Hotel Luna Llena — Hotel in Tamarindo

We spent 4 nights at Luna Llena during our recent trip to CR and it was a very disappointing experience. Despite the website advertising a bar, cafe, yoga and other amenities, the hotel has none of these things. When I asked the GM Russell about the discrepancies, his response was that we booked through a travel agency and not their website so we could not expect the property to reflect the website. When we asked about the hot tub, we were told it was a ‘kids pool’. It clearly used to be a hot tub, as the dirty jets are visible above the water, which is full of leaves. This is the centerpiece of the pool area, it could at a minimum be covered if it’s not going to be maintained. Our bungalow was also not as reflected on the website. It was clean and the beds were relatively comfortable though could use a couple more pillows, but the bathroom is badly in need of updating, the freezer section of our refrigerator smelled terrible, table and chairs were rickety (more on this later), towels ragged and stained, and when we asked for soap and a sponge to wash the dishes included in the kitchenette we were told we had to buy that ourselves. As far as safety goes, we stayed in bungalow/room 1, and the code for our door was 0101#. Fortunately we brought a travel lock we could use at night to prevent the door from being opened from the outside, but I wonder if the code to room 2 was 0202# and so on? The evening of our final night there with an 8:30am departure the next morning, we had no water in the sinks or shower. The GM Russell was unresponsive to messages at the number provided, and the only staff member on site was the night security guard who did not speak English! He would call someone, go off somewhere on the property and come back and tell us to try again. This happened twice, and then the shower head in the bathroom physically fell out of the wall and sprayed water everywhere. We ended up calling the 24-hour support line for our travel agency who tried calling the hotel but no one ever answered the main line. Eventually the rep was able to speak to the guard on my phone and determine that he couldn’t actually get ahold of hotel ownership or maintenance either, no one was answering their phones or responding to his messages. We never saw or heard from GM Russell again, and the morning we left there was a different staff member on duty, putting plush towels out on the pool lounges and other things that had never been done during our entire time there. To top it all off, our daughter sat down on one of the rickety chairs in our bungalow and was stabbed in the upper leg by a nail!! This was a significant puncture wound, and we are fortunate it happened on our last morning and that she was already on antibiotics for a sinus infection. It was a surreal and terrible experience, don’t take a chance on this place!! We were shocked because we read so many recent positive reviews when we chose this property. It clearly used to be very nice and has the potential to be nice again, but that is not the current situation. We did try to move to another hotel the day we arrived and found so many concerning things, but due to the week we were traveling during high season, every other place that could accommodate a family of four was sold out.

The location was great and the pool was nice to swim in if you could ignore the...

We spent 4 nights at Luna Llena during our recent trip to CR and it was a very disappointing experience. Despite the website advertising a bar, cafe, yoga and other amenities, the hotel has none of these things. When I asked the GM Russell about the discrepancies, his response was that we booked through a travel agency and not their website so we could not expect the property to reflect the website. When we asked about the hot tub, we were told it was a ‘kids pool’. It clearly used to be a hot tub, as the dirty jets are visible above the water, which is full of leaves. This is the centerpiece of the pool area, it could at a minimum be covered if it’s not going to be maintained. Our bungalow was also not as reflected on the website. It was clean and the beds were relatively comfortable though could use a couple more pillows, but the bathroom is badly in need of updating, the freezer section of our refrigerator smelled terrible, table and chairs were rickety (more on this later), towels ragged and stained, and when we asked for soap and a sponge to wash the dishes included in the kitchenette we were told we had to buy that ourselves.|As far as safety goes, we stayed in bungalow/room 1, and the code for our door was 0101#. Fortunately we brought a travel lock we could use at night to prevent the door from being opened from the outside, but I wonder if the code to room 2 was 0202# and so on?|The evening of our final night there with an 8:30am departure the next morning, we had no water in the sinks or shower. The GM Russell was unresponsive to messages at the number provided, and the only staff member on site was the night security guard who did not speak English! He would call someone, go off somewhere on the property and come back and tell us to try again. This happened twice, and then the shower head in the bathroom physically fell out of the wall and sprayed water everywhere. We ended up calling the 24-hour support line for our travel agency who tried calling the hotel but no one ever answered the main line. Eventually the rep was able to speak to the guard on my phone and determine that he couldn’t actually get ahold of hotel ownership or maintenance either, no one was answering their phones or responding to his messages. We never saw or heard from GM Russell again, and the morning we left there was a different staff member on duty, putting plush towels out on the pool lounges and other things that had never been done during our entire time there. To top it all off, our daughter sat down on one of the rickety chairs in our bungalow and was stabbed in the upper leg by a nail!! This was a significant puncture wound, and we are fortunate it happened on our last morning and that she was already on antibiotics for a sinus infection. It was a surreal and terrible experience, don’t take a chance on this place!! We were shocked because we read so many recent positive reviews when we chose this property. It clearly used to be very nice and has the potential to be nice again, but that is not the current situation. We did try to move to another hotel the day we arrived and found so many concerning things, but due to the week we were traveling during high season, every other place that could accommodate a family of four was sold out.||The location was great and the pool was nice to swim in if you could ignore the...

This charming small (about 10 rooms) hotel was fabulous. It is located at the edge of downtown up about two blocks along a dirt road and about four blocks from the beach. Even that short distance means it is quiet at night - we were woken only by the occasionally howler monkey. There was a food court and all the restaurants and shops within easy walking distance.| We stayed in room #10, which was an end unit in the two-story building that houses the hotel room style accommodations. The rest are single bungalows with high coned attics. We had a outdoor patio with two chairs and a hammock. There is AC which worked well. We had a bar fridge with freezer (no ice tray) to keep our drinks cold and a microwave. The king-size bed was very comfortable (the pillows were so big we asked for flatter ones, which they brought with housekeeping the same day) with nightstands and bedside lamps and there was a table with one chair and a single bed which we used as a luggage rack. The bathroom was large with a huge tiled shower but the water pressure was laughable. Towels were large and fluffy. The clothing storage was a unit in the bathroom with hangers on one side and open shelves on the other, and another set of open shelves by the sink. |The pool is sparkling clean and refreshing. There is a non-working hot tub but i can't imagine wanting to be in hot water is this climate anyway. Breakfast was included and was great, lots of fresh fruit, fresh squeezed OJ, unlimited tea and coffee, served poolside. You had a choice of a typical Tico breakfast or several more American-style choices. There is a cute gym/yoga/massage building and were offering 1 hour massages for $50.|There a many little touches around the place, palapas with wooden furniture and bowls of seashells that feel luxurious yet homey. Security was very good with front desk having security cameras for the property and a guard on duty all night.|This may just be our favorite stay...