Hotel El Manglar

Terrible management , fake people that want only certain travelers , allow solo travellers to book and pay but drive them out of town after they get the money. Even spread rumors about you to others hotels having your reputation and names ruined in an entire community all because you are not welcome by them

This is the second time we have stayed at this hotel. It will not be our last. The front desk staff (Andrea, Georgia and JJ) provide the highest level of service and do it in an informal inviting way. The rest of the staff do a bang up job keeping the grounds and the rooms clean. The owners are always kicking around and are great to chat with (especially about surfing). This was a one week stay that we wished could have turned into a much longer stay and the accommodations played a critical role in this way of thinking.

Warning about pet policy! I received a welcome email from Hotel Manglar which I read in its entirety prior to arrival. It did not state to call the hotel if you are traveling with a pet, nor did it state any pet policy. I also did I see anything online or any website about a policy beforehand. Only that pets are welcome! I drove 4 hours and I arrived to check in, they asked if I was aware of their pet policy, and I said no. One of the rules are no dogs are allowed on the furniture. I told them I was concerned about that rule. They explained that if the dogs get on/sleep in the bed, I would be responsible to pay for new bedding. I was told I should have called the hotel to ask about the policy. It wouldn’t have mattered at that point because I had already booked the room at a non-refundable price. I had no reason to cancel this reservation as I had 2 meetings the next day. I have never had to call a hotel beforehand if a hotel states it is pet friendly and I travel a lot and never had an issue with my 2 small dogs. I was shown to my room and one of my dogs jumped up on the bed right away. I only stayed in the room about 5 minutes and returned to the office to talk with them because I was concerned about the policy. The room is very small and with only a double bed I was worried they might jump on the bed while I was sleeping. No problem keeping them off while I am awake. I explained my situation and told them I thought it would be better if I went to a different hotel with less strict rules. I was trying to be honest with them. I kindly asked them if I could cancel the room and receive a refund and they said that it was non-refundable and that I would have to contact **********. I left the office and called **********, and they said they would try to call the hotel to get a courtesy waiver under the circumstances to get a refund. I started to check around to find another hotel within one hour and nothing was available. I went back to speak with them and explain I only have 2 options now, sleep in my car with my dogs or return home which is a 5-hour drive at night so I asked if I could just get my room back and she said she had already cancelled my reservation and were now fully booked. I asked again isn’t there anything you can do for me I am basically stranded now, and she said if I find you a room it’s a new reservation and I would have to pay again! She was not empathetic to my situation at all. Their policy does state at the bottom: “If the hotel administration (rules) is not respected, the owner of the dog is free to suspend the service”. I was only trying to be honest with them and let them know I was concerned about the furniture policy. I didn’t want to stay worried about my dogs for 2 days and lie to them and say they didn’t get on the bed. If I had known ahead of time, I would never had booked with them. I also would have been happy to pay a deposit on top of the $10 per pet, per night fee which should include sanitizing and cleaning th

Beautiful place and people. Most friendly and helpful staff at hotel and nearby restaurant, fantasti place. Great food and fun community all walking distance. Even Tamarindo if you like. Recommed the Grateful for evening entertainment . we will b bac. Pura vida

The bedroom smelled really strongly of mold!! The staff was not great. Yorda or the female with the name that starts with a Y was EXTREMELY RUDE!! I would never stay here again!! Very disappointed! And it has zero amenities!

Here are why I was so disappointed and left the hotel: In the first room they gave me, there was no wi-fi connection. Also phone doesn't get the service. Guy in the reception adviced me that wifi is working on third floor, like I need to go there at every time. And the girl in the reception said, wifi is not working because a cable was burned and then she stopped, suggesting no solution. I said when it's going to be repaired, she said Monday, three days later that is time I'm going to leave and she knows that. After my insistance for a solution they start to speak Spanish in front of me where they can both speak English. They didn't want me to understand what they are saying. After that they offered me another room on 3rd floor, a room that is made in the attic. She said only difference is the window is smaller, I said fine. I went to room to see that the room was smelling like sewage, it is too hot (a/c needed to run for an hour to bring it to an acceptable temperature) and wifi was still disconnecting. I went to the store since they even don't offer drinking water, shampoo, any kind of food or drink. When I came back I found 3 large geckos just in front of the room, one small gecko inside the room but also big black ants were continously getting inside from the window. I saw 4 of them git inside in 10 minutes. And wifi was still get disconnected. I went to the office again and they told me there is nothing they can do for things above. They didn't allow me to talk with their supervisor. I said I'm leaving (in the middle of the night, under rain, and roads are terrible there with a lot of potholes) and went to room to get my stuff. They followed me and got in the room, girl first told there is no gecko in the room, yes because these animals don't stand still also she started a youtube video telling me that the wifi is working. The problem was it's not working, it was repetive disconnected. So she imply that I'm lying to them. They also wanted me to bring the pool Towel that they gave it to me to bring to the front desk from the room when I was carrying 3 things already. When I told them no service and wifi problem is important in case of an emergency, she said I can walk downstairs to the garden and make calls, this is her solution if somebody falls and brakes a bome or getting a heart attack then, climb down to the garden! Also the room gets too hot in a very short amount of time and it has been raining all day, if power went off I would bake. She couldn't find anything to say. But the most annoying thing is that they were in all defensive mode instead of solving the problems and implying that I was lying to them.

Our home away from home. From Javier, Andrea and Englebert to the entire staff...everyone is amazing. Great location, accommodations and amenities. Surf lesson with Javier was the bomb! We've been coming for three years and can't wait to get back. Pura Vida! Matt

Can’t believe they advertise this place as a 3 star Hotel as this is a 2 stars at best. First of all, like advertised there is no restaurant on site, the restaurant is a 2min walk away and has very low quality food. No breakfast is included when staying at El Manglar, not even a continental breakfast. When it comes down to service, a big zero. They “clean” the rooms every other day and that’s not what I call cleaning. They NEVER changed the bedsheets in our 10 day trip. all the “cleaning” crew does is give you 3 new towels, broom the floor and that’s it. I have had cleaner rooms at Holiday Inns even at Motel 6. The place is branding itself as a Surf Hotel but will charge you to borrow a surf board, charge you to borrow a bicyle (while all other hotels around offer it for free to their guests). They do not provide you with any free water, you have to buy bottled water and theres nothing around the hotel. Let’s be honest, El Manglar is a mix of an Airbnb & Motel but nowhere near a 3 star Hotel.

I would never recommend this hotel to anyone. Don’t bother wasting your time. It is not as advertised. Don’t let it ruin your trip, like it did to ours. The hotel claims to be 1.4 miles from Tamarindo, which is incredibly misleading. What they fail to tell you is that a crocodile infested river separates the property from the town. It is inaccessible by foot and can only be reached by a water taxi (which stop running at 4pm) or by a 45 minute cab ride. We would have NEVER booked this property if we realized that simply going for dinner in town was going to cost us a hefty cab fee and a 45 minute drive each way. When we came to the hotel, it was still under renovation. We wanted to sit by the pool, but there was still work being done around us. There is a “gate” meant to keep the property secure. However, the code we were given did not let us into the property. After a night out, we were left locked outside and unable to unlock the entrance. We called and messaged the property, and did not hear a response until 8:30am. We were eventually able to get back into the property by squeezing into a crack in the gate that had been left open. It was incredibly unsafe. El Manglar failed to take responsibility and said they had “no proof” we were locked out. I have attached screenshots of our messages with the hotel. We had intended on staying for 4 nights, but after our awful experience on night 1, we decided to leave. The hotel refused to give us any (partial) refund or compensation. They were initially unresponsive to both us and ***********. When we eventually did get a response, they again, took zero responsibility. The bathroom in our room stunk of mould and there was a distinct mouldy residue on the bathroom door. The shower overflowed each time we used it. The toilet in our room did not flush properly. Simply put - DO NOT STAY HERE. Don’t let this place dupe you like it did for us. Trust me, I wouldn’t want anyone else to have such a horrible experience. Save your time and money and find somewhere else. I would give them zero stars if I could. The only reason they are getting one star, is because we liked the girls who worked at reception. Otherwise, it was trash.