Sandos Papagayo Hotel

In July 2024 my wife and I stayed at Sandos Papagayo on the Royal Elite basis, and had a front sea view room in block C.

We were very happy with the room facilities and position, and the overall service, food and drinks at the hotel and gave a 5 star rating.

We returned to the hotel in October 2025, with our daughter and son in law, to have a relaxing holiday before their baby is born at the beginning of 2026, and again booked the Royal Elite service.

We were however disappointed to find one of the rooms was on floor 11 of G block, a side facing view of the sea, overlooking the noisy pools and not as advertised in the hotels own information "guaranteeing" a front sea view room.

We raised this with reception, who stated that G block was part of the Royal Elite service, but after rejecting this, we were told that we could change rooms the following day to B block, a front facing room in a quieter part of the hotel.

We had to live out of our suitcase on the first night and moved the following day. We also raised this with our Jet 2 rep, who spoke to management and she was told that floor 11 of G block was being used for Royal Elite, as that level had clear views of the sea, even though it was side facing, not front facing, as advertised in the hotels information sheet and as shown on the Sandos web page.

I feel that the hotel and management have added part of G block to increase the Royal Elite capacity and extra income it brings, even though it does not have a guaranteed front facing view, and they are being disingenuous to their customers and letting themselves down as a 4 star hotel.

The service in my opinion is poor and we shall not stay at this or any other Sandos resort in the future, as their guaranteed service is not met, it is misleading and disingenuous.

We are totally disappointed, comparing the service we received on this visit, to that we received last year.

The guaranteed service advertised is not met and this in my opinion should be reviewed or advertised honestly.

Beware if you are paying extra for a Royal Elite room, as you may not get a front facing sea view as "guaranteed"

We also experienced a leak from the air conditioning system and a maintenance engineer came very quickly to sort it, however we had the same issue a few days later, at 1.15am and when we called reception, they said they would send a security guard with a towel to catch the leaking water !

No one attended the following morning to fix the leak, so we again reported it to reception on check out.

The hotel has great restaurants and bars, but is let down by management decisions and poor maintenance, with patio and wardrobe doors that stick and loose shower fittings etc.

First impression is very good. Food is fresh and tasteful. Only downside so far is the lack of 'towel management'. The rules are not enforced and to get a towel is a challenge. You can only get a towel after 1000 at the spa, which is - due to the lack of towel management - too late to find a free deckchair. There should be another option to get a towel earlier. Only 3 stars for service.
I also have to reduce the overall rating from initially 4 stars to 2 stars. If you want to have a quiet holiday, don't go to this hotel. Several times a day very loud music is played during activities. The volume is way too high and is very disturbing for people who want to relax.

I don't normally leave a review however after spending a week here first week of June I would not recommend this hotel to a family. I don't feel this hotel is suitable for children. To many broken tiles to trip over near pool area. Leftover spills from drinks and ice-cream around the swimming area left there for days infant the whole week we were there.
I tried to speak to the manager numerous times and kept been told by reception that the manager was not round today and they were unsure when the manager would be at the hotel.
I have been to many hotels and this is definitely not one I would recommend. A very dated hotel and cleanliness not to a satisfactory level.
Pool area needs new tiles and a proper clean.
Some plates in dinning area had food stains still on them at times so check beforehand.
Found bits of rubbish in rooms still from previous guests.
Would I stay here again not a chance. Very dated, poor cleanliness, not enough staff in certain areas I.e bar areas as queue for drinks is long unless your happy with the drinks on tap.