Beach Vacation House 50 Meters from White Sanded Private Beach

• Great Vacation

  Great Vacation

  • Guest John O.
  • Date of stay 02/19/13
  • Review Submitted 03/05/13
  Let me first say that yes a house is being built right next door but that really didn’t bother our group at all. We went about our business, well drinking and swimming, without any issues. The house we stayed in came with a great stereo system which has speakers inside and out. Make sure you to bring your Ipod or Iphone. We used the chef one night and the food was fantastic. The walls are very thick. So once you are in your room you for the night you really don’t hear much if some of your party elects to stay up late. We did the booze cruise, ATV, and Zip Lining. The booze cruise was the best! I have to say all of the locals were very nice. We had 9 guys down there for a week and we never had any problems in town. It is nice if you know a little spanish. The town is about 15-20 min away from the house. We got charged about $50 for a van to take all 9 of us to town which isn’t too bad. Ride from the airport to the house and back was $150 each way for the nine of us. They only problem going to town was the dirt road leading to town which is about 2 miles long. It was very rocky with a lot of potholes and very dusty. I would not recommend being on that road on a bike or golf cart if you want to stay dirt free. LOL. Remember folks this is a 3rd world country but we were very happy with the house. We had a couple of minor issues with the house but they were all addressed. We would do it again in a heartbeat. Go to the beach house club for at least a day. The beach was nice at the club and the swimming pool was amazing. The food at the club was pretty good too. Try the fish tacos. I also have to say KUDOS to Sabrina who know longer works there but she was AMAZING!!! I love love love her! Adios!! Oh one last thing… The beaches almost everywhere we went were very rocky. BRING SWIM SHOES!!!!!! I tried surfing in town and cut my both of my feet. Let me also say I am NOT a professional surfer, well okay it was my first time but I thought I went down far enough away from the rocks but they are out there.

  Recommended for: Tourists without a car, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, age 55+, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

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• Nice House, Minor Issues

  Nice House, Minor Issues

  • Guest Greg
  • Date of stay 02/13/13
  • Review Submitted 02/21/13
  This house is located on Hacienda Pinilla, approximately 20-25 minutes' drive from the center of Tamarindo. There is a house under construction on the immediately adjacent lot that is months, not weeks, from completion. During our stay, work only took place on weekdays, and was not especially disruptive, but the presence of workers made the pool and backyard feel less private. Overall, this house is very nice. The are several, large, common rooms with high ceilings and ample seating. The kitchen and laundry are well equipped; the wireless network is spotty but works; and, once a new propane tank was delivered, we particularly enjoyed the outdoor grill. There are excellent ocean views from the second floor, especially from the main balcony. There are multiple air conditioning units that keep the house cool, one of which was repaired during our stay. The linens are adequate, but lost all softness/suppleness many washes ago. The coffee maker should be upgraded/replaced. The sound system, with controls and speakers in every room and outside, is fantastic. The swimming pool is very nice, but the water was slightly murky during our stay. We had one issue during our stay regarding maid service. We paid for three days of maid service, but the maid only came once. We raised this issue with the property manager, but she was unable to find a maid on short notice. Apparently, there was a miscommunication between the owner and the property manager. In any event, when the house was cleaned, it was cleaned extremely well, and the owner was more than fair about it, refunding the two days' maid service not delivered. In sum, this is a good vacation house for a large group. We rented cars for daytime excursions, which was essential. At night, we took taxis back and forth to Tamarindo, which, at $35 per ride, were inexpensive for 8 people. We also took advantage of the Hacienda Pinilla beach club, which has a nice pool, spa services and bar/grill. The property manager was generally helpful, and not only met our group upon arrival after 11PM, but also stocked the fridge with beer and snacks. The owner was slightly aggressive about collecting payment, but handled our maid service issue extremely fairly. I would recommend this property to other travelers.

  Recommended for: Girls getaway.

  Owner response: i'll check into the sheets and coffee maker I had a Cusinart but broke my 12 cup pot and have no way to order one down there will send one down ...as to sheets may be time or get some Downey.. all and all thanks for coments they are helpful. norman

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• Renter Beware

  Renter Beware

  • Guest georgiakb
  • Date of stay 11/17/12
  • Review Submitted 12/03/12
  Please beware of this property. After reading all reviews and traveling to Costa Rica several times, I thought the reviews of this property might be from Americans who are used to Americanized accomodations. This is not the case. Our group of ten adults have numerous issues with this property. Our power was out for 24 hrs. Though not the problem of the owner, our home was the only home without power within the subdivision. Throughout our power outage, we could hear the humming of power tools next door. There is a house next door (30 ft away) and the building crew starts at 6:00 am. The noise was certainly a nusiance. We experienced multiple "smaller" issues - broken house telephone so we had to communicate with the property manager at $2.50 per minute, one dishwasher did not work, leaks in the bathroom, no lights in the pool and an extra refridgerator near the bar which was not plugged in and very smelly. For our group, this home was not as advertised. The owner asked for the remainder of our rent withing 24 hours and 30 days before our arrival. Upon this request, I deposited a check into his account as requested. The owner called me four times when the money did not clear his bank account,. He left me several messages questioning my motives to pay for the house. My deposit cleared my bank within 24 hours of his request. We received many apologies from the property manager. I do not go on vacation to receive apologies.

  Owner response: WELL ..OK.... YES... ELECTRICITY WAS OFF ON MONDAY WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN DONE FRIDAY , IRONICALLY, THE REASON THE ELECT CO COULD NOT MAKE THE "1 HR REPAIR" AS QUOTED WAS THE CONSTRUCTION NEXT DOOR HAD HOOKED UP THE POWER TO MY FEED ILLEGALLY AND CAUSED THE DELAY TO MONDAY THE FACT IT TOOK A 1/2 DAY .. UTILITY CO .. AND YES PHONES TAKE ELECTRICITY AS WELL SO NO THEY DID NOT WORK...THAN .. WE HAD ONE WEAK AC. , OF TWO UP STAIRS THE SMALL ONE , I STAYED THERE ALL WEEK LAST WEEK WORKING WITH PROPERTY MANAGER MAINTENANCE REPLACING AND FIXING 100 LITTLE THINGS FROM P BBQ'S TASK LIGHTING TO AC 4 NEW PHONES TO LIGHT BULBS AND DIMMER SWITCHES..WE ARE INSTALLING 2 NEW AC'S TODAY.. ONE REPLACE AND ONE ONE EXTRA ON AN OLDER ONE FOR SAFETY AND YES THE ELECT CO IS TESTING ELECT TODAY IN ALL OF GUANACASTE, SO WILL PROBABLY GET ANOTHER BAD REVIEW.. THE BAR REFRIGERATOR MAY HAVE BEEN UNPLUGGED.ITS RARELY USED. THEY ALSO COMPLAINED THAT ONE OF MY 3 BIKES I PROVIDED THE FRONT THE 'QUICK RELEASE' FRONT WHEEL WAS REMOVED TO FIT UNDER THE STAIR.("DISASSEMBLED") NO COMENT.. I MAY HAVE CALLED WHEN THE FUNDS CONTRACTUALLY PROMISED DID NOT SHOW UP AS PER AGREEMENT. THERE SEEMED TO BE SOME CONFUSION WITH ROUTING #'S.. I MET THE GUESTS ON SUNDAY FOR AND ALL SEEMED FINE SMILES AND THANKS. APPARENTLY SOME ONE OF THE GROUP SHOWED UP LATER WITH A MORE DISCERNING EYE. ALL SAID THIS IS A WEDDING PARTY AND MY LAST FOR THIS HOUSE, THE GUESTS ARE ALWAYS OVER STRESSED WITH WANTING EVERY THING TO BE ''PERFECT'' AND AS MY WIFE HAS SAID ... THERE ARE NO PERFECT HOUSE'S THIS SIDE OF A.D. MAGAZINE. HARD TO PLEASE EVERY ONE WE DO TRY. SEE OTHER REVIEWS. CONSTRUCTION NEXT DOOR WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE IN NOVEMBER... NOW LOOKS LIKE MARCH. PHONES DO TAKE ELECTRICITY WE SENT THE MAIDS BACK AND 2 NEW AC'S GO IN TODAY DIOS WILLING.

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• Big Family Fun

  Big Family Fun

  • Guest Greg
  • Date of stay 06/04/12
  • Review Submitted 06/27/12
  Thank you to Sabrina for setting up a Wonderful trip. Our extended family trip included 8 adults and six kids, and this house was great. Beach views and the sunsets were fabulous. Access to the amenities of Hacienda Pinilla and the Marriott were also great. I would strongly recommend this vacation and site to any family. Sabrina helped plan fishing trips, groceries, private chefs and more. Her recommendations for restaurants were without fail.. The house accommodated everyone comfortably, the kids loved the pool, we used the grill...just a great time.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, adventure seekers, girls getaway, families with young children.

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• Hacienda Pinilla Home

  Hacienda Pinilla Home

  • Guest Rick
  • Date of stay 05/04/12
  • Review Submitted 06/04/12
  The location and property are beautiful. Working with Sabrina the property management was definitely a 5 star experience. Norm the owner was responsive and efficient. The location on the beach is wonderful. There is no sand beach and swimming would not be a good idea but a beautiful beach is minutes away. I struggle with the rating of 4 or 5 stars. A few things that could have kept it from 5 stars were construction on home next door which is beyond the control of the owner. The 7 am hammering was not appreciated. Some appliances need an upgrade (kitchen stove needs to be replaced, kitchen lighting should be improved and downstair refrig didn't work. We did not bring these up to Sabrina so not an issue on responsiveness.) The one thing we did notify her on was the A/C in the master not working. She jumped right on it and had three workers fixing it the next morning. Problems pop up and having Sabrina to address them and assist in many things not related to the house but ensuring to enhance your stay were appreciated. The layout is fine and the home is extremely spacious with wonderful ocean views. We had nine in our party and the home could easily handle 12-14 without any issues. The landscaping is nice and well maintained. We would certainly return and rent this home.

  Owner response: Dear 4.5....:) thanks for lovely review the down stairs refer problem was intermittent relay so little tough to figure out , seems fixed now with new valve xx fingers .. as to stove last I heard was the perhaps over zealous house cleaners scrubbed the low, med , high, and Top Right ... etc black letters off the stove other than having to adjust using the wet finger trick not sure what was wrong ..I'll see what can do about re labeling with some sticky labels.. we re did all the fan blades this week and some other mechanical shortfalls . Thanks for constructive comments , hopefully next time you come the construction will be a thing of the past and your new neighbors will invite you over for a nice glass of wine..... as to lack of sand on beach... it's actually seasonal and comes and goes with storms but as say a few meters down is amazing beaches and beach club at Pinilla unlimited .. thanks again for reviews.

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• Family reunion

  Guest comment entered by owner

  Family reunion

  • Guest ian
  • Date of stay 04/14/12
  • Review Submitted 05/01/12
  My Thanks to Sabrina and Antonio, and Pinilla's Georga peach Cami, as cook for making our guests comfortable entertained and well fed. warm regards norm

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• Family reunion

  Family reunion

  • Guest Ian
  • Date of stay 04/14/12
  • Review Submitted 04/27/12
  Casa Playa was great for our family birthday celebration. Steps to beach with incredible nightly sunsets. The house is huge, well maintained with large bedrooms and showers to allow for some privacy when needed but great communal spaces (kitchen, living, poolside grill) that made it a blast for our family from the small kids to the grandparents. Sabrina and Antonio, the property managers are friendly, available and incredibly nice and helpful-they made our stay easy, relaxing and fun (and were all over a bedroom air conditioner that malfunctioned while we were there). Our kids had a blast in the pool at the house and the HP beach club is great and uncrowded as well. Norm, the owner, put us in touch with a neighbor who is an incredible chef and made some memorable meals for us. Also well worth the short drive (or long, low tide-only walk) is Lola's @ Playa Avellanas for great food and fun surf. One downside is that there is a house being built next door, though it was not noisy or bothersome, the workers do start pretty early (before 7am it seemed).

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, adventure seekers, age 55+, families with young children.

  Owner response: glad worked out so well .. Sabrina aand cook Cammi are treasures Norm

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• Beautiful home!

  Beautiful home!

  • Guest Kristen
  • Date of stay 03/31/12
  • Review Submitted 04/09/12
  Our group of 13 people (3 families) enjoyed our weeklong stay in this home. We all agreed that the house was even nicer than the pictures on vrbo. The view of the beach was stunning. The floor plan suited our needs perfectly with large bedrooms and plenty of space to spread out. We enjoyed coming back from our adventures and hanging out by the pool. Hacienda Pinilla was an ideal location for us. We enjoyed the amenties at the Beach Club and at the JW Marriott. It is a short drive to Tamarindo. Our kids enjoyed surfing there and we ate dinner at two restaurants there as well. We highly recommend the Palo Verde boat tour (1 1/2 hour drive) and doing the adventure pass (zip lining, tubing, horseback riding, etc) at Hacienda Guachipelin (2 1/2 hour drive - we hired a driver). One of our favorite dinners was on the beach at Lola's, which is a quick drive or you can walk there from the Beach Club. Sabrina, the property manager, responded to our questions very quickly. She spent the week prior to our arrival getting the house cleaned up and fixing some problems (see previous review) and it was clean and ready for us. Our vacation went by far too quickly and we were sad to leave this beautiful location.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, adventure seekers, age 55+, girls getaway, sightseeing, families with young children.

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• Beautiful house and location but house and property need TLC!

  Beautiful house and location but house and property need TLC!

  • Guest Jade
  • Date of stay 03/17/12
  • Review Submitted 03/25/12
  This is a lovely home with a spectacular view but it and the property in general have a few problems. It was not as clean as it should have been when we arrived and many things were in need of repair (a/c and plumbing). The bathrooms were clean but the floors, kitchen cabinets and other areas in the were not clean. Also, there were not enough pans for cooking for a large group. However, the owner and property manager were very responsive to problems that occurred during our stay and tried very hard to accomodate us. I wrote to the property owner when we returned home and he informed me he has hired a company to assess the property and make all needed repairs and updates. Most of the bedrooms are downstairs and the kitchen is upstairs which makes it a little inconvenient if you need to serve heated food downstairs. It would have been nice if the builder would have put in a dumbwaiter to take groceries and other items between floors. Regarding the grounds, there are flowers and lovely palm trees but the grounds were not well-mantained (not manicured). The property in general is just in need of some TLC which the owner vows to address. Having said all that, I would rent this house again if the repairs and updates are made. If you rent this house, please also be aware that there is a beautiful park area to watch the sunset or have a picnic just a short walk on the beach (maybe 100 feet) to the south. There are very clean tables, chairs, a swing and beautiful trees there for shade too.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, pet owners, families with young children.

  Owner response: She's correct the house was not properly prepared, we had close to hurricane force winds the week before and unfortunately was the week the started excavating the lot next door in preparation for a build the resulting dirt storm resulted in much of dirt in the pool ruining a pump motor and clogging the filters and over taxing at AC's filters in the home. I was caught off guard and had some problems with support staff. That said things happen and how we respond is paramount, This week we sent in new maid team , we had all wood work on chairs, bar stools, 3 large leather couches re finished, re did the worn leather or refinished it, bought some new cookware, bed spreads and glassware,and new stainless steel BBQ.. there are two GE side by side refrigerators at Pinilla beach house and a wet bar down stairs and big kitchen upstairs. the floor plan is the floor plan, not much can do about that I prefer the bedrooms downstairs where it is little darker and cooler and put kitchen, living, dinning, decks, up with the big views, and sunshine.... house is big.. it's good idea to hire staff if entertaining in a home of this nature, also buying a new 42" flat screen tomorrow.. we have doubled the support crew with a full time property manager , a gal this time, as she has a reputation for higher standards of service and am optimistic that I can add some "stars" to my next review. Denise's review was welcome as it was a nice wake up for me and brought attention to some much needed deferred maintenence. warm regards Norman .... owner

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1400 =Dec Jan15th /JAN 15 JULY=$850 AUG  NOV =$750
call for prices multi day discount 0ver 1 week
CREDIT CARD  Security Deposit..
Maid / cook service (available) Sabrina for details

Note: Until confirmed, rates are subject to change without notice.