Marcella was beyond excellent. She always greeted us with a genuine smile. She bent over backwards to help us with whatever we needed, and made our stay very easy. She not only answered questions and made some arrangements for us, she had suggestions and helpful hints. She was efficient, knowledgeable, and genuinely nice and happy to help us. It was extremely refreshing.

We saw more monkeys than we've ever seen in our 17 times to Manuel Antonio just from our hotel room. Because of the location of the hotel, deep in the jungle, you get to see a lot of animals. We saw a sloth up close and we saw howler monkeys for the very first time

In one week we stayed in four different rooms. This was by choice. We tried out all three of the airplane rooms as well as a regular room. The airplane rooms were fun, beautiful, very well done, and we felt very spoiled. Our favorite was the cockpit Cabana mainly because of the back balcony/deck. We moved three times, and each time we simply left our bags in the room and the staff transferred it to our new room, along with things in the refrigerator. That made our trip so easy. They also got us into the new room as soon as possible, well before check-in. The regular room was very nice as well. We would be happy to stay in one of those again. All of the rooms had kitchenettes complete with stove, refrigerator, microwave and dishes. We appreciated that they did not make us feel bad or frown upon us bringing in our own food and drink to save money.

The reason I did not give them five stars, and I would actually give them four and a half but that is not an option was because of 3 things. First of all, the hotel does not offer room service. We really do use room service a lot, especially for breakfast. We like to have coffee juice and breakfast in our room on the balcony. They have a restaurant right on site that serves breakfast and lunch, so I really don't think it would be too difficult to add this feature at least for breakfast and lunch. The pizza restaurant, El Wagon, does deliver pizza to your room, and it is delicious. Also, most if not all of the other hotels in Manuel Antonio include breakfast in the price. This hotel does not.

Another small inconvenience was the exhausting, brutal stairs from the rooms to reception and restaurant. There is no elevator. I really don't mind doing a couple stairs, but this was a hike and a half, especially when you have to do it several times a day and especially when you are carrying things. I think they should put an elevator in where the downstairs bathrooms are going up to reception. I'm not being lazy, but those stairs were very difficult and I felt they were dangerous.

Finally, with the exception of Marcella, I found the front desk staff rude and unhelpful. If Marcella was not there, we simply came back later. I don't know his name and I do not want to get anyone in trouble, but there was a young man who was a pretty big guy, stocky, and had a beard, and he was downright unfriendly. He never smiled. In fact he glared at you when you walked in reception. He was very intimidating and made me afraid to even ask a question. Also, a few times I was literally the only person in reception waiting to be helped, and he continued to work on his computer and ignore me for several minutes before even acknowledging me and asking me to come forward. I finally asked him if he could help me and he rolled his eyes and acted like I was troubling him. I am not saying that he should be fired, but this is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed, and I doubt I'm the first person to feel this way.

Overall, excellent stay and we will definitely be back again probably in the cockpit Cabana!