El Mangroove, Autograph Collection

Fabulous !! Beautiful hotel. Staff very accommodating! All as described plus there are lounges on the beach.

Amazing hotel! This was our first hotel on our first visit to Costa Rica, and it was absolutely fantastic. All of the employees were very nice and accommodating, the facilities were very clean and felt safe, the food was bomb, and the hotel itself was absolutely beautiful. On top of this, it’s only a 35 minute drive from Liberia which was so nice as we arrived at 6am in the morning. We did three excursions and used nomadtourscr, we had read all the reviews that suggested using him.Gabriel was very friendly and the excursions we booked La leona wáterfall hike, buena vista adventure and jet ski tour with him came with transportation. Every excursion we did was amazing!!

Staff is very friendily. Drinks and food is very expensive . The drinks were very watered down for $15+ per cocktail. The beach has black sand so looks dirty and muddy. Resort itself is small so that was nice as when we went there were a very few people staying there. All restaurants are open so no where to escape the heat when dining.

I would just simply say the best service I've experienced!! If you go to El mangrove make sure you ask for Tracey to be your server she is the most wonderful person with the best personality and is such a great credit to this resort!!!! Make sure if you're lucky enough to get her service to Tip her well it's well earned. Thanks so much for a wonderful experience.

This was my second stay at El Mangroove, and I found it a bit disappointing on both occasions. For the price of this hotel, I would expect the beach that it fronts to be nicer, but the beach is very "meh" (not the kind of beach with soft sand that one would want to relax on, and there are sand fleas). When I was here in 2018 there were many dead fish along the beach, also. The pools are nice, though enforcement of keeping kids and teens out of the "adults only" pool was very lax, which made the experience less serene. The food is OK but nothing thrilling, and the dining areas are mostly open air with quite a lot of biting insects. The renovated rooms are nice and spacious, but laid out in an odd way, with hammocks indoors in some rooms in an odd location, no line or place to hang wet swimsuits to dry, and other odd design choices. The gym is tiny and in an outbuilding that is very poorly air conditioned so it is quite hot.

Let me say up front, El Mangroove is a lovely property staffed by amazing people. This post is not intended as a negative on the resort. This is an attempt to provide others information regarding the Presidential Suite itself that we wish we had prior to booking but could not find. We came across El Mangroove, saw the Presidential Suite was available during our trip, researched the heck out of the room, found absolutely no reviews but what sold us was the hotel website’s description (in part): “Majestically set beachfront, an amazing secluded sanctuary awaits you!” That’s a persuasive line. Certainly it hooked us and it’s categorically untrue. Here’s what we wish we knew: The Suite (#100) is on the first floor, room #120 is directly above it with a balcony that overlooks half of the deck. The folks in the room above can hear you, they can see you, and you them. We learned this firsthand by witnessing a “relationship” argument coming from room 120 immediately upon us checking into the room. Additionally, every step taken by the occupants of room 120 can be heard. Should they wake up at 4:30 am or go to bed at 1am, trust me you’ll know. The same can be said for the optional adjoining room that is sold as a regular hotel room when not booked by guests in the Presidential Suite (see picture that shows door by the dining room table.) We overheard many of their conversations through the doors, we presume they heard ours as well. We found ourselves whispering so as not to bother them. We mentioned the room noise to the front desk the first night. The suggestion was we use ear plugs and they were very dismissive. We were left with the impression it’s a frequent complaint in general. The beach itself is public; there are 2 masseuses who set-up shop each day just over the hotel property line. So do a couple gentlemen who seem to be involved in excursion/jet-ski, etc. rentals, and the horses are parked in front of the suite if someone books a ride. When nature calls these people utilize the hotel shrubbery just off the corner of the room. In terms of room cleanliness, the deck is overrun by tiny ants. I realize this is Costa Rica, I realize it’s a jungle; they do not exist anywhere else on property (we looked). Sitting on the room’s chaise lounges is impossible without constantly slapping off the wildlife. My husband also made the mistake of pulling out the side table on a chaise lounge, he disturbed a different (larger) nest of ants. The hammock that is prominently shown in many of the pictures of the suite is totally unusable and is overrun by ants, spiders and other insects. It wasn’t cleaned once when we were there and looks like it hasn’t been touched in months. That being said, it would be uncomfortable to use it with public beach vendors just feet away. Possibly much of this is due to the room not being occupied very often but it did negatively impact our stay-to the point that we began looking into alternative hotels/earlier flights. I co

This hotel was outstanding from beginning to end. There’s separate adult and family pool areas, if you’re looking to relax or perhaps splash around with the kids. We had two adjoining rooms, one for my wife and I and one for our three kids. This worked out great as our room key card stopped working the last two days, so we were able to use our kids key card. The beach area is nice, and the view is beautiful, especially at sunset. We did two excursions, snorkeling, and surfing (for beginners). Both were quite fun. If you have time, take a car into Del Coco Beach for shopping a restaurants. The staff was exceptional throughout our stay. Also, be sure and enjoy the breakfast, one of the best I’ve had at a hotel.

El Mangroove is a nice resort! I visited with my two kids, 14 and 12, for two days. Pros: Free snorkel and bike rental. Food is decent not overpriced. Breakfast was the best meal for us. Room service offers the best value for food, especially the kids menu. The swimming area at the beach is very nice with calm water and a sandy bottom. Staff is very helpful. Sunsets are amazing. Rooms are nice! Cons: Pools are very shallow and kept too warm. The food, while not expensive, is just ok. Breakfast and room service are a great value, but the restaurant food for lunch and dinner is mediocre. Color: We had a good experience overall. We had a one bedroom king suite jungle view room, upgraded from a two queen room. Rollaway bed was provided for free and was comfortable. Climate control in the room was great. Double rainfall shower room was awesome. Bed was comfortable. We ate three meals on property, one at matiss, one at mall, and one room service. The room service food was better than the food at the restaurants, and more reasonably priced. The breakfast buffet was great (they also had a la carte items which we did not get), with a lot of options, an egg station and good coffee. We rode bikes on the beach to the restaurant hacienda blu which had VERY good food at prices comparable to El Mangroove. If you do this, order the whole fish. The ride was about 15 minutes. Note that you can only do this ride on the beach at lower tide times, and when the tide is low, you will need to use the road. We went snorkeling near the rocks that are about a 10 minute walk along the beach to the right as you face the water. We saw octopus, sea urchins, puffer fish, and several other smaller fish. We saw a good amount of wildlife on the property. Lots of birds, butterflies, iguanas, crabs, lizards, and amazing leaf cutter ants! There were a few minor issues with our stay - our room phone stopped working while I was placing a room service order, so I had to walk to the concierge to order room service, and then it took over an hour to come when we were promised half an hour, and finally the burger customizations for my son's burger were not done, so he could not eat the burger, but the room service food was the best of the non breakfast meals. The sunset on our second night was spectacular. I would stay at this resort again for 2-3 days if I came back, leaning heavily on room service and off property restaurants for food. The free activities, swimming area at the beach, nice rooms, good service, and incredible sunset make it a keeper.