From Front Desk arrival to Departure it was a great stay. Property is well maintained with
excellent staffing. After an Ok but at times dissappointing 1st week at the "Accidental Papagayo" it was a treat to enjoy the Westin Jr Suite rooms , Restaurants, Enormous Swimming Pool and Pleasant service. A bit more money but worth the extra! Our travel agent Uniglobe had booked the wrong arrival date for one couple of Three, and the 3rd couple of our group did not have a room.(The bride and groom). Tim at the Front Desk calmly managed to correct it and get us all close together.
~Shuttles holding 6-8 circulate constantly. We never waited more than 2 mins until another
was coming along to take you where you needed to go.
~Rooms were 8 plexes 2 up and 2 down in the Front and back. Very Clean,quiet, spacious, and modern, with raised open bedroom and outdoor terrace veranda. Very comfortable beds
with a selection of pillows. Anything you need is a phone touch away.
Had some shirts stained with sunscreen. Called for Laundry service. They were there in
5 mins to pick up, and the cleaned pressed warm clothes were in the room the next morning.
~Buffets were good with nice selections and variety. Well presented .
6 Restaurants for reservations had good food and service but I would note that the decor
was not very authentic for French Styled restaurant. Also it would be nice to have French house wine in the French and Italian house wine in the Italian.
~Pool was fantastic with plenty of Sun chairs and shade chairs, Pool and swim up bar
were great for excellent drinks.Good variety.Slush, blender concoctions, cold beer .
Eugenio does some nice airbrush portrait art by the towel shack. Nice momento. Staff around
pool kept it clean and would interact well with kids and guests.
-(after about day 3 a convention group of about 300 arrived. Staff set up facilities, reception dinners etc and didn't skip a beat accommodating everyone.)
~Room Service was efficient. I think it was maybe 20 mins.
(Breakfast bacon seems to be a strange composite of meat /fat pieces compressed cured and sliced to resemble Side bacon.) Also nice to be able to order a Filet with mushrooms, wine
dessert... and dine in if you like. . 40 mins. at prime time dinner time.
~Beach was nice with sandy coral. Agressive waves breaking on the beach can toss you
up the beach or take you back in with a scoop full of sand in your shorts. Clean and good for walking.
Tamarindo beach is not far down the coast and good for surfing.
~Golf 120 for twilight with Taylormade rental clubs, cart . VERY Hot .I like the heat
but it drains you . 4 waters , 2 beer and a gatorade just evaporated over 9 holes. Needed more for the back nine . Greens were nice and fast. Good inland layout but was hoping it would have been more ocean side.
~Evening entertainment was a little average for a couple nights and not well attended when
we were there.
Overall great relaxing week and would definitely stay here again without any qualms.
Staff always were accommodating and lots of staff were always busy cleaning grounds,and even garbage receptacle covers were removed for cleaning. Good attention to details

this was a wonderful vacation all around. hotel was gorgeous, staff was friendly, food was delicious (everything was fresh), pool not crowded, easy to get chairs. weather great. town of tamarindo about 20 minutes away. met nice people, would recommend. our room was in perfect location. easy walk to beach, pool, shops, restaurants and theater. shuttle vans available also. enjoyed the spa as well.

We stayed at the Westin Golf and Spa Resort from January 28th to February 4th 2013. We were two couples and overall we enjoyed our vacation.
Grounds: the grounds are beautiful and well taken care of. Its a very big resort but they provide a shuttle to get around which is very nice.
Rooms: rooms are clean and the bed is VERY comfortable. The shower is a little silly. There is no door so water leaks everywhere. Be careful.
Pool: the pool is huge and well cleaned. We never had trouble finding a lounge chair either
Beach: the beach is just ok. The waves are really big so it made it a little scary to swim out far. Locals are permitted on this beach. They drive up and down the beach area in their cars and ATV's which disrupts the tranquility. Locals also have booths set up to sell keepsakes.
Food: we didn't starve. Plenty of choices but some members of our group found it difficult to find items that they could enjoy. I found the food good but just remember its not Canada. I found the system to make reservations for the a la carte was a pain. You could only call in your reservations between 8am - 4pm well.....I'm at the beach at those times and if you try to call before leaving your room for the day, well....good luck because the line is busy.
Weather: Its HOT. Loved it and it never rained
Staff: the staff is helpful and friendly
Golf: the golf course is beautiful and worth using
Entertainment: we found the entertainment BORING. But keep in mind there is a disco for those who like to party. We were in bed by 10pm most nights.
Room service: was very good but took a long time to receive our food. It must have been a busy morning for room service orders.

My wife and friends of ours visited Westin Playa Conchal and just loved our stay here. I am structuring my review based on the following dimensions:

Hotel Facilities and Condition

Lobby – our first impression of the hotel was great. It’s a beautiful, well-detailed reception with rustic fans, marble and an excellent use of mahogany wood. There is tons of seating from outdoor furniture to latin-esque coffee tables and couches. There is also a bar and a restaurant.

Swimming Pool – the swimming pool is quite large with a swim-up bar, kid’s pool, basketball and volleyball net. The water is warm but not warm enough in my opinion and the integrated hot tub is just a few degrees warmer than the pool. They boast having the largest pool in Central America, not sure why this matters but it is a sizable pool. Be aware that if you want a good seat by the pool and shade you better drop off your towel to secure the chairs by 9 am or else you’ll be relegated to the back.

Bars – there are a number of bars including the lobby, swimming pool, disco, and some other restaurants. There is no bar on the beach. The only thing I really drank there were virgin pina coladas and Pepsis so better see other reviews for bars. My friends who did order wine found the replenishing of empty glasses quite slow and thin so something to note.

Restaurants – all the restaurants from menus to design were immaculate! See below for more info on food.

Rooms – we all agreed the rooms were impressive with marble floors, a daily mini kitchen with drinks, beautiful bathroom and a chic elevated bedroom area.

Wi-Fi – You can pay $13 every day for Wi-Fi in your room or get it free in the lobby, just have to bring your own connected device. I would rate the connection as excellent.

Size – the hotel is quite expansive with a number of facilities. There are a number of shuttles pickup trucks with converted truck beds into couches that pass throughout the grounds always willing to offer a ride. You will indeed require a ride, at least sometimes, especially going to the lobby as it is an arduous incline walk and is dark at night. You’ll find a number of other reasons like rushing for dinner appointments, sun and heat fatigue, etc.

Shops – the hotel rents out space for some nice little shops including a great Costa Rican coffee shop. Note the prices at the clothing stores are quite high so try not to forget anything. There are also some artisan merchants selling Costa Rican artifacts and souvenirs. We bought a beautiful rosewood bowl from them for $30.

Onsite wildlife - be prepared to see vultures, iguanas, raccoon, monkeys, exotic birds, herons, swans and coatis.

Service

At our arrival we were welcomed with delicious mojitos, a warm welcome, and easy and quick check-in. The lobby staff were great for the most part with an earnest attempt to aide in a situation, provide helpful information or even take pictures. The shuttle staff were always enthusiastic about providing a lift whether short or long. The bar staff were as efficient as possible in making our drinks but be prepared to wait in some cases as line-ups build. The restaurant staff including hostess, servers, bus boys and food preparers were exceptional and conversational. If I rated the service at the hotel I would give it 4.5 to 5 stars.

Food

Breakfast - the food was nothing short of amazing and equivalent to 4 star dining and sometimes higher (based on Toronto restaurant standards)! The morning buffet is pretty elaborate with a selection of breads, eggs, meats and the freshest local fruits and juices.

Lunch – for lunch there are a few options including the buffet with more lunch-style foods like tortillas, fish, hamburgers and the sort. Also, there is a pizza restaurant that made good pizzas, pastas and desserts. Caracola is a great spot too, try the ‘Especial’ which is a Costa Rican cuisine.

A la carte restaurants – there are French, Italian, Mediterranean, Latin and Asian restaurants that are all better than each other, so hard to pick a favorite! Advice: book all a la cartes restaurants as soon as you can if even you are not a 100% sure you’ll want to go as they’ll get booked quickly.

Room Service – room service is included at no cost and is decent. I say decent only because the food will not as hot or fresh as the restaurants.

Beach

Sands – the sands are white sands (maybe a little beige at times) but soft on the feet so no need for sand shoes. In fact, the roughest sands are at the beach entrance. You’d be well advised to continue left about 500m and on to get the best sands, most private area of the beach and least noisiest part.

Water – well, it’s the Pacific so expect it to be salty. The water is somewhat clear but don’t expect to see the seabed from the top, still it is amazing. The waves have a little bit of an undertow so I wouldn’t recommend babies or young children swim the ocean.

Excursions

The best part of Costa Rica is indeed its eco-tourism and there is certainly no shortage of options. Here are the excursions we decided on. (Note: Arenal was prominently recommended but required a 4 hour drive each way plus almost 8 hours onsite so we decided against it for this trip, maybe next time).

Erik Garcia – As recommended by many TripAdvisors reviewers we met with Erik. You should know there are largely two options for excursions at the hotel including Swiss Tours (endorsed by Westin) and Erik and his crew whose unofficial office is the other side of the entrance of the beach. We chose Erik for the Palo Verde and Ziplinig excursions and Swiss Tours for the Sunset Tour. Swiss Tours will claim they are better for insurance reasons, service and being better than Erik. That is simply not true! We found Erik cheaper, offered better service and more informative than Swiss Tours. Also the Palo Verde tour he’ll send you on will allow for feeding of alligators and monkeys in the boat (both are very safe!). Go with Erik and his crew over Swiss Tours.

Sunset Tour – the tour was on a catamaran with snorkeling, unlimited drinks, and beautiful sunset deep in the Pacific. We also got to see Nicaragua in the distance. The crew were great and led by a tourism expert.

Palo Verde – definitely our favorite part. It’s about a 45 minute drive to the river and on the way we got to see the real Costa Rica – small towns, cute bungalow homes, highway passing cows and some volcanoes. The tour itself comprised of river boat traveling in dirty river with crocodiles, herons, egrets, monkeys, and other animals lurking. The coolest part was feeding bananas to monkeys off our heads and hands. One bold monkey even stole a banana out of our backpack. As for feeding the crocodile our boat leader fed one with some chicken meat. That was quite cool. You can see these in video form from Erik.

Ziplining – if you haven’t been definitely go…it’s wild!