Hotel De Montana Monteverde

By all means, avoid this hotel!

We stayed there 2 nights about a month ago (May 2011). The building was nice, the location good, and we got a very good and spacious room. And now comes the sad part. Upon my arrival, I asked the front desk guy his recommendation for a tour to Monteverde Cloud Forest, and I was warmly recommended one. During the tour, it turned out that it was in a totally different forest which was not interesting, with a young and very inexperienced guide, and that we saw practically no animals no birds. As I felt cheated badly, upon my return to the hotel, I asked the front desk guy why he did this to me, and then he said that this was a misunderstanding, and that he explained me clearly that this is not Monteverde Cloud Forest. So I showed him the list of tours that he gave me, carrying the hotel logo, and listing this tour in the Monteverde Cloud Forest chapter, but then he said that I am bothering him and wasting his time.

Unique Quality: Before travelling to Costa Rica, I was told that one can count on the advice of the local hotels front desk - this hotel taught me that you better don’t. After my experience with Hotel De Montana Monteverde, I stopped asking the hotels for recommendation, and instead used recommendations form travel guides and from Internet – these worked much better.