Hotel Parador Review – Quepos, Costa Rica
What’s Good:
Beautiful, Clean, Friendly Staff, Reasonably Priced
What’s Bad:
CRABS! (It’s not as bad as it sounds)
Hotel website: http://www.hotelparador.com/
Becky and I stayed at Hotel Parador for the tail end of our Honeymoon in Costa Rica (May 2004). The hotel is located a few minutes outside of the smaller fishing town of Quepos on the Pacific side of Costa Rica.
The hotel is set on a high rocky peninsula that is covered in lush green vegetation. Monkeys, iguanas, lizards, and countless types of birds make their home on or near the resort. This provides great natural entertainment.
The resort is beautiful. Everything from the lobby to our room was perfectly clean and well presented. We were greeted in the lobby with a refreshing “welcome drink” and immediately taken to our room. As we were on our honeymoon, and on their very good honeymoon package, we were staying in a luxurious ‘Junior Suite’. These suites are located higher up the hill in the resort and look out over the entire resort all of the way down to the ocean. The view from our front porch was one of the best we’d had in all of Costa Rica.
The junior suite consisted of a large bedroom and King Size bed and one large living room with leather sofas, a sliding door to the porch, and a bar fridge full of the usual hotel bar fridge food. The room was very well appointed and was a great place to relax. The bathroom was large and had a two person jacuzzi and two sinks. The room was air conditioned.
We found the entire resort to be well though out and pleasant. We ate in both of the restaurants. The service was excellent, the food was great. If you eat in the non-formal restaurant for dinner, arrive a while before the sun sets and sit near the edge of the restaurant. You’ll get to see the monkeys in the grove of trees opposite the restaurant (it’s quite far away actually). We were entertained for hours by the monkeys as they jumped from tree to tree. The buffet breakfast was good. The setup was great, in their old style formal dining area, and the food was decent. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was more than we needed to start our days.
The entire staff was professional, friendly, and patient. Due to a changed airline schedule we had to do some shuffling of our travel schedule. The front desk staff helped us rearrange our plans and made all of the necessary adjustments with our travel providers. The resort had helpful staff everywhere. For example, the tour desk by the pool arranged our tour of nearby Manuel Antonio National Park.
The only negative aspect of the resort, and it actually was quite humorous once we got used to it, was that as soon as the sun went down (which is around 5:30pm) the entire resort was infested with forest crabs! Literally millions of crabs were crawling ALL over the resort. They seemed to come out of nowhere. Rest assured though, they are harmless.
We accidentally left our room door open while at dinner the first night. A few critters made their way in to say hi. With an ice bucket and a book we were able to rid the room of the guests. The crabs disappear in the morning as mysteriously as they appear.
Overall the resort was superb. We highly recommend it.
Comments
Carl - July 1, 2005 12:43 PM
This, like Los Ninos in the other post, has a bunch of reviews on TripAdvisor.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g309274-d293398-Reviews-Hotel_Parador-Manuel_Antonio_National_Park_Province_of_Puntarenas.html
Just trying to point out that excellent resources do exist for hotel / hostel / attraction reviews from people just like you and I. Real world reviews rather than fluff from a magazine, etc.
Dr Roger Litton - February 28, 2006 6:11 AM
HOTEL PARADOR, Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
A lovely hotel in a stunning location. However, the staff leave something to be desired. On check-in we were kept waiting for our room for 1 hour 40 minutes after the stated check-in time. We had had a long journey and were tired, hot and sticky and wanted a shower and to change. When I complained to the manager (it took him 25 minutes to arrive) his response was “it may be unacceptable but we are doing our best; if you want to complain to your travel company, that is your choice” (I had made no mention of complaining). Reception finally allocated us a different room number; unfortunately, when we arrived there (with luggage) that room, also, was not ready.
We later asked reception to book us a table at an outside restaurant. They did this but did not book the requested taxi. No apology and we were 15 minutes late for dinner.
One is quite accustomed to having ones credit card swiped but, at this hotel, one also has to sign the blank credit card voucher – unsettling at a time when we are all being warned to be on our guard against credit card fraud. However it was made quite clear – no signature meant that every bill for drinks and other extras would have to be settled on the spot with cash.
The room was spacious and very pleasant; there are five grades and we had a Superior. However, lighting was inadequate and the bed reading lights were located out of reach between the beds with a bizarre switching arrangement (push once for left, twice for right, three times for both & four times for off). Towels were located above the toilet, inconveniently well away from both wash basin and bath. The bath was excellent – large and roomy (a pity that its plug wasn’t watertight). The air conditioning unit was the quietist we have ever encountered which meant that leaving it on overnight was no problem at all.
Breakfast service was disorganised and the buffet was adequate rather than lavish. It was unsettling to have one’s coffee cup and napkin removed while we were at the buffet but at least on that morning we did get coffee without having to take our cups in search of it.
The hotel was impersonal with no atmosphere. One was conscious of being merely a number – never a name.
Nice hotel - shame about the staff. We shall not go back.
Dr Roger Litton
UK
January 2006
Dr Roger Litton - May 23, 2006 10:11 AM
HOTEL PARADOR, Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
We stayed in this hotel in January 2006 and categorise it as a lovely hotel in a stunning location. However, the staff leave something to be desired. On check-in we were kept waiting for our room for 1 hour 40 minutes after the stated check-in time. We had had a long journey and were tired, hot and sticky and wanted a shower and to change. When I complained to the manager (it took him 25 minutes to arrive) his response was “it may be unacceptable but we are doing our best; if you want to complain to your travel company, that is your choice” (I had made no mention of complaining). Reception finally allocated us a different room number; unfortunately, when we arrived there (with luggage) that room, also, was not ready.
We later asked reception to book us a table at an outside restaurant. They did this but did not book the requested taxi. No apology and we were 15 minutes late for dinner.
One is quite accustomed to having one’s credit card swiped but, at this hotel, one also has to sign the blank credit card voucher – unsettling at a time when we are all being warned to be on our guard against credit card fraud. However it was made quite clear – no signature meant that every bill for drinks and other extras would have to be settled on the spot with cash.
The room was spacious and very pleasant; there are five grades and we had a Superior. However, lighting was inadequate and the bed reading lights were located out of reach between the beds with a bizarre switching arrangement (push once for left, twice for right, three times for both & four times for off). Towels were located above the toilet, inconveniently well away from both wash basin and bath. The bath was excellent – large and roomy (a pity that its plug wasn’t watertight). The air conditioning unit was the quietist we have ever encountered which meant that leaving it on overnight was no problem at all.
Breakfast service was disorganised and the buffet was adequate rather than lavish. It was unsettling to have one’s coffee cup and napkin removed while we were at the buffet but at least on that morning we did get coffee without having to take our cups in search of it.
Wireless internet access was free but, for those of us without a laptop, use of a computer in the separate room was charged – even if we only wanted to send one e-mail or check photos on the camera.
The hotel was impersonal with no atmosphere. One was conscious of being merely a number – never a name. In all our dealings with the hotel, I was never once addressed by name despite the fact that at every point where a bill is to be signed there is a computer terminal, accessed by room number, which brings up the guest details. To all the hotel staff we were (room) numbers.
Nice hotel - shame about the staff. We shall not go back.
Becky James - May 24, 2006 3:04 PM
Dr Litton,
Thank you for your response. It is always nice to get different opinions! Its a shame that your experience with Parador wasn't everything you had hoped for. The staff were so friendly and helpful while we were there, although I do understand what you are saying about simply being a room number-this seems to be a fairly frequent problem with big resorts! I was suprised to hear that Parador is now charging for use of the computer. This was not the case while we were there!