HOTEL EL VELERO is the most awesome small hotel in Playa Hermosa, we stayed there for a few days, and came back each day for a visit while we were in CR. The place has the true spirit of Costa Rica , you cannot beat the location right on the beach.
Food, drinks , service is A+ , the rooms are spacious, with NO CARPET in the hotel, tv, phone, and top of the line linens. If you want to book tours, use Janett at the front desk, she knows more about the area than any of the other tour companies we spoke too. If you really lucky out you will share a story with Mike the owner. Also , the hotel has a beautiful sailboat, be sure to go on a sunset cruise, ... hotel is locally own. Again, value and spirit..

As a late afternoon walk in guest without a guaranteed reservation, I wanted to check out within minutes of seeing my room. The accomodations were worn, tired,"well used" and not attractive. Assured a quiet room, I learned it was next to a loud local bar. Realizing I could not stand in the shower or on the filthy carpet, sleep in the pilled linens or feel safe there-we checked out within 10 minutes of arrival. We were denied a partial refund of any kind. Feeling unsafe and wanting to avoid altercation, I decided to persue the partial refund once home. My credit card company attemp was rejected. The Candian owner was not hospitable nor reasonable in any way. After seeing for myself, I think most reviews for this hotel are swayed by the beauty of the hotels beach and negate the interior aspects. Dont ruin your vacation with an encounter here. There are much better places to stay in this beautiful country for the same money.

We had a great time in Costa Rica. The hotel was affordable, the room was simple but good for the money. The beach was beautiful and the restaurant at Velero has a nice view of the ocean. We liked the breakfasts better than the dinners, so ventured out for dinners...try Ginger up the road for great Tapas.
The help at the front desk was interesting....the woman that has the day shift was great and helped us book several day trips...Monteverde, Rincon de la Vieja, and Palo Verde River tour...all amazing. The girl who works afternoon/nights was not a help at all, which caused us to panic when we first arrived.
If you want to see the howler monkeys, we saw them a the Playa Hermose hotel up the beach at around 4 near their pool in the back. oh, and bring an eye sleep mask because the hall lights stay on late at the hotel some nights and shined into our room. Luckily I had one with me, but I would have been annoyed if I didn't.
Overall we had a blast.....

After reading the reviews on this hotel and viewing the photos on the hotel's website, we decided to take a chance and book this hotel for one evening before we moved onto our all-inclusive hotel. We had a little trouble finding the place from Liberia airport (due to the lack of street signs in Costa Rica), so get good directions if you are driving yourself, but we truly enjoyed our stay at Hotel el Velero. This was a lovely hotel, right on the beach. The architecture is beautiful, rooms were clean and the beach-front restaurant was wonderful. We stayed on a Sat. night, so there was a one-man band that played great classic American music that evening. The food, drinks and relaxed atmosphere made for a great stay. For the price, this hotel was a great find and I would recommend it for a short-stay.

The only negative would be the open ceilings to the hallway. You do tend to have a lot of noise flood into the rooms. So if you like to sleep in, this may not be the place for you.