Hilton Garden Inn Guanacaste Airport

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

2194 reviews

• 

  Terrible place to begin or end your vacation

  Hilton and the Hilton Garden Inn absolutely ruined the final day of our vacation. Hilton brands own the two major hotels closest to the airport, so unfortunately if you want to stay in guanacaste, you are stuck with them. But if I was to do it again, I would take the early transfer to the airport over this nightmare. I booked a stay for my family’s first and last day in Costa Rica, as transfers between the airport and tourist destinations are far, and fights come in late and leave early. Our initial stay at the garden inn was disappointing. The rooms are old, beds hard, and food expensive. Despite being Gold, I received none of the amenities others report. I watched the crew of my flight refuse rooms and demand to be transferred to another hotel. Perhaps I should have followed them. Whatever, I’m not picky so I slept a few hours and moved on. It was my second night that became a nightmare. I booked and paid for a room that I never received. Hilton honors made my reservation. However I realized my booking showed a date in the past (a date that had passed even prior to the booking being made.) I called and spent 40 minutes on the phone with a woman who assured me there was a glitch in the system but my stay was confirmed. She called the Garden Inn a few hours before my arrival and confirmed my room for the night. At that point there were rooms available and I could have booked another, but she assured me the manager had my reservation and I should “go on to the hotel” and they would have my room. However upon arrival there was no record of my reservation and no rooms available. Staff at the hotel could see and acknowledged the error was on Hiltons part. But there was absolutely no effort to help us find any solution. The staff kept disappearing into the back for 10 minutes at a time, coming out and having nothing to report just saying “we can’t help”. I had to call Hilton on my cell phone and hand it to the front desk worker to speak with the desk that made my reservation. Everyone acted as though these were all unrelated entities instead of a huge hotel brand who had no problem taking my money. And NONE of them offered a refund. We sat in the hotel for 4 hours and no accommodation of any sort was offered. I’m gold member and watched the front desk pass out tickets for drinks and dinner and offer the shuttle to other customers. Not only did I realize this was not offered on our initial night, nothing was offered to us, and the staff “helping” us kept disappearing into the back. When I asked what could be done they said “you should start finding somewhere else to stay” as if I hadn’t booked this a month prior and verified my reservation that very day! When I found a very basic hotel they told me the shuttle wouldn’t take me the 3km, but they could call taxi would be $20. Note Hilton is a big brand, and it would have taken very little to help make this terrible situation better. Instead the staff tried their best to ignore us. Again, no one has told me how I can get a refund for this nightmare. I had to demand contact information for someone to follow up with, and the staff seemed confused as to why I would follow up. My interactions with Hilton Honors was even more frustrating. They told me they would need to review my previous calls, which would somehow take 2 hours (taking us to 7pm, still with nowhere to stay) before they could offer a solution. This was funny to the front desk. What solution, they couldn’t say. Hotels were completely sold out. When I asked to speak to someone else, they told me there was no one else. They needed to call me. When I got a call it was a message telling me to call customer service, again still without any resolution. I called back and the next agent said they would need to investigate. Every time I called, I had to start over in the process. As of now, I was told I would receive more details after the 2 hour review, I have not. They said I would receive an email, I have not. They did however try to talk to me about their timeshare program! It was disconnected and insulting! Long story short, I booked this hotel to make life easier on the return trip, paid for the hotel and for a more expensive flight. I completely wasted my last day dealing with this nonsense. I am canceling my future Hilton reservations and warning everyone to stay away from this brand. Hilton would like to sell me a timeshare, but they can’t find a room reservation. Bottom line, I was charged for a room I never received, there has been absolutely nothing done to rectify things or explain next steps. It will be on me to continue to follow up. I ended up paying for a very questionable room in a tiny motel and the $20 cab ride to get here, while Hilton offers no refund or solution.

  Feb 19, 2025
• 

  Good for 1 Night

  This hotel is convenient if you have an early morning flight out. They offer a free shuttle to the airport which only takes about 3 minutes. If you’re going to stay in Liberia town, leave lots of time to travel to the airport as the road to the airport can move slowly. The hotel is nice and well kept. The highlight is the large outdoor pool area. A great place to relax on your final day. Our room was spacious and clean. The only complaint is the air conditioner is really loud so it woke us up every time it came on during the night. This needs to be fixed.

  Feb 08, 2025
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  Great airport hotel

  This hotel is Super convenient to the airport. Friendly staff. Clean, well appointed rooms. Honestly, like an airport oasis. Beautiful pool. Good breakfast buffet. Yummy sangria! Well rounded for a short stay! Frequent airport shuttles.

  Jan 19, 2025
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  Not The Typical Airport Hotel

  This hotel is located just a few minutes away from the Guanacaste airport (LIR) and Hilton provides a free shuttle. When I arrived, there were several Hilton shuttle buses waiting (to the left of the taxis). The grounds are immaculate and the landscaping is more in keeping with a resort rather than an airport hotel. There is a bar, pool, restaurant, boutique, small convenience store, gym, and a massage place. Also, an ATM machine is available. There is an outdoor activity area that looks as if it’s set up for special events. The hotel is spotless and looks new. My room is spacious and clean. I did not find any USB ports, but I could plug in all of my US electronics into the outlets. A breakfast buffet is served until 10 and room service is available. All of the staff have been very friendly and helpful. If you only speak English, it will not be a problem at this hotel.

  Oct 13, 2024
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  Great Hotel Close to Airport!

  I had an opportunity to stay here for a few nights when my grandchildren/nephew/niece arrived in Costa Rica for our holiday adventure! This was probably one of the nicest/cleanest and best customer service hotels I have stayed at! The rooms were a nice size and the front desk was always friendly and helpful. It's very convenient to the airport - so a good spot to begin/end your trip. You do need a car though - as there is nothing really close by (except a yummy ice cream shop next door). It's about a 40 minute drive to the west coast beaches and a couple of hours (slow driving due to mountain roads) up to Arsenal area.

  Oct 08, 2024