Stayed 5 nights in June 2024, 199k point redemption for a junior suite king size ocean view with whirlpool
Lifetime Titanium
A nice visit! Thanks to all who posted previous reviews - your intel was spot-on, and made for a more enjoyable trip. Most of the below is a reiteration of comments already made.
We rented a car from National in Liberia for a good rate, a free upgrade, and a discount from status. They removed the non-required insurance with no problem. $274 for a Hyundai Santa Fe 4x4.
Drive was mildly harrowing when some heavy rain hit, but no big deal. No rivers needed crossing (as mentioned above). Did pick up a flat tire that we noticed the following day, but the hotel took care of it for $15. We stopped at a supermarket en route to stock up on alcohol.
The concierge was helpful and courteous before arrival, but there was some confusion about our dinner reservation for our first night (easily rescheduled), and we were regularly thwarted from doing activities at the hotel by not better planning ahead.
besides free breakfast, we also had some dessert waiting in our room at arrival, and a welcome note on our mirror (that wasn’t removed until I ineffectively scrubbed at it for a while, which I thought was funny). Occasionally had nighttime treats dropped off.
recommended activities:
- macaw rescue
- hotel farm tour (lots of interesting things being grown),
- mixology class (in general, I enjoyed the cocktails - although there lots of variance each time. I made the “bamboo” cocktail for friends upon returning home, and people enjoyed it) ,
- zip lining (I was expecting this to be not great, and it was fine!)
- turtle expedition (the hotel didn’t explain this very well: you get a ride to a beach at night, and you may need to hang out for a long time before a turtle does or doesn’t appear… if the turtle does appear, she’ll take an hour from that point to complete her journey. The crew sets up red lights so you can watch without disturbing her. Pretty neat.)
- spa on the beach not associated with the hotel (we did a couples massage package that included a facial and a chocolate body scrub and thought it was excellent. Although I was annoyed at the steep 10% surcharge for not paying in cash, which wasn’t mentioned until after. Even then, it felt like a good deal.)
we also drove to Samara to kayak to Chora Island and snorkel for a while. Nice change of pace. Snorkeling wasn’t particularly good, but they’re working on a reef project that could make it nice in a few years.
food:
- enjoyed the included breakfast every morning.
- lunch and dinners on site were fine. Several other guests were raving about the food, but… I thought it was middle-of-the-road. Vegetarian options were not great.
- strongly recommend going to Don Ramiro (right outside the hotel)
- Kimbute staff was very nice. Food was fine.
room:
dated but fine. Took a while to mess around with fans, AC, etc, but once we did that it worked really well given the heat. Having a large group of howler monkeys visit the nearby parking area, and a large group of macaws stop in the trees above us was magical.
beach:
I really enjoyed the warm water and gentle waves, with the dramatic mountains rising up around you. I went early one morning and had the entire beach to myself, which was a magical experience.
random note: service for everything was characteristically friendly and very slow.
Bottom line:
for the money/points, we thought this was a great stay. A beautiful and unique property with a nice blend of activities and calmly beautiful places to read and relax. Food and efficiency could be better.