JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa

We felt safe here during the pandemic. The resort is located within a nice gated private community, Hacienda Pinilla. For a short stay you could enjoy the resort and Pinilla w/out the need of a car rental. I am glad we had a car. We did not mind the $30 daily resort fee, bc we took advantage of plenty of the offerings: bikes, a guided nature walk, excellent yoga, a mixology class, a little beach bonfire of toasted marshmallows. We paid reasonable fees at Pinilla to use the very nice practice range at the golf course, and tennis courts. Pinilla also has horse stables and market. The property has a beautiful old Spanish colonial feel while still providing comfort. The showpiece is the pool area. They claim the pool is the largest in Central America, and it has an excellent design with intimacy and great lounge chair access. The grounds have lush vegetation, beautiful mood lighting and music. Our room was comfortable and we enjoyed being able to walk directly out our patio to the beach. The service was fantastic and everyone had a welcome attitude. Everyone was great, but particularly exceptional: Anthony, Alfredo, Dennis, Sergio, Olguin, Marcia, and Adriana. The food was ofcourse overpriced, but good, and only disappointed a few times. Since the occupancy was low, there was generally only one restaurant option per meal, so that was disappointing, but understandable. We were glad we had a car to drive to local restaurants since so many restaurants were closed.

We stayed at the Jw for a few nights with a group and the hotel was mostly what you would expect: very modern architecture, good music etc. The rooms were absolutely gorgeous, room service people very friendly and food was ok , we love it . The best moment was when we found Pininos Adventures; Carlos helped us to arrange some funny and safe excursion as Atv beach tour, palo verde boat trip ( my favorite tour) and buena vista combo trip, so we love to recommend for any tour while you are at Tamarindo beach, they were so nice people and professional , we felt safe the whole Time .

This is a splendid hotel with awesome staff, but the pandemic really hurt them badly. The hotel was closed for 8 months and they are currently only operating with very limited service and staffing. It's a pity but they are doing their best under the circumstances. Expect everything to take twice as long as normal, limited dining options and menus, and lots of irritating little oversights. It is very disappointing and I have wrestled with my attitude about it and have decided that it's best to stay patient and kind. The staff has always been a real plus for this property and things will get back to normal someday. But be assured that the same warm hearts and smiles are underneath those dreadful masks. And maybe give a little bit more of a tip here and there. It will mean much more than you think. So, go enjoy the beauty of this hotel and prepare to relax and don't expect perfect service, amenities and dining. Also, for beach swimming, go to the right as you face the ocean and swim at the right side of the bouys, as that is where the flat sand is. Otherwise it's rocky. Or walk to the left to Avellanas beach which is long and flat. Or rent a car and go to the beach club which is great. It has a pool and access to the long beach. Or go to the other on-property beach, Langosta. There are chairs there as well as at the beach club.

Let me start by saying that the property and location are fabulous. The pool was sparkling clean and at a good comfortable temperature to enjoy. BUT .. As a ambassador marriott member I was disappointed with the food, service, Check In exp and also considering the fake empathy shown from the manager on site (short thin lady). We have stayed at couple of JW Marriotts but this resort did not meet the standards at all. Let me start with the Check In experience — We were just given the keys and asked to sign a document. After that we were expected to ask any questions which was weird as they should be telling us what are the facilities in the resort. We kept asking about the various resort activities, Restaurants and how do we book them. We did not get any clear directions and had to come down again to ask over and over again. The check In agent did not give us any list of activities OR a map (it is not easy to navigate on day 1). Anyways we thought we would figure out ourselves from their website later. Also the check In agent kept pointing towards in one direction and said there is a wall with all the activities. Later we figured out there was no wall but the activities were down at the pool on a wooden board near the towel center. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GIVE DIRECTIONS.. It was not only us but we found other guests also confused. Breakfast @ Tamarine — During check In they said we have access to this exclusive breakfast only for elite members (Felt awesome when we heard about it) But it was only a bread basket and eggs for which you have to stand in line with other guests to get it done. DID NOT FEEL ELITE AT ALL. Next we asked the waiter 2 times if there is anything else we could order for breakfast as al-a-carte and he said ‘NO’. The third time he mentioned that we can get toast with it. WOW .. He forgot the first 2 times. Once we told then that we have mentioned a couple of time that we are vegetarians and if there is anything else to offer. They said YES — For vegetarians we let u have the buffet (Mansita) in another restaurant. AGAIN they did not mention this at CHECK IN, WHILE MAKING RESERVATIONS at the Restaurant, OR WHILE SERVING US. You have to complain like 5 times to get that other buffet. It feels like they keep hiding info. NOT AT ALL AN AMBASSADOR GUEST exp. We did bring this up to the manager. Her behavior was rude. Made us wait for 15 mins first and then came out of her office and rather than seating us down just started talking to us in the lobby. What the hell is going on, Don’t know how to serve your guests at all. Next we went down to Mansita restaurant instead of Tamarine for breakfast. We asked for reservations for breakfast and they let us take a 10:30 am one. We were billed at around 11:00 am and it was charged as lunch. The same manager again said I will DO A FAVOR and remove the charge as it was part of breakfast. SHE DID NOT DO ANY FAVOR.. SHE JUST DID HER JOB WHICH she is pathetic at in the first place. Marista was a mess in coordination. We are served coffee by one person, the order by the second, Juice by the third (which btw you don’t have a choice. Its just orange juice.. Even the other 3 star resorts have good choices). They show up in any order. So expect to get your order in first and may be get a coffee during the meal. But if you ask for sugar later. Good Luck to you. Again wouldn’t blame the staff but the management up above them. In the end, We decided to do all our remaining meals outside and not to give them any more business at all. We bought two drinks at the sandbar later (Our mistake — We trusted them again and they were pathetic). Just go to the resort without expectations and you will enjoy the most. Enjoy the pool / Beach / Sea and sand.

Worst service I’ve ever received, At any Marriott brand, EVERY. As a titanium member I stayed over 100 nights last year because of work. Even the low-end brands of the Marriott chain are better than this property. I have been using Marriott for over a decade for my business, and I have lifetime status. I find this hotel to be an anomaly, and doesn’t go along with the quality I usually expect & receive from Marriott. On top of all of this, I’ve never been to Costa Rica, and it was my 40th birthday trip. So I was pretty bummed with the horrible experience we received. The few positives- The pool is nice, large, and has a decent amount of seating. There is a size small infinity pool portion, and another portion which is more kid-based so there is a divider to have some adult time. The pool is very cold and not heated so I did not enjoy that, I did make use out of the hot tub. The rooms are clean and the beds are comfortable. They have a bug screen so when you sit on your porch you’re not getting annihilated by mosquitoes. Housekeeping is good and is probably the only good service on the property. If you can actually manage to get food at this resort, which almost sounds comical, the food is pretty tasty. ———————- Negatives- Where can I start. It’s impossible to get a dinner reservation because they overbooked themselves for how many people they’re actually allowed to have in their restaurants. We couldn’t even get takeout. There’s no level of accountability on the servers to get you what you need,get it in a timely manner, and do it with a friendly attitude. Every day, every meal, was a chore, and took twice as long as necessary. Even when we did make reservations, twice when we showed up, They couldn’t find our reservation. Once they accommodated us & the other time they wouldnt seat us. I ended up having an argument with the hostess who barely spoke English. I told her the girl at the front desk‘s name who made us the reservation, and told her to call up there because the girl would remember me. She wouldn’t do it and said there was nothing she could do. Also there was supposed to be a dedicated person sitting in the lobby taking reservations for every meal breakfast lunch and dinner. Half the time she was not there because she was working half days in the restaurant, making it increasingly more difficult to get any reservations. If you tried to call from your room to book reservations, you either got disconnected transferred or hung up on. I would avoid this resort at all costs. The property has the opportunity to be a really great hotel but it’s not run right. Covid it is not an excuse, because I have traveled all during Covid, For work and for personal, And the other Marriotts are doing an exceptional job at managing the restrictions. For instance, I was at the Solaz in Cabo in July for my 10th wedding anniversary. It was the best vacation I’ve ever had, and they had every covid restriction. There were hiccups, but you would never know because they were insignificant, due to the exceptional staff. My husband even got sick in the car ride up to the hotel because of all the gigantic potholes, but, that’s not something that will affect many other guests. Marriot please save this costa rican property or close it down. You’re doing a disservice to your brand.