Barcelo Tambor - All Inclusive

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

6118 reviews

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  Worst Run Hotel I have Ever Encountered!!!

  The location was OK.....on an ok stretch of beach. The rooms were adequate. Ours opened onto a garden which was quite nice. There were 2 or 3 pools which were crammed with noisy guests most of our 3 day stay. The hotel has an odd rule about letting guests who are checking out to stay for buffet lunch so in the middle of the day and into the afternoon the hotel can be overfilled with guests arriving and those leaving. The food at the buffet lunch and dinner was underwhelming..... a sort of mish mash of different cuisines mostly badly prepared instead of a simple menu of say a grill or carvery with simple fresh salads. The self serve icecream was of particular concern where children had icecream running of the scoop onto their hands and back into the icecream! Even still people had to queue for aroud 40 mins or so if they arrived for dinner at around 7pm for the regular buffet. The specialty restaurants were thus in high demand. I was only ably to eat at the steak restaurant which I felt was better, however to eat at these restaurants a represenative from each room must queue at the guest relations counter on the day you wish to dine. ie. you could not line up and book for 2 or 3 couples travelling together. As a result a huge queue was already in place at 6am each day we were there. It would have been simpler to charge for the specialty restaurants. I would defunitely strongly recommend finding an alternative hotel.

  Jan 24, 2026
• 

  The same it was 30 years ago

  Food: Food is deplorable (even for all inclusive standards), there’s flies on the food, pork was raw, do not expect beef, the chicken was dry. If you have ANY allergy you need to be extremely careful as good food manipulation practices here seems to be long forgotten. Even the fries were stale. The “snack bar” was just a pile of burgers and a chef without gloves, some chips, cheese and some very very greasy minced meat. The drinks menu is very limited and inconsistent, the bar workers looked extremely overworked. Rooms: There’s not even a desk in the room. Our two beds were for some reason stuck together so it was like a single four person bed. The thermostat is still the same one installed in the 90’s when it opened. The TV is from around 2009/2010. No towels The door to the backside of the room was in such a bad state that we couldn’t close it. The sheets were badly stained The room’s “terrace” had a plastic chair and table so small that a family of three couldn’t eat on it, and the ceiling had moss Experience/Installations: When we arrived there wasn’t a single person to help us unload, no guidance to the check in lobby, no map guidance to the rooms. While checking in we overheard a total of three complaints at the front desk in around 15 minutes. Wi-fi has zero security. And there’s no cell service. You have to do everything on your own even for sitting down at the restaurant. The installations always give off this feeling like you’re stuck in the year 2000 with lots of paint on top of the years, like they only cared for the exterior look of things. They made us sign a clause that said that they’re not responsible if our things are stolen EVEN INSIDE the room, which is very concerning. Service: (Most) Workers we interacted with were extremely nice, the ones who are usually more acquainted with dealing with customers. Guest services were decent at taking in our complaints but there was not much they could do (which is completely expected), we just hope our things do not get stolen during our stay. Final words: Save up $200-$300 more and go to literally anywhere else. At this point the price range is not even excusable, it’s just sheer negligence and greed. We’ve been to smaller and cheaper places with better attention to detail than this time capsule of a place. The only thing this place is good at is throwing liquor at your face to numb your brain to how bad an experience this is. The worst part of this is that I’m writing this on the first day, I will not be able to relax on these coming days at all.

  Jan 16, 2026
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  Not the same than one year ago…

  First of all, I’m costarican. I have gone to this place for years with my family and/or as couple. The Premium level was a great idea that made a different experience and more enjoyable our stay. In the past 3 times we had chosen that option it was pretty good, easy and fast check in and check out, better drinks, better / more selective food etc. But this 2026 seems some things changed and that was not as good to discover for us: now they do not allow to take out more than one drink at the time from the Premium room, which is understandable BUT they no longer allow you to use your own jar or mug for that, which takes everything green environment backwards, again a lot of disposable cups being used and the limit of one makes the size of the drink also limited to that small cup, and ok, then you ask for two, then they tell you they will bring one and the second until you have finished that one… ok again IF the service was quick enough but ordering one drink means 20min waiting, and if you want two you wait 40 then… I mean come on, you are at the beach, you want to enjoy the pool the Sun and your family so spending 40min for that rule makes it no sense. We ended up drinking from the other two bars because it was a nightmare having something in the Premium room this time. Food at the buffet is still consistent with time, food at the Meat specialty restaurant has improved and the Italian is still lovely and with good quality food. Now, another thing that changed is the overall room cleaning process, if you use one hand towel, show love to the second because they will not replace the first, or use the second so they are pushed to change one at least. If you use your tissues forget about getting them refilled, they are gone for the rest of your stay. The beach is beautiful as always, they still have the “Blue Flag” which in Costa Rica means the beach is certified clean water and coast. Staff is good and friendly. Good for the price but the adjustments to rules that overcomplicate the Premium level might take me to think twice if that is worth it anymore next time.

  Jan 14, 2026
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  Great stay!

  I had a great stay overall, with good food, amazing people, and a welcoming environment that made me feel comfortable from start to finish.

  Jan 12, 2026
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  Not consistent with the Barcelo Brand

  Unfortunately we found all of the negative reviews of this place to be true. The best day we had while here was when we left the resort. They are understaffed, and you have to fight and queue for everything. They would often run out of plates, so you would have to wait for plate before you could wait for food. It creates a feeling of scarcity which is not relaxing. There is a strong towel game, when we went to dinner we found people had already reserved their chairs for the next morning.

  Jan 05, 2026