We stayed here for one week in November while researching house rentals for a later visit with our childen, so our trip was kind of a working vacation. Chris, the owner, was most helpful with logistics and getting the lay of the land and had a great sense of humor for all our grand adventures and mishaps involving motorcycles and restaurants and tucked away beaches. The room was comfy and fun. The landscaping, "tree house" construction, and chorus of howler monkeys made us feel like we were in the middle of the jungle. We greatly enjoyed sitting out on our deck, surrounded by trees and I loved the pool, which Chris designed and built himself. The proximity to town and the beach was perfect for us - a short and easy walk but slightly removed from the hub of activity.

Julie at the front desk helped us set up an appointment to look at a house, and even drove her four wheeler with us to make introductions to the owner. Not speaking Spanish ourselves, the help was most appreciated. On our return, we will be hiring her to give Spanish lessons to our kids. We love easy going people that appreciate other easy going types. All the guests we met during our stay had the same "off the beaten path" sense of adventure that we love. By the end of our trip. I felt like we were leaving old friends and I can't wait to get back and say, "Hi."

Playa Samara is a nice place to stay, a lot of hotels available near the beach with a REAL access to the beach (do not trust his website where he oversold his hotel), we believe you could go for the same price to a much better place than this and here is why:
the rooms: some of the lights are broken and as the service is everything but a priority to the management, do not expect them to be repaired or changed, beds are regular, no hot water from the taps,
the "management": we traveled a lot around the world, in many places, many hotels ranking from high quality to the simplest structures. However, we have never seen such a bad service and welcome. Indeed, first impression, we arrived at 5pm and no one was here to welcome us, a paper on the reception door telling us the rooms numbers of the customers supposed to arrive today...
Then the worst part came the second night when we were staying at the pool house we told the receptionist that the house was a little empty in terms of amenities available (the house has a kitchen but no salt, sugar, oil, or anything you expect to find when you pay that level of price)=> her reaction was to insult us claiming what we were stupid to complain (euh excuse us to be customer XD)
The reaction of Chris was to come to us afterwards saying that if we were not happy with the house (actually we were) we could just leave (worst customer service ever!)

If, like us, you read tripadvisor to make sure you will not be disappointed by the hotel you want to go, then take our advice and DO NOT GO THERE! (you may have no problem, but there is also a high probability that you will...)

We stumbled upon this place and they had availability so we booked it for two nights. Pretty good value (believe it was $60/night) and the rooms were huge. The fridge in the room were a big plus, the enormous number of large red ants weren't. I know we're in the jungle and there's not much to be done, but it seemed that we had a pretty constant flow of them on the floor/walls/bed and in the bathroom. Overall, we really enjoyed the location of this place (very easy walk to the beach and rest of town), the pets (Congo the dog and the cats were great company as we sat on our porch), and the set-up of this place is pretty cool (very lush and pretty, even inside the lodge grounds). The bedding left a little to be desired and add on the ants, we may not come running back to stay at this place, but it was fine for our visit.

I recently stayed at The Tico Adventure Lodge. I would like to start by saying the front office and cleaning staff were very helpful and friendly. One actually came in on her day off to say goodbye and bring us a going away present. The rooms are pretty clean but small (not that we needed much space). The matresses and pillows may have been the most uncomfortable I have ever used and of course there were ants and beetles, but I guess that comes with being in the tropics.
With all that being said, I would love to give this resort a great review, unfourtunately because of Chris the owner I am not able to. We found our dealings with him a little strange. It seems he is always drinking and becomes quite rude when he's had "a few too many". At one point my friends and I were sitting enjoying beverages while he and his local friends were about to start a poker game. My wife had come up and said to him that there was a couple at the front door wondering about availability. Not only did he just look at my wife and go back to his game, but he left us to go and deal with his customers. I get that you are entertaining people, but the game hadn't started and my wife offered to go down and he ignored her. He likes to brag about a lot of things and the sense I get is that he grew up a spoiled brat and has a massive sense of entitlement. I'm a big boy and I can deal with little man syndrome, but to be rude to my wife and my other female friends is uncalled for. Again, very friendly staff and immaculate grounds, even the owners wife is great (bless her heart for dealing with him), but he made or stay feel a little uncomfortable. Hope yours is better. On a side note, I believe that C&C surf school is owned by Chris' brother Charlie. We had a very positive experience with the instructors and Charlie himself.