Economy Shared Dormitory, Mixed Dorm | Exterior
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Reviews of Blue Iguana

2.5 out of 5
Blue Iguana
West side of the soccer field, Sámara, Guanacaste

Reviews

7.0

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 24 out of 78 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 20 out of 78 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 12 out of 78 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 10 out of 78 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 12 out of 78 reviews" "

7.4/10

Cleanliness

7.8/10

Staff & service

6.2/10

Amenities

6.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Rodney

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
As always, I had a great time there.
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Jeffrey

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Very small room with no a/c but it is inexpensive. It is hot in Samara. Friendly staff.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Emmanuel

Travelled with family, Travelled with family and small children, Business traveller, Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Grate location
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2023

2/10 Terrible

Juan Carlos

Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Brian

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Hosel
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Diane

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
The staff is wonderful but the condition and comfort for the guest is poor.
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

DECLAN

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The events at the bar area were great, live music and maple on another night!
Stayed 6 nights in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

Sylvain

Liked: Staff & service
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Juan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

4/10 Poor

Cynthia

Travelled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
No AC, Fans old AND dirty, drinks at bar pricey
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023

8/10 Good

Brian

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Perfecto
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2023

8/10 Good

Jason

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice Stay
Front desk was very helpful, letting us know the best spots to go for our needs
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2023

4/10 Poor

Cory

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Bathroom was tiny. Very tiny. No hot water which is to be expected here. Hotel was very loud with other guests and security was lacking. Good for a quick bed on your travels.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2023

10/10 Excellent

Radhi

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2022

10/10 Excellent

Hedvig

Liked: Staff & service
Overall daytime was great nighttime too loud at this hostel this site is not advertised as hostel if we had known would not have booked here rooms very small .
Stayed 7 nights in Mar 2022

2/10 Terrible

Alonso

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The hotel when arrived was closed. Not a soul. No place to sleep!!! Thanks.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2022

2/10 Terrible

Valentina

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Avoid
Do yourself a favour and avoid this place. Room is dark, dingy and ugly. Mattress is thin, TERRIBLE, springy thing and doesn’t even fit the bed properly. You can see the bed boards. For the price, not worth it. No blankets provided, just a sheet. No towels in room and no TV either (contrary to room details on Hotels.com). Cleanliness is poor, wall fan rusty. The night we spent here there was a MASSIVE party in the pool area, breaking every COVID rule in place. Looked more like a sleazy high-school prom after party. The teens then spent the next hour just walking up and down the corridor of rooms making all sorts of noise. Not the Sámara experience I was expecting.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2022

2/10 Terrible

Jessica

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021

6/10 Okay

Salman

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
You simply pay for what you get. Great location in town and close to basically everything. Rooms 77-81 are directly behind the bar so you'll be up late every night as there is something happening all the time. Plus side is the owner of the property is a great man, but his hotel or hustle is in really bad shape.
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2021

6/10 Okay

Jeff

This place is also known as "The Blue Iguana" and is a mix of hostel and hotel, my room was old, outdated Nice common areas by the pool and in the courtyard Close to the beach and restaurants
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2021

10/10 Excellent

Pierre

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice little hostel looking hotel, at the beach!
The hotel couldn’t see our reservation with Hotels.com but let us stay anyway. It is really close to the beach and the management seems quite relaxed! Good beach vibe. The rooms are away from the pool that has music etc which is enjoyable too. Actually the entire place looks way more like a hostel, but we liked it! Only issue is the breakfast, we waited for 45 min for a very simple 2 toasts-one fried egg, as there were many people and the kitchen had absolutely no system about how to manage that. Writing nothing down, they forgot orders.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Close to the beach
There is a night club on the property, making it a lot of fun. You can sit by the pool and get drinks from the bar. It was too bad the guests from the bar left trash everywhere around the hotel grounds. The center courtyard has nice tables and is wonderful spot to sit and hang out. The pool did not look especially inviting, it needs some extra filtration and circulation. The pool area is ok, nice with the bar there. The breakfast didnt look great and there was no milk for the coffee, I didnt eat it. There was a sitting area with couches, but it had bird droppings all over it. A little more care is needed in cleaning, sweeping and dusting. It was very close to the beach and the town center. It had a huge fan in the room, keeping it nice and cool. The staff was amazing and kept a close eye on the car. It is a good hostel feel and very low maintenance. Definitely worth the stay if you get the room for a good price. The staff work hard to make sure you are comfortable.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2021
Response from Dan on 13 Aug 2021
Thank you for your comments. We will continue to improve on the things that make you comfortable. Hope to see you again soon!!

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Cute space, but there was no cooling off the room, and the little pool closed early and wasn't open at all the next morning. Very limited breakfast options, and nothing really if you're vegan.
Stayed 1 night in May 2021
Response from Dan on 13 Aug 2021
Thanks for your response. We will continue to improve on the things that make your stay special.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Easy booking, no frills. You pay for what you get, but there are no problems (cockroaches, etc).
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020

2/10 Terrible

inga

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
This should be listed as a hostel. It is not a hotel. Its a closet with no AC (even tho the hotel is listed as having AC) and a very small bathroom. When we asked for our money back them showed us two rooms that did have AC even after they told us the only room with AC was booked. It had bricks with holes in it (without screens) and an AC but was just as bad as the first room. For the price of $80US it was way over priced. Should only be charging $30night.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Liudmila

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Adventure stay on Samara beach
We went with friends there with Hotel.com reservation. But the reservation did not go right and Dan (the owner) has helped us to find the place at his hotel.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Jennifer

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Helpful and friendly staff,great location. Great breakfast.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2019
Response from We appreciate it on 6 Sep 2019
Thanks Jennifer

8/10 Good

Ashley

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019
Response from Dan on 10 Jun 2019
Thanks Ashley! We'll continue to improve your experience with us. See you soon!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Had an awesome experience at Hotel Playa Samara! The location is ideal for vacationing, the staff were wonderful and accommodating, and the free breakfast was delicious. Glad we chose to stay here
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2018
Response from Dan, Owner on 16 Aug 2018
Thank you for your kind words. We are making changes that will make it an even better experience!

10/10 Excellent

Laureen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Basic and rustic but true Costa Rican experience
We really enjoyed our stay. We gathered in the courtyard for the breakfast that was included every morning and interacted with other visitors from around the world. Dan, the owner, was very personable as was his staff. Dan is also making improvements all the time. Great pool and wifi. Good family accommodation.
Stayed 12 nights in Jan 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Hotel Playa Samara
We enjoyed our stay. The breakfast included in the room was quite nice. Dan and his staff were very nice. The pool, while a bit small, was great, kids had a lot of fun in it.
Stayed 5 nights in Jan 2018

4/10 Poor

brian, boulder, colorado

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Great for someone that is deaf and has no nose!!!!
The hotel is cute, although the whole place smelled like an ashtray. The music at the sushi place that is part of the hotel was playing was hipty hop music that rattled the doors till way late, this is not a family oriented place. The windows don't close in the rooms so you are forced to smell smoke all day and nite. The pool area is hot and stuffy as it is all closed in by high walls with no breezes. They have signs stating to only smoke in front of the hotel but nobody adhears to this "rule" even the employees. Do not go to flying taco as they will put things on your bill that you did not order. Also when I checked in the person at the front desk confirmed that I had already paid on Expedia yet two days after checking out I got an email stating I had not paid for the hotel yet. I would pass right past samara if you have the chance it is a hot dusty town with scammers everywhere not like I've seen anywhere on my travels I've been to over 37 countries

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice hotel. Friendly staff.
Nice spot close to the beach. I would return. Friendly staff. Even with no A/C the fan above the beds kept us comfortable.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Excellent location, terrible wifi
Wifi is not available in rooms, you must stand outside in certain locations to try and get a signal. Mattresses on full size bed was awful, twin beds were great.

10/10 Excellent

Luisa, New York

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Vacation
We had a great time, they made us feel at home. One night they had a bbq night for the guests. They made a delicious bbq chicken and an amazing rice. That night was great. I definetly have to go back.

2/10 Terrible

Julius, Costa Rica

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The Worst!!!
It was the worst! Our 1st clue should have been the metal sliding latch on the room door - like what is used on barns and sheds - complete with padlock. "Back away slowly". The room was old, worn, and dirty. The floor tile was chipped. The two beds, one double, one single, had only a sheet and the matrasses were thin and old. The bathroom was tiny and fixtures were very old; the sink enamel was worn off in many places. The shower had no drain but a makeshift half moon scraped out at the bottom of the wall in the corner for the water to run out. It came complete with a used shower soap, which I gingerly picked up with the paper wrapper left on the sink, and discarded!! No other soap to be found. Although a non-smoking room, there was the smell of smoke in the bathroom and bed. No air-conditioning, but a very noisy fan above one of the beds. This should not be listed among "hotel rooms" where one pays and expects to be able to relax in a clean, well appointed room. At the very most, this could be where a guy just wants to crash overnight, for a nominal fee. This hotel is totally disgusting!!!
Response from General Manager on 23 Sep 2016
Hi Thank you for your comment that helps us improve to provide better service to our future customers. Hotel Playa Samara was one of the first built in samara with small bathrooms and showers for that age. Our working group makes an effort to keep them clean, the rooms have new beds, mattresses, new tile, new sheet, new fan. We try to adapt to the budgets of all tourist. Thanks for your review. Manager.

10/10 Excellent

Denis

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Endroit chaleureux le personnel est super gentil
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Sandra

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

sandrine

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Accueil parfait chambre correcte ,decoration sympa.eau à dispo à notre arrivée
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Juan Carlos

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Breiner

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

6/10 Okay

rodrigo

Travelled with family, Business traveller
Liked: Staff & service
Almohadas de muy muy baja calidad , puerta del baño no cierra bien.

2/10 Terrible

Esteban

Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Decepcionante e indignante.
Decepcionante. La.habitacion parecia de cuarteria. El agua no llegaba para bañarse uno. Demasiado ruido se escuchaba todo. Desaseada mal aspecto. Un ventilador de techo.que no hacia ni tan siquiera viento. Publicidad ebgañosa. No hicieron por donde mejorarme las co diciones. Simplemente expresaron en la recepcion que es lo que habia. No reitegraron el dinero cuidado... es una estafa ese.lugar.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023

4/10 Poor

Natalia

Travelled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nada Fatal lugar
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023

2/10 Terrible

Fabio

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
La struttura fuori sembra carina ma le camere non sono camere ma celle di un carcere anguste sporche decadenti indecenti orribili, mi è sembrato di stare in un carcere dell’America Latina, per 45 dollari neanche gli asciugamani l’unica cosa che mi è piaciuta è andarmene il giorno dopo !
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2023

6/10 Okay

Laurence

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
pas assez à manger au petit déjeuner très bruyant car tout est ouvert personnel sur place sympathique

4/10 Poor

Alonso

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
No corresponde las fotos con el lugar. Un poco sucio y tremendamente ruidoso e incomodo
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2022

10/10 Excellent

Priscilla

8/10 Good

Alvaro

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Muy bien, agradezco la atención.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2022

8/10 Good

Mario

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
cerca de la playa, no me gusta el parqueo fuera de la propiedad
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2022