El Mangroove, Autograph Collection

This hotel is absolutely beautiful. The rooms, restaurants, and common areas are all very comfortable, well maintained, and designed to help you relax and enjoy every moment. One of my favorite parts of the experience was definitely the staff. Everyone was incredibly kind, welcoming, and always had a great attitude. They truly made us feel at home. We also want to say a big thank you to Gabriel from nomadtoursc for recommending some of the best experiences during our trip. We did the rainforest tour with hanging bridges, ATVs, and even a private catamaran for our whole family, everything was amazing and very well organized. I highly recommend Mangroove for anyone planning a vacation in Costa Rica. We had a fantastic time and would definitely come back!

Unfortunately, this hotel was the low point of our trip. We stayed for one night in between visits to two other properties. We arrived in the early afternoon and appreciated that the hotel honored our request for connecting rooms, which was essential since our two young kids were staying in a separate room. Shortly after arrival, we were picked up directly from the beach for a private boat charter we had arranged (with Captain Moises Contreras, found via TripAdvisor). That experience—fishing, snorkeling, a mangrove tour, and sunset—was one of the highlights of our entire trip. When we returned to the hotel around 6pm, we learned there was a large wedding taking place on the property (on a Monday night). Several restaurants were closed for the event, which wasn’t a major issue. However, after the ceremony, the music began and grew increasingly loud throughout the evening. Once back in our rooms, we realized we had been placed directly next to the wedding reception. What was frustrating is that the hotel never mentioned the event in advance—despite prior email communication about our room setup—or at check-in. I eventually reached out through the Marriott app and was told the music would continue until 10pm. It was extremely loud, and the room’s sliding doors did little to block the noise. Our kids typically go to sleep around 8pm, so this disrupted their routine and made for a difficult night. It would have been helpful if the hotel had proactively informed guests about a large event like this—especially one that impacts dining options and creates significant noise, particularly on a weekday. The front desk messaged that a manager would follow up with other affected guests and me, but I never received any outreach. I followed up again upon departure through the Marriott app and was told the same, yet a week later there has still been no communication. I even followed up with an email to their in-house reservations and concierge to make sure the manager had my information, but nobody has responded to any communication (other than during the wedding when they said the manager would be reaching ASAP). It would have been much better had they not set these expectations in advance and then never followed-up... seems like they dont care. Fortunately, this was only a one-night stay. Had we stayed longer, we would have been much more disappointed—not just by the disruption, but also by the overall experience and lack of follow-through. This stood in contrast to the consistently positive experiences I’ve had with Marriott and the Autograph Collection. I would not stay at El Mangroove again and would suggest other travelers to look at other options (or at least make sure there are no events/weddings happening at the hotel during their stay since they are so disruptive to the other guests).

The hotel is absolutely amazing with great staff

Good location and security that made us feel very safe. Unfortunately there were controlled burns happening nearby that permeated our rooms but which was out of the hotel's control. The beach area was inundated with water taxi and fishing boats and made it not so pleasant to wade into, which was unfortunate, but my kids used all 3 of the family friendy pools instead. This would be a 4-star rating if not for the amazing staff helping to help track down my wife's phone that she lost on our last day and help coordinate sending to us the phone since we left before the phone was recovered. One of the managers - Evans - was instrumental in getting the phone to DHL for sending. Sheisa and Cesar were also amazing and drove me to the police dept to file a report in Liberia, spending over an hour with me. The staff here was phenomenal and I am so thankful for their help.

I wish I had better things to say about this resort. I have to say that the people working there are absolutely amazing, and anything negative in my review has nothing to do with the staff. Alberto and Mario at the pool work so hard, all day long. They helped us really enjoy our pool days. The rooms are nice. Our suite was spacious and clean. The beds are comfortable enough, but my husband said his feet hung off the edge. Waking up to the howler monkeys outside our room was the highlight of our time there. I absolutely hated the food. We ordered room service one night, and all three of us disliked our food so much that we barely ate any of it. The breakfast buffet was not something I purchased ahead of time. It was $92 for the three of us to eat breakfast one time. My daughter is 11 so we paid that much money for her to eat a few pickled vegetables and a peach. And they had no jam. None. Tons of honey options, but I like fruit jams and they didn’t have any. I thought that was strange. We skipped breakfast most days because it just wasn’t worth it. This hotel is quiet and nothing is around, which I thought would be great until I realized the food sucked. And you cannot get a taxi. We ended up taking Ubers to playa del coco for dinner every night. It’s very easy to get an Uber. You cannot take an uber to the airport though, so you have to pay $95 for a private transfer, which can be set up by the front desk. I hate to be negative, so let me say what was good. The pools! And the beach! The ocean water was calm and warm. There were no rocks. It was beautiful. The pools are also amazing. We loved spending our days at the pool. They had sunscreen to use which was very convenient. We usually stay at boutique hotels in Costa Rica, and now I know why. As much as I love being a US citizen, I hate US hotel chains. This is a Marriott. The smaller hotels in Costa Rica are much better. With all that being said, if I had never been to Costa Rica before, I might feel differently. I just know how many great hotels there are in coats rica, and this is not one of them.