty subpar and didn’t seem to communicate very well - one girl was actually very rude when I was trying to sort out a room situation and I wish I got her name.  The pool drinks are SO bad.  Not sure what type of bottom shelf alcohol they use at pool bar, but we tried so many different drinks and they were all disgusting.  The only thing somewhat drinkable was the Mojito.  I ended up switching to non-alcoholic drinks after day 1 and they were much better at the pool.  Did my real drinking at the lobby bar with Edu in the evenings.  Otherwise, the room was clean - resort was nice and entertainment was entertaining.  The food was decent but the buffet was SO hot and humid without any air conditioning. Overall, this was far from the best all inclusive experience I’ve had, but, we still made the most of it and had a nice time.

Op zich een prachtig gelegen, groot en luxe hotel met uitstekende service. Maar helaas vooral gericht op party vierende Amerikanen. Daardoor continu geluidsoverlast. Op de eerste dag van ons verblijf party aan het zwembad met veel drinkende mensen in het zwembad en zeer luide muziek met DJ. Op de t****e dag werd een groot scherm opgesteld bij het zwembad waarop de Superbowl wedstrijd werd vertoond van 16-22 uur. Enorm lawaai. Ons diner in het restaurant was daardoor niet leuk en teleurstellend. Management reageert wel betrokken en positief, maar kan onze negatieve ervaring niet goed maken. Conclusie: wie een luxe-ervaring wil met veel party, drukte en harde muziek zit hier prima. Wie voor de rustige pura-vida ervaring met natuur in Costa Rica komt moet hier niet zijn!

Room was clean, modern, comfortable. Service was really wonderful and enhanced our stay here - it makes such a difference when people are nice to you when you are away from home. There were plenty of excellent food choices for us (one of us being a vegetarian). The hotel has a ”normal” side with bars and poolside music, as well as a ”quiet” side near the spa without the music...so it was good to have the choice of vibe to sit in. Altogether its a really well run hotel: one we were pleased to have stayed in and one we would definitely return to.