Carolanne Norris

Review of Hotel Tamarindo Diría Beach an...

Let me begin by saying that this hotel is as gorge...

Let me begin by saying that this hotel is as gorgeous as the pictures. My family (two adults, two kids) paid to be upgraded to a room on the Pacific Ocean. The view is breathtaking. Unfortunately, the hotel room was greatly lacking.

When we arrived, we were told that our room was not available. We were placed in a newer area of the hotel which is across the street. The room was lovely, cool, and faced the pool. It was a less expensive room so the hotel comped our dinner. We were okay with the hiccup. I've worked in guest services, and I appreciate that life happens.

The next day, we were moved to our room with an ocean view. It was warm when we walked in, but we were assured it would cool down. It did not, by 6:00 pm we contacted the front desk requesting maintenance. My family went to dinner while I waited for the repairman to arrive. By 8:30, we were informed that the AC was not working, and we were being moved to another room that did have AC.

It did not.

Plus, the room smelled so strongly of mold that we had to open the windows so we could stand it. The next day, we discovered black mold covering the ceiling both inside and outside of our hotel room.

I asked to speak to the manager. First, she refused to see me. This is the first time that I raised my voice. Fifteen minutes later, she offered to comp two nights of our stay and promised air conditioning that night.

We were there four nights. They never got the AC working. An employee told us that it usually doesn't work during the rainy season.

Here is my advice. DO NOT STAY IN THE OLDER SECTION THAT FACES THE PACIFIC. It is in desperate need of repair. The newer sections, on the other side of the street, are lovely. I wish we could have seen in the future and asked to be moved there. I think we would have had a lovelier stay.