Boutique Hotel Bahía Esmeralda — Hotel in Tempate

Rude staff. Charges 40000 on your room if you smoke on the property anywhere.

** Since the owner responded the way they did I feel it's fair to give more details.

My Costa Rican girlfriend and I made plans in the are for Thanksgiving Dinner. After our Air BnB fell through at the last minute we were stuck looking for somewhere to stay. She had stayed in this hotel once before with her family and remembers it as being nice.

We got there and she went inside to inquire about a room as I parked. I then went to the reception area to join her and pay for the room. As soon as I walked in I was yelled at about there being only one person allowed inside at a time. Maybe I missed the sign. I don't know but either way I just turned around and went back to the car and decided I would pay for it online. Which I did.

My girlfriend came out and she said if I paid cash the hotel wouldn't charge me ITV so it would be less but that she didn't want to stay because the staff member inside had made some inappropriate comments to her and she thought he was rude and creepy.

I told her I already paid online but I would go inside and cancel. Which I did. For free. Because of the 40,000 colones no smoking fine. I don't smoke. I just didn't want my girlfriend to be stuck staying somewhere she didn't feel safe.

Originally I wasn't going to go into detail about the incident because "rude staff" summed it it pretty well.

The no smoking part was just for people who are concerned because while I'm not a smoker I can assure you not every hotel enforces a no smoking ANYWHERE ON THE...

We thoroughly enjoyed our five-night stay here, Thurs - Tues. It's a set of 8 guest buildings, plus one office building and one covered space with tables and chairs plus pool table, all centered around a landscaped courtyard and pool. It was mostly quiet during our stay, getting a little busier on the weekend, primarily with Tico families. The people working the office are attentive, helpful and kind. The location is excellent -- outside of the more touristy section of Potrero, but right at the turn-off to that area, which is a short two-minute drive away. Playa Penca is a 5-minute walk, there are a couple mini supers, the soccer field (we watched two matches on Sunday with locals ringed around the field, grilling and selling food, etc), a handful of solid restaurants frequented by locals.... Oh and the forest adjacent to the parking lot currently has a small family of howlers residing in it. It seems like most of the bad reviews stem from guests not adhering to the small and reasonable handful of policies the hotel has and that are clearly explained. We would stay here again in...

This review is a bit late. We stayed with Bahia Esmerelda in Late July. We had a 2 bedroom cabina. I know the area quite well but did not want to stay in a busy area like Tamarindo or Brasalito/Flamingo . This was perfect. Close to beaches & restaurants but situated in the super friendly Costa Rican town of Potrero.

The cabina was perfectly spacious and offered a/c, very clean and well equipped. The grounds had an immaculate pool and gardens. It was not noisy at all, but we were early risers. The staff was extremely friendly, helpful and honest.

It was close to perfect. My only suggestions would be to improve the beds - they were a bit firm and lumpy. The restaurant served breakfast, but it wasn't great and a bit pricey.

I would definitely recommend it and I'll stay there again -...