We just got back from our 9 day vacation at Paradisus Playa Conchal and had a great time. I wasn't sure what to expect after reading the negative reviews posted, and upon arrival there was a very irate couple at the front desk arguing with the staff. I became even more nervous when the rate didn't match what we were quoted and we were told our rooms weren't ready yet. However, after a quick phone call and stepping over to Hole19 for lunch, our rate was quickly adjusted without argument and we were given a room very convenient to the beach and pool as we had requested.

The rooms are extremely clean and even besides the very efficient maid service, there was always someone grooming the landscaping and grounds. The staff here is just enormous and hard-working. There were several times that we saw the same folks early in the morning for breakfast and then working in a different restaurant late at night. There were only a few of the staff members (and local people) that I didn't find to be genuinely friendly. I attribute this to being the same everywhere (including other countries), where there are simply some folks who resent American tourists.

The same applied to the vendors on the beach, since there were some who were genuinely nice and others that sneered when we walked by or weren't interested in their items. One thing we learned there is that they are kind of a "gypsy-like" group and won't bargain or compete with each other, so don't even try! :) Apparently they share their profits at the end of each day we were told.

To counter some of the complaints regarding Royal Service, I can only guess that it must be highly dependent on the time of year. We did not pay for the RS and hardly even knew there WAS such a thing since we had access to the entire pool, with the exception of one tiny area. When we mistakenly sat there, we were politely told it was reserved - no big deal. Otherwise, we had the same benefits...plenty of pool chairs and a waiter who brought drinks frequently. Not sure how it's done during the busy season but I felt pampered the entire time. Same for the restaurants....no problem getting a reservation even when calling during mid-day. I did see some folks get turned away but it was always walk ups who had not called in advance.

The only negatives I can think of is the lack of organization for all the tours that are offered. There are several places to book tours on-site but none are well advertised and the differences are just downright confusing. Between the concierge, an onsite travel agency, a tour operator, and some sort of an "activities" operator, NONE were especially helpful and didn't seem to care to give any details about the tours they sold or the areas you could visit. While a lot of the tours were similar, they were NOT the same as they were in completely different geographical areas. And while none of the onsite tour folks were helpful, they will still sneer at you if you decide to take a tour with an offsite operator ;) We got frustrated with trying to schedule a dive trip to Bat Island...While the onsite dive operator didn't go there, they didn't even try to recommend another local shop or even want to talk about it. If you go, it's better to try to research your alternatives as much as possible beforehand.

Overall, we had a great time and were extremely pleased with the timing of our trip. While it was the beginning of the rainy season, we had beautiful weather the entire time and it only showered a few nights. No crowds to deal with and friendly service from most of the staff. If you have questions, email me!

We went for our Honeymoon from 5/7/07 to 5/15/07. We had an amazing experience. The service was excellent. The resort grounds were great. The people were awesome.

Some more info about the trip: First of all, the weather was perfect (although I can't give the resort much credit for that). But it was about 90 degrees everyday and only rained one night. Second of all, the Pool was amazing. We did Royal Service, so we were able to use the Royal Service Pool all week. It's basically just a smaller version of the main pool. Very clean water, and since the resort was only about half full, there never seemed to be more than 5 people in the pool at once. And the service around the pool was the best. The pool guy Julio was around to check on us at least once every ten minutes to check if we needed anything. And at least once an hour, he would randomly bring us a bottled water. I can't say enough about Julio. The swim up bar was top notch as well - as the bartenders were extremely friendly. If there was any complaint about the pool, it would be that by 4:00, its so warm that its practically bath water. But with the sun beating down all day, I don't know how they could control that.

The restaurants were pretty good. I think Gabi and the Italian Restaurant were by far the best. The food at the Asian place (Spices) was ok, but the service was pretty slow. The Caribbean place was average. And the buffets were above average. The "19th Hole" at the front reception area was very good for lunch. It was off season, so we never had any trouble getting reservations anywhere.

The Rooms were pretty nice. I had a Royal Service Regal Junior Suite - which was nice - but wasn't like the other two-room suites I saw on the website. But they restocked the minibar daily with 5 bottled waters, 4 beers, rum, and coffee. Can't complain about that. Room Service was good. And the cleaning crew did a nice job cleaning up daily.

The Resort grounds were very clean. If you go, plan so see at least 4 or 5 iguanas a day. They're like squirrels down there. But they're harmless. You may see a monkey or two as well. They do have golf carts that run the grounds all day, but you don't really have to take them unless you're going up to reception. It seemed to be about a 10 minute walk (at most) to get anywhere on the main resort. I'm reading that a lot of people are complaining about this for some reason. I'm not sure why, as it wasn’t a major issue.

The Royal Service is probably worth it. It's more money, but you do get preferred dinner times and "special service". I don't know what the special service is, because I never had normal service, but the people working there were incredibly accommodating for anything we asked. And, as I wrote before, the Royal Service pool is amazing.

They offer a lot of free activities (scuba, sunset cruise, horseback riding, etc...). They also offer day trips for canopy tours (zip lining), volcano tours, etc.. I would offer the caveat that we booked a Whitewater Rafting tour before we went but they cancelled it on us because not enough people were doing it. Of course, they never really informed us of this until that morning. The person's name was Gabrielle, so beware if you book with her. We also paid for Jet Skiis and an ATV tour through the resort. Both were awesome. Also,if you go to this resort, I would recommend hitting Brasilito for a dinner one night (right down the road), and Tamarindo for a day or night (which is a $40 cab round trip). Both were worthwhile excursions.

Almost everyone at the resort spoke fluent English, which was good since my high school Spanish only took me so far. And don’t bother exchanging money when you go down there (if you’re using US currency). Almost every place accepts Dollars. And the exchange rate is an easy 500 colones to a US Dollar, so its an easy exchange.

Overall, it was a great experience. I have a hard time believing what some people write when they say the staff working there was "rude", because almost every single person I dealt with was over-the-top nice. And every person I met that week seemed to feel the same way. If you're looking for a relaxing place with good service and don't mind paying for it, then I would highly recommend Paradisus Playa Conchal.

We spent 5 nights at this resort and it was WONDERFUL!! We had Royal Service. The rooms were super and very nice......the Staff was incredible. They were willing to assist and all times at the Room, Pool, and Pool Bar. Some of the great folks were Brian and Rhaul at Pool Bar, and Juilo at the Pool. These guys are super and very helpful. Erick at RS was wonderful. The Food was great as well. We mostly enjoyed the choices at the Italian Restaurant, Asian, and Gaby restaurants. The others were okay. The beverages selections were brand name and very good. The resort was beautiful and required rides via the small trucks and gold carts. The food at the 19 hole was good as well. We totally recommend the Tidal River tour with Deigo San, can obtain information at tour desk. This tour was super and you get to see lots of Costa Rica on this tour. It last for about 7 hours but worth it all.....Overall our experience at this Resort was great and we would return in the future.

I am writing this review because of the recent negative comments made about the PPC. Our party of 5 adults stayed at this wonderful resort at the end of April, and have nothing but great things to say about it! And by the way, we were NOT Royal Service!

The Liberia Airport is nothing more than an open pole building. After about a 30 minute easy process of going through Customs and Immigration, we were met by our tour company, Destination Costa Rica, who drove us to the resort in a fairly new, comfortable, air conditioned mini bus. The ride to the resort was pleasant, and the road was in pretty good condition. It took about an hour, which was fine with us, as it gave us a real feel for the countryside.

Check In - went very smoothly. Our friends were whisked off to their room immediately, while our room wasn't ready until 3:00, which wasn't a problem as my husband and I used the time to explore the property. The front desk personnel were very efficient and always ready to answer any questions we had.

The Room - very large, very clean, and very well equipped with a microwave, coffee pot, sink, utensils, and a refrigerator stocked with beer, soda, water, and juices. The room also had an ironing board, a safe, a sitting area with a couch, coffee table, and chair; a sofa table with a chair, and an additional round table with 3 chairs - wow! The maid service was excellent, and there were always plenty of fresh towels every day. We looked forward to seeing what type of towel art they left for us daily. We had a king-sized bed that was very comfortable, as were the pillows. The room was very quiet - we never heard any noise from the adjoining rooms. On our first day, we did have to call about a noise coming from the air conditioning unit, and the repair man was there within minutes of our call - problem solved! We were in Building 7 - Villa Sophia, which was a short walk to the pool, the restaurants, and the shops. If you didn't want to walk, there was always a tram going by that would take you anywhere in the resort that you wanted to go. We called for a tram to pick us up a few times, and they were there before we even got out of our room!

The Pool - one of the largest pools that we have ever seen. It was always clean and very well maintained. There were some guests however, that never cleaned up after themselves, and expected the staff to do it for them - and the staff did a great job. There were always plenty of chairs all around the pool. We never had to get up early and reserve chairs as some other reviewers have mentioned - we could get there in the middle of the afternoon and always find a seat by our favorite area of the pool - the swim up bar. The bartenders at the pool bar - Jeffrey, Carlos, and Ismahel, were the best - always smiling and friendly. They remembered our names and what type of drinks we liked. They also came around and took drink orders as we lounged around the pool. The pool water was very warm and relaxing. We never had a problem with towels at the pool either - on our first day at the pool we simply went over to the towel bar, gave them our card, and got our towels - simple! We turned in our used towels every night before 6:00 and got fresh ones right away for the next day. No big deal.

The Restaurants - We loved the Mitra buffet. We ate breakfast there almost every morning, and dinner there 5 nights out of our 7-day visit. They had a wonderful variety of food, with a different theme every night. We also ate at the Buccaneer (Caribbean food), and Spices (Asian) restaurants. We enjoyed both of them, with the Buccaneer being the better of the two. Making reservations was never really a problem - we could call at any time of the day and were likely to get the time we wanted. The resort was not full, so 1 or 2 of the restaurants were closed a couple of evenings - which didn't matter to us at all. We had lunch at the 19th Hole on our first day, and the hostess there remembered our names the rest of the week! We also had breakfast there 2 mornings before leaving on excursions. We ate lunch at Spirula almost every day. The pizza there is the best!

The Beach - beautiful, but we never really swam in the ocean because the undertow, at that time, was very strong. We did go in up to our knees and found the water to be very warm. We opted not to snorkel, as we felt it might be a little too dangerous because of the rocky shore, and we didn't use any of the non-motorized water equipment included at the resort either. There were never really any people using chairs down at the beach - but you could have chairs taken down there if you asked.

The Bars - besides the pool bar, we frequented the Astrea Bar, and the bar at the Mitra. The drinks were excellent - not lacking in alcohol at all! Try a Pura Vida - very good! All the bartenders were great - including Oliver at the Astrea.

The Shows - we thought the shows were better than those we saw in Punta Cana. It's not Broadway, but the entertainers work just as hard to put on a good show. The games they played before the shows were fun, and the entertainment staff would get the audience involved in salsa and merenge dancing afterwards. We had a lot of fun lounging on the couches on the big open air gazebo while we watched the shows.

The Staff - the best! Every one of them friendly, helpful, smiling, always with an Hola! when you passed by. We took a Spanish lesson from Max, who was very patient with us, and taught us a lot about the Costa Rican culture. He was also the host for the evening shows, and impressed us with his ability to speak several different languages as he addressed the audience.

Excursions - we went on the Sunset Cruise included at the resort. They bused us to a black sand beach where we took a dingy over to an awaiting boat. The cruise along the coastline was beautiful, and the sunset breath taking. We also did the Buena Vista Mega Combo tour and the Palo Verde National Park tour. The Buena Vista tour was awesome! The zip line, the water slide, and the mud pots/mineral springs were great. The horseback riding was a little hairy - especially if you aren't used to horses. But all in all, just wonderful. At the Palo Verde National Park we saw crocs, iguana's, bats, howler monkeys, white-faced monkeys, and a large variety of birds. The typical Costa Rican lunch that was included with both trips was very good.

The Beach Vendors - they were never a problem. They weren't pushy - like in Punta Cana and in Cancun. They even remembered which one of them you had originally talked to and didn't infringe on one another. We took a walk to Brasilito - 15 minutes down the beach - to do some shopping and found that the prices were about the same as with the vendors on the beach. We also took a taxi to Tamarindo to shop. This is more of a “town” than Brasilito. There were a lot more shops and restaurants, but the prices also seemed to be about the same as with the beach vendors. The beach there is beautiful, and if you are lucky, you can catch some of the locals and vacationers doing a bit of surfing. We were told though, by our cab driver and some of our tour guides, that you shouldn’t wonder to far from the central shopping district, where it was safer.

As you can tell, I have a lot to say about this wonderful resort, and I am sure I have left out some details, as there are just so many things to mention. As I said earlier, we were NOT Royal Service, but we were treated as if we were (without paying all that extra money!!!) We never felt inferior to the RS guests because we really never even noticed them. We would definitely go back to this resort in a heart beat, and would recommend it to anyone. Costa Rica is a beautiful country, and we found the people there to be more friendly and accommodating than at other vacation spots we have been to. Please be sure to get out and explore the countryside - do some excursions - and enjoy the beauty and wildlife that this country has to offer. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Pura Vida!!