It's Sunday, January 20th at 8:20 and we are sitting poolside and the only ones here. Wonderful.

This is our third trip here, the first two when it was a Paradisus run resort. Came on a direct flight from Toronto on Air Canada a week ago, good flight, easy to clear customs and a typical bus ride here. Buy one, get one deal.

We booked the Royal Beach Club (RBC) cheapest room, king bed, as it is an adult only pool and area. Worth every penny.

The resort is just this close to being perfect, 5 stars, if it wasn't for their lack of attention to small details and only 4 star service. Not crowded at all this time of year, weather outstanding.

The pool:

The RBC pool is great. Freeform and plenty of space. 120 some loungers, 30 umbrellas and 10 cabanas. Never a problem finding a spot. Cabanas are only $20 a day more, so book one. Numbers 8, 9, and 10 are great for sun.

But don't be in a rush. Pool opens at 8:00 but no workers or towels. This cabana is bare and it's now 9:00. So enjoy by sleeping in.

Depending on who's working they are good with water and drinks.

Overall great, but service is only a 3-4 unless John is working. I was surprised the one day he worked with cold face towels and continual drink service. Great.

There is a band of coatimundis that run through twice a day. But don't feed them or you'll be overrun.

Loved the pool and no crowds.

Restaurants:

This is a major great upside as the food quality and quantity here is better than the average all inclusive. Spirula pizza is a must, but all the ala cartes were quite good. Cuori (French gourmet), Faisenela (Italian) and Candelas (Latin American) were all very good. Never tried the buffet as RBC has their own breakfast and lunch. Service was generally very good.

Downsides (some picky)

Service just wasn't at the top. Slow and you get the feeling some just don't care. Not all though

I have to say John in the RBC was superb. Worked very hard to make you happy. Our maid for the week was Johanna, and she did a great job also.

If you want a snack after a day at the pool, make sure you bring some. You get one small pack of nuts, a pack of 2 crackers and 4 stale cookies in your room. Don't know why you can't order nachos or something. They should add to room service.

The gift shop is expensive. Same lotion we bought for $9.90 at home was $34 here.

Coffee: the to-go cups at the restaurant were tiny with the little paper handles. Bring a mug. Again, they could fix this.

Grounds:. Very nice and enjoy not hearing leaf blowers at five a.m., but the same leaves and cig butts have been at tower 1 door for a week. Same thing with cups and straws around the pool. Could be cleaner, but again have a feeling it's not important.

Another tip...after you pack take out half your clothes as you won't need much.

Would we come back? Maybe

This is a very nice resort on a pretty amazing beach. the area right in front of the hotel is nice, but walk about 100 yards to the left and it is amazing. water cold at first, but is actually the perfedct temp to cool down. the pool area is good. swim up bar is awesome. Rooms are really nice and you will likely not spend much time there anyway. Food was good, but do not expect phenomenal food. Italian restaurant was the best, but others were all solid, but do not go here for the food. Pool and pool bar closes at 6pm - bad idea! Best drink was "Miami Vice"! overall a great trip, but many "little things" that they could do better. arrival and check in took too long, internet situaltion is bad, service is great at times and just a little off at others.

if you want to do adventures - horses on beach, fourwheeler tours, fishing, motorcycles, etc., there is a guy on the beach named Erik. We used him every day and had great experiences. he can set up anything and for much less than the resort. we had a small issue with our fishing expedition (not a big deal) but Erik was responsible and took care of everything and gave us free horseback riding for the four of us. He is professional, knowledgable and not pushy like others. Having Erik take care of our adventures was a very big part of our trip! Thanks, Erik......Rob, Gary, Christy, Becky

I waited a couple of weeks before writing this review, just to make sure it would be fair and not influenced by my feelings. So let's do it.
Good things first: Westin Playa Conchal is a beautiful resort, with plush gardens and an incredible pool. The room is nice, the grounds are well-kept and the staff is polite. There are quite a few restaurants in the property, which have to be booked in advance for dinner, if you don't want to end up having the buffet as your only option. We were able to book dinner for 3 out of 5 nights, and chose the Faisanella, Mediterra and Cauri. Faisanella was very nice, Mediterra and Cauri just average. The food is not the main attraction at this resort, so just don't expect much. Breakfast was good, and the drinks at the pool bar tasty. There are exotic and harmless animals around the resort, e.g. beautiful iguanas, colorful birds and a lot of coatis!
The bad: beach is not very nice (by brazilian standards), it is a public beach and there are horses right outside the gate, so quite smelly and dirty. We even saw pigs and chicken , so not a very clean place at all. We booked a surf lesson tour to Tamarindo in the hotel with Swiss Travel, which was quite expensive (US$ 190 for 2 persons) and not professional . We didn't even have towels or water provided, the driver/instructor was barely 18 years old, and the van couldn't fit 2 boards and 2 people in the back. In my opinion, a 5-star hotel should choose its partners more carefully and pay attention to the services provided to its guests.
NOW THE REAL PROBLEM: we were robbed while in the pool. We left our phone and ipod inside our bag on the floor, between our chairs, and when we came back both devices were gone. I reported it immediateky and a member of staff called the manager. Meanwhile, quite a few people who were working at the bar and cleaning told me they'd seen a guy without a hotel bracelet around the pool, and thought he was strange, but didn't pay too much attention. Security ran to the beach to see if they could find him, and told me it is quite easy to get in the hotel since the wall that separates it from the beach is quite small(!) The manager told me it was the first time something like that had happened, and asked me to write a report stating my financial loss, which has been paid in full by the hotel( they also didn't charge me for the outside calls I had to make to cancel and block my phone). I won't say this unfortunate event ruined our vacation, but it did spoil it a bit and made us not enjoy CR as much. I have been leaving reviews on TA for a long time, and hope I will never have to mention something like that again. I would still recommend this hotel, but please be aware and careful with your belongings.
I do hope the Westin will enhance security and make the hotel a safer place for all guests.

This was a company trip my boyfriend took me on back in November. Since it was off season the resort was fairly slow except for the 200 or so people that were with this company from all over Canada. Its a smaller scale resort so you didn't have to take the shuttle every time you wanted to go some where depending where your room was located. We where in building 29 which was located fairly close to the pool, beach, restaurants and mini disco. Less then 3 minute walk to all these amenities, however a little hike to lobby where the free WiFi was located (10 min). The grounds are beautiful and well maintained. The staff is very courteous but a little more reserved with their guests compared to other resorts i have stayed. There was no animation staff during the day to get the guests going which can be a hit or a miss. Daily activities at the pool during the day was to a minimum. However there is all kinds of basketballs and such available for guests to use. The staff however is definitely on "island time" expect to wait for some services or if your table needs salt pepper. Ask for anything you need right away.The food was typical resort food. The mirtra is the buffet, went there every morning for breakfast, served the exact same thing each day minus 2-3 dishes that they switched out daily. Awesome omelet station though. Went there for lunch once and it was fairly typical. Spent everyday eating lunch at the Caracola restaurant. Its located right next to the pool and you order off a menu they bring around on an isle - but its good. My favorite thing was probably the chicken wraps and they had this chicken breast dish with rice and black beans - also very good. The food at this restaurant is actually really good and its made to order. Im not a fish person but everyone was ranting about the sea bass. I would have loved to try the spirula restaurant (wood oven pizza) but it was under construction. Based on reviews I read before had it s amazing. We never did the dinner at the buffet, went to the restaurants every night. Mediterra was by far the best. Book this one in advance because it fills up fast! The veggie lazenga was amazing!!!!The Faisanela (Italian) was also very good as well as the Bamboo. Great pad thai and they are pretty accommodating to alter their dishes to meat your tastes. The Las Candelas (Latin) was our least favorite. Nothing on the menu really appealed to anyone. The room service is free and i am a little disappointed we didn't take advantage or this service until our last day. The breakfast that we order was great and within 30 minutes. There was much more variety for breakfast then the buffet. And we didn't have to stand there for 10 minutes for a table.

The beach was beautiful and i was a little hesitant about the local beach thing but no one bothers you. Some of the locals go up and down the beach offering foot massages and back massages for 20 dollars or less. If you are not interested they wont push which is great.
We did the catamaran snorkel tour which is pretty much a booze cruise. Unfortunately the ocean is far too murky with very little reefs around...not worth the tour. You are better off getting snorkel gear from the resort and using it on your own beach for free. I will have to warn you on one thing...sea lice. Its jelly fish larva and you cannot see it coming but it stings. I dont know if it was the time of year we went or what, but almost everyone on the catamaran got stung and they never warned us about it. As soon as we got back on the boat they had a bottle of vinegar ready for us and asked if we needed any, would have been nice to have known before hand. My boyfriend got stung while snorkeling on our beach, but someone brought a benadryl pen which took care of it instantly.

We did the horse back ridding tour with "eddie the cowboy" one of the guys on the beach. Just go directly to him and set it up. He was fantastic, he took our camera and took some of the most beautiful photos of myself and my boyfriend running on the beach with the horses. He must have taken over 100 photos. It was 50 dollars for the 2 of us for an hour and it was worth every penny and some.

As for night life there wasn't a lot. The abalone is a mini disco operating at night and is pretty much the only place to get a drink after 10pm. Music was pretty good and everyone tends to get a little dressed up. Girls with high heels beware! I destroyed a heel in the deck - I got stuck. Put a fair amount of bug spray on before as its by the water so there's lots of bugs.

Went into town for some shopping one day. Great place for surfing and there's places to rent some gear. The employees at the shop don't hassle you like other places i have been on vacation but you can barter with them a bit.

All in all it was a fantastic vacation, great place for some R&R. Great for couples and families. Would not recommend to go with a big group of friends if your wanting to party.