Best Western El Sitio Hotel — Hotel in Liberia

Where do I start? I met a friend who was in town for a holiday and I hadn't seen him in over a decade. We met at El Sitio when a mutual friend actually owned the casino there, two decades ago. So, it was only logical we met there again (plus, he was spending the last night in the country at the hotel). We went to the restaurant for a drink and a meal. I ordered pasta with shrimp and mushroom and he ordered garlic shrimp with salad and white rice. Both meals were mediocre, disappointing truly. But what was worse than the meal was the customer service from the staff! My pasta was tasteless! Actually, it tasted like beef broth, no salt. I asked the waitress if she could take my dish back and ask the cook to fix it at least by adding some salt or bring me parmesan cheese and spicy oil instead. No, she did not do that. She called the cook to come to the table and she did not taste the dish and said it was done the way it was supposed to be done, so no problem at all! There were some packages of parmesan cheese on the table (they showed me) and brought the hot oil after requesting it a second time, and believe me, I had to add like four packages for my pasta to taste like something edible. My friend's meal was also mediocre but he chose not to say anything. We paid, even TIPPED!! Before finishing the meal, he went back to his bedroom to get some souvenir for the waitress, while I waited. He said he had one for me, too (a handkerchief or something like it). Really nice of him... ||Anyhow, since he's flying out tomorrow morning, and the rain stopped and I had to go back home on my motorcycle (I had my helmet with me at all times) we decided it was time to call it the night. But before bidding farewell, he asked me to go to his room to pick up the souvenir and see if the coffee he'd bought for his wife and daughter was good enough, otherwise he still had time to go and get more or better coffee before the supermarket closed. So, we were heading to his room when I (just me, BTW) got stopped by a security guy and was asked to go with him back to the front desk. As I am approaching the receptionist the guy tells me "The thing is... The guest just paid for one person, not two. You have to pay extra to spend the night". EXCUSE ME!!!??? By then, I'm in front of the receptionist and the lady also assumes I'm gonna be spending the night with my friend and repeats the same argument the guy told me. I interrupted her and told her I was just collecting some souvenirs he was giving me and that I was on my way out. When I'm telling her that I see my friend just reached us and asked what was happening, I explain to him the outrageous claim they were falsely accusing me of and he goes nuts, too!!! I mean, it's understandable they thought of that, for sure!! But they could've and SHOULD HAVE handled the situation way better before jumping to conclusions!! They could've asked me if I needed to use the restroom, and offer me the one closest to the front desk, or they could've been honest to me and politely asking to my face "I'm sorry, do you plan to spend the night, too?" Jeez!! So many options that did not include insulting me! ||Mind you, they saw us upset and I felt humiliated, and even though I had explained myself, there was not a single apology for the "misunderstanding". So, basically i wanted to spend some time before my friend left the country and another 10 years would go by without seeing him, but instead of having a truly pleasant time, I was insulted, and not appreciated as a paying customer (I had invited my friend for dinner, I was the one initially paying but he then insisted on picking up the tab). ||Now... funny story. A couple of years ago, a Welsh friend of mine was also staying at El Sitio, my reccommendation, funny enough. I went to the room where my friend was staying like three different times, to run some errands very quickly, in two different days. Nobody stopped me, nobody charged me extra money cuz I went into the bedroom... Why?? All I can think of is... because my friend, Gaynor Reader, was a woman, not a man. I will not be reccomending this place anymore!!! I was excited to finding out that the hotel was still owned and managed by the same family (the Parapini) and I have fond memories of the place when I worked as an interpreter at the casino, but those memores have been...

HORRIBLE PLACE (update due to management trying to claim we didn’t stay there -very typical):

Here is an update as the management claims “they doubt I stayed there!” 100% we stayed - in room 10!!!!! This is a typical response when they don’t like your review! Now that you pretend we didn’t “stay” I’m lowering our review lower! Just like you wouldn’t fix the hot water, how the internet was horrible and how you treated the cat in your hotel grounds (do I need to show the photo of the cat in your restaurant that you allow your workers to abuse - I have a picture if you want me to post that also)! DO NOT ATAY HERE!!! As you can see, zero apologies, zero responsibilities and horrible management!!!! Many other options - I promise they will treat you horribly as you can see from their response!

Original post:

Overall, the checkin was decent. The room - don’t get any rooms after you turn around from the front desk to your left (a car rental place is right behind you). The rooms are dark, a bit dated, and the hot water is practically non-existent. I went to tell the front desk about the hot water and they said that’s the hottest it can get? I asked why and all she can say is it’s because of the rainy season. So, took a Luke warm shower at night and a cold one in the AM. We stayed about 200 yards at the Boyers Hotel and they are 20-30 USD and the rooms are almost exactly the same. Dinner, decent prices but nothing special. It’s near the pool under a cool cabana. Every place we went with out door seating either had a dog or cat - even at a five star we stayed at. They are harmless and just hungry. As an animal lover, I gave a small piece of meat to this hungry cat. The waitress practically kicked the cat away. Truly pissed me off and she proceeded to argue with me that it “the boss told her to do so!” I told her it was absolutely unacceptable and she could handle it much better. The service got a bit better but I refused to leave any tip. Breakfast was ok but they do have a lot of fruit so that’s a plus. I honestly can’t fully recommend this place - it’s rated a 3 star but it’s more at the 2 star level with 3-4 star prices. After a three wk trip staying at 2-3-4 and 5 star places, it’s ashamed our final hotel was a huge let down. Only real good thing is it’s close to the airport. You have lots of options - don’t stay here unless you...

We stayed at the Best Western El Sitio in Liberia, Costa Rica for the night of August 28, 2025.|We had chosen this hotel as online it stated that it offered a free airport shuttle that started at 5am, and since we had a 730am flight home, it sounded perfect.|We had stayed at numerous Best Westerns throughout the years, and we thought the standard would be consistent with other BWs in Canada.|Upon checkin, we were told they did not offer a shuttle, and offered to arrange a taxi.|We pulled up the website, and showed the staff the information regarding the shuttle, that they did offer one and it started at 5am...she said they have never offered that.|So lets remove that OFF your website maybe???|We made our way to the room, and were thoroughly disappointed in the standard of room.|We honestly felt as if we had stepped into a Norman Bates motel episode.|So extremely dated.|There was a phone on the night table, but absolutely NOWHERE to plug it in, so I guess it was for show!|We had waters, drinks and food that needed refrigerated, but even though there was a spot for one, no mini fridge was there.|We had had a long day, a long drive, and wanted a nice hot shower.|But nope, we couldn’t even get luke warm water.|The AC was hit or miss, realized the remote for it was not working half the time.|King size bed was HARD AS ROCK, with no blankets. We had a top sheet with a very thin cover blanket.|No additional blankets in the room.|We walked around the property after getting settled, as we were going to find something to eat.|The pool area in the back of the hotel looks amazing…. From a distance….|Once we were closer, we realized BOTH pools were covered in debris from the trees. The water was filthy!|Both pools were not swimmable…..|There were numerous staff wandering around the property, and though we have no idea what their actual jobs were, picking up a skimmer and cleaning those pools would have been great!||For what the price was, we were beyond disappointed in your hotel and would not recommend it to anyone travelling to the...