The Grateful Hotel

Travelers beware! Don’t be fooled by the location! We were looking for a last minute stay near downtown Tamarindo. This hotel on Expedia is located .89 miles from Tamarindo Beach. HOWEVER, it is NOT even close. After we booked and plugged in the hotel into Waze, it was a 40 minute drive because there is a body of water separating the hotel from Tamarindo. Unless you plan to swim to downtown, it is misleading!!!!!! We were really looking forward to staying at this property, I’m sure it’s lovely but after driving for hours from the San Jose area at night there was no way we were driving another 40 unanticipated minutes. I cancelled FIVE mi after reserving and Expedia said they “tried” to contact the hotel numerous times but wasn’t able to get my money back. MONEY GRAB - also beware!!!

We initially booked the Grateful Hotel for one night but ended up extending our stay to two nights because we loved it so much! The staff was incredibly welcoming and went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed—they were genuinely some of the most helpful people we’ve encountered.

The atmosphere was fantastic, with fun and friendly people, great food and drinks, and an overall lively vibe, especially at the pool and bar. The location is also a major plus—just a short walk to a beautiful beach and a few quaint spots to grab a bite to eat.

While the hotel isn’t fancy, it was clean and absolutely perfect for what we were looking for. If you’re after a laid-back, fun, and welcoming place to stay, the Grateful Hotel is a great choice. Highly recommended!

Great place to enjoy peaceful days, music at night and the playa grande beach is waling distance. Clayton was awesome!

Amazing boutique hotel with a bar & grill. Live music. Phil the owner and his wife are lovely people.

The music

Great stay! Amazing people &Vibe.
Food,drink's, and service are amazing too!!!
Go you will be stoked.

Terrible location and bad roads leading to property. The road for last 1 mile has so many pot holes. Location is on a very bad side. Its about 1.4 mile from main area that is happening but that drive is a 45 min by car.

Beach is about 10 min walk and on back of hotel there is tiny water area that offers water taxi.

Rooms are ok at best. One person in staff was nice.

I requested a refund for 2nd night and was told will be ok. I checked out and even though I was told would be ok by request was later denied.
There is no front desk or staff on site at this tiny so called hotel. They outsourced to a German lady Sarah who does not pick up whats app calls. Expedia tried so many times to call her. She communicates via messages with hotel bar staff and said ok for me to leave.

Dont book and pick rather other side of beach with much better hotels.

Fun place, stayed during the off season so was quiet.
Good food and bar. Great pool. Close walk to the beach.

Such a cool, easy going vibe! Food here is amazing

Atmosphere and food are excellent. Location is close to nice beach and you can take a water taxi to Tamarindo. The rooms are ok but the mattresses definitely need replacing as well as the fridge.

Unique setting and location. A nice change of pace from the resort community. Thank you.

The showers in the rooms are in bad condition, spray all over or very clogged and no pressure. They need to changed out.

The room was clean with everything in working order. Staff was top notch, friendly and accommodating. The only thing that i would say i didnt care for would be the owner, Phil lingering around every evening. He was none of the forementioned.

The service was great. Staff was very friendly and helpful. the condition of the room was old. it;s located in a very good location and very close to water.

If you’re into live music, especially the Grateful Dead this is a hotel for you. If you’re not it’s still a wonderful place to enjoy the beauty of Playa Grande. It sits right on the estuary and there’s tons of wildlife and a short walk to the beach. The hotel rooms are clean and comfortable. The pool is fun. In the evenings it can get lively, but as an early bird I had no trouble sleeping. The owner and staff are friendly and helpful. I would come back in a minute.

We stayed here 3 nights & really enjoyed it. The rooms are basic but nice & clean. Staff is great, the food is amazing, & nice to have live music at night. We saw tons of wildlife in the area including a Python snake, an armadillo, & a baby turtle on the beach. Playa Grande beach is under 10 min walking distance & one of the nicest beaches I've had the pleasure to enjoy. We would absolutely recommend the Grateful Hotel & area to all visiting Costa Rica.

They are very nice People kind and Sweet lovely good experience and happy

Staff is fantastic! Great music playing, creating good vibes. Genuine, friendly people working here, great food and drinks, minutes from the beach.

Rioms were clean and comfortable but the staff was exceptional! We will definitely be back.

Unique and location