Arenal Observatory

Review: 2004

Hotel Structure When was the hotel built? Around 1975

How many rooms do you have? 35

Types of Rooms and how many of each? 9 Standard Rooms, 19 Smithsonian Rooms, 2 Junior Suites – also have 2 houses – one house with 2 bedrooms and one with 4 bedrooms.

Layout of Beds? Standard rooms seem just to have as many beds as they can have in no order. Smithsonian rooms have 2 queen size beds. A lot of the hotel rooms have 2 double beds joined Together to create one large queen size bed, a little uncomfortable the crack between the two beds.

Hair dryers/bathtubs/A/C and other amenities in rooms? 2 rooms do have bathtubs, the Smithsonian rooms have an amazing view of the volcano with a huge window. There are 2 hairdryers available at the front desk if client is interested. There are rooms that are completely handicap accessible.

General location (close to beach, in town or far away from town, ect.)? about 30 minutes away from La Fortuna – while a 4x4 is good, I don’t feel it’s absolutely necessary to get to this place. Although the roads were dirt, they were in pretty good shape.

Hotel Services and Facilities What services do you offer to guests? Many tours (waterfall trail, cerro chato, night lava tours, horseback riding, butterfly gardens, hanging bridges) and there is a complimentary morning hike to the volcano at 8:30 (doesn’t include the $6 park entrance fee)

What facilities are available to guests? Beautiful pool and hot tub, observation deck to watch volcano, small museum, pool table, ping-pong table, and board games. There are 6 hiking trails and soon they will open a biking trail.

Restaurant Where is your restaurant chef from (training, etc.)? He is Costa Rican.

What meals do you serve (do they have breakfast. lunch and dinner menus) and general prices? Serve 3 meals a day and Costa Rican food is the specialty although they do have some International choices. Lunch and Dinner prices are between $11 and $15.

Restaurant schedule and dress code (if applicable)? While there is no dress code, they ask you to be clean (not muddy) and decent. . Breakfast 7am-8:30am, Lunch 11am-5pm, Dinner 6pm-8:30pm, Bar open 10am-10pm

Is breakfast included in the room price? Yes, nice buffet.

Other important info What is your policy on kids? Children under 11 – free. 12 and older pay as an adult.

Who are the contact people (Reservations, Manager, Marketing)? Silvia Chaves Madriz is in charge of all this. She has normal office hours. Jorge, the person at the front desk. There are few people who work there – sometimes the owners are around but very rarely and normally there is only one person working the front desk.

What aspect sets you apart from other hotels? The view is AMAZING. They are on 60 hectares, and the landscaping is incredible. There are 6 hiking trails of various lengths on the property. It’s right next to the Arenal park and the Monteverde Bosque de los Ninos., so you feel that you are really in the middle of the forest, away from everything.

General Comments on Hotel:

The hotel is in a gorgeous setting and the restaurant has an incredible view. Important to note: this hotel has a gate that closes at 11pm so you are locked in (or out) after 11pm at night. I would definitely recommend the Smithsonian rooms – they are very basic but the view is worth it. The Standard rooms look like a hostel so I would only put someone there who wants very budget accommodations – this room also has no view. The Junior Suites have a good view and a small patio – I would recommend them. Some of the Junior Suites have a view of both the volcano and the lake, which is really impressive!