Monverde - Wine Experience Hotel - by Unlock Hotels

The room and the grounds were beautiful. Views were literally breathtaking--I often stopped along the way from our room to the main facility to just breathe the air or the vineyard and appreciate the surrounding vistas.

Whie the breakfast and related service were great, our dinner service was a bit off. The vibe at the restaurant didn't click for our group of eight. The staff was anxious to get us through ordering and then inattentive at times. Wine was kept off the table but not poured when needed and so our glasses often sat empty. We would have had another bottle, but it was too frustrating.

We loved our room and the views of the vineyards

The property is quite beautiful and you get to walk through the vineyards to the rooms. Our room was quite lovely and spacious with electronic blackout blinds. Our balcony area had two chairs which overlooked the vines. The soaker tub was just off the bathroom behind a smoked glass window with views of the grapes as well. They also had a personalized bottle of wine with your name on the label inside the room which felt like a thoughtful touch. The restaurant was tasty! We ate there both nights and the staff were super friendly and attentive. We also visited the spa and had the couples exfoliation, facial and massage treatment which was VERY relaxing. The outdoor pool was rather small with not enough chairs we found. We were also there during a rain storm and when the power cuts out and flips to the backup generator, the lights in the bedroom come on, and stay on, which makes for a non restful sleep having to get out of bed and turn them off each time. The wine tasting and food pairing were really nice and the host was very friendly and we appreciated her knowledge of their wines!!

The size of the outdoor pool, and the lack of seating around the pool. Also, when the power goes out the lights in the rooms stay on which was tiring the one night. We were woken up 3-4 times to get out of bed and shut them off.

Beautiful setting Nice architecture Tasty and affordable wine Most of the staff were friendly and welcoming. The issues we experienced seemed to stem more from management and policies than from the individual staff members, who were generally kind and helpful.

- Air con stopped working and we did not get any explanation or apology, rather we were given a small temporary unit which barely cooled the room. This lasted 2 days. When we raised our issues, the hotel offered to pay for our airport taxi as compensation which was appreciated but we would have liked better communication. - Dinner was overly fancy/trying too hard but the food was mostly average (desserts were good). Simpler, tasty, traditional food would have been much better. - massages were average/ lacking effort. One spa staff member in particular was not very friendly during our stay. She tried to make us leave after checkout even though we had been told we could use the facilities (including spa) until 3pm. She proceeded to try and negotiate how long we could stay which made us feel incredibly unwelcome and awkward. - They charge for shower caps which are mandatory in the indoor pool area. For a hotel this expensive, this should be provided free of charge. - We couldn’t even get a coffee unless we went to a specific part of the hotel (pool bar). - They had events on during our stay (conference, wedding). We asked whether it would impact the communal areas. We were told it wouldn’t (they seemed surprised we even asked). In reality, most of the staff seemed to be working the event, no one was attending bars, the restaurant service was slow as a knock on impact (not the the staff’s fault, they were over stretched/ stressed). They clearly trying to delay courses to buy time. We couldn’t eat until earliest 8:30pm the day of the event because the area was being used. Event music was v loud. They should have been forthcoming and honest about this - a heads up and apology for the inconvenience would have gone a long way. The hotel has potential, but it’s overpriced for the level of service provided. It tries to offer a luxury experience, but falls short where it matters most (service/hospitality).