My husband and I had the pleasure to stay at The Place FEB 07 (for a full week). WE LOVED IT! It's one of the nicest hotels in the area (we also stayed at Blue Jay lodge & Surf Camp). After I made our reservations I read the review "Please overlook the other reviews and read this one" which described this hotel as a very dirty and bad place to stay at (I was a bit worried). When we arrived at The Place I knew that that review was not true. I didn’t smell anything bad around the kitchen or any other area on this beautiful property. Pool was clean and NOT slimy (I saw it cleaned daily around 7am), great lounging beds around the pool. I enjoyed doing yoga (on my own) every morning in the shady area above the pool, there is also a great yoga class at CasaZen 9am mon-fri. Stuff was very helpful; Andrea (the manager) was friendly and very nice. Our bungalow (the Mexican) was clean and didn’t have a “noxious stench” it smelled very fresh, it was also nicely decorated and our bed was very comfy (which is hard to find in most Costa Rican hotels...this is our 5th trip). Breakfast was yummy and reasonably priced $6. Hammock was in perfect condition (but we didn’t use it much). The Place is 5min walk from the beach (like most other hotels in the area, very few hotels are right on the beach). The Place only served breakfast, but that wasn’t a problem there is many good restaurants in the area (Mary’s, CasaZen Tai food, great Argentinean chicken place and a good sushi place but I don’t remember the name of it). It’s a good idea to rent a car. Everyone should OVERLOOK that bad review... and Enjoy the Pura Vida at THE PLACE.

We stayed for 3 nights during December of 2006. We really enjoyed our stay as the bungalows were cute, the staff was helpful, and the location was good. Often times, it felt like we were the only group staying there which was nice and then at times you almost wanted some nightlife at the bar, etc. Considering other people's comments, the pool seemed quite clean during our stay even though we were the only ones in it. The guys who worked the bar in the afternoons and evenings were extremely friendly and fun to chat with. I was a sucker for the open air bungalows even though the lights did invite some critters in during the evenings. If you happen to stay in the Beach House bungalow, remember that some iguanas live in the roof and will wake you up like clock-work about 7:30 AM (they climb up by a tree that touches the roof but can't get in your room). We quite liked the litte guys! Overall we would recommend The Place for anyone looking for a little higher value but not luxury in Mal Pais.

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.