Villa Armonía Luxury Boutique

The Internet brochure is enticing. . .On arrival the house is impressive, opulent, luxurious and expansive. On a cliff overlooking the river outlet and the small bay, with views towards the ocean, the mountains and the jungle. all rooms have stupendous views, bedrooms are large, with kingsize comfortable beds. A sweeping staircase, a large dining room with open views. An impressive (at first sight) kitchen, with Thermador equipment. A reunion site for a fairly large group. Terraces with beautiful views. inviting pools, one with an awesome waterfall feature (but in the shadow, therefore cold), the main pool appears to also have a waterfall feature that does not appear to work, though, and a hot tub. What dreams are made of . . . The staff is excellent. Felipe, courteous and always helpful. The rest of the staff do their work in a quiet, unobtrussive and efficient manner. Kitchen staff, under the leadership of Chef Alan Pavlovich deserve great praise: Food was presented in elegant manner, was well prepared and delicious to taste. Alan wall deserves the title of Chef de Cuisine. Kudos to him and his helpers. But, "The devil is in the details": the house is rather farther away from town than suggested in the brochure. 30 minutes from airport to house is, frankly, optimistic.45 minutes to over one hour is more likely (There is only one road connecting the two). It leaves a sour taste in the mouth to see that maintenance is not a guiding principle. The "Panoramic room", with its sweeping, curved, floor to ceiling window is marred by the large crack in the glass, covered by tape that, ny the looks of it, has been there for quite some time. The main kitchen has an array of high tech appliances: A floor to ceiling Thermador refrigerator/freezer, that does not work! A 6 burner gas range and oven in which some of the burners work, other do not; the oven does not work. Large glass doors in the dining room and TV room the do not operate, held in place by wires!. And on and on with a myriad of little details that absolutely marr what could be a delightful stay and makes one wonder if the paid price was right. Did we enjoy our stay? Yes. We did not allow the deficiencies to ruin our holiday. Would I return? No, at least in its present state. We can not but help the owner would listen to the complaints, address and correct the problems, it would the be worthy of a return visit. Armando Montero, M.D.

We never did get to stay here. The owner, Francisco, unilaterally cancelled our reservation, presumably because he was able to rent out the unit for more money to someone else. We were worried when we saw that the Villa was listed for sale but as it seemed overpriced we put down a deposit for a week stay. He suggested that we change our dates but who can do that when flights etc are confirmed. I strongly suggest that no one makes plans to stay at Villa Armonia.