Surf Ranch Tamarindo

We felt very unsafe here as the door to the compound left open all night and it’s unsupervised. All other places there have 24 security. When we arrived the place it was filthy and had to clean it up ourselves. The girl at the front didn’t seem to care. Also, it seems they double book so if you do not pay in advance you may not have a place to stay when you arrive. Saw this happen to couple of young travellers-they had to scramble to find other accommodations.

The kids loved it, right across from the beach and surf break. We rented a suite with 2 queen beds, and it came with everything they advertised. The breakfast was great and I loved the fact it was included, especially at that price. Coffee was good, and overall, very cool place and central to everything.

Dear travelers, please review all feedback for this place from many prior guests, and you'll realize it's not a good idea to stay here. Both staff members are rude, aggressive, uncooperative, and unfriendly. Let me give you guys the context of our experience and what you might encounter upon arrival should you choose this place. We booked Surf Ranch Hotel in Tamarindo from the Airbnb app, however, from the get-go, we had a bunch of problems with this host: Firstly, before our arrival, the owner persistently messaged us non-stop to confirm our check-in for that day. It was odd but as we found out later, he probably had already rented the place to other guests even though we had a solid booking. We replied and told him several times we were on our way but based on his responses you could tell he wasn’t happy about it. Interestingly, the day before we had considered exploring a different part of Guanacaste and we requested a cancellation, but he declined it. Given the non-refundable cancellation policy at that point in time, it seems he denied the cancellation to secure his payment, hoping we might not turn up or thinking we might not be able to make it, therefore giving our room to somebody else without telling us, getting paid twice for the same accommodation. We arrived at 11:10 a.m. as our booking was for 11 a.m., but Laura the hotel manager didn't let us check in, saying other guests were in our room. She was reluctant to help us in the beginning as Lucas didn’t tell her he had accepted a booking at 11 a.m., so she was not expecting us at all. But to make things worse, her attitude was just unacceptable. Rude, uncooperative, and completely out of place. Once we showed her undeniable proof of our booking being valid, she unwillingly verified in the system that our booking was indeed approved by the hotel owner, Lucas. This is when she finally realized that they had made a mistake and tried to notch down her awful bad attitude towards us. We were super cooperative and understanding with her because we knew it wasn’t her fault though now, I think we should have been much more demanding with her due to her attitude. We asked for a solution as the room being occupied was not our problem as we were properly booked, and all paid for a check-in at 11 a.m. With the room taken, the solution given by both Laura and Lucas, was for us to wait outside the hotel for other guests to leave that day with an approximate wait time of 4-hours based on her estimation, and then blatantly proceeded to kick us out of the premises by closing the reception office, saying she had to leave, obviously just to avoid facing us. We refused, but Lucas over the phone told Laura to force us out and instructed her to tell us to wait in the blazing 40-degree sun until 3 p.m. for our check-in. This was unacceptable at that point. Furthermore, while the accommodation details listed "public parking" as an amenity, upon arrival, we discovered that this simply referred to street

Pretty cool and unique spot! I originally booked for 1 night, but extended my stay for 5 nights. It is located right across from the beach and where everyone surfs. The reception lady was nice, they don't have surf boards there to rent, but they direct guests to a place called Iguanas just down the road. The rooms are super comfortable too, with a mini fridge, TV and black out curtains, not to mention hot water. For the price compared to what you get, I thought I got a good deal. Basically I would wake up, walk the beach, which is amazing at 6am. Come back and eat breakfast at their Cafe 13 restaurant, breakfast is free too which is cool, then I would walk around town, come back, get a surf board, and surf until around lunch time, then just chill work on my laptop either in my room or the cafe, internet is good. Friendly staff, and no complaints at all.

I know I will definitely see a passive aggressive responce from the owner for sure.. but I believe in honest reviews as if you think you are fine with the flaws, go a head book and have a blast but if reading our review means we can save you from a ruined trip then at least I feel I have helped someone. This is our honest opinion of the place and also I'd like to kindly request for the owner to review their amenties on bookings.com and trip advisor as you don't have many of the amenities stated on there.. you may have these at your other businesses but not this one. Positive note, really cute rooms BUT... # Parking- find your own, they have 0 # Shower - 0 hot water- we didn't go surfing or into the sea as we didn't want to have a FREEZING cold shower trying to remove sand. #.... also your shower curtain is way too short so the water flows everywhere even with the little wall. It flows all over the bathroom and out into the bedroom. #WIFI.. We got connected but maybe working at 2%.. we had more network when not connected. # 'coffee station' only in the mornings but not everyday. # 0 access to the drinks machine as it's not a vending type it's just a big fridge with a padlock.. An energy waste.. environment?!?! # 'front desk' says it's manned during certain times and days.. no sign of anyone during the stated times. # Not sure why you have lights on 24/7.. again please think of the environment, you're a business I'm sure you can afford a either a timer or someone to turn them on when the sun starts to set. # Bed.. didn't get a wink of sleep as my back was so bendy.. i mean I'm sure some people would be ok with this but we were not impressed. Great duvet though. # front gate open 24/7 (as per the previous passive aggressive responce a previous reviwer received) i didn't see a '24/7 security opposite at all' and having 'cameras' that's not going to help after if a crime was to occur. It's super easy to break the mosquito screen as it's already broken and the window doesn't lock close, so easy to break into. # TV - poor signal # No kitchen # Fridge.. amazing that you provide one but we only manged to fit one large bottle of water sideways and squeeze a box of grapes in the door slot. # Hand wash... 100% watered down so it's just a nice smelling water in a pump #Hello germs.. we went and brought our own. # 100% for a super clean room, even witnessed house keeping cleaning the neighbouring room and she was amazing. # A/C was working very intermittently # no secure bag drop I've been to Tamarindo multiple times and this has been the only time where we have genuinely been disappointed. It has potential for sure..i mean if you don't mind having having a freezing cold shower and very limited amenties i think you'll be ok. For us personally we would not return to this place nor would we recommend this place to our friends or family. Enjoy your trip wherever you decide to stay :)

I came a fan of Surf Ranch, Lucas & Travis after watching their Hotel Brothers documentary on Amazon Prime, I contacted them and they helped me organize the first multi surf ranch hotel tour....I guess I was the first one to visit all 3 of their resorts, as the third one they just opened up in Popoyo, Nicaragua. This was the first stop on my trip. I stayed here for a few nights, then made my way up to Nicaragua after that. Tamarindo is a cool busy beach town, this hotel was right across from the beach. Their food at Sprout was great as well, and caught a few waves out front. I definitely did not spend a lot of time here as I should of as I really wanted to get to Nicaragua, but def on my next trip back!