El Mangroove Papagayo, Autograph Collection

We come every year and it’s always as good as the first time.

It has beautiful grounds. Well kept and great location. The beach is very quiet no big waves so if looking for surf it’s not the hotel-location for it unless you are ok going to adjacent beach locations.

Friendly staff

Stange room layout. Very loud ac could not sleep well. Long pool very hot. Breakfast fruit all pre packaged in cups with Saran Wrap.

We didn’t make it to breakfast sadly but it looked great.

The spa is overpriced I think for what it is. I went with my partner for a couples massage and to spend time and the facilities were completely separate, the deep tissue massage was also not great.

Beautiful architecture with a splash of food poisoning, a desperate quest for warm water and front-row-seats at the Olympics of unfriendliness Let’s start at the beginning: They started the check-in by reading us the list of possible offences and the respective fines. The display of mistrust was followed by 20-minute-long procedure. When I interrupted asking if I could please just have the keys as I was not feeling very well and go to the room, he continued his endless speech. An intake to a prison with a life sentence seemed like a smother process at this point. Once in our room I wanted to take a shower – too bad there was no warm water. We mentioned this at the front desk (as we were not the only ones) – no reaction, no change, no apology. Most of us then had dinner at the restaurant – which resulted in three people having food poisoning. Again, something I mentioned at front desk. The reaction: A grunt. No apology, no follow-up questions to find out what might have caused multiple guests to be sick. The whole experience was accompanied by unfriendly, inattentive and what seemed untrained staff. At some point it became a sport of who was first able to get the attention of staff and be served. A game we mostly lost. Simply said, this hotel is a disgrace for any other house carrying 5 stars. 5-star hospitality is a form of art. A place where every experience is seamless, every member of the staff is part of beautiful choreography of services that interlock. You can find beautiful places everywhere, but it is the staff and their level of service that sets a 5-star property apart. I can hardly blame only the staff for all the things that went wrong as there is a general manager who obviously fails to train his team properly. If a GM does not have any respect for the art of hospitality, they should give their position to someone who will take pride in delivering a 5-star experience.

nothing really - only it’s nicely done the beach front area

staff unfriendly, exeperience is bad like a highway hotel. first room was looking over the parking lot. rooms are not nice at all - with a strange separation door. much too expensive for what it offers.