So close and yet so far - We just got back from a 6 night stay in Costa Rica and while we had a great time I want to highlight a collection of misses that should be easy enough for them to address if motivated.
Jump ahead:
Pre-Arrival Communication Arrival and Getting Settled
Getting There
First, the things that the hotel has no control over, transportation to the resort. We booked using an Aeroplan companion pass into economy latitude and instantly e-upgraded to business for myself and my son.
This simultaneously got me to Aeroplan 50K status and on track to hit 75K status before year-end and got my son's ticket for dirt cheap. For my wife, we did a split booking so I was unable to eupgrade her and the Aeroplan point redemption for business was only around 1.5 cpp. Fortunately the cash price for the ticket was optimal for the Amex flight chart and by good fortune the Amex International Airline Program discount actually bumped the perceived value higher still. Not amazing value but around 2cpp, and since I can easily get more points for 1.4c each from my corporation using Chexy this was an acceptable deal and it got us all in business. Is business necessary for a ~5hr flight? No, but the extra space was really nice.
Since I had booked far in advance AC had time to make multiple schedule changes - some good (moving our departure from 830am to 1030) and some bad (cancelling our Sunday morning return leaving us either Sunday late or Saturday late return). Fortunately the eupgrades remained valid. We had booked the airport Marriott on the day before our departure based on the early flight but kept the booking anyways. We added a 17k point airport Courtyard stay for our return when it became clear wed be arriving late.
While not a full review, I would say the Toronto Airport Marriott was really quite nice. We were Platinum status at the time and were upgraded to a large suite. The lounge had a spread of hot appetizers and you could pay to order from their dinner menu if you wanted. The breakfast selection was also a step above with the option to request made to order eggs, and lots of very fresh fruit and berries (better than many North American airport lounges).
The flight there was smooth and Max did amazing as always. Service was a bit awkward and missed a few steps (no hot towel, bread wasn't warmed etc, minor things), but it was pleasant. We cleared customs easily, changed into lighter clothing because holy moly it was hot, and got our shuttle to the airport. The shuttle was booked through Viator on the US Rakuten portal with a US Amex Green. This was about 1/2 the cost of booking through the hotel and earned me over 3k US Amex MR. The ride was a bit long given the flight beforehand, ~1.25hrs, but the scenery was beautiful.
Pre Arrival Communication
Hotel staff were very accommodating of our flight schedule changes, shortening our booking a day and reducing the cost accordingly. A week or so before arriving I had noted that we were booked into a two double bed junior suite (unclear if it was my error or the result of when they shortened the booking). A quick email to the hotel sorted it out and we were moved into a king. They also directed me to their tour provider who made appropriate recommendations based on Max's age for a catamaran cruise and an animal sanctuary visit which we appreciated.
Arrival and Getting Settled
We were greated by a stunning view of lush vegetation and an open lobby with a botanical focused bar and tapas restaurant. After taking our bags they informed us that we could check in at the Family Club lounge given our class of booking. They directed us to the first of what would be many electric golf cart style shuttles, which paused to let us take in the view. On our way to the lounge our driver stopped to let us see monkeys climbing in the trees and beautiful birds which they called Blue Jays (not the ones Im used to!).
The lounge felt like a refrigerator compared to the outdoors which was at this time a pleasant change. Many full size bottles of liquor were present along with beer, some juices, Pepsi, and a coffee machine that could make espresso drinks. Very limited pastries (think donut or croissant) and a couple of toys to play with. It was quiet and they gave Max a colouring book and pencil crayons to entertain him while we checked in. They gave us RFID wrist bands that worked as our key cards and were colour coded to let staff know our class of booking.
A quick review of the resort layout showed a few distinct zones, the "Westin Family Club", "Westin Club" and the general area. The Westin Club included an adults only pool and restaurant Faisanella which was adults only during breakfast and lunch. Our room in bungalow 2 was tucked in a quiet area beyond the main pool. The room AC was again super chilly and it was stocked with some cute family specific items like children's toiletries and a robe for Max. There were regularly restocked snacks, both sweet and salty and a mini fridge of drinks.
But already there were a few "misses" that if rectified could really enhance the stay for future guests:
Beyond Max's robe there was only a single robe - a second adult robe would have allowed for a fun family robe dance party!
The snacks were great, but there was nothing that stood out for our initial arrival despite being Platinum Elite and celebrating our wedding anniversary - maybe some fresh fruit? Some bubbly?
Perhaps most bothersome was how they handled one unexpected room inclusion - some bugs, our first exposure to hit or miss service...
Service
Being in a jungle like environment we werent surprised to find various insects, but were a little unsettled by the 4 black larvae we found squirming on our bathroom floor. No problem a quick call to our dedicated family concierge aught to do the trick - oh shoot, they've already closed for the night. Thats fine, we dial 0 and we get told someone will be by tomorrow at 10 am next day to sort it out.
If they did come it wasn't obvious because we found 2 more, and 2 more... So we mentioned it to one of the family concierges... and another... Every time we were told someone would sort it out, but nothing seemed to be done about it. In the end it wasn't a big deal but it does represent a bit of a pattern of the concierges saying they would address something but then not. Another example of this would be when we noted some challenges getting reservations at one of the restaurants through the app - one of the family concierges said they would sort it out, but didn't hear back. Reservations are made through the resort specific Marriott Experience app and can only be made day of, but rapidly book up. Thankfully as platinum elites with Marriott they ultimately agreed to make us advanced reservations through the Marriott app (not the resort specific app). Fortunately the food was one of several highlights
Food
While we were there we tried out Spirula (Italian), Bamboo (Asian), Manglar (Seafood), Faisenella (Meditteranea), Caricola (Beachside lunch), Cauri (Tapas) and Mitra Market (buffet). I'd note that confusingly Caricola is also referred to as La Sabana for supper time as Costa Rican cuisine (we did not try this option during our stay).
Overall we found both selection and quality of food to be quite good, this is a major priority for us when selecting a resort so we were pleased at the outcome. As a tip I would suggest asking for avocado with your egg's benedict at the breakfast buffet - it isn't a visible option but they seemed happy to oblige.
Our biggest complaints:
lack of a clear grab and go option - many other resorts have a cafe with wide hours for fruit, pastries, ice cream and other snacks. The buffet would offer to-go containers on request and there were poolside bar food options, but this was a notable miss even if they just offered the same breakfast pastries and fruit but throughout the day and more accessibly
lack of an alternative breakfast option - buffet and room service were the only options for breakfast outside of the adult only section of the resort
Additional tweaks I would suggest to enhance the family friendliness: decrease some of the serving sizes (to allow for more sampling of appetizers with less waste) and slightly upstaff to further reduce service times.
Drink
If the food was good then the drinks were phenomenal. Not only were the classics made well, but each restaurant had its own list of specialty drinks that were unique and delicious. There was typically 8 specialty options and I almost wish I drank more so I could try more of them. Better still there were many specialty mocktails and fresh juices, including a wonderful hibiscus, rosemary syrup and pineapple juice that I couldnt help but get seconds of that was setup near the line to be seated at Carocola.
While cocktails, mocktails, and juices were an absolute highlight, I must point out the next miss - coffee. While the restaurants and bars would happily make a coffee drink, and the room contained a nespresso style coffee maker, the only dedicated coffee shop was not all inclusive. Perhaps this miss is best combined with the lack of a grab and go option, but if they could include the coffee from "Coffee Lounge" and stock it with pastries/fruit from the buffet it would significantly improve the experience. Instead, the salience of the price, and having to go through the steps of charging it to your room (or carrying your wallet) broke the immersion.
Beach and Pool
Food and drink are certainly a critical part of a resort experience, but a Sun destination trip simply cannot exist without time in/by the water.
Playa Conchal is a stunning public beach that is trivial to access from the resort, but relatively difficult to access otherwise; consequently there was always plenty of space. Technically off-resort so you can't expect much official service here, but was a short walk from Carocola and one of the pool bars so you could easily self serve. There were also plenty of locals were there selling drinks, massages and souveniers that managed to strike a good balance between being available but not overbearing. A 60 minute beach massage could be had for $50USD.
The sand was slightly coarse but still soft to walk on, had plenty of seashells and no sargassam. The waves were generally calm but at times but a small child would still of course need close supervision.
The pool is of course equally important, particularly for those who avoid the sand or have kids you want to let loose in a semi controlled environment. Staying in the Westin Family Club granted access to an exclusive part of the pool with dedicated chairs and cabanas (no charge). We found there to always be plenty of space and the staff happily brought branded seat covers, towels, drinks, and food.
The ambiance was lush and tropical, although depending on your seating this could impact visibility of the pool.
The heavy vegetation also meant the occassional visitor, we saw a monkey, iguana, and coati while at the pool.
Music was primarily focused on the general section of the pool so we found our side to be relatively peaceful, except for Max's squeals of joy.
Kids and Entertainment
With a family specific booking class you'd reasonably expect quite a bit of kid focused facilities and entertainment. In the same building as the family lounge you'll find the kids club which offers various activities and childcare services throughout the day and has a very small outdoor playground. While we knew at the time of booking that the resort has a relatively high minimum age for childcare (4yo) we were disappointed when they informed us we couldn't supervise him ourselves in the kids club. This practice seems to vary by resort we go to, but the best they could offer was for us to take some of the toys to the adjacent family lounge for Max to play with. That meant that if you have a child under 4 (or simply don't want to leave them unattended) in need of some indoor playtime, the options are pretty limited.
Mealtimes demonstrated good attention to children with crayons and colouring pages, kids menus (although Max preferred the mussels from my bouillabaisse), and plenty of booster/highchairs to go around. The Mitra Market buffet had a dedicated air conditioned room for Westin Family guests should you want it, and the poolside team could get you all sorts of kid favourite, although not so healthy, options like pizza, burgers, mozza sticks etc.
Daytime entertainment was a bit of a mixed bag of the usual resort options like aquarobics, bike tours, hikes on the resorts beautiful and expansive property, scavenger hunts, crafts, and games. A miss here is that they weren't well advertised to those not in the Kids Club or on the general side of the pool so it was quite easy to be unaware of the programming from the family side. Night time entertainment was also much smaller scale than other resorts - no big/flashy productions, think movie nights and live music.
Perhaps the most humorous of this was an event targeted to Platinum Elite and higher. We received an email and paper invitation to a Flamenco Dance and Music event with cocktails by the sports bar. We were about 10-15 minutes late so it took us a moment to find a seat - only to see the dancers walking off because their performance was already done. A musician continued to play but the main draw was already over. There was also no one checking to make sure you had status or offering any drinks/food. The bar was also located directly adjacent to the performers and in front of the crowd so it didn't feel inviting to get anything during the performance. I would suggest having staff with drinks or small bites confirming you were invited, to allow for a sense of exclusivity (even if those same drinks and food are available elsewhere), and to have the headlining performance last longer than 10-15 minutes.
Excursions
Costa Rica is certainly more beautiful than many of the closer Sun destinations, but perhaps its biggest draw is the more "adventure" tilt similar to Hawaii or Madeira. Volcanoes, cloud forests, jungles, diverse wildlife, waterfalls, coffee plantations, atvs, horseback rides, and more await you - but many have minimum ages that should be considered before planning. Beyond tha age limit, also consider that some require multiple hours of driving on roads that at times can be a little bit... "bumpy". Given that Max was not yet 3, our options were quite limited with the hotel tour company suggesting the sunset catamaran tour and an excursion to the Diamante Eco Reserve.
Valentina gets seasick so she was a bit nervous about the catamaran tour but she agreed and wow was it a highlight! So many attentive crewmembers made sure we all felt comfortable they equipped Max with a lifejacket and let us sit beside the captain up top until we settled in. I grew up sailing so I was excited to teach Max the different parts of the boat, and to get him onto the netting between the two hauls and he loved it! Great cocktails and mocktails and fruit skewers went around as we sailed along the coast and past beautiful islands. We stopped at a tiny secluded cove/beach and people jumped in to swim. paddleboard, and snorkel. It was a blast, then we came back aboard for a nice meal and returned to port just in time for a gorgeous sunset.
Our second excursion to the animal reserve involved a longer drive (around an hour) that included some washed out sections and a small river crossing. Unfortunately we were in the back of the van and Valentina was a bit late taking her Gravol - suggest the motion sensitive be proactive on these roads! While there we saw sloths, marmosets, howler monkeys, silver foxes, pumas, jaguars, margays, ocelots and a collection of birds including toucans. There was also a playground that was almost like a low ropes course and plenty of activities for older kids/adults (zip lines most notably).
Summary
All in all it was an excellent trip, and whether or not it was just because of the cold, it wasn't long after we returned that Max was asking to go back. From a travel rewards perspective it was a great opportunity to use a companion pass, hit a sign up bonus on a US bonvoy card, and accelerate our Aeroplan status, all while keeping costs affordable. The weather was amazing, the setting was gorgeous, the food was good, the drinks were amazing, and the experience was positive. My criticisms may seem petty but this highlights how easy it would be for them to elevate the experience to the next level. If you're looking for more adventures I'd either wait until kids are over 4 years old, or bring extended family to watch the kids while you head out. Would I go back? Probably not until Max is old enough to take advantage of more of the excursions.
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Disclaimer
This should not be taken as financial advice and details are subject to change. I have made good intentioned efforts to be accurate but ultimately consult card terms and conditions. We may receive compensation for products discussed in this review but did not receive any compensation from any hotel or airlines.
