Paradise Jaco Beach Front

The location was a plus, right on the beach and an easy walk to restaurants and a supermarket. Staff were friendly, especially the restaurant waiters, and breakfast was included and good. The room had a thin, flat mattress and a bed frame that squealed whenever we moved at night. There were just two outlets up on the ceiling, impossible to reach, plus two in the bathroom. The Brit capsule coffee maker had to sit balanced over the sink and plug into the bathroom. When we asked for more capsules, they said no. WiFi worked for about five minutes at a time. The pool was small, crowded, and horribly dirty, with cloudy gray water and only a few plastic chairs. The first room we were shown was at ground level, with its only window and sliding door facing straight onto the pool. Curtains open meant people could look right in, while closing them left the room dark. There was nowhere to hang things or unpack, and after we killed four cockroaches, we asked to move. The third-floor room had a tiny balcony, too small to sit on but just enough to hang a swimsuit. It still had the same useless ceiling outlets. I've been coming to CR for 25 years, and this is the only place I wouldn't return to or recommend. It's run-down, dirty, and skanky.

The staff were nice, but couldn't really help me work out the bus from Yoko to Manuel Antonio Park. If you know the system, it seems fairly simple, but the stops aren't marked, even though some have benches like bus stops. I spent an hour getting to the bus station, only to find it closed for lunch. Other people eventually pointed me to a nearby stop, and the bus came, so that part worked out. Still, it cost me an hour. There were plenty of irritating problems in the room too. The balcony slider wouldn't lock, and the safe was unusable because it had no batteries. I spent about 30 minutes trying to sort that out while rushing to get a walk in before sunset. There was only one electrical outlet in the whole space and none in the bathroom. The air conditioner leaked onto the floor by the main area, and the room was small from there to the front door. The TV kept showing error pop-ups, and restarting it didn't stop them. The little fridge was rusty outside and leaked so much water it added to the puddle from the AC. There were shavings left from the previous guest, along with a number of other minor but aggravating issues. I'd only stay here if I had to pay $40 a night. Even then, I'd rather pay more and stay somewhere else.

The beds and linens were very clean, but that was one of the few good things. We booked four nights and left after the first day, mainly because the internet was awful, parking was unavailable, and the pool was impossible to use. The room was worn out, the balcony door lock was broken, hot water was scarce, and the drain was partly clogged. The internet kept cutting out, and only one outlet worked, so charging my phone meant unplugging the TV. The new coffee maker was useless because its cord couldn't reach the TV outlet, which was high on the wall. They advertise free self-parking, but the hotel is on a public beach where the parking fills up, especially at night. We were lucky to find anything nearby and otherwise had to use dark side streets far from the hotel. The pool photos were misleading. It was packed with people and kids all day, more like a kiddie wading pool than somewhere to swim. Every chair was taken, so there was nowhere to sit. Breakfast wasn't much better. The scrambled eggs were poorly cooked, and there was some kind of meat or sausage, plus fruit, but no oatmeal or cereal. They served toast without a toaster and orange Tang instead of juice. There were no free tables either, so we had to wait before we could get food. People rave about this breakfast, but I don't think they've had a decent one. We traveled all that way expecting a resort and got a rundown room in a worn-out hotel. Jaco Beach itself also wasn't nice, in my view. Costa Rica has beautiful beaches, but Jaco Beach isn't one of them. After reading the reviews, I was dumbfounded. I can't understand if the people who wrote the recent ones stayed at the same hotel. Don't be misled by those 10-star reviews, they make no sense to me.

For what it costs, the room was a letdown. The location was lovely and breakfast was good, but the floor wasn't clean, the bathroom looked shabby, the curtains wouldn't close, and neither the safe nor the in-room WiFi worked.