Oceanfront Penthouse on Tamarindo Beach

• Misrepresented!!! Know before you go!

  Misrepresented!!! Know before you go!

  • Guest The Grand Mom
  • Date of stay 03/23/13
  • Review Submitted 04/15/13
  We arrived at the condo, our party of 6, hot and tired from our journey from NY only to learn that it was still occupied by the previous tenant. Apparently, the manager had given her three additional free days! This after personally speaking with him on the phone only 3 days prior because he failed to answer my email. After a couple of hours, during which the manager disappeared, the previous tenand and her 2 guests agreed to leave and he found her another place to stay. I can't begin to explain my utter terror at bringing my grandchildren to another country with no place to stay. That being said, the condo itself is not as pictured. There is no wrap around porch, nor a double bed. There is one king in the master bedroom, but both other rooms have twin beds. The condo had everything needed and the balcony was great for breakfast and relaxing. It did stay cool as it was shaded. Being located in Tamarindo was both good and bad. We could walk to everything but the noise from 2 bars was unbearable. My son actually went to see the guard at the gate at around 1am one morning. that was a drawback. The pool was great and we all enjoyed that, as was the beach. My major complaint was with the property manager. I felt his handling of his error was extremely unprofessional. He did not even send a cleaning lady to prepare for us. My daughter in law and I cleaned and changed the beds. Tamarindo is beautiful. There is something for everyone. But do your homework! Know before you go!

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• Good Experience

  Good Experience

  • Guest Dave
  • Date of stay 01/05/13
  • Review Submitted 01/14/13
  The property is well located in the town of Tamarindo. Shops, restaurants, grocery stores, spas, yoga, surf board rentals and other services are very close by. The beach is an easy walk. It also has a nice view of the beach and ocean. This unit’s balcony is always in the shade (this is not true for other units in the same complex) and makes for a good place for breakfast and family card games. Inside, it is fairly well maintained and has granite counter tops. The kitchen has about everything you would expect a kitchen to have. The bathroom windows need some cleaning attention and the toilet lids need replaced. Some people could be offended by the topless women depicted in the paintings, but it is all done in good taste and our family had fun joking about them. Of course, we are from Kansas City (see earlier CA review). You will hear some party noise from the street most nights, but it seems to dissipate by around midnight. We believe this unit is the best one of all of the units in the four buildings due to shade, height and size. The complex has a nice common pool area with a huge set of waterfalls. It is also nice to know that there is security checking people in and out of the complex. The property manager, Joel, met with us first thing and did a nice job highlighting the town map on where to go and things to do. He also arranged a fantastic full day tour for us. Most of the time, he was responsive by email or phone to any issues or questions we had during our stay. However, we only had two keys to the unit for six people (he promised us more) and we never did get any Kleenex or paper towels. There was also a mix up on the mid-week maid service and requested laundry soap. The WIFI was down for almost a day despite his assurance that he would be all over any issue day or night. Towards the end, he made a nice catch where he corrected our flight time out – we had the time wrong. The owner showed the unit once during our stay to a prospective buyer. Overall, Joel is a decent manager who is more available than most. All things considered, we would definitely stay is this unit if we had it to do it all over again.

  Recommended for: Age 55+, families with teenagers, girls getaway, romantic getaway, families with young children, tourists without a car.

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• Paradise!

  Paradise!

  • Guest William S.
  • Date of stay 07/01/12
  • Review Submitted 08/07/12
  Our family stayed in this residence for a month and enjoyed every minute of it. We were leery prior to our stay due to the one negative review but found that to be a misrepresentation of both the accommodations and the management. We loved the location and we never grew tired of the views. Absolutely stunning. Being right on the beach was perfect for our active family. We could leave, rent a surf board on the way to the beach and be surfing within minutes. This condo was wonderful to come home to at the end of the day and we saw many gorgeous sunsets right from the balcony. The manager made sure we had our footing in the town and made sure we were comfortable before leaving us on our own. He was always just a phone call away. We would definitely stay here again and will be forever grateful for our Costa Rica adventure!!!

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, girls getaway, adventure seekers, romantic getaway, families with young children, sightseeing, tourists without a car.

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• Guest review

  Guest review

  • Guest Ted
  • Date of stay 06/18/12
  • Review Submitted 07/23/12
  Wait a minute, we have to agree with the owner, we just had the best vacation we’ve had in years and we loved the Penthouse. We see why the owner was ticked off. Incidentally we had them arrange several tours and they were superb. We thought the location couldn’t be better with views from every balcony and window. We walked to everything in a few minutes and we loved the big tile pool right next to the beach with the wonderful waterfalls. The manager spent a lot of time telling us where to go for dining- the places we went to were great like he said. We thought the furniture was just fine and we feel the art was spectacular and in good taste. Our teenage daughter is an artist and she was thumbs up on the paintings. We give it 5 star and we paid a price that was affordable.

  Recommended for: Age 55+, adventure seekers, romantic getaway, families with young children, sightseeing, tourists without a car.

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• Good Overall Experience

  Good Overall Experience

  • Guest Tom
  • Date of stay 05/23/12
  • Review Submitted 05/30/12
  Pros: Stunning Pacific Ocean views from every room. Hear the Pacific rolling in from every bedroom. Closest condo property to beach, and easy walk to a mess of fantastic restaurants. Enough space for everyone in your party to have some. Great value for the location. Cons: OK...applying the term “Luxury” to this unit is a bit of a stretch. It could use some updating. The art on the walls is probably better suited for a bachelor pad in Kansas City. The second larger bedroom should have 2 queen beds or at least doubles...there’s room. Some essentials like soap, shampoo in the bathrooms was missing, but the property mgr. promptly remedied the situation. Overall, I’m giving the unit four stars. A condo this accommodating in a major resort area would fetch 2-3 times what we paid for this unit. As to the problems the previous reviewer had with the property manager, we found him to be very helpful. He turned us onto some fabulous restaurants and was very prompt at fixing some shortcomings we found when we entered the unit. We just booked our own tours after doing some research. And the views! Every bedroom had its own balcony overlooking the Pacific as did the main balcony off of the common areas, and you could see from one end of Tamarindo beach to the other. And, to be fair, the property mgr. told us about the shortcomings of the unit before we rented and offered us more upscale options. Also I would suggest removing the picture of the front of the unit that makes it look like the porch with the two chairs amongst the plants belong with the unit instead of part of the common area by the front door. It is somewhat misleading. However between the location, the views and the value, if we go back to Tamarindo, this is going to be the first place we head to.

  Recommended for: Age 55+, tourists without a car.

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• Nightmare experience with property manager

  Nightmare experience with property manager

  • Guest Ryan D.
  • Date of stay 03/02/12
  • Review Submitted 04/30/12
  To summarize our experience, my family and I had planned a spring vacation to Costa Rica and became aware of VRBO through Travel and Leisure magazine. My wife explored several properties before finding this listing. The rental was described as a luxury penthouse condominium with views of the Pacific located in Tamarindo. After negotiating a rental price through the property manager, we agreed to rent the property for the week of March 31st to April 7th. Prior to our arrival, the property manager offered to provide us a shuttle both to and from the airport in Liberia at the typical cost, which we payed in advance. Upon our arrival at the condo we found the property to less than what was described. Although the term "luxury" is subjective, we found the condo to be anything but. The furnishings were tired, the apartment was in need of paint and a good cleaning; last but not least, the decor was questionable and consisted of predominately poorly executed female nudes. Other than the location, we felt that the property had been misrepresented and barely worth the cost of the rental. The remainder of our vacation decompensated from there beginning with a guided excursion to the rainforest and an overnight stay at Arenal Volcano. After agreeing to a price for the planned itinerary, which was on average to that charged by the local tour companies, we were treated to a very cobbled together tour led by a guide hired by him. Upon return from our side trip, the property manager informed us that we had gone over budget and insisted that we owed him additional funds. When we refused to pay, he threatened to evict. The trip culminated with someone knocking on our door at 10 pm that evening and my family and I making a retreat to airport early the next morning. In the process, we forfeited the money for the return shuttle since the property manager neither gave us a voucher or answered any phone calls to confirm the schedule. I would not recommend renting this property, in fact, we are still in the process of trying to obtain a refund for the shuttle.

  Owner response: This is the 1st negative review I have ever received from my many listings on VRBO and they all are positive. This dispute has nothing to do with the property but had to do with the guests trip to Arenal that we arranged. This property is located in as good as a location as you can find in Tamarindo right on the beach with incredible ocean views. The review of the residence is grossly unfair and was written because this guest is a very difficult guest who in my opinion no one could easily please. He took advantage of the driver on the trip to Arenal, he was never threatened with eviction and I have no idea who knocked on his door at night. When his transportation arrived to take him to the airport he was not there at the arranged time. With my philosophy of "the guest is always right", I ate crow and sent him an email of apology and offered to refund the disputed funds. He has not responded to repeated attempts to mediate this conflict and has caused the loss of some guests from his mean- spirited and misleading review. We have not been receiving guests for long. The furniture though not new is very utilitarian and again the location is supreme. Predicated on new laws there will never be properties built again this close to the sea. We have a guest coming for a month and we will ask every guest to right an honest review. This is a lovely Penthouse as any future guest can determine with incredible views from every window or balcony and you can walk to every place in Tamarindo from this centrally located gated property. I meet every guest on arrival and tell them my best picks for where to go and what to see with a map provided. I offer 24/7 service and in spite if this review plenty of TLC as all my other reviews will attest. Cheers

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 10/10

from $175 to $375 per night

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