We recently stayed at the Villas for seven days. After reading all the bad reviews I was scared to see what I would find. I have come to the conclusion that some people will not be happy with anything and will find problems wherever they go.

We had a great time and while it was not perfect, I would definitely come back. I’ll try to not only review the place, but to give some advice to anyone looking to spend time here.

We were told check–in ends at 11pm. The hotel is 2 hours away by car from Liberia Airport. If you think you will arrive after 11pm, just call the hotel before you leave home and let them know. We did, and the night security guard had everything for us (our Key, guest bracelet and a porter to take you to your room). The next morning, we just had to stop by the desk again to leave our credit card and properly check in. There is no waiting in the lobby at all. The process took about 5 mins. Same goes for leaving the Hotel. We had be at the airport at 5:30am, they hooked us up with a really nice van and driver that took us. It was very clean and confortable ride.

Our Villa was immaculate. It was huge and clean and looked like it was just renovated. I did not enter any others so I can only speak for unit 40P. The outer hammock and yard was well maintained. The kitchen had everything. The fridge looked it was brand new. The showers did not have the high level of water pressure we are used to in the States, but they were fine enough to get the job done. The ACs were quiet and worked great. The only bug we found was one little spider on the window of one bathroom. Considering the outside was like a jungle I was really impressed how bug free our experience was. Room cleaning did not come everyday though. It came every other day for us, but we didn’t really care.

We ate breakfast at the hotel everyday. It was good. $10+tax per person, all you can eat. If you
We were in the middle and to the west side of the grounds. Our walk to the beach took less than a minute. There are wild horses that live on the grounds. If you like horses they are very cool.
Make sure you talk to the guys at Monkey Tours located in the lobby. We not only did some tours with them, but they really know the town and can help you find things you need.

Pro:
Clean
Safe
Quiet
Very Private
Very nice staff
Right in front of the little island for snorkeling
Short walk to the next beach over, Carrillo beach.
Tour company located right in hotel.
Good breakfast

Con:
½ hour walk from town.
2 hours from airport.
The Store, gym and inside restaurant were not yet finished.


Conclusion: Samara is in the middle of nowhere. The little town with all the bars and restaurants is a half hour walk or $8 cab ride away. If you are looking for a Quiet, safe getaway in paradise, then this is the place. At night it was so nice to have peace and quiet and total privacy. Just be prepared to find that some of the facilities are still down, but your Villa, pool, pool bar and service will be top notch. Take the 100% adventure tour package with the Monkey tours guys too, it’s totally worth the money. Best day ever.

My family stayed here the week of Christmas 2012, fully expecting a wonderful tropical holiday. What we encountered was everything but it. I did my reservation on September through American express Travel and called twice after the earthquake; first the hotel directly and then after to Amex and were assured that everything was in working order.
We arrived to chaos. The pool was under construction, with workers in various states. The walkways were dangerous, with bricks and ditch everywhere, exposed electric wires and electric saw. The entertainment room, meeting rooms, and store were virtual storage rooms. The restaurant and bar didn’t exist.

Check-in was stated as 2pm, we arrived at 3pm BUT we had to wait 4hours before we could get our room. The room given to us was not what we paid for; 2 Bedroom Luxury Beach front Villa. This Villa was in the back of the construction site, (with debris view) … I lodged a complaint with the front desk, with desperate team of inexperienced workers who were unfortunately trapped in the situation and couldn’t help.
Eventually we got to speak to the owner/manager, who without a shame gave length of lies, instead of solving the situation. He was claiming a natural disaster … force majeure… earthquake… which may happen BUT it was 4 months before our arrival. All I expected is a true discloser instead we received a fake story, a pure INSURANCE FRAUD.

I still can’t believe what management went to deceive us. Since it was a pick season we couldn’t find an alternative place and was forced to stay in that kingdom of lies. We didn’t get the 2 BR Villa we paid 359$ /night for but a 1 bedroom in a construction site… Our neighbored villa was under noisy construction from 6:30 AM to 9PM the all 4 days we stayed there… More important there was no safety measures taken, and my kid was injured by a rustic nail.
Even the Villa was beautiful at first glance. The water was shot down twice, the toilets never worked, our refrigerator had to be replaced, lights did not work, and many other minor issues had to be worked out. Service was completely lacking, though I believe they did try hard. For example, we went without drinks one breakfast service and without complete silverware sets at another. It was ridiculous! The maid service was laughable. They came in, made up the beds and some of the time gave us new towels and toilet paper. And in our stay they came twice without it being late afternoon and us having to ask for maid service. By the time we left the pool was in working order, though it was disgustingly white and murky looking. I learned later there was no filtration working.
For full disclosure I toured the hotel with the owner to show him all the safety problems and service problems. He offered to reimburse our initial payment and only charge 100$/night. It was the most expensive 100$ I ever paid…
Like I said, everything was ridiculous! The most frustrating part is that this ownership by greed and self-indulgence took a natural paradise and destroy it. The location is beautiful and management is criminal in the way they are running this place.

AS TRAVELERS OUR WAY TO IMPACT AND CHANGE THIS CRIME IS VOTING WITH OUR LEGS, PLEASE DON’T VISIT VILLA PLAYA SAMARA UNTIL OWNERSHIP/MANAGEMENT REPLACED!!!

During the holiday break my family and i stayed at Villas Playa Samara for two weeks. We picked this hotel because we had heard nice comments about it. We had a beautiful villa close to the garden and the nicest point about this hotel is that all the members of our family were together in the same place. Each villa has her own kitchen wich is very interesting. All the sraff was very nice and took care of us very well, the beach was also beautiful and spacious. Comparing to other famous all inclusive we were able to stay on the beach without beeing standing to close to other people from the resort. We also did some amazing activities with the monkey tours team that is staying directly on the site. We went to Monteverde (canopy tour), Ricon de la Viejra (adventure tour), horseback riding, fishing and kayak tour (Chora island tour)... All those activities were very interesting and it gave us the chance to see all the beautiful country of Costa Rica. Direclty on the site we also had the chance to see a bunch of monkeys, horses, lezard... , the city of Samara is also close from the resort and you can reach this place directly by the beach by walking. I had an amazing trip and i would stay there again. I recommend this place to all the people that want to explore the amazing country of Costa Rica. Pura Viva!

It willl be hard to keep this short! We booked this place for 4 nights but left a night early. The check in process was a joke. No organization. I had to flag down the golf cart guy myself. The maintenance man had to fix our lock on the bedroom and we waited 25 min for that. No one gave us a key to the safe without us having to go ask. The patio was dirty with a hammock that looked like if we sat in it, it would break. It was told to me that "the kitchen would have everything we could ever need." No oven, no rice cooker, and of the 3 burners for stove top, only 1 worked. No pans, just pots. No soap or sponge to clean them and maid service did not do it. Pool was dirty with leaves and oily. Never "clear or sparkling". The food for lunch was HORRIBLE. The food at dinner was good. Their on premises shop/gym/entertainment room closed for construction. The internet only worked midnight-5am before the staff got on it. Our ocean view villa was #8, had a nice view and was large with 2 bdrms. The seating area had uncomfortable chairs, we found ourselves eating and sitting in bed to hang out. The beds were comfy with nice sheets. The shower never drained while you were in there, so you were ankle high while in there. There are a few nice people that work, Jose and Alex and Steven. Farida was helpful in the booking process, but when I mentioned all our problems, she had nothing to say to fix it and was rude. There is nothing near by to eat at or shop for so you are stuck there. We live in Samara PT and have fam and friends visit often. I would never recommend this place to anyone. Especially if you need internet, want a clean pool, with good food and helpful service for basics.