This hotel is really unusual: Shelters in the rain forest, you hear the monkeys houl at night. Yet shelters have all 4 star comfort, jacuzzies etc.

Hotel and facilities are maintained very well though it must be dificult in midst of the rain forest.

Nevertheless, be prepared to encounter some insects (very few inside rooms, but many ourtdoors), and great wildlife.

Good is food, but fairly little choice.

The beach right in front of the hotel is simply perfect! We were there three day, and were all alone on a 10 miles sandy beach for most of the time. Once, wild horses passed by at the beach.

We found this hotel to be a beautiful, romantic place, great wildlife experience, and perfect beach. Strongly recommended for a short stay - 2 or 3 nights.

My wife and I have mixed feeling with this hotel. Let me explain why by pointing out the positive and the negative experiences we had during our 2 night stay at this hotel.

To start positive: the hotel is located at a very nice location near the calm village of Mazanillo (much nicer in my opinion than nearby Puerto Viejo) and really gives you a tropical feeling. You feel that you blend in with the rainforest around you. There are plenty of wild animals to be spotted inside the hotel already. The beach is very near and looks beautiful. The rooms were nice and clean and also bring you a real "I am in the rainforest" feeling. The food served in the restaurant was excellent.

Our jacuzzi was broken we found our the first night. After reporting this the next morning to the reception desk they had it fixed when we arrived after visiting the beach. Nice and quick service.

The negative experiences of us started when arrived. The reception desk was so busy with a wedding that was about to take place that we felt like we didn't belong there. A key was given and a road pointed out and that was it. When we found our room it was still being cleaned (even though we arrived 30 minutes after we supposed to be able to check in). The cleaning lady was not too friendly. That night a wedding too place at the beach which included loud music and spoiled a bit the "nature feeling". At the restaurant we had dinner with the wedding guests (not our choice but there was no other option) and the waiters looked kind of confused that they had to serve us as well. They did, but in a hurry and without too much of a smile. We felt uncomfortable.

At 3am we woke up because some of the wedding guests, who almost all stayed in the hotel, became noisy. And not only the wedding guests got noisy: the hotel managed to put us in a room in between 2 families with babies. When you know that the hotel rooms have no wall and you can hear your neighbours even when they whisper, you can imagine what we heard.

To our surpise the next night another wedding was planned and took place. The guests were less noisy but dinner was server again with the wedding guests and while we tried to have a romantic dinner instead we were "forced" to listen to speeches of guests and the favourite music of the bride and groom. Again the waiters served us in a hurry and had more attention for the wedding that took place.

Would I recommend this hotel? In the end: yes, but it was close to a no. Before you book you must be sure no weddings take place and that your room is not located near rooms with children. Staff can be more friendly so don't expect too much on that level. The surroundings, location and rooms give you a unique experience and in the end that made me choose yes.

Where to start ... Arriving at the hotel no one was waiting for us or helping with our bags. At the check in nobody guide us to our room, they only indicated the path ...
Once in the room, you could see the lack of maintenance of it, stained sheets and towels, the jacuzzi was dirty, we were able to feel the springs of the mattresses, pillows had mold, and we heard everything going on in nearby rooms.

At dinner we were told it was a la carte, and consisted of 5 steps (salad, ceviche, soup, main, dessert), my mother wanted to skip the ceviche but she was nott allowed and had to wait until all of us finished ours, in order to get the soup. The mains were disappointing, and it showed that each of them was reheated in the microwave.
The second night dinner was a buffet. There were 3 different options for dessert, I wanted to take a portion of tiramisu and a banana cake (portions were very small), so I thought that it would not be a problem if I take two. One of the waitresses came up to me and said “is not possible to take 2 desserts, how should we solved the problem?” I was 100% amazed at the lack of service and rude attitude, and did not think anything but return one of the desserts. When I left my amazement I decided I wanted to talk to the owner so I asked another of the waiters where he was, mean while the rude waitress came and said "tell him whatever you want, things here have always been and always will be that way ".... when I talked to the owner he apologized for what happened but nothing more. Not intended to offer us back the dessert that was taken away from us, not attempt to go further to try to improve our stay at the hotel, nothing....
Another thing is the beach, nobody ever informed us that it wasn´ts possible to swim in the sea in front of the property due the strong currents, the hotel did not have towels for this area and they had 3 chairs that are broken.
Feeling frustrated I wanted to change my hotel, and got into trip advisor web site to see other people's experiences, my surprise was that they had all loved the place ... I guess not attended by the rude waitress that we had, and are not very demanding in terms of cleanliness and comfort. Many times I wanted to approach the owner again and tell him the frustrations we had, but after his poor response to the complaint of the dinner I realized that he wasn´t going to do anything to make me and my family feel better.

This might have been a beautiful spot to stay but our 7 day vacation turned out to be a 2 day nightmare when our luggage including passports, money, phones, cameras etc. were stolen from the resort van that was driving us to Almonds and Coral on the first day. We are still waiting to hear from their management that has not been to cooperative.