FT's Tamarindo, Tamarindo, Costa Rica

This is a Trusted Review. Why?

I was taught that if one cannot say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Overall

1

Location

3

Cleanliness

3

Value

3

Facilities

1

Service

3

donnacolangelo1 stayed here in Jan '12

When we first arrived in Tamarindo we were told by more than one of the local vendors and other hostel workers that FT's Tamarindo Cabinas was a good place to stay at. Good value, good location, good staff....all of which turned out to be true - save for the fact that we were robbed by someone who had access to our room and safe box!

We were very surprised to learn, 4 days into our trip, that money had been stolen out of our wallets that had been put away in the safe box. This happened on a Thursday when the FT's restaurant was closed. On these days the gate is locked and guarded by a staff member so it's safe to assume that it was an inside job. Our room did not look disturbed, there was no forced entry, and the safe box did not look tampered with at the least. Needless to say, we felt very betrayed and shocked that this had happened in this hostel because, for the most part, we really liked the staff and were very happy with the accommodation. It was one of the nicest and cleanest looking hostel rooms that we had seen in Tamarindo and the price seemed fair enough.

Between myself and my 2 friends that shared the room we had a total of approximately $375 USD and 104,000 colones stolen from us - which roughly amounts to $585 USD. The scariest part of the whole experience, however, was that after realizing that money had been stolen we slipped a piece of paper close to the bottom of the door before we went out for the night to make sure that the door wasn't opened in our absence. When we got back the paper was on the floor! I think our experience could have been a lot worse, especially since we were a group of 3 female backpackers. I can only imagine what would have happened had we been asleep in the room. Luckily we are seasoned travelers with some common sense and street smarts.

We filed a report with the Tourism Police and even tried contacting Mike, the owner, through email and through the FT's facebook page to give him a heads up and let him know what happened. To date we have received no acknowledgement or apology for what we had to go through, which I find a little disconcerting. We are not the type to slam other establishments or even go out of our way to write negative reviews but we feel that it's our duty to make sure this doesn't happen to other travelers. Someone needs to be held accountable.

Keep this little story in mind when you stay here and understand that the same thing can happen to you! They took small bills so if you don't count your money every day it could be really hard to miss.

Good food at the restaurant and decent rooms...if you don't mind paying a few extra hundred dollars unintentionally and don't care much for your sense of security.

Overall

2

Location

5

Cleanliness

3

Value

1

Facilities

4

Service

3

kunita stayed here in Nov '10

This is a Trusted Review. Why?

FTs is a cheap and cheerful hostel, so go there with that in mind. The rooms are basic yet functional. The staff were very helpful - our first room had a blocked loo, so we were asked to move next door. This room has an air-con problem, so they asked us to move again. Third time lucky - both worked and I guess we were lucky that the hostel was fairly quiet to allow this.
Location is excellent - just across the street from Tamarindo's great beach; fantastic waves for surfing or just plain-old fun! We only ate there on the first night but the food was good and reasonably priced.
Directly across the road is 'Eat At Joe's' restaurant, where we spent a lot of our munching-time! Right on the beach. Great banana pancakes at breakfast/ half-ass nachos and 'Witches Tit' cocktails during happy hour were delicious. They also have live music most nights.
Go further into town to the Voodoo Lounge at least once. Live latino music; great dancing and beautiful chicas get you in the holiday mood.
FTs wasn't the liveliest of places but it's an excellent, cheap base for some time in Tamarindo and.........did I mention the beach?!!

Overall

3

Location

4

Cleanliness

3

Value

5

Facilities

2

Service

3

monfishe stayed here in Jan '11

This is a Trusted Review. Why?

Well worth the price and great staff and owner! Good food, clean room. The only negative thing is the cold shower: no warm water at all, but that may be the same in all the hostels in TAmarindo - it might be not their fault at all. So I recommend, if you can take cold showers. Service and overall help of staff was absolutely excellent!

Overall

4

Location

5

Cleanliness

4

Value

4

Facilities

3

Service

5

tero.toivo stayed here in Dec '10