Occidental Grand Papagayo Resort Guanacaste Costa Rica. Best Hotel Deals & Reviews

Date of Stay: July, 2009

The hotel lobby was beautiful! The view is pictured above and it looks identical to what I saw. However, the rooms were a different story. The first room that they attempted to place me in appeared to be "OK" until I took a peek into the bathroom. The shower was supposed to be white but it was so filthy and moldy that it looked more greyish brown than anything else. I asked for a different room. The 2nd room was barely better. There were food crumbs and a previous guests hair piece under the bed but the bathroom looked better at first glance. The shower had black marble tile throughout (so that you couldn't see the dirt as much)but the sink was clogged. There was also one thing missing...A SHOWER CURTAIN! I had to call the front desk 3 times for a curtain! Then, when the cleaning lady finally showed up, she was holding towels instead of a curtain??? I was there for 4 days and I never did receive my shower curtain! Other problems? There seemed to be a shortage of towels and wash clothes all the time. I spoke with other guests and they had similar problems (The hotel would run out and you would have to wait for more to be used and laundered). We also experienced a few short power outages while staying there. Everything goes completely dark. This probably happened about 3 times in 4 days and it is very spooky when it happens at night. Another problem was the fact that they advertise two places to dine for dinner but good luck getting in. The restaurants are always booked. They told us that we would be unable to eat there because both restaurants were booked for the whole week??? Um... let's see, there was a stray cat at the resort that would beg for your food while eating near the pool. There were also large black birds that would swoop down and grab food off of the food bar outside. There were a million bees surrounding the outside drinking bar at the pool so you really couldn't enjoy sitting there. Oh yeah and the sand is not white (due to volcanoes), it's dark. Ther

Date of Stay: November, 2008

We stayed there in the beginning of November, just after the rainy season and before the dry season, so everything was green and only a few showers. We had a great time! While there are 72 steps from the pool to the lobby, they are large steps. We all have bad knees but if you take your time they are manageable with a couple of breaks. There are other direct stairs and paths to get from your room to the pool - you do not have to go via the lobby. The on-site tour company was very knowledgeable so we had a great time on all of the excursions booked through them. The staff responded immediately to any and all minor problems we had, and the waitstaff by the pool hustled with your drink orders. The only thing I did not like and WARN anyone about is that there is a card by the phone advertising that you can place your collect, long distance calls yourself from your room and pay just $2.00 per min for the first 3 minutes, then $3.00 per minute after that. This was using BBG Communications as the card stated. We were charged an additional $25.00 for phone line usage by the resort. Then when I got home I had "International Satellite Communications" charges on my phone bill for $43.92 for 5 minutes on each phone call I placed. I called up BBG Communications on the internet and it linked to a "Pissed Off Consumer" website that was loaded with complaints from ripped off people. DO NOT PLACE OVERSEAS CALLS HOME!

Date of Stay: May, 2008

My wife and I came to the Occidental Grand Papagayo on our honeymoon. What a perfect setting! We had upgraded to the Grand Romance package and what a deal! We were greeted each day with a magnificent view of the Papagayo Gulf, a bottle of champagne, chocolate dipped strawberries, a breakfast in bed, and a special romantic dinner at the Italian restaurant! The pool was excellent for relaxing and for the fun volleyball and polo games that went on there. Don't miss the beachside massages that are given in secluded ocean front huts! Guanacaste is the sunniest and dryest part of Costa Rica. It was gorgeous and green (the rainy season had just started) and I'd definitely recommend going during this time. The staff was freindlier than any place I had ever been!

Date of Stay: June, 2009

This hotel was exactly what we were looking for, not crowded which was expected for the time of year, peaceful, the most beautiful views no matter which way you turn, staff was amazing, food excellent, and as for being on a very hilly property which I personally would have wanted no other way, anyone who is to stay there with any handycap or disabilities of any kind they were picked up by staff and brought to any location on the resort they wanted to go with no problem. We are definetly going back to the Occidental Grand Papagayo, as soon as we are able. " remarkable " and thank you for handeling everything so well for us, all was perfect. sincerly: Chris and Valinda Carlson

	Date of Stay: October, 2008
I was very pleased and suprised at how fast we checked in. It took us about 25 minutes to get from the airport to the resort. As soon as we got to the resort, someone was there to take our bags. We were offered drinks immediately, and it literally took us no longer than 10 minutes to check in. That is the experience my husband and I had. Hopefully everyone else will too! We arrived around 8-9pm.

Date of Stay: April, 2008

Location: Located in the Papagayo Bay area near the 4-Seasons and Hilton just 25 minutes from the Liberia Inter. Airport; this is by far the sunniest region in a place where microclimates lead to heavy rain just 45 minutes away near the Flamingo beach resort. If you're looking for a great high-end stay and enjoy getting what you pay for; this is it. Hotel: Gated-entrance, breath-taking grounds. 4 all-inclusive dining areas (magnificent). Costa Rica is a developing nation as such it is SO worth it to go all inclusive. This is not a rip off package, you will get your money's worth as dining in the local areas is adjusted for "gringo" and you will get price gouged. The food at this hotel is nothing short of SPECTACULAR. In fact, upon check-in the courteous staff opens a bottle of champagne for the weary traveller. I could vacation here the rest of my life and not have any complaints. do yourself a favor and splurge now on the extra cost that you'll surely make-up in the long run. This is golden advice.

	Date of Stay: May, 2009
The hotel was average. The rooms were ok, the walls had some mold and on our last day the shower leaked through the wall. The food was also average but we always had amazing service. Pool was okay and beach was not bad. There are many activities/tours to do outside of the resort which can be arranged through the hotel or with people on the beach.

Date of Stay: October, 2008

My husband and I just had our honeymoon here, the week of October 18th, 2008. There was actually about 10-15 other couples honeymooning here the same week as us!! We had an awesome time. The place was well kept, the food was good. You have to book the Italian and Oriental restaurant in advance. We ate at the Italian restaurant and the buffet. Italian was very good. The buffet had a different theme every night. The Italian theme was delicioussssssssss. The bartenders was veryyyyyy nice. The room keepers were very nice. Our room was always very clean, drinks were always good. We had beautiful weather. It was cloudy one day, the rest of the days were sunny with a couple of minutes of rain, usually in the evening. This was a very relaxing place. We took a tour for a day. We went to the rainforest, took a mudbath, and we went walking around a local town- and ate at a local restaurant. We enjoyed ourselves. Beautiful place, good food, very nice people. I would go back in the future.

	Date of Stay: November, 2007
Great time on our honeymoon!!!

Date of Stay: May, 2009

We stayed here for a week...the rooms are not what we expected...don't go by the pictures on this site. We paid the extra to "upgrade"....don't you'll waste your money. We asked for a king room and had 2 doubles the whole stay. Included in the "upgrade" we should have had an ocean view and ended up with a pool view. Another couple we talked to had an ocean view and said that their room was amazing. Our fridge was only stocked with drinks 2 times over the whole week. We tipped the chambermaid daily...she didn't always leave towels or take the dirty ones on the floor. Jefrey is the best and friendliest bartender hands down. We never felt pressured to tip around the resort whereas at other all-inclusive hotels we have been in do(Mexico). The staff was great overall and very attentive in the restaurants/bars. Everyone was friendly. The food was very good and had a good variety. The service in the "speciality" restaurants was SLOW. There were only 2 of us and each time we spent about 2 hours to get through dinner. The food in the buffet was better. Look for [...] on the beach to go on tours with. Him and his wife own a tour company. You can find him hanging out usually by the kayaks. If he isn't there - go back the next day because chances are he is on a tour. Make sure you go with [...]. The hotel will tell you that the guys on the beach will take your money. HE IS THE BEST and extremely dependable. He has a ton of info to share about Costa Rica! We went on the Arenal Volcano Tour through the hotel ---- it was a LONG day and the chances of seeing the lava are about 2/10....we did not. We wish we would have done Monteverde tour instead. The jungle walk and Baldi hot springs are very commercialized....had much more fun on the adventure tour with [...] and saved about 5 hours! We also went on the boat tour which was incredible. If you want to see monkeys and wildlife -- this is the thing to do.

Date of Stay: August, 2008

It is not a very active property and the nightlife choices are the lobby bar, disco - which is very small - and the lobby patio with live music. It is a very low key property. The beach is small and disappears when the tide comes in. Mainly people spend their time on tours. If it rains and the tour is cancelled for the day there's really nothing to do on property. I had a great experience, the hotel staff was very friendly, my room was very pretty and had a beautiful view. The buffet food was a bit redundant and the reservation system for the restaurants that require them was not a good system. In the week that I was there I was only able to make reservations for 1 night as I left on tours prior to the office opening. I would go back on my way through the region

Date of Stay: September, 2007

awsome stay at the hotel the only thing i didnot care for was they would not gaurentee me an ocenview balcony but other wise awsome . rooms were clean,spacious, quite and we had a balcony .l right out side our room we had a swim up bar with plenty of liquor i dont drink beer but i think they had domestic beer . the resturaunts were all excellent even the buffet with i think was better than the rest of them. with the resturaunts though yo had to make a reservation ( do it when you first get ther you can allways cancel) or eat at the buffet or room service . the activities were plentifull both in and around the hotel we took the jet skis out went snorkeling , deep sea fishing, we took a 6 hr quad ride spectacular views excellent hotel and place to visit I WILL GO BACK .

Date of Stay: May, 2009

The resort was in an excellent location. Resort had beutiful views at every angle you stand. when we first arrived our room were not ready until 7pm. we arrived from a 9 hr flight at 12 noon. Finally after all the complaining we started to do (after 3-check out time) they gave us room. I orginally requested 2 beds, they wanted give us a king bed. refured the room so they gave us a 2bed dirty room. Overall staff was pleasent especially the the activity host. The food was not the best. The resort is super relaxing. If you are looking for a party resort than this s not it. But extremely peaceful. Finally, its a safe safe country and the Ticos & Ticas are so so pleasent and friendly. Enjoy your trip!

Date of Stay: August, 2008

Once we arrived at the Occidental, we wandered into the entry area. No on greeted us, we didnt know where to sign in, one gentleman did offer us some water. We finally found another employee that got us headed in the right direction. They asked us to find our names on the computer, bc they coudlnt. Once we found our names on the comupter they quickly slapped a cheesy bracelet on us and said we coudlnt take it off until we left. We were driven to our rooms, which may have been the nicest guesture of our day. We then moved to our matchbox room with a dingy comforter, which may have been filled with STD's. The bathroom was dirty, unbelievable hot, and also had a lizard crawling around. The "AC" harldy kept the room at 77 degrees. We were dissapointed but decided to give it a chance. So...we walked to the beach where we found a five foot wide span of dirty beech with people selling trinckets. We thought we would try lunch. Turns out, this was not a good decisioin. Can you mess up a salad or cheese; yes, if your at the occidental. The burger may as well have been a brick. My wife nibbled on some chicken surprise? After the first bite of my brick, i looked up to find my wife in near tears. Our expensive vaction was headed down the tubes. We did move to the pool to find a dirty pool, tattoo rich, cigarette smoke filled, redneck paradise. At this point, we were ready to die. Decided, instead, to call our travel agent. She told us she would find us a new place. We decided to try and eat dinner while we worked on the move. I called for dinner reservations and was told to make them in person. I told them it was a monsoon outside, and she said i couldnt make reservations over the phone. so, i began the quarter mile hike to the lobby area in the rain/tsunami."Upon arriving at guest services, they let me know that there were no available tables. i then went back to the room and decided it was timeto check out after four hours at the beautifl occidental. They did try and charge us

Date of Stay: August, 2007

Beautiful location. Beach was a little small, but the water was great. Even with the humidity, it was cooler than Phoenix. Be sure to book some activities while you are there... Swiss Travel is recommended and we found them to be better than the others. Pool was broken for a few days while we were there, but they refunded a nights stay as compensation. Food was plentifull as was the drinks. Food is buffet style, but there are two reservation only places which I highly recommend. You must get up early (8:00 am) and make the reservation in the business center. A small hoop to jump through for a great meal. Be sure to bring an alarm clock if you have an early flight or pickup as there seem to be no clocks on the property and wakeup calls were a little delayed. Bring your camera!

	Date of Stay: May, 2009
The Resort was at a beautiful location. Many of the staff were super friendly and helpful.

Date of Stay: August, 2008

Overall hotel was beautiful. Staff member friendliness was mixed. Dining staff was fair, bar staff was excellent, front desk staff was less than helpful or attentive. If you want a towel for beach or pool you better get it very early as they ran out or made you wait every day. Hope you like stairs as there are plenty!! I was on a tropical vacation so did not like the fact that I could not eat in the restaurant without long pants. Although the buffet area did display many choices and all were of good quality. Resort seemed more of a relax by the pool crowd so would be nice for kids or older groups. Swiss Travel Services was outstanding as they took the time to answer all questions and explain each and every trip in great detail. Tour guides were all outstanding. In room "mini bar" was listed to be restocked daily with water and beer. It was not. When requested we were denied until the next day. Beach is nice and quiet. High tide each day basically covers the entire area so be prepared to vacate around 3:00 pm daily. Hotel should consider having wait staff at beach area for guests. Again, the hotel is very nice but I don't think I would stay there again considering I don't feel I was appreciated as a guest. For the money that was spent I expected more.

Date of Stay: April, 2009

If you are looking for a quiet, isolated resort that's only about 40% occupied this place is for you. The grounds are beautiful, yet very hilly-so if you aren't into walking up hills do not stay here. The resort is definately not a four or five star like advertised. I would give it three at best. Service is friendly except for the front desk and in particular, [...] who is about the rudest front desk employee I have ever encountered in all my years of travel. Indifferent would be about the best description I can give the entire front desk staff.A couple of important pointers you should know about:1. The water for the entire resort is shut off at 11pm every night and is not turned back on until 7am. On two of the days the water wasn't turned back on until after 10am the next day. I found this out the hard way after taking an evening hike and wanting to take a shower at 11pm upon returning to my room. The front desk staff will flat out lie to you and say the water is out in the entire area. After two or three strait nights of this, I began asking around to employees that I had befriended and they informed me of the truth. 2. The is absolutely zero night life at this resort. The "disco" stays open until 1am but I never saw more than four or five people in it the entire time I was there. The whole resort kind of had the feeling that it was running on it's last legs (restaurants that were supposed to be open weren't, lightly staffed with the same staff members working 14 hour shifts, etc..)If you want any night life at all you have to take a ten minute taxi ride (no hotel shuttle provided) for $35 to Coco Beach which has a strip of small bars and restaurants. On the bright side, the food was excellent at the buffets, with a lot of traditional Costa Rican dishes. They also had a nice selection of top-shelf liquors at the bars, but they closed the beach bar at 4pm and the pool bar at 5pm which were my favorite bars to hang out at. Good luck trying to get a reservation for

Date of Stay: April, 2009

This vacation was for relaxing and it is a good place to do that. The grounds are beautiful and the view is outstanding. They do need to replace the outdoor furniture covers on a more regular basis. They get a lot of use. We did a couple of tours to zip line and and a river tour. We were disappointed that it was the dry season in the area. The areas outside of the hotel grounds were very brown. The staff is wonderful and ready to please.

Date of Stay: November, 2008

This hotel was beautiful, with gorgeous views. The food was great and the staff was soooo nice. They were always happy to do anything for us, and didn't wait around expecting tips afterward. The pool was great, and so was the beach. The rooms were not as nice as we thought they were going to be, but we spent very little time there, so it was no big deal. There is so much to do there, that we only wished we could have stayed longer.

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Occidental Grand Papagayo Resort Guanacaste

Rating out of 5