Occidental Tamarindo

I have been to many other all inclusive resorts. I have never been somewhere where there was not even wifi in the lobby. We were never told that there were different levels of ALL INCLUSIVE, not when we booked the resort and not when we checked in. It wasn't until our last night that the bartender in the lobby bar told us this information. I hated to even go get drinks from the bar because the people were just so rude that it made it uncomfortable to even ask. I also had spoken to someone about decorating our room because we were coming for my husbands birthday and that did not happen. I have never been more disappointed with a hotel stay than I was with this one.

Average definitely not 4 star resort. No parking lot . Also no sea views as advertised. While the grounds were gorgeous, food and drinks just ok. Not an area to swim on the beach. Very rocky. Main restuarant closed sundays and Tuesdays. Entertainment just ok. Vkesn grounds but rooms old smelling and mold on ceiling.

Room - extremely outdated. Uncomfortable beds (lopsided and leaning), chairs ready to bust, doors without locks, not a lot of outlets. Housekeeping never provided wash clothes. did not get hand towels half the time. Son got eaten by ants or some other bugs in his bed one night. A/C was not cold at all and leaked huge puddles and when we told them they ocassionally put a towel on floor underneath but there was multiple leaks in both our rooms including in the walls. Wifi was non-existant in rooms. Doors had huge spaces around molding so got multiple bugs and critters every night. All-Inclusive- Let me stress that there is one buffet restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner at specific times. Not multiple restaurants. The 2nd restaurant was never open, was dinner only and extra charges and the bars both don't serve food. The lobby bar is only open a few hours at night and the pool bar is only horrible snack food that sits out all day. Best you get is fries, nachos and some fruit. Pizza and other items were not good and you can request a burger but that wasn't good either. The alcohol is bottom of the line. Like they literally had a gallon jug (milk jug) of wine they poured from. I'm sure it was some watered down juice. Their cups are super small so you have to make multiple trips and on the weekends they allow day passes so it gets SUPER busy, the pool bar which is the only place to get a drink during the day is one bar with a super long line and only had 1 bartender at times, sometimes 2 so we would wait 20 min for a drink. Then families started getting 5-10 drinks at a time to avoid line so the wait was even longer. The only plus side of the pool was the older waiter Carlos who was super friendly and helped us get drinks some times. The buffet is a variation of chicken and rice EVERY LUNCH AND DINNER. It was the same food for a week and it wasn't great food either. Beverage service there was on/off as well. Sometimes you could get water but never refills especially if they were busy. Entertainment was pretty much non-existant as well. They came do edge of pool to do one dance. They had some pool music but they allow guests to bring their bluetooth speakers and they blare their inappropriate music so you can't hear the resort music anyway. Pool - just average. No hot tub. Lots of bugs and leaves all the time. Only saw them clean it in the morning. Not a lot of shade chairs especially on weekends when they let the day passes and more locals. Beach - mostly rock and was a constant red flag so we couldn't swim but did have some of the most beautiful sunsets a few nights. Excursions - do not book through them. I booked several weeks in advance and got confirmations and they still screwed them up and never picked us up for our tour. I had to call them and never even got an apology. Just the hotel reception saying "some mess up". Finally put us on the "death" bus to get us to tour. This guy almost killed us 2 times. I have been in many countries and experienced crazy driving but this guy was insane and turned left right in front of a truck 2 times nearly getting us hit if the other car wouldn't have swerved. But after we finally go to tour bus that company was great. Management & Reception - Not at all helpful. Went to reception for medical when there was no medical available at pool. My son had gotten bit all over back from bugs in their beds. They sent me to the room and told me medical would come. I was looking for bug cream or benedryl. I waited over 30 minutes and had to go back to the front and ask for Manager. The Asst. Mgr came out and told me there was no bug cream and disappeared. Then the Manager, Anna came out and explained the same thing. I expressed my concerns and her response was "can you fill out comment card". I ended up having to go to shop (which by the way is way over priced - $35 for can of sunscreen) and purchase my own benedryl and calamine lotion (funny how shop had it but they didn't). After taking care of my own issue, they finally showed up at room (thankfully wasn't life or death emergency). Next day I ran into Anna and she said we would get credit for medicine (which I have not seen yet) and also said we would get 2 free massages but of course she never followed through on that as we only had 1 more day and never heard from her again. As far as the overall resort...very budget friendly so that's the crowd you get. No rules enforced so you get kids partying, drinking and blaring their own music. Kids in no swim diapers. They seperated young families on each side of us and they would walk through our patios, stare in windows and scream to each other and also blare their music. I spoke with Anna about this as well and she assured me she'd move them and never did and never told us or offered us option to move if they didn't. If anyone has contact information for the GM of this property I would really love to discuss this disappointing experience with them. Would love to give Costa Rica another try as I believe this resort ruined it for my family but will never be back to this resort after the lack of Customer Service.

Room was very nice Except the mold that was in the room. Hotel was a good stay and worry free but they were completely booked up or so they say where we couldnt get a clean room. Food was average but overall a good stay

The best thing about this place is the staff. They were extremely friendly and helpful. It’s a 20-30 minute walk into town but it was very hot and humid. Lots of rain. Prices reflect tourist gouging! The taxi costs about $5. The beach was disappointing - filled with lava rock. The adjoining beautiful beach can only be accessed by crossing the river at low tide. We were advised to not go into the water because of rip tides. The room was old but some have been renovated. It was fun to see monkeys just off our balcony. The food was mediocre but always lots of good fresh fruit. Look for Leo on the beach - selling excursions. He’s a great guy with a wealth of information about all the flora and fauna!