Hotel Heliconia - Monteverde

The room was comfortable and staff was friendly and accommodating. We ate dinner both nights at the restaurant and the food was delicious. Our waiter, Kennay, was extremely attentive and personable. He gave spot on recommendations and made us feel at home. Loved our experience at Heliconia Hotel, definitely recommend!

Our room was spacious, comfortable and had an amazing view. By far the best hotel room we had during our trip in Costa Rica. Breakfasts were tasty and the restaurant was open until 9pm, which is helpful when you have late afternoon activities planned. The staff were very friendly and helpful both in the restaurant and at reception.

Friends, be warned! What I am recounting here is nothing but the truth and nothing has been distorted/exaggerated. My extremely poor opinion of this hotel is not based off one event, but a series of experiences around this place. Immediately upon arrival, we noticed that neither the Wifi nor the phone was working. There was no way to contact the front reception! The reception was a steep climb from the room, and I undertook at least 3 painful walks up and down to ask for a medley of different things that are standard to any half-decent accommodation, but were missing (coffee pods, then condiments, towels etc.). When we tried to shower, the glass door came unhinged, and we were scared that the entire glass pane may fall out and smash inside, hurting the occupant. We gingerly managed to shower, but then noticed that the water would not drain. There was an inch of stagnant soap water by the time we all finished. Gross! We complained about everything, they sent someone to fix the drainage, but did not do it right, and the same problem persisted for the following day. They said Wifi cannot be fixed since the technician is not around, so it would only be the following morning. Since we were completely cut off from the world (and the kids needed Wifi for their entertainment), we had to turn on our mobile roaming, incurring $12 per person. We went out for our adventure activities the following day, and when we returned, once again, they left us just 2 small coffee pods and no condiments. There were also only 3 towels when they knew we were 4 occupants in the room. They supposedly called in the Wifi technician, and said they fixed it, but it didn’t work. We called the front line manager to our room and he acknowledged that there was no Wifi. They did fix the drainage, but left the bathroom completely dirty and unusable for that day (the guy came in from the outside, with his soiled boots and messed the entire bathroom up). The following morning, when we went in for breakfast, there was no bread. They had also not labelled the food properly. I'm a vegetarian, and I ended up eating a piece of sausage because the guy said it’s all "Plantains". By this time my anger had grown into resentment, and affected my overall disposition towards our vacation. I was also VERY fed up of their nickel and diming, asking $ for everything (extra coffee pods). When I asked the front desk about what they can do to set all this right, they said "nothing"….the standard "sorry for the inconvenience, we know it is frustrating.." excuse. Folks, Costa Rica is an BEAUTIFUL Country with an AMAZING biodiversity in the cloud forest, and very friendly, welcoming and warm locals. Do NOT let this hopeless place rob you of the Pure Joys of vacationing there. By the time we finished I was seething in anger, and it had completely ruined the purpose of why I had gone there in the first place - to experience the pure wilderness, adventures of ziplining/white water rafting, etc. Please do