I was so excited to stay at the place... a feeling that changed from the moment that we walked onto the hotel grounds. I should have known, from when we booked online and they refused to give us an offical conformation of our booking. Although decorated very well with an almost "africon" feeling, i was immediatly overwhelmed by the stench comming from the kitchen area. I guess it was all for the best, as we were informed as we checked in that a surf camp had rented out most of the hotel (i guess this is a regular occurance) We would only be allowed to have breakfast there, and have no use to the yoga or massage (which was a huge reason for booking The Place).

We were shown up to the bungalow, pushing through plants and jumping chains. There is NO clear way to the main area from the bungalow. Inside we were greeted with another noxious stench. The doors on the closets were broken, the lock almost comming of the hinges for the front door. the Hammock was ripped to shreds. I was in a total state of disbelief. When contacting management about all the problems we were told that things would be repaired. NOTHING WAS REPAIRED. NOT ONE.

We decided to check out the pool, which had to be the best part of the hotel. It is very beautiful, made with green tiles... making it feel tropical. Then my boyfriend stepped in. and almost fell. The entire bottom was slimey. In the 4 days i stayed here, i saw them clean it only once, the last day i was there. God knows what is growing in that pool.

The last and worst thing that happened at THE PLACE happened as we were leaving. We asked the day before that they secure us taxi service to Tambor airport. The next morning we spoke to Andrea the owner who assured us our cab would be there at 330. At 330 a very nice gentleman named miguel showed up and said he was the taxi to the airport. So we climbed in his official national taxi. Not 15 min later, he gets a call from Andrea SCREAMING (i could hear her through the phone) at him that she had asked one of her friends to drive us and that he had picked us up instead. threatening bodily harm if he did not pay her for our fair. I could hear her yelling through the phone. Apparently the guys at the desk had set us up with an official taxi, and she has a whole racket going where she has people to drice and she gets a cut of the money. We ended up paying an extra $20 american to miguel to get to the airport, because he was so afraid of her wrath. Please, it is in your own best interest not to stay At the PLACE. there are so many other AMAZING hotels in this area. Milerapa, Vista del orcha, the blue jay, all for the same or less the price.

Our experience with this property was very different from the others I've read on this site. We called the property directly to book a bungalow over the Thanksgiving holiday. They advised us that they were booked, but offered us their Villa at a discounted rate of $150 CASH per night. This was above our budge but we were desperate. They said they were 5 minutes from the beach and misled us to believe that we would find comfort there. Quite the contrary: the maid service was un-thorough and pretentious (they wouldn't even wash the few glasses we left in the sink), the property's pool is small and looks green, the landscaping is retarded - there is no clear path for walking from the Villa to the dining area, so you have to duck under chains and leap over plants, and neither lunch nor dinner is served here. Also, the property is not 5 minutes from the beach, but 10, down 2 rocky roads. And the roads to get to Malpais are so bad that it doesn't seem worth it unless you like to surf. If you are looking for groovy streets filled with interesting travelers, head to Montezuma. The only great thing about Malpais in general was a little restaurant called Las Piedras which serves chicken and pork ribs grilled to perfection on an open flame all night long. Oh, and we never met the famed Antonio spoken about in other posts. Andrea was the manager in charge while we stayed and she was a giant exception to the otherwise cordial Costa Rican hospitality we found in the rest of the country. She and The Place are trying to imitate the chic boutique hotels of Miami, but only achieve the pretense without any of the service or charm. We'll pass on The Place, next time.

My boyfriend and I ended our trip here. When we arrived at "The Place" we took a look at the bungalows and immediately upgraded from our original budget room. We stayed in the Mexican themed bungalow, it was so cute. The staff was very friendly and the pool was amazing. The grounds had a great night atmosphere, although it was very quiet at night, as we were the only ones there (went during rainy season). I would return here again in a heartbeat, it was one of our top highlights of the trip! The only downside is that the bungalows let a lot of bugs in at night, due to spaces in the walls.

We adored this hotel and would have liked to stay longer. The honeymoon cabin was great, the pool, bar and dinning areas are amazing. You have to eat there if Antonio and Sophia are cooking, the food was delicious. Mal Pais was a beautiful, quite town with great surf. We enjoyed it so much we are planning our next trip.