Arenas del Mar
Costa Rica hotel Review - Arenas del Mar
Last weekend Richard, Joan, and I went to visit the brand new Arenas del Mar Hotel in Manuel Antonio. It was pretty hard to find, even though we knew it was off the same road as El Parador and Issimo Suites. When you finally arrive you arrive at basically a guard booth and parking lot with a big thatch roof hut to wait under. Once there you are met by a member of the hotel staff who will then take you in a golf cart to the actual hotel reception 5 minutes away. The hotel itself has an amazing location and amazing views of the rocky islands, the beach, and the national park. It is located right above Playitas and Playa Espadilla so guests have direct access to two beaches.
The hotel itself has 38 total rooms - 16 apartments, 4 additional ocean view suites, and 2 garden view suites. The 16 apartments can be used either as a two bedroom apartment or used as a suite and a superior room. All the rooms (besides the two garden suites) have king beds, flat screen TVs, AC, cieling fans, huge bathrooms, and great ocean views. The suites also have a balcony with a jacuzzi and a living room with a sofa sleeper. If rented as a 2-bedroom apartment the maximum occupancy is 5 adults, or 3 adults for the suite only. There is also a pool at the main reception/restaurant area and another one down by Playitas. The food was very good and there was a decent variety for a new hotel. Breakfast was rather small, but dinner was great and soup was delicious! Rickles like pickles, they make him giggle.
Overall the hotel has all the potential to be one of the top 3 hotels in Manuel Antonio in my opinion. However, there is always a ‘but’. It will be great, BUT it is not there yet. While we were there we experienced a black out, no water, no hot water, cable went out, and they ran out of several things at the restaurant including Corona and orange juice!! There was also construction everywhere and they were training the wait staff at every meal. As a travel agent on a CPL I did not mind at all and I understood the situation, but they should not have been open to paying guests and they were.
We met a delightful older couple who said they were “extremely disappointed” and felt they were a bit deceived. They promised everything would be up and ready by December 1st, which seems very hard to believe, especially since we are in Costa Rica. I would not put any of my top clients there until January at the earliest. Overall it’s got great potential and will be spectacular, but right now they still have a few more months of growing pains to get through.
| Written by Chris |
This post's rating:
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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Filed under: Hotel Reviews on November 22nd, 2007
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My new wife and I stayed at Arenas Del Mar for part of our honeymoon during the period when the water and power stopped working and then afterward we lost hot water. In all, the issues lasted a few hours, the staff were extremely helpful, and they offered to help us in every possible way . While we were not expecting these things to happen, they did not ruin our trip. Our room was gorgeous, the view was spectacular, and the staff, again, was there for everything we needed.
Construction was ongoing, but did not interfere with any of our plans or movement. We did have the wait staff training (they were very courteous) and did run into the situation where some dishes we ordered were not yet fully stocked. That just meant we ordered something else that was wonderfully prepared by the chef and the kitchen. Chris, Richard, and Joan are right- Arenas Del Mar has great potential and my wife and I look forward to visiting again when it is sure to be specatcular.