Villa Bougainvillea | Playa Flamingo | 3 Bedroom

The view and location earned the two stars. We could walk to a small market, restaurants and shops, and the house is full of potential if it were upgraded and most of the decor removed. But the week with my family and a few friends, January 6-12, 2019, was a mess. I would not rent from Special Places through HomeAway again, and I can’t recommend staying in or buying this home. Phem Dejarlo handled our booking and stay. She seemed pleasant by email before we arrived, then was rude and hateful to me and everyone with me. When we told her on the first day that showers and toilets were breaking, she said they had worked before we got there, as though we’d broken everything in a few hours. The maid supposedly fixed a shower, but the problem kept coming back, and we had to share rooms. We weren’t told that landscapers would come through the back gates carrying machetes while my friends and I were alone in the pool. The maids came twice. At first we were told we weren’t staying long enough to need them, and the house stayed filthy the whole time apart from the areas we cleaned and sanitized ourselves. Phem also emailed during our vacation to ask whether a realtor could show the house while our belongings were there. She had something hateful to say about every issue and wasn’t helpful. There was no explanation of how things worked in the house. Every fixture was broken or close to it, most appliances didn’t work, and the place wasn’t clean. The decor was excessive, cluttered and tacky. There were too many keys to keep track of, and the safe used a key, so I wondered who else had access. The maid, gardener and pool guy all had keys, and it felt like everyone in Costa Rica did too.