JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort and Spa

We visited as a family what a beautiful property! Rooms large and comfortable turn down service was the best ! Staff amazing and great breakfast buffet Monica was best at omelette station ! We ate at all restaurants and were pleased with all the delicious options . The grill by pool great lunch menu and large portions . We did horseback ride offered by hotel great ride saw lots monkeys and learned so much about the history from staff . Our favorite was the endless pool And infinity to the ocean . Lots comfortable chairs and umbrellas I will definitely be back it’s my favorite JW !!!!!

The resort made a good impression, though it feels slightly tired in places. We booked an ocean view room, which was spacious and delivered on the promised view. Everything was clean, in working condition, and the staff was friendly—though at times a bit forgetful, so a gentle reminder might be needed here and there. The location is quite remote. It's about an hour and a half drive from Liberia Airport, with the last two miles on a very bumpy, unpaved road — which seems unacceptable given the resort’s price point. Keep in mind that the Guanacaste region is drier than other parts of Costa Rica, with less jungle and wildlife. Overall, not the best value for the money. At a regular rate of $1,000 per night (we had a discounted rate), you’d expect service and amenities on par with some other hi-end places — but this fell short.

This is a wonderful resort - right on the beach at Pacific Ocean with a very large and well maintained pool that lets you view the ocean from the pool. The breakfast buffet has everything that you could imagine. The rooms are well maintained and large. There is really nothing negative to say except this: It takes 1 hour and a half or more to get there from the Liberia airport - the roads a very rough with many sections totally unfinished and full of huge potholes. It is far away from wildlife, rain forests, volcanos. I highly recommend this resort but if you are only visiting Costa Rica to sit by a pool - there are many locations such as Mexico that are very nice and easier to travel to.

The service was awful. The rooms, hotel grounds, pool and food were very good. The staff seemed totally disinterested in even remotely helping with anything. Breakfast was the worst service. No one even came by and many of the stations (omelette and quesadilla) were empty most of the time. The food was very good epically at the Asian restaurant and Azul by the pool. It’s very expensive no matter how you look at it. Lunch for 2 with a few starters and margaritas was $100USD. They ALWAYS tack on 10% gratuity and maybe this is why service literally sucks. Maybe there’s no incentive to do better because they are guaranteed to get a “tip”. So I wouldn’t tip anyone unless it’s literally above and beyond. They also tack on 10% a day to the room for the maid, which we had to call everyday to get them to actually do the service. The pool waiters are actually the best and you can order the same food and have them bring to your chair at the pool. The we had a suite with the plunge pool and it really was one of the nicest suites we’ve ever stay in anywhere worldwide. It’s really a shame the service is so bad, literally BAD, terrible, awful because the hotel is clean and well maintained. There really is no excuse to be this bad as a JW property. You can make reservations on open table a week or so before you arrive for the restaurants and i’d highly suggest you do that as they full up and there really isn’t any other options. We took a car service to Tamarindo one evening for 4 and the car was expensive $200USD r/t but it was private and we set the schedule. Theres so secret the hotel is relatively isolated and we knew that and its not an issue so if you see complaints about that they really make no sense and we knew that going in and it didn’t bother us at all.

I stayed at the JW Marriott Guanacaste with my family from March 2 to 6. During the stay, everything went smoothly. However, when reviewing my credit card statement afterward, I noticed an additional charge of a considerable amount, apart from the lodging cost, with no explanation provided. Since then, I’ve been trying to contact the hotel via email for over a month, sending multiple messages to the provided address and copying two responsible auditors. Unfortunately, I have not received any response — my messages have been completely ignored. I expected a much more professional and attentive level of service from a brand like Marriott. Unfortunately, this post-stay experience has been extremely frustrating and disappointing.

Fabulous destination. It is AT THE END of the road Middle of nowhere. Beautiful Botanical Hotel is 5 star ***** for a reason Full featured Pricey Great food Room was ocean front. All staff professional and pleasant Live music was thematic and colloquial Super good place

NOTHING TO SAY. WAS TRRIBLE

Beautiful property, huge pool, variety of restaurants. Slightly isolated from any towns (half hour drive to Tamarindo and they have a shuttle). Walked to a nice beach restaurant, Lola’s. Could advertise that the spa has a sauna, steam room and small pool. Spa prices were high for Central America but service was good. Really enjoyed the Tamarine Restaurant. Room was very comfortable with a large bathtub. Pool is huge. Nice property, about an hour and a half from Liberia airport. Found a less expensive van to and from Liberia airport than what the Marriott offered.

We didn't do our homework before we booked, and accidentally ran into one of the busiest weeks at the resort. Holy Week means government employees have off, and they go to the beach in droves with all of their small(and not so small) children. Even so, the resort was very clean, the food was good, and the service was as good as could be expected with the amount of people there (fully booked). We had daily room service with clean sheets and new supplies including much needed water. The pool was PACKED every day with most chairs being reserved with towels and belongings by 6 am. Wait service was a little spotty, but they did their best to keep up with demand. The sheer number of children made it unpleasant to be next to the pool, unless you wanted to get wet. One thing I want to add is the weather was HOT. 96-98 degrees Fahrenheit (and humid) every day and exceptionally windy, which means you couldn't use the umbrellas, which made sitting in the sun by the pool unbearable for me. I had to spend most of the daylight hours in the room or on the balcony where there was some shade. We did a tour of a volcano and it was much cooler at altitude, but it was also raining. And be prepared for sticker shock on pretty much everything. Two 1.5 liters of water and a mini coke was $20 US. A regular sized hamburger/fries was $26, and breakfast buffet was $32 per person. I had coffee and fruit so it was hard to stomach paying that much. Diesel fuel was almost $5/liter, not gallon. A sun-shirt cost $115 that I could get at Costco for $29. Be prepared to spend $100-200 per person on food each day if you eat at the resort. Local restaurants are about 50% of the resort price. Glad I went, but wouldn't go back.

We just returned from a week at the JW Marriott. It’s a very nice resort and the grounds are beautifully maintained, but absolutely not a five-star resort. When I think of five-star, I think of pristine spaces with no detail spared—and this just didn’t meet that standard. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, but it seems like the resort is understaffed across the board. Pool service was subpar—chairs were “reserved” with towels early in the morning, and it took forever to get someone to take a food or drink order. In the afternoon, we would have to remove all the empty cups, trash, garnish, etc. ourselves so we would have a clean spot. The pool cushions were nasty… bird poop, spilled drinks, stains—it definitely took away from the vibe. Seems like it would be such a worthy investment in the property to replace the chairs (or cushions at least). Bath towels were very poor quality (I felt like I was exfoliating just drying off). That was a big disappointment, especially thinking we’re coming to a top-tier resort. The service at the restaurants was good, but the food was just okay. I wish we knew to venture out for food sooner. Again, it felt understaffed. There was a 10–15 party wait just to get seated for breakfast. The room service burger was really good. It was the best meal we had. We ate at all the restaurants except Tamarine. We had much better food outside the hotel at Il Rustica, Lola’s, and the Beach Club. Speaking of which—I highly recommend taking advantage of the Beach Club about five minutes away. It’s $5 per person and offers a full menu, a nice pool, and access to a great beach for surfing. The food and service there were far better than at the resort. I just wish we had discovered it earlier—we would have gone every day. Again, I don’t attribute this to the resort staff…just a lack thereof. On the positive side, we loved having a rental car desk right in the hotel—it made things super convenient. The gift shop was great for grabbing daily snacks or items we forgot to pack, and the ice cream was excellent. Gym is very nice. Spa looked wonderful, though we didn’t have any services. Nice bikes you can use. Owen is great at recommending excursions, etc. Be sure to ask for him. A special thank-you to Alfredo, who was incredibly helpful every day with anything we needed. We also met so many other kind and welcoming staff members—Gainer, Kevin, Lidia—who truly made our stay more enjoyable. With an increase in staff and a refresh on some of the details, this resort would be top notch.