Selina — Hotel in La Fortuna

Selina Hostel in La Fortuna is a charming hostel that is modern, clean, and friendly.

I stayed at Selina for 7 nights in February/March 2019 as a solo traveler in a 6 bed mixed dorm. I unfortunately had to switch dorm rooms three times during my stay, which was inconvenient to pack all of my belongings and move each time. I am not sure how Selina's booking system works, but it would have been nice to be able to settle in and stay in one room for my entire stay.

The hostel is centrally located in La Fortuna and within very close walking distance to the centre of town with restaurants, banks, tour operators and more.

The hostel property consisted of multiple separate buildings with various sized dorms and private rooms, in addition to a collection of tee-pees for a unique glamping experience. In between the buildings, the grounds were beautifully landscaped with lots of tropical plants and flowers. There were plenty of places to sit and relax and there were chairs, hanging chairs and hammocks all around the property. Behind the hostel property beside the bar, there was a pathway leading down to a peaceful river surrounded by forest, which was very pretty. The hostel had a covered lounge sitting area called The Playground, with couches and tables and chairs, a restaurants and the bar. There was also an outdoor guest kitchen and yoga deck overlooking the forest and river close to the edge of the property where they offered yoga in the morning and afternoons. The hostel had a social atmosphere but was not too much of a big party place. They kept the music to a reasonable level and most people just had a few drinks and were not getting wasted and acting stupid.

Best of all though, the hostel had a decent sized outdoor pool beside the lounge area and lounger chairs to relax. La Fortuna is humid and hot (it is a rainforest) so the pool was very refreshing and welcoming. I thoroughly enjoyed taking a swim here when I needed a break from the heat.

Overall, I felt safe at Selina as a solo traveler, with the exception of one experience. During two nights of my stay, I was the only female in a dorm room with four young males, all friends, from Chile. They were very disrespectful and inconsiderate in their behaviour in more than one way. They checked into the dorm room at 10 pm, right before check-in closed, and turned on all the lights and were loud and noisy in their chatter and unpacking while I was trying to sleep. They went out partying both nights and returned to the dorm early in the morning, continuing to loudly laugh and chat with one another and make lots of noise. I woke up suddenly one night at 2 AM to the sounds of one of the young males having loud sex with an unknown female in the bunk bed next to me. I was horrified to have to listen to this and of course, the front desk was no longer open, so I could not report this to the staff. I did not feel completely safe being the only female in this dorm with these individuals after this experience and thankfully, they checked out the next morning.

The hostel front desk area closed from 10 pm until 6 am and the sliding front door was locked. I never went out after 10 pm, but I was told that there was a security guard watching the door to let guests in and out. The dorm rooms were locked with a key.

Upon check-in, I was provided with a wristband indicating the hostel's name so they could identify guests and a key to my room and a quick orientation to the property. The staff were friendly and helpful if you needed information or had questions.

The dorms that I stayed in were cleaned daily and had comfortable mattresses and lockers. The beds came with linens and sheets (no blanket), but towels required an extra deposit (which was returned after checking out). As previously mentioned, I disliked having to switch dorm rooms multiple times during my stay and would suggest that Selina figure out a way to keep people in one room during their entire booking. I also wished that Selina offered female only dorm rooms and this would be another suggestion...

I was very disappointed with my stay at Selina La Fortuna after having a phenomenal experience at Selina Manuel Antonio. Some of the staff were friendly, but most of them had a negative attitude towards the guests and then when I asked Tatiana her name she began to make fun of and mock me right in front of my face with other employees and called someone on the phone to tell about how I asked her name but don't understand a word of Spanish...SURPRISE! I could understand the whole conversation it's only if someone speaks very fast or uses a word I don't know yet that I have difficulty understanding.

She did seem to feel badly afterwards since she washed my dishes for me (which she clearly didn't have to do) but there was a lot of negativity from many of the staff who didn't like me or the other guests before giving me a chance and getting to know us to the point where I didn't feel comfortable to eat at the table in the kitchen since there are usually employees hanging out there most of the day. And had to eat alone at the bonfire pit to feel okay.

When I arrived I saw that none of the yoga classes are included with the booking and was told despite the sign and website advertising yoga classes available that the teacher was gone visiting family and would only be back on site on Monday the day I left.

I paid for the class and when I showed up the teacher was coughing like crazy and was clearly sick but worse it really seemed like Covid. It took way over an hour for them to refund me my money I had to keep coming back to the front desk for them to get permission; but to take my money the night before it was instant.

The dorms are extremely small, tiny corridor with no room to unpack or pack your bags, one of the lockers available was broken and the one I had to use was falling apart and could have broken at any time.

The AC is WAY too cold making it impossible to sleep and the sign says you need to ask the front desk even though the controller is hidden on the top of the other lockers which you could easily break into with a screwdriver or knife by popping the pin out despite using a padlock. Not to mention that with only a thin sheet and no blanket how are you supposed to stay warm? Especially when it is SO much hotter outside all day it makes it feel even colder. Can't use the stand alone green lockers and have peace of mind about your belongings being safe.

I kept getting attitude and dirty looks from some of the staff just for asking how they were or wishing them a nice day. I did not feel welcome or comfortable there.

The food portions are way smaller than the same dishes offered in Manuel Antonio (same price) and despite there being no smoking signs in the jungle there were guests going to smoke cigarettes and giant weed joints so close that you were breathing it in and tasting it while eating breakfast and then littering it in the wildlife habitat next to the river potentially causing a forest fire.

I love Selina Manuel Antonio, but I don't see myself ever going back to the Selina La Fortuna....hospitality is basically a 0 out of 10 except for a few amazing employees like José, Pamayla and a few others who were always kind, willing to talk to me and accommodating towards me.

I should have read the reviews before booking here since this is clearly a problem many people have had.

But now at least I know for the future what to...

Don't Pay $125 / Night for a Private Room to Get $15 / Night Service

WOW! Where to start. We came into this trip as loyal Selina patrons, but we have never been treated so poorly on so many levels by any company.

Our room is beautiful. Very trendy with all the bells and whistles. Except hot water in the shower. We dealt with it for 2 days then finally spoke to management. After being told 2+ hours later it was fixed, it was not. We spoke to a second person in management who agreed there was no hot water and offered to move us to a new room. After being assured the new room had hot water, we packed up all our belongings and moved rooms. The new room did not have hot water. All in all we spent 3+ hours of our time dealing with management, packing and more for our problem to not be solved...

We were given 2 "Free Breakfast" coupons by management as an apology. When we tried to use the coupons, we were told that they didn't work for anything ON the menu, they could be used for modified versions of those same items with less of the toppings / ingredients. An incredibly rude, clunky and awkward way to apologize to a customer.

SELINA! We will be staying off property and coming in for the co-work and bar area ambiance when we travel. You have lost us on property. I work remotely and don't have time to be treated like I'm paying $15 a night by management and spend hours of my day dealing with room issues.

Here's how to fix your private room problems:

Task a group of competent staff members with catering specifically to private room customers. We're paying more, we expect better service. Every established hotels will provide that for the same price we're paying. I've talked to multiple people who will not be staying with Selina after a nightmare private room experience, slow to respond staff and just generally being treated like a backpacker. Include the workspace for private room customers! Many of us work and come for this perk.

Make your private rooms an attractive option for us, until then I will not be staying on property. I'll be at an accommodation next door where the price matches the service... then come to Selina for the...