We were planning our "trip of a lifetime" to Costa Rica when I was searching for a location that would satisfy us parents, and our 3 kids, aging from 10 to 20. No easy task. I was looking for a place where we could divide and conquer; my inlaws were meeting us there as well, so if some wanted to go to the beach, fine. If some wanted to go to the pool, fine. If some wanted to go into town, fine. So we selected this property from the description and the pictures. First, there is no "town" to speak of. No restaurants, no cute shops, nothing. Second, there was no beach club within MILES.... the property was situated at the top of a VERY STEEP hill, literally miles from the beach club, miles from the ocean, and not walking distance to either the pool, the gym, any restaurants, stores and certainly not the beach. We were lead to believe that all the above mentioned would be conveniently accessed by all of us. As a matter of fact, we weren't even planning on renting a car as we thought if everything was "right there, no need!!"
Upon our arrival, we sadly got news of a medical emergency back in the states. My mother had suffered a heart attack. I immediately called the owner of the condo and begged her to refund my stay as we were turning around and leaving immediately. We hadn't even taken a glass out of the cupboard or used the toilet. We literally came in and made the phone call to the owner. She was very kind and said "don't worry about it! just get home!" which we thought was so nice!!! That was the last time we spoke to her as she wont return any of our correspondence. I was so hopeful that she would have refunded our money (not even the service fees from VRBO as I didn't expect her to be OUT any $) but alas, it was not to be. This property was not booked for any of the surrounding weeks and it's not like she missed out on a potential booking. We are out the $ and she pocketed it and it's simply wrong. It's unfortunate that she told me not to worry about it, alluding to refunding our money and has since gone silent. Because of my many attempts to reach her unsuccessfully, I am left with no choice but to give an honest review of a property who's descriptions are SO FALSE that I would hate for any other traveler to have to stay there.... if they can even find it as there are no street signs and her directions were very poor. Just a classic case of false advertising/praying off of unknowing travelers. Bottom line, DO NOT RENT