This is our second time at the Copacabana but will be not the last one, we really enjoyed our stay
The food is amazing, the nightly activity is fun, the staff is helpful and friendly, the rooms are clean and comfortable. It's true that the Copacabana its not for everybody, is clouthing optional adult hotel, partys go on every night, but is great for open minded couples and singles that wanna have fun. We were four single girls and we ejoyed our stay.

To preface our trip report let us provide you with some background. We have been to several similar resorts in the past, including Hedonism II & III both in Jamaica, Desire in Cancun, Mexico, and Caliente Caribe in the Dominican Republic.

Arrival:
We arrived at the airport and we met up with the resort’s driver. Note: if you stay 7 nights or more, transportation to and from the resort are free. He stopped at a little store along the way if we needed to buy anything. The trip was about 90 minutes from the airport to the resort. The mountain views are amazing. The temp was no hotter nor more humid than the Baltimore/DC area. Mosquitos were no worse either.

Jaco:
It is a straight up beach/surf town with tons of restaurants, clubs, bars and stores, with the main strip just a block up from the beach and hotel. So everything is right there; beach, hotels and town. The mountains and jungle are very close by as well.

Beach:
The beach consists of darker sand with small rocks in parts all as a result of the local volcanic activity. The waves are huge (compared to the Atlantic) with lots of good surfers taking advantage of them. The water was also very warm. The beach is public and bathing suits are required.

Hotel:
From what we know, Copacabana Desire (CD) is the only Lifestyle friendly resort in the entire country. We were greeted by an accommodating staff that was also extremely friendly. The hotel is not large and could use some updating, but it has a cozy feel. That combined with the staff, makes for an enjoyable stay.
Things that could improve the hotel:
-Outdoor ceiling fans under dining/bar areas
-Our shower’s hot water control knob (Rm26) needed some work
-Lighting along walkways/balcony outside some rooms
-General updating of various trim/paint
-Have existing staff or a dedicated energetic Entertainment Coordinator (EC) that could organize some activities (some kinky) throughout the day/night
-Hot tub thermostat needs some tweeking
-Could use a small gym for workouts.
-WiFi would go out occasionally

Things that made the stay memorable:
-Staff: Manager Katia was amazing! She made sure the hotel ran smoothly and also took the time to get to know us (We asked her for mint for mojitos and softer pillows and she came through on both!)
Resident Asst Manager David: Worked his butt off taking care of the guests’ needs, giving us advice, as well as setting up for various events throughout the day.
Bar Tender/Waiter Fernando: Was so pleasant and made great drinks. He would even put sugar on the rim of his mojitos.
-Food: We cannot talk enough about this. ALL the food was nothing short of amazing. The cooks worked their butts off and many times we only saw one cook in the simple/primitive kitchen at time. And the food that came out of there was stunning! No need to leave the hotel for anything to eat. We were all-inclusive so we ate well! The menu was also very large with differing nightly themes for dinners. No luke warm/stale buffets here! Yes, Americans, believe it or not, food is actually better without preservatives, hormones, MSG, nitrates, & pesticides. We’ve been missing out for sure. And their low end coffee easily beats many high end coffees in the U.S.
-Recycling: recycling bins were available throughout the resort. You can’t recycle even if you wanted at most 5 star hotels within the U.S. I actually enjoyed taking items out to the recycle bins as opposed to throwing everything away for the landfill. This is therapy in itself.
-Dual flush toilets to conserve water. Again most U.S. hotels won’t offer this.
-CFL and LED lighting
-Nice nude pool, hot tub and cabanas.
-Swim-up bar
-Nice massage at the spa.
-Nice to have a Jacuzzi tub right in the room
-Stocked fridge (water, beer, soda)
-Good regulation of the working girls who would visit (Yes, many countries are not as up tight as the U.S. and actually have legal/regulated prostitution which ends up being safer for all parties and less costly than our failed war on the world’s oldest profession)
-Got our laundry done for free by hotel staff
-Hotel staff (Keike) also provided surf lessons

Excursions:
Ocean Ranch Park--Horseback riding/Waterfall repelling/Ziplining with dinner…for $99 and only 20 minutes from the hotel. Great deal!

Villa Caleta’s—a huge high end resort on a mountain to watch the sunset. The hotel (CD) staff (David) took us here.

Conclusion:
Don’t expect a 5 star resort, but the positives really outweigh the negatives and we felt welcomed and relaxed during our stay. Even though it is smaller than the other Lifestyle friendly resorts we’ve stayed at, size isn’t everything because we’d go back to CD before any of the others. And don’t forget to tip before you leave (especially the cooks)!

I have stayed at the Copacabana numerous times, and will always stay here when I come to Jaco. I can't say enough about the staff. The manager Katia is wonderful and will bend over backwards to make sure you enjoy yourself as will the rest of the staff from the front desk, the bartenders/servers, the maids, etc. The food is amazing. Everything I tried was delicious. I have stayed in a few different types of rooms and haven't had any complaints. One thing that stands out is the party atmosphere of the hotel (adults only = no kids). If you do not like to party, socialize, have great music until late, this is not the place for you and I do not recommend it. It's not an old folks home. It's a place to have fun, let loose, and enjoy your vacation. Pura Vida!!!!!

So my mom and I were heading to Jaco and the day before, Hotwire sends me an email saying that the Copacabana Hotel has rooms for $75. My Moon Guidebook had nice things to say about it and it was the cheapest location on the beach, so we went for it. During check out on Hotwire, we were not allowed to request 2 single beds, even though it said on the website we could have 2 singles or 1 double.

We arrive the next day and tell the lady at check in that we would like 2 single beds. She acts all put out and says the reservation is for 1 double bed. My mom explains in Spanish that the website would not allow us to use the other one and she agrees to switch the rooms. I am not sure why this is such a big deal, as we later discovered that the hotel was basically empty.

The room had a funny smell in it but the air conditioner worked and you didn't notice it after a few minutes.

Our complimentary capiroskas were amazing.

The pool was nice, but no one was in it, which worked for us. The volleyballs did need to be cleaned (there seemed to be something growing on it). I liked the iguanas but there are tons of them, so if you are not an animal person, stay away. The cushions on the beach chairs need to be cleaned or replaced- there were spots all over them.

My biggest complaint is for the noise. We were the only guests at the hotel for more than one night (and we only saw about 5 other people the whole time). The first night, the music in the bar was very loud. I went downstairs and asked the bartender to turn it down (he was watching a sports game and there was one lady there playing solitaire on her computer), which he did and then there was no problem.

The next morning, my mom and I went down the pool and enjoyed relaxing and reading. However, at noon, loud pumping music started blasting. The only people at the pool were us and a Costa Rican family (who left after an hour). Even the staff went elsewhere. I went behind the bar and turned the music down and no one noticed.

That evening, someone was having a party. When we returned from dinner, one nice guy invited us to the party. We said we were tired and going to bed and he said "I hope we won't keep you awake." We went into the room and the music was so loud that I could sing along with it. My mom went downstairs and asked the front desk person to turn it down and she said okay. However, it did not get turned down. A little while later, I went down to ask myself and when I told the girl who had been working behind the bar during the day, her response was "Really?" I then went back to my room and I swear, the music was LOUDER than before. I then went back downstairs and asked the nice guy if he knew where the owner was so I could speak with him. He said that the owner was not there but the manager was also at the party (as was the other girl who I asked to turn the music down and ignored me). He asked if he could help me and when I said the music was really loud, he went and turned it down for me.

I was pretty put off by the "really?" comment, seeing as no one at that party seemed to be a guest. Like I said, we only saw a few people going into rooms during our time there and most of the guests at the party seemed to be staff members. It just seems really rude that when one of the few paying customers at a hotel says the party is too loud, that you ignore their multiple requests.

Also, the bar seemed to have some working girls stop by the first night but they left when they saw there was no one there.

The lady in charge of our check out was extremely friendly and helpful.

So Copacabana gets a star for having really comfortable beds and the pool being fun.
It loses 1 star for the noise, 1 star for the rudeness of the staff member, and 1 star for the funny smell in the room.