Puerto Azul Hotel — Hotel in Puntarenas

WOW - Where is this hotel???? The hotel that we stayed at was NOTHING like this! The picture showing on the website is the building next door to the hotel. We parked in front of the building they show on the website and were informed that the hotel was next door. They won't show you the dingy building next door because nobody would EVER stay here.This place is disgusting and that's putting it mildly. We stayed for one night in a garden view room. We were told by Expedia that the room was $170 off for the night. I took pictures of the things that I noticed right away in the room, however forgot to mention that the back door that lead to the parking lot (garden view) was a rickety wooden door that you had to slam to shut it and then the strike would still not hit the hole in the frame. Also there was a huge gap under the door where anything could crawl in. The pool had slime on the top. The atrium inside was an empty cement hole that had weeds growing up in it because of having no water in it. The shade that pulled down over the window had large holes in it. The spacious bathroom was not clean and there was no way either one of us were going to take a shower in there. In what hotel do you pay for a package with a coffee filter and coffee making items???? I had to take a picture of that! We went to the restaurant that is part of the hotel and asked if we could order the lomito medallions which is the featured item on the menu. We were told that they had no medallions. We ordered some ceviche and was told that is was Dorado and would come with fried patacones. We got the ceviche and it was corvina (sea bass), not Dorado with a tiny amount of slivered red onion and some flakes of cilantro. It was super salty and the fish was mushy. The patacones were a blob of fried plantains. I've had patacones several times all over Costa Rica and have never seen such a cooked mess. We were told that there had been 3 chefs in 2 years. What does that tell you? One last thing is that that staff is really nice and our bartender was great! We, however, will NEVER stay there again and I will make sure that I have informed ALL of the people that I know that this place is the WORST that I have seen! Shame on Expedia for even showing this "hotel" on...

To start, the reception was hostile. A man who called himself the manager (I found out later he was not the manager or a manager), named BP was absolutely hostile since the moment we arrived. Due to his behavior we asked to cancel reservations, but he refused to do it. We stayed because the apartment was nice. A couple of hours later, there was a car accident that left the hotel without electricity. After getting hostile answers from BP, we were given another room for the night because we couldn’t go to our apartment due to lack of electricity. The hotel did not have any emergency plan to deal with the blackout. No one had flashlights, and even they had two generators, they had no fuel to run it. BP said the electricity was coming back after 9 PM. We decided to go out to dinner. When we came back to the hotel not only the hotel still didn’t have electricity but the room given to us was taken away and was given to other people. At that moment BP was less than helpful trying to find us another room in the hotel or another hotel for the night. It’s now 11 pm and we don’t have a room in the hotel we had paid and BP was doing absolutely nothing to help. We tried finding other hotels via internet but they all appeared full. Close to midnight, after yelling at BP, he made one phone call and found a hotel room for us in a different hotel 10 kilometers away from the original hotel. Of course, BP said that we had to pay for the other hotel. The horrible experience ended past midnight at another hotel. We returned to the hotel and the rest of the workers were terrific, in particular the restaurant staff and room service. Unfortunately the saga didn’t end. In the 7 days in the hotel, the elevators have broke down three times, bathrooms in public areas were out of service or with no lights, and basic breakfast items such as honey for pancakes, were not available because they didn’t buy enough (according to the explanation given). It’s unfortunate that one person, BP, can ruin a complete vacation. Unfortunately he continued to be hostile to us and my invited guests. He never apologized for his behavior. Not sure I...

To start, the reception was hostile. A man who called himself the manager (I found out later he was not the manager or a manager), named BP was absolutely hostile since the moment we arrived. Due to his behavior we asked to cancel reservations, but he refused to do it. We stayed because the apartment was nice. A couple of hours later, there was a car accident that left the hotel without electricity. After getting hostile answers from BP, we were given another room for the night because we couldn’t go to our apartment due to lack of electricity. The hotel did not have any emergency plan to deal with the blackout. No one had flashlights, and even they had two generators, they had no fuel to run it. BP said the electricity was coming back after 9 PM. We decided to go out to dinner. When we came back to the hotel not only the hotel still didn’t have electricity but the room given to us was taken away and was given to other people. At that moment BP was less than helpful trying to find us another room in the hotel or another hotel for the night. It’s now 11 pm and we don’t have a room in the hotel we had paid and BP was doing absolutely nothing to help. We tried finding other hotels via internet but they all appeared full. Close to midnight, after yelling at BP, he made one phone call and found a hotel room for us in a different hotel 10 kilometers away from the original hotel. Of course, BP said that we had to pay for the other hotel. The horrible experience ended past midnight at another hotel. We returned to the hotel and the rest of the workers were terrific, in particular the restaurant staff and room service. Unfortunately the saga didn’t end. In the 7 days in the hotel, the elevators have broke down three times, bathrooms in public areas were out of service or with no lights, and basic breakfast items such as honey for pancakes, were not available because they didn’t buy enough (according to the explanation given). It’s unfortunate that one person, BP, can ruin a complete vacation. Unfortunately he continued to be hostile to us and my invited guests. He never apologized for his behavior. Not sure I...