Papagayo Beach Hotel

Great resort on the beach front. We stayed just 2 nights before flying home. The resort itself is lovely. The only few issues we had was that our room wasn't ready on arrival, so we have to wait a few hours after checkin in time. This didn't bother us to much as we could relax around the pool while we waited. Once we received our key, we had problems accessing the room. I had to go back to the reception 3 times because each time the key didn't work. After check in we then had maintaince knocking on our door to check the aircon as well as the cleaners coming late in the afternoon to tidy the room when we were there. For the short few days we stayed, we were disturbed quite alot when in our room. The other issue was one of the Beach bars tried to short change us. We paid in dollars and they returned our change in their own currency, but gave us less than half back. This was quite disappointing as we didn't know if it was a genuine mistake or if they hope people don't notice when giving change back in their own currency? Overall the hotel and reception staff were very friendly and the rooms and views were beautiful. I think these small issues were maybe down to bad luck for us but we had a great stay nether the less.

Nice stay clean room nice beach good selection of food Only problem a little out of the way of Willemstad island

My daughter and I just returned from a week at Papa***o to celebrate her 30th birthday. We enjoyed our stay. We upgraded from ocean-view to oceanfront and loved sitting on the balcony with that view. Restaurants on & near the property were decent & pricier than Mexico and Costa Rica. Rented a car upstairs at the hotel. Very affordable & easy option. The hotel property was nice if you just want to relax & not leave, but we were in search of better beach options. Grote Knip was well worth the hour drive & beautiful! Jan Thiel is right next door and it was fair, but very crowded. Hotel was well kept, staff was friendly, would definitely go back. We loved that there was a supermarket next door!

This hotel is a complex mixture of excellent physical facilities and failures in service that don't meet reasonable expectations for a property that positions itself as a 4-star hotel. Therefore, I'll divide my review separately into two areas. The room I had met the high expectations of the description, with a full ocean view, a nice balcony, good interior space, a comfortable bed, good shower with plenty of hot water. Issues with the service start at check-in. One is not informed that with different levels of deposit $100/$500 (with a pre-paid room) come different levels of service for incidentals, such as laundry - with the lower deposit, the laundry is not picked up or delivered to the room, but has to be notiated at the front desk, and paid separately. Surprisingly, the higher deposit cannot be arranged for _after_ check-in, as to simplify transactions during one's stay. More annoying, at check-in I was informed that for the duration of my week's stay the cost of a buffet breakfast at their beach club facility would be $21/day. And that was what I was charged for the first 3 days of my stay, when on the 4th day I was greeted at breakfast with the message "We've raised our prices, now you have to pay $26/day." It was only after I expressed my strong displeasure at the "bait and switch" that they honored the original price quote, but this left a bad taste in my mouth. Hence, overall a mixed experience.

Room was outdated, not allways towels available, noisy ventilators in bath room. Tip; do not book halfboard since plenty of better breakfast and lunch diner options nearby.

They served fresh drinks and you get a free gift bag upon check in. The staff was super friendly and overall peaceful. This is my second time coming here since I was 10 and I made this my choice of stay when visiting here as a birthday/graduation trip. I needed a mental break and I felt so at home the days I stayed here.

It was beautiful when we arrived the hotel lobby It is gorgeous! I wish they used the lobby for a piano bar or some sort of entertainment. It has big open marble floors for dancing. The Chris**as decorations were beautiful too. Rougenlea greeted us and checked us in. She was very prompt and even walked us to our room to make sure everything was in perfect order. Thank you Suky, Mardely, the other lady pictured and the tall guy, I forgot his name. They all including housekeeping were outstanding. We will be back.

This is a slick, modern newer resort hotel with open concept rooms and patios and balconies (lanais). The materials and fixtures are upscale. The layout is well designed. The restaurants and bars are good and convenient. The staff are infectiously pleasant. The adjacent Jan Thiel beach, with restaurants and snorkeling cove and beach tennis were enjoyable. Two features stand out. The on-site grocery store Van Der Tweel with on-site bakery, beer and wine, ready-made salads and yogurt and other snacks was very convenient. The on-site dive shop FunDiving was also a plus. I was ready to rate Papa***o as 4.5 stars. But the shower is all marble. No saftey handles, and wide enough that most people would not be able to put a hand on either opposing wall. Just a little soapy water under foot and you'll think you're on wet ice wearing leather soled shoes. Anyone with mobility concerns or balance issues should be warned. Then there was the sewer-geyser. Yep, a four inch diameter pipe at the edge of my patio, just ten feet from the sliding door to the room which spewed raw sewage including toilet paper into a cascading fetid water fall. Upon seeing this for the first time I walked to the front desk to report it. The staff appeared stunned in disbelief. They said they would send maintenance staff to my room to investigate. Nobody showed. This was Thursday evening at sunset (7:10 PM). On Friday evening at about the same time, the sewer-geyser erupted again. Again, nobody sho