I live in Costa Rica and I can really tell how El Establo is one of the best hotels in this country, therefore I have been there 3 times. El Establo offers a luxury hotel, with big and comfortable rooms. If you are looking for adventure, this is the place, they offer lots of tour deals and even their own canopy. The spa is amazing, the gym and pools are really nice, the hotel is in a hill but they have efficient shuttle buses service. Monteverde is a place that is characterized by its abundant flora and fauna, for adventure sports and its peace. I totally recommend this hotel.

If you are searching for peace and tranquility this isn't the place. The noise from the hallways is unbearable. There is no air management of any type to drown out the noise from the rock floors and guests talking and coming and going with their roller bags over the uneven surfaces at all times of the night. I read about the hills at this place and thought that those people must be a bunch of wimps but this place is built on a MAJOR hill. If you aren't in great shape don't even think about staying here because the hill will kill you. It is almost a verticle climb to get to the rooms from the overpriced restaurant. My rented 4-wheel drive could barely negotiate the hill. And then there was the TV that didn't work and the phones that didn't work and the bill for the phone for $3 per minute when the phone didn't even work! Found out after the fact that while it is easy to get charges reversed in the US in third world countries not so easy. And then getting to this place is a torture test over what could only be generously described as goat paths.

I stayed at the El Establo in June 2008 - it was a terrible experience!
We got there before check-in time and even though the hotel was not full we were not allowed to bring our luggage to the room even though we were being picked up for a cloud forest tour that afternoon. at the reception they told us they would store our luggage.
We didn't want to take our passports on our hike, so we asked if they could hold them at the reception desk safe for us. We were assured that they would be safe. Upon return from our hike, our suitcases were just sitting out in the lobby - anyone cloud have taken them! and the reception desk staff had switched and they knew nothing about our passports!! The even told us that they had no safe at the desk. They looked for our passports for about 20 minutes in the desk area, finally they called the staff that had been there earlier and found our passports stuffed in a drawer.
The hotel is spread out on a hill, shuttles are provided for rides to rooms, reception and restaurant. It makes things a little difficult.
When we finally got to our room, we noticed that there was no air conditioning - it was very humid - and no screens on the windows! In the bathroom sink we had another 'guest' waiting for us: a cockroach!!! Terrible for an expensive hotel like the El Establo!! What a waste of money. We plugged up both floor drains and the sink drain over night, but in the morning there was another roach on the floor near our bed. When we checked out, I told the staff about the roaches but they didn't really seem to care at all. Another tourist next to me at the desk told me that he work up in the morning and found himself laying on a roach! One advice: stay away from that hotel!! Costa Rica is such a friendly country - there are better places to stay.

I contacted the hotel directly to book accommodations at the El Establo. We were looking for nice accommodations as it was our honeymoon. I asked the receptionist to put us in the nicest room. She said that we would be very pleased. While on our honeymoon, we called to request one of the rooms in the 900 block. They assured us we would get this. By the way, these rooms are OK - just avoid the honeymoon suites.

Monteverde was the third destination of 5 destinations that we stayed at. All of our other experiences were very enjoyable and exceeded expectations.

Our room was one of the honeymoon suites. There were a variety of issues:
1. There were no screens and at night the outside lights could not be shut off and no air conditioning so the room was very hot
2. There was no wall/door between the bathroom and bedroom and there was a light that came through the bathroom window directly on us all night. There was no blind and no way to turn off the outside light.
3. There was nowhere to hang our clothes and the general appearance of the room was very cheap.
4. There was very poor insulation and as the building had multiple units, every time someone would come or go, we would hear them. We also heard our neighbors.

The service was poor as well. The concierge refused to book a tour at a competing zip line company as the hotel offered zip lines. We had to call ourselves.

It seemed like the management was manipulative and was trying to take advantage of us. Throughout Costa Rica, you enjoy happy hour with other travelors. We showed up at the bar and it was empty. Instead of 2 for 1, they raised their normal prices to make it seem like you were getting a better deal. Which was why we were the only 2 poeple there. Check their spa prices - double compared to local prices and more than Tamarindo, Manuel Antonio and Arenal. A bottle of water cost $6!

We came down the next morning and told them that we wanted to leave at around 8 am due to our negative experience. When we complained, we were made to feel like we were being unreasonable to ask for a better room. We immediately booked other accommodations for the following night and endured another night. They would not refund the remaining nights. I wrote a 3 page letter, left my business card, phone and email. They never contacted me. Now, I have to take it up with my AMEX....

Costa Rica was awesome. We were able to turn the trip around....The rest of the trip was amazing. I'll post details soon.