I booked online for this place yesterday. I booked a private room, paid a deposit with my credit card which was accepted and was given a reservation number.

So far so good. That is what everyone does right? It's standard practice everywhere. WRONG.

I drive all the way from San Jose today and when I turn up and provide my name and say that I have a reservation, the staff member looks at me and says 'you don't have a reservation'. It's pretty hard to argue with a reservation number though. He was a nice guy and then admitted that 44 hours has to pass before your reservation is recognised. This not stated anywhere I could recall on the booking site. How misleading can you get?

So there were no more rooms left, including the room I booked and paid a deposit for, and so I had to leave the place in the dark with nowhere to stay at 6.30pm and had to pay for a taxi to find somewhere else for the privilege. I demanded my deposit back which I got, which is the least they could do.

I telephoned Hotel Fortuna in town and was immediately given the option of 2 great rooms and the staff could not have been more helpful. The rooms were only 5 to 15 dollars more than the shared bathroom place at Arenal Backpackers Resort.

Get your act together Arenal Backpackers Resort and act responsibly.

I won't be recommending you to anyone. You can't leave guests in the lurch like that. Given it's a system issue, it must have happened to other people too.

On the other side of the coin, Hotel Fortuna, you rock, thanks for showing me some great Costa Rican hospitality.

Arenal Backpackers is indeed more of a hotel than a hostel- I'd say it crosses the line because there is no communal kitchen. They have an (expensive) cafe where I had to ask the bartender if he could put my leftovers in the fridge.

The pool is giant and amazingly welcome refresher after lugging a backpack around all day. The rooms were clean and comfortable and affordable average Costa Rica priced dorms. The staff was extremely helpful and answered all my questions about public buses, schedules, prices, and other random annoying questions I had. They also held our bags before we even checked in.

The "lobby" by the front desk and bar/cafe is always filled with people if you're looking to make friends. The hostel/hotel is located an easy walking distance from town, but is set apart. We came back late after a night out and a diligent guard checked our wristbands, so it's a safe place to be.

The wifi worked and the water was sometimes hot.

We needed a place to crash for the night in La Fortuna and we stumbled across Arenal Backpacker's Resort. My friend called it a "hostel" and I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. We actually stayed in a tent for the night. It was a canvas tent with a bed and we were able to rent a locker to put any of our belongings in. The only bad part about the tent, was that it can get loud from the bar on-site to the bar across the street. Bring earplugs! There was a pool, bar and snack bar open.The best part of this was their hammocks. They were great to relax in after a long trip there. The staff was friendly, the property was clean and the Internet was FREE. It was a good value for the money we spent (about $35 for a night).

First of all, this is not a hostel. It is a 1 star hotel.

DON'T CONSIDER THIS OPTION IF YOU'RE TRAVELING SERIOUSLY, consider this if you're a spring breaker looking to get drunk and party and staying in the pool instead of getting to know this beautiful country.

It was an extremely expensive room with nothing but a bed in it. Not a single night table, nothing to hang our towels and clothes, nothing to PUT OUR CELLPHONES AND MONEY ON. We had to put all our stuff on the floor. It didn't even have a private bathroom for 45$ a night, and in other places we even got breakfast for less than that. The pool is freezing (even when the weather's hot), the staff is not friendly, bathrooms are ok, the tour was lame and the feeling you get while being there is far from being in Costa Rica.