Sandos Papagayo Beach Resort - All Inclusive

“Second time visit”

Written from a family of 4, returning for a second visit. First point I’d raise before entering into the review, reading through previous comments I’d recommend caution and the reliability of reviews from accounts with only a single review. Having visited the same date 2 years previously we were… more

Written from a family of 4, returning for a second visit. First point I’d raise before entering into the review, reading through previous comments I’d recommend caution and the reliability of reviews from accounts with only a single review. Having visited the same date 2 years previously we were excited to return (first review 5*). Arriving late we were allocated 2 separate rooms, 20 rooms apart, with 2 girls we were disappointed not to be neighbours or close. Raising this with reception we were moved for our 3rd night, why couldn’t this have been managed for our arrival? The hotel’s position is stunning, close to the impressive beach and along the board walk leading to the marina, take this away and I’m not sure if its charm would survive. Pool area is good but needs attention, we had a near miss with a collapsing sun shade, which narrowly missed our daughter, the weight was significant requiring 2 pool staff to remove it. The pool staff were quick to react but we received no communication from the management and needed to be chased. The staff were apologetic and offered a massage, which we declined, mainly due to the unfriendly lady who ran the spa. Using the showers before we departed for the airport, there was no hot water, asking her if she could help she looked up from her mobile phone and informed us that there was nothing she could do. The vast majority of all of the staff are great, service impressive, great entertainment but the drink options and quality are not great. Food and restaurant is also good, food tasty and always plentiful. Considering the other hotel options for the price scale of this hotel I would shop around but wouldn’t automatically choose to return, the location however is what would make us return. I would however like to see improvements in the furniture, standard of customer experience, not looking for a red carpet but other hotels where we have returned this has been noted and welcomed. The hotel does need a refresh to reflect the cost, both chartered tourist provider and their own papa gays member prices, 30% rise in 24 months.

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“needs attention”

we stayed Royal Elite, our room was basic but ok. holes in the bathrobes and few issues on arrival, safe didn't work or air con. I think the turnover of the hotel is having a negative impact on the standard of maintenance. The hotel is large and takes a while to navigate I think the RE rooms shou… more

we stayed Royal Elite, our room was basic but ok. holes in the bathrobes and few issues on arrival, safe didn't work or air con. I think the turnover of the hotel is having a negative impact on the standard of maintenance. The hotel is large and takes a while to navigate I think the RE rooms should be nearer their restaurant and bars as it was 600 steps from our room to breakfast and got a bit tiresome. RE bars all well stocked with decent alcohol and air con good, nice balcony. RE restaurant nice area good food and drinks. Main restaurant was very busy and warm with a separate Italian section and food was ok. The cutlery, glasses and crockery were often quite dirty. Entertainment was good I liked the option of 2 areas so I didn't have to watch magicians and stuck to singers Pool area was grubby as were the sunbeds I watched a man hose them down one night but it really needed more than water. Pool bar was not up to standard the soft drinks were flat and the cocktails awful the water from the machine tasted weird. I did expect after paying an upgrade we would be able to get premium wine and beer from other bars as well as the royal elite lounge but sadly not. This meant either try and drink the unpalatable wine or walk indoors up two floors to get a decent one and miss the singer. The Ala carte restaurants were buffet, bottles of wine served to you( but awful ) All the food was too salty although the Asian slightly better than Mexican. We had a late flight, no late check out available and you had to ring from 7am on your last day to book a slot half an hour in a courtesy room. The only time left was an hour before our pick up and the guest in front of us ran over so we ended up getting changed in the toilets not what you expect for the price of the holiday ! Location a small complex nearby with cafes and shops quite nice for lunch. Rubicon marina 25mins along prom in front of hotel. Playa Blanca a further 25 minutes walk. Its quite nice for a visit we got the hotel courtesy coach there and walked back with a couple of drink stops Overall its worth booking Royal Elite for decent drinks but this Hotel need money spending on it soon.

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“Clean and friendly”

The reception staff are really friendly and all speak English. The room is fine and the bathroom is quite dated. We had a room in H block over looking the mountains and over to the sea, the sun rise was spectacular. The pools and rooms were spotless. The tiles around the pool were very slippery whe… more

The reception staff are really friendly and all speak English. The room is fine and the bathroom is quite dated. We had a room in H block over looking the mountains and over to the sea, the sun rise was spectacular. The pools and rooms were spotless. The tiles around the pool were very slippery when wet. The hotel is enormous, in my opinion there was not enough pools for the number of rooms. The pool number 2 was heated, but not warm, the entrainment team were great fun, but we prefer a quieter holiday. There was lots of activities for children. We were all inclusive, the drinks were all sooooo sweet, even the Pepsi max was strong. The frozen cocktails were again very sweet. The queue for the bar was ok except on an evening. The food was an enormous buffet, it was ok, some meal choices were better than others. The paella dish, pizza and pasta chef were amazing. You won’t go hungry. I’m not sure I would return to this hotel as we prefer a quieter pool side, but we went with another family who had been before. Thank you for a lovely week.

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