“False advertising at it’s finest!”
Award Winning… NO WAY!! Don’t let this place fool you. My wife and I did a five Airbnb destination honeymoon in Costa Rica, and this was by far the worst (and most expensive). Yes, the view is nice, but in no way worth what we experienced here. We ended up leaving the very next morning; as soon as possible. Here’s why:
The road leading up to this place is a nightmare. You will feel like you are stranded once you get to the lodge. Our car rental barely made it up the hill to the lodge and stalled the first couple times attempting to climb it. I had to get a head start flooring the throttle from 50 yards away, nearly scaring my wife to death. And we actually got a flat tire thereafter.
We were greeted by a young man and his wife who do not speak English. They were very nice but unless you speak Spanish, don’t count on communicating very well. His wife made us dinner for $20 each and it tasted like it was bought at the local grocer at the end of the road. The food was dry, tasteless and old. My wife could not eat it. The dessert was served in a plastic container with water at the bottom, the cake was sopping wet. It was a joke.
The aesthetics of this house are cold and drab. They locked all the cabinets and they leave it up to you their guests to find the right key from two large sets of key rings. We couldn’t even find a paper towel or napkin to use. The place just felt dirty as if you were to come in right after the last guests and the place had never been cleaned. The linens were grungy and felt musty. There were only two small deflated pillows on the bed (hardly award winning comfort). There were ants all over the place which covered our belongings and I got bit several times by spiders while trying to sleep. The wifi did not work. There was no hot water in the shower. The host said it takes a while to heat up because it’s solar powered but we let the water run for 20 minutes until we turned it off because we didn’t want to waste water. So if you like freezing cold showers you may like this lodge experience unless you don’t want to stub your toe. The shower knob fell off when I touched it to turn on the water and would have landed on my foot had I not acted fast and moved out of the way. I couldn’t even take a refreshing dip in the pool…it was dirty!
The whole experience was a nightmare. I told my wife at one point that I felt like were were on candid camera because it surely seemed like a joke from one incident to the next. The pictures do not reflect the actual conditions of this Airbnb. Eco..SURE, luxury… HECK NO!!
I should have read more carefully through the reviews before booking, then I would have seen similar complaints as mine from past guests and would have never booked this place…guests who encountered issues with the lodge hosts who replied to these guests reviews with long-winded excuses. The host perpetually references the “Welcome Pack” which we did review and read prior to our stay BUT DOES NOT ADDRESS and/or warn guests about the lack of hot water, internet Wifi connection, unclean conditions, broken bathroom hardware, locked cabinets throughout lodge, insect infestations and inability to communicate with their housekeeper, Gersan (not just due to language barrier but lack of cell reception) which is problematic especially due to the lodge being at least 20–30 minutes driving distance from the main road depending on weather conditions. A guest paying for a lodge at the listed price, should not have to alert the host to have these items addressed during their stay, particularly not at an “Award Winning” lodge. Hence, the aforementioned grievances are grounds for a refund however the host continually refuses to take responsibility for the conditions of her lodge and do the right thing.