TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

What a dreadful experience. I appreciate that going all-inclusive in Costa Rica is not the best way to experience the country but I would at least expect the staff to be helpful and polite ! Arrival was fine and the Deluxe King rooms was fine (although old and tired). The view however was fabulous. The food and beverage team were brilliant and couldn't be more helpful and the food itself was actually pretty good fir an all inc property. That however is where it stops being good. The hotel is extremely run down and needs a great deal of work on it (my partner said it should be knocked down and rebuilt from scratch). The 2 girls on the entertainment team were rude and very obnoxious. Sorry girls that we were not 15 years old and loved the fact that you played music at ridiculously high decibels by the top pool at 4pm in the afternoon when people were trying to relax in peace and quie. We were told it that the pool bar area further down was where the music was played during the day ! My partner had an early start one morning for scuba diving (he said the diving isn't great in that area by the way) and as we didn't have a car he asked reception to phone for a taxi which they refused to do - apparently they don't have numbers for taxi companies!!!! Our room kept getting cleaned between 4pm - 5pm which was late in the day and we were getting back from the pool or tours then so wanted to chill and get ready for the evening. We asked to have an earlier clean which they said no to. The hotel had a few sunbeds on the beach but they were broken and by the main beach entrance (quite dirty and scumny) with no bar or restaurant for people to use - it was a really lame beach area in general in all honesty. In hindsight, I wish we had not gone all inc, not stayed in Playa Hermosa and gone to the Caribbean side instead.

Beach is right down the hill, our 3 bedroom unit was spacious but was a little run down. It was just my wife and I in a 3 bedroom, but we slept on all the beds, since was basically a plywood board, the other bed was a hill that felt like you would roll off if you didn't wrap your around each other. Now the worst part, the restaurant staff is very friendly. We were there during May and place was under 10% capacity. The restaurant goes from buffet on weekends to a la carte during the week. The buffet is very limited with about 5 hot foot options with 2 being meats. The a la carte is a small menu with the same 4-5 items served the entire week, by day 2, you are already wanting to eat elsewhere. The staff isn't attentive, we often had to go refill our own coffee, water or walk up to the bar. Not a big deal, but remind you of the capacity I mentioned above and the restaurant would have no more than 15-20 people in there. Often the staff, would walk by and likely see our empty glasses, other times they would swing by and get us another drink, but then that was it. no other follow ups. Never saw the entire menu that they show online, so paying for the all inclusive isn't recommended!

This was one the best experiences of my life. I traveled solo. I felt so safe. The staff was one of my favorite parts. I fell in love with how kind they are. They catered to me, cared for me, and made my stay so much better! To name a couple were Sofia, Carlos, Melvin, M (not sure how to spell her name), and driver Marcelo. They’re all wonderful. And the food was absolutely delicious and fed my soul. I hope and pray I can come back some day! Pura Vida!! Much love, Star

While you will certainly see a lovely sunset from the upper pool and the staff are very friendly, you may not enjoy the wrist band you must wear 24/7 (why, when it's a gated facility?) And if you care about animals, the starving, stray cats at the facility will break your heart. One particularly skinny juvenile cat meowed desperately for food and followed us nearly all the way to our room, but I had none to give. None of my direct emails to the resort nor to their sales director have been answered when I asked them how they will solve this problem, which also harms the songbird population. (Costa Rica has several non profits that could spay/neuter and they can also help get them adopted but they seem unwilling to contact them.) Boycott this inhumane resort!

I enjoyed my four days at Villa del Sol this past week. When I arrived, I appreciated the security guards and immediate service from the front desk. Pros: -Beautiful vistas of the ocean and mountains. Like REALLY beautiful, especially the sunsets from your balcony. -Friendly staff throughout the property -Very reasonably priced food at Restaurante Bahía, the on-site restaurant. My breakfast entree this morning was ~$9, and the breakfast buffet is ~$18 at current exchange rates. -The in-room air conditioning works well and the shower is always as hot as you want it. -The free shuttle that gets you around the property is nice! Especially at night heading to/from the beach, as the walkway is quite dark. Areas for improvement: -The hotel Wi-Fi was super flaky. I was on a Wi-Fi call that dropped three different times in five minutes, and sometimes I just had to switch to my phone’s hotspot. -This isn’t terrible, but there is only one restaurant at the resort itself. There’s also “Slow_Down,” a beach hut/mini restaurant (delicious) that is actually also owned by the hotel, but that feels separated from the rest of the property.