Georgeous setting. Ok beach. Very friendly and helpful staff. Very expensive for all food. We enjoyed ourselves at one of the nicest hotel pools we have ever been to. Piko travel right on the beach not affiliated with the hotel arranged all of our outings. He was great.

My husband and I has an unplanned 2 night stay. He became ill mid-trip and I wanted a place that had a/c and room service where he could rest. The Marriott was the closest option. We had been staying in more "Costa Rican" places - e.g. Hacienda Baru, Agua Dulce ... so entering the Marriott bubble was almost a physical shock for me (husband was too sick to notice). The hotel is located in a development which could be anywhere USA. On the windows are notices: don't open the windows because you will let humidity and bugs in. It is very much a generic resort. Nothing Costa Rican about it. The pool is large and beautiful, though it doesn't have much in the way of features - e.g. waterslides. The building itself strikes me as a bit brutal in style. The bed was wonderful - good combination of firm and soft. Room was pretty standard Marriott, on the large side. Big flaws: very limited very overpriced food choices - you need a car if you were to stay here for any length of time. The fruit salad in the gift shop, though overpriced, was a life saver. And NOISY corridors. The floors are tiled. Every noise echoes. The housekeeper's cart sounds like an earthquake. One small child's voice can be heard floorwide. All in all - it fit the bill for what we needed, but I wouldn't plan to stay again.

The rooms were standard for Marriott - though it's category 7, the room quality is about the same as category 4 or 5 in the US. The facilities are well groomed and the property is quite luxurious in a gated community. The benefit of this was that you didn't have to worry about anyone breaking into your car, which apparently is a common thing.

Herradura doesn't have much, but Jaco is only 5 minutes away by car, and has much more to do and many places to eat. It was fairly easy to find Los Suenos with a GPS, despite it saying to go down an "unpaved road".

We ate in the restaurant our first night because we didn't have the energy to leave the property. The calamari was excellent, but the entrees were so-so. Overall, it was overpriced, but that's not surprising for a Marriott.

The beach isn't a swimming beach, it's more of a marina. Pretty to look at, but not exactly a beachfront resort with activities the way you would normally expect from a resort.

Most impressed by the staff: housekeeping checked my key when I came back and they were cleaning -- Rosa was polite and efficient and secure; the dedicated pool guy kept the acres of waterways immaculate and clean -- he went to amazing lengths to keep everything so perfect; Wendy at the pool kept an eye on us and made sure we stayed hydrated; Elmer at the bar remembered our favorite foods; the security guard at the beach kept a kind eye on me, as I walked the length of the beach; and the casino staff made the night there even more fun.