Palmira Vacations from $593

Failed to give us our two rooms (booked in February for a November stay) next to each other… booked 1 room with two double beds and one with king + sofa bed pullout… both rooms provided were king + pullout. Due to shutdown, missed our domestic connection and were laid over a night - hotel refused to move the reservation from Sat to Sat to Sun to Sun so we could get the full value and experience (hotel was barely half capacity due to offseason)… food was decent with some very good places to eat; after awhile, breakfast and lunch buffet get pretty boring and repetitive. Staff at all restaurants, pool and bars were very attentive and smiling. Front desk not very helpful with our concerns and inflexible. One room was musty and lacked features of identical other room - privacy tub curtain, stand lamp… room phone was useless; shower water temps wildly inconsistent. alcohol dispensers started half empty and took physically removing them and putting the empties obviously next to the coffee maker to get them to restock; beer, soda, coffee, condiments and water were restocked daily and beds/towels/toilet paper refreshed daily if needed. Needs more bathrooms across campus more easily accessible from all locations - had to walk a few minutes from pool to go to the bathroom, which was annoying. Buffets were chaotic, with room for improvement in handling flow of people getting food… Overall positive experience, but some things could be improved to achieve top scores in all areas.

Excellent customer service, spotless, super clean, VERY Cozy. Highly recommended.

The hotel staff at the Riu Guanacaste made our trip super comfortable. They were timely in meeting all of our needs. The “Michael Jackson” show is a must see, as we were thoroughly entertained. And you have to visit the onsite steak house restaurant! The salmon is the best thing in the menu. However, there were two things that took away from our stay; (1) the check-in process. It took us over 2 hours to check-in. We thought that after flying over 5 hours and then catching a 45 minute taxi that the check-in process would’ve been more streamlined. However, this was not the case. The Riu has to do better with their check-in process. (2) The food. Aside from the steak house restaurant, the food onsite was mid at best. We found ourselves longing for McDonald’s, which is something we rarely eat. All in all, this trip was a success but we are not sure if we would revisit this location again.

I lived every second of my vacay