We stayed at the Tamarindo Diria over Easter weekend. The shuttle from the Liberia Airport was waiting for us as they promised. The driver was very friendly and informative.

When we got to the hotel, they did not have the Tropical Poolside room we reserved available for the first night only. They were very apologetic about it, and gave our family of 4 a free dinner at their restaurant (about a $120.00 value) for the inconvienance. The regular
room was very nice and comfortable, and the tropical poolside room was even larger (it was across the street from the main hotel, but was next to the large pool). Both rooms were very clean and nicely decorated in a tropical style. We were awakened one morning by monkeys in the tree outside the poolside room. We got an up close and personal look at them (some only 3-4 feet away).

The only problem we had with the rooms was getting towels for 4 people everyday, and it was easier to get them from the cleaning lady than to call the front desk. Speaking of the front desk, they were very nice in person, but never sent towels or ice when we called for them. They were also short or out of pool/beach towels whenever we asked (except one morning when I got there at about 7:00am). The front desk did convert dollars to colones for you which was very helpful and we did not find this at other hotels on our trip.

The hotel grounds were gorgeous and very clean. The beach area is very nice, but you can't take chairs to the beach. There are some rocks in the area but not too bad. The surf is very good. The depth of the water slowly increases as you get out farther instead of just dropping off which is nice also.

The breakfast is great! Many choices and all good. The fancy restaurant at night is very delicious, but the service leaves a lot to be desired! They missed my wife's salad, were very very slow, and basically ignored you after delivering your main course. Forget refills! It wasn't because they were overly busy either. We ate at the Witch's Rock (absolutely fabulous nachos and mexican pizza!!!!), which was our favorite, and Copacabana, which was really good food and great service. Both are on the beach just short walks away. The bar staff and the "guards" are all very helpful and friendly. They get your first name and remember it from night to night. I lost my glasses at the large pool and the bar staff took time to search for them and found them laying in the water next to the wall. They then found me to return them.

We walked all over the area and the other hotels did not appear to be as well maintained nor as centrally located. We would definately stay here again!

Do not be deceived by the travel website's star ratings, this is not a 4 star hotel. Maybe for the area it is a 4 star, but by American standards, it is, at best a 2 star. Our room was on the ocean side, with ocean view, in the oldest part of the hotel. This hotel is the oldest in Tamarindo. Unlike other postings, outside of our room was fairly quite, we could still hear the noise from the bar and restaurant, but not at a disruptive level. However, inside the room, we could hear the guests in the rooms next to ours. Not just one room next to ours, but every room next to ours we could hear (conversations, bathrooms, night-time activity). Our king bed was very hard and uncomfortable. The lighting and electrical switches take some time to figure out; there are a dozen different switches in the room, but no central lighting. Had to keep one hand on the shower temperature at all times, as the temperature was never the same for more than 30 seconds. The breakfast selection was good, but service was horrible. Each morning we had to ask repeatedly for coffee and water. And the same in trying to obtain refills. There is a noticeable difference of service (higher) given to Spanish speakers than English speakers. We heard complaints about the construction noise from people staying in the newer parts of the hotel across the street. Would not recommend staying at this hotel. It is not worth the price.

We stayed 2 nights at the Diria. We had a tropical poolside room, which the hotel failed to mention was across the street from the beach, restaurant, and most of the resort. The room was in the building to the left of the second, larger pool. Stay out of it if possible, it was clearly an older part of the resort, and not very nice. The bellboy insisted on carrying the room key with him, then walked out with it still in his pocket, so we had to call the front desk (down the street) for a new key, and wait for the bellboy to come back. It was a ground level room, and the slider door was broken, and had to be fixed before we could leave the room. The TV was old and didn't work great either. On the second night our AC stopped working. We would have made do with the ceiling fan, but that didn't work either! After more than an hour of screwing around with maintenance staff in our room (I think they made 3 trips in the first 2 days), we finally demanded a new room at midnite, and had to move all our stuff to a different building. On the bright side, the second room was much better than the first one. This building was clearly newer. The breakfasts were good, too. The second, larger pool (the one across the street) is really nice, although the same drink at the swim-up bar seemed to rise in price each day. They also seemed to be gunnin' for the spring break crowd (unsuccessfully) with the raunchy hip hop that they kept blasting from the bar.

There was also a ton of construction going on, so come prepared for the sounds of jackhammers and bulldozers in your tropical paradise. At one point they even called our room to tell us we needed to move our car for the construction workers.

All in all, it was okay. If I were paying $80 a night, I probably wouldn't complain. But when you plunk down $180 (with taxes), you expect a different level of resort. Basically, this was Best Western quality for a Hyatt price...

Booked through Beachdestinations which had the best rate way in advance. Make sure to have a shuttle pick you up at the airport. When we checked in our room wasn't ready, reasonable, but when we did get to our room, 301, the AC barely worked, water pressure was a trickle, and the sliding door glass was coming out of the frame. The view was a filtered view of the ocean, not bad. Not until the evening did we realize the band starts playing from 9 -10 right below the room. We originally booked a King but ended up with 2 doubles which was not changeable as they were sold out that day. But later we were able to change to a King on the first floor (127) farther from the activity and the AC worked fantastically and plenty of water pressure.
If you are going to stay here try to either get a newer room across the street or stay in the building North of the reception... both those buildings are newer.