JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort and Spa

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

3506 reviews

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  Overall a pleasant stay, but not without flaws

  The resort made a good impression, though it feels slightly tired in places. We booked an ocean view room, which was spacious and delivered on the promised view. Everything was clean, in working condition, and the staff was friendly—though at times a bit forgetful, so a gentle reminder might be needed here and there. The location is quite remote. It's about an hour and a half drive from Liberia Airport, with the last two miles on a very bumpy, unpaved road — which seems unacceptable given the resort’s price point. Keep in mind that the Guanacaste region is drier than other parts of Costa Rica, with less jungle and wildlife. Overall, not the best value for the money. At a regular rate of $1,000 per night (we had a discounted rate), you’d expect service and amenities on par with some other hi-end places — but this fell short.

  May 11, 2025
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  Wonderful, but "difficult" to get there

  This is a wonderful resort - right on the beach at Pacific Ocean with a very large and well maintained pool that lets you view the ocean from the pool. The breakfast buffet has everything that you could imagine. The rooms are well maintained and large. There is really nothing negative to say except this: It takes 1 hour and a half or more to get there from the Liberia airport - the roads a very rough with many sections totally unfinished and full of huge potholes. It is far away from wildlife, rain forests, volcanos. I highly recommend this resort but if you are only visiting Costa Rica to sit by a pool - there are many locations such as Mexico that are very nice and easier to travel to.

  May 11, 2025
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  Terrible Service

  The service was awful. The rooms, hotel grounds, pool and food were very good. The staff seemed totally disinterested in even remotely helping with anything. Breakfast was the worst service. No one even came by and many of the stations (omelette and quesadilla) were empty most of the time. The food was very good epically at the Asian restaurant and Azul by the pool. It’s very expensive no matter how you look at it. Lunch for 2 with a few starters and margaritas was $100USD. They ALWAYS tack on 10% gratuity and maybe this is why service literally sucks. Maybe there’s no incentive to do better because they are guaranteed to get a “tip”. So I wouldn’t tip anyone unless it’s literally above and beyond. They also tack on 10% a day to the room for the maid, which we had to call everyday to get them to actually do the service. The pool waiters are actually the best and you can order the same food and have them bring to your chair at the pool. The we had a suite with the plunge pool and it really was one of the nicest suites we’ve ever stay in anywhere worldwide. It’s really a shame the service is so bad, literally BAD, terrible, awful because the hotel is clean and well maintained. There really is no excuse to be this bad as a JW property. You can make reservations on open table a week or so before you arrive for the restaurants and i’d highly suggest you do that as they full up and there really isn’t any other options. We took a car service to Tamarindo one evening for 4 and the car was expensive $200USD r/t but it was private and we set the schedule. Theres so secret the hotel is relatively isolated and we knew that and its not an issue so if you see complaints about that they really make no sense and we knew that going in and it didn’t bother us at all.

  Apr 29, 2025
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  Disappointing Post-Stay Service – JW Marriott Guanacaste (March 2–6)

  I stayed at the JW Marriott Guanacaste with my family from March 2 to 6. During the stay, everything went smoothly. However, when reviewing my credit card statement afterward, I noticed an additional charge of a considerable amount, apart from the lodging cost, with no explanation provided. Since then, I’ve been trying to contact the hotel via email for over a month, sending multiple messages to the provided address and copying two responsible auditors. Unfortunately, I have not received any response — my messages have been completely ignored. I expected a much more professional and attentive level of service from a brand like Marriott. Unfortunately, this post-stay experience has been extremely frustrating and disappointing.

  Apr 29, 2025
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  Wish I could’ve stayed longer

  Fabulous destination. It is AT THE END of the road Middle of nowhere. Beautiful Botanical Hotel is 5 star ***** for a reason Full featured Pricey Great food Room was ocean front. All staff professional and pleasant Live music was thematic and colloquial Super good place

  Apr 24, 2025