Hostal Cecilia — Hotel in Cahuita

We’ve spent 5 nights at Hostal Cecilia, they were by far the worst nights we had in Costa Rica. Looks like what might have been a nice and friendly family business has turned into a nasty cash flow for the tenants :||||- the place is extremely LOUDY, we were waken up multiple times every night (thin walls, dogs barking, owner TV at 5am, car engines, light and door slammed at midnight). We would have left if we didn’t pay upfront.||- the rooms are cheap but still not worth the cost. The first one we had (28$) had ants coming through the wall right above the bed head. The shared bathroom was so small it’s ridiculous we were supposed to share it with 3 other rooms. We upgraded for a double room with private bathroom (35$) which had cold water and cockroaches.||- there are as many pets than rooms. We counted 4 smelly dogs and 3 cats, left on their own with the guest and allowed to rest on empty bedrooms. Not so clean.||- there is no parking, 2 cars max can be parked right in the middle on the court and will necessarily wake up every single room if drive early or late a to night.||- owners seems to have forgotten what managing a hostel means. Advertised free coffee is pretty much what’s left from owners breakfast. They are using a full equipped kitchen when guest shared one is small empty, and falling apart. Only spot left to us to have our breakfast was a table corner close to the rental bikes since all other spots were used by the tenant family.||- William the manager was definitely more interested in our wallet than ensuring we had a good time. He was very pushy at first to have his money (we had to go to the bank, he asked for cash only). When paid the very next morning, we never saw him after that even if he owned us some change back. We compensate by having a free laundry we...

A good base-spot in Puerto Viejo to visit the southern-caribbean side of Costa Rica (bike rentals and good bus connections with Cahuita, Manzanillo and Punta Uva allow you to visit from here in daily trips). A short walk from town, it's not in the beachfront but it's only a few steps away. Has a small supermarket close by. Our room had a small terrace with a table for 2 and a hammock. Private bathroom, kitchen facilities inside and outside the room and a fan. Free coffee every morning with real milk. Laundry and parking available (for bikes as well). Luis and Cecilia made us feel very welcome and we ended up staying for...

Cecilia was a kind lady and the beds were okay but that’s it. You get what you pay for, it’s certainly cheap and there’s probably always availability. There are no windows and it is very loud, people start working right outside the door early morning. The bathrooms are small and dirty with cockroaches. The quiet hours aren’t enforced and the man Nextdoor to us was coughing and honestly probably had COVID and Cecilia wouldn’t do anything, she said she knew and he wasn’t sick. When we said we felt unsafe, she refused to refund us even partially for the final night when we decided to find somewhere...