We just got back from a 50th birthday vacation for my wife to Costa Rica, our first time there. Overall it was a great trip - we spent 5 days at Arenal area (Tobacon resort) and then went to Dreams resort. Within hours of checking in, and us taking issue with way too many things that were wrong with the property, the general manager told us to pack our things - they called the police and we were leaving! Sure enough, the police came and we went. What a way to treat guests!? I wanted to make sure I warn people thinking of going to Dreams Resort and set up a website - dreamsisanightmare.com

1. Dreams Resort?
It’s really just a bad nightmare
V2/13/14 11:55AM

2. At this point, these slides are in no
particular order
∗ Please don’t take the order of these as what I do /
don’t consider most important. It’s just how they
came out of my head.
∗ Admittedly most any 1, 2, 3 or more of the issues are
trivial (some ARE safety issues though), but taken as a
whole, are you paying for a tin shack or nice vacation?

3. ∗ As much as I want to make sure you have a good vacation
by avoiding Dreams properties, I do have other things to
do.
∗ So this will be an ongoing project – PLEASE check back
often. There’ll be a revision timestamp on the bottom right
of the first page.
∗ If you’d like to help design the website or want me to
mention issues you experienced, please email me at
info@DreamsIsANightmare.com
∗ For media inquiries, please email me at
info@DreamsIsANightmare.com
Please bear with me!

4. ∗ Did you pay for a jungle room view?
∗ That’s really just the gouged side of a mountain.
∗ Look up at the big tree at the top of the gouge.
∗ Want to take bets on what rainstorm will wash that
into the resort?
A jungle view room?

5. ∗ While complaining to Felix about issues, we asked him
what he thinks of the wifi coverage on the property.
He said it was fine.
∗ I couldn’t time it better – some other guest was
walking by and chimed in: ‘It’s non-existent’.
∗ And that’s bad when the police and management are
at your door and you need to find another hotel FAST!
Wifi? Non-existent : (

6. ∗ Entire hallways and stairwells with no windows had
ceiling lights installed… but were not lit even at night.
∗ This is a clearly a safety issue
∗ The hallway lights DO appear to be on motion
sensors, but I don’t think this was because of a single
defective motion sensor. These areas of outages are
in several different areas separated by lit areas.
∗ (need to post video)
Shouldn’t this long hallway be lit?

7. Nice water slide. Why can’t I use it?
∗ I AM a kid at heart and proud of it. Hope I never lose that
mindset. My wife says she’ll never be an empty-nester (she’ll
always have a kid (me) at home).
∗ That’s a nice water slide they have.
∗ Too bad only kids 6 – 12 years old can go on it?! WTF!
∗ Really?! I had to argue with the guard to let me go. He said he’d
get in trouble with his boss who was on the pool deck. Then he
said ‘go quick – my boss isn’t looking’.
∗ It’s certainly not a ‘kiddy’ slide – I won’t get stuck in it. They just
want to bust chops. And the slide sits idle with a guard at top
and bottom of the slide ‘cause there’s no kids there.

8. The Pool Deck is slippery
∗ Again, another clearly safety issue
∗ The pool deck is very pretty….
∗ And very slippery when you come out of the water
barefoot.
∗ Felix said it isn’t slippery, but loads of posts on review
sites say otherwise.
∗ Not sure how they would fix this…if they wanted to.
∗ But they don’t.

9. ∗ Dreams IS a very nice looking property. Let me help keep it
that way!
∗ Where can I throw this paper / bottle / cup away?
∗ There are NO garbage cans around the property, EXCEPT in
the buildings.
∗ At the concierge desk, after walking from the coffee shop
with an empty water bottle, I asked – how come there’s no
garbage cans on around the pool. The woman pointed to 2!!
right outside the check-in office, oblivious to the larger issue.
∗ I guess they want you to find an employee to throw it away
for you? Some may like that level of ‘service’, others will just
toss garbage on the ground.
Where can I throw this away?

10. ∗ I will be the first to say I know only 1 language –
English. So kudos to anyone that knows more than 1.
∗ But when I am on vacation, paying a fair amount of
money, I don’t think I should be someone’s English
teacher. Am I wrong?
∗ In the few hours we were at Dreams, my wife and I
got very good at pantomime trying to ask questions.
∗ Get used to hearing ‘Is My Pleasure’ from Dreams
employees in reply to any question or statement you
make.
Is My Pleasure

11. ∗ A repeated theme with the problems at Dreams is
that they are in a REMOTE part of Costa Rica.
∗ We bought a SIM card earlier in the trip to be able to
make cell calls on our own iPhone 6. Totally useless at
Dreams.
∗ That’s a problem when you have the police and
management banging at your door, looking to throw
you out. How do you find a place to go?
No cellular service

12. ∗ A repeated theme with the problems at Dreams is that
they are in a REMOTE part of Costa Rica.
∗ To get to / from Dreams, there’s only 1 very unpaved road
that takes 45 minutes to travel, at 5 – 10 MPH.
∗ Ticos take pride in the ‘Costa Rican massage’ as a way to
comment on the bumpy roads in Costa Rica.
∗ This road is an extreme in level of massage and length.
∗ Every trip you take from Dreams will take an extra 1 ½ hour
round trip. Is that how you want to spend your vacation?!
The bumpy road

13. ∗ A repeated theme with the problems at Dreams is
that they are in a REMOTE part of Costa Rica.
∗ Because of the poor condition of the road, any
employee has at least a 1 ½ hour commute each day.
∗ So Dreams doesn’t draw on employees much beyond
the most local town 45 minutes away at the other end
of that crap road. That local town is a fishing town
where the people haven’t had to learn / care about
English. And it shows.
The quality of employees

14. ∗ Asking Noe (the FOOD MANAGER) where the fire
show will be that evening got a blank stare.
∗ He had to call on the radio and ask someone else. He
then tells me it’ll be right outside the restaurant we
were at, where it is every night, and that it’s a good
show.
∗ He didn’t seem to have a clue about it a minute ago,
now he’s telling me it’s a good show!
Where’s the Fire Show?

15. ∗ We wanted to do some of the water sports.
∗ On the way down to the beach we stopped at the CONCIERGE
desk to ask what time the water sports close.
∗ There’s 2 desks there. I ask a guy at 1 desk. He stares at me and
motions to talk to the woman at the other desk.
∗ She says ‘I think it closes at 5PM’.
∗ I say ‘rather than think, can you tell me for sure?’
∗ She disappears for several minutes then comes back saying it
closed at 4PM.
∗ Shouldn’t the CONCIERGE desk know most anything about the
property?
What time does Water Sports Close?

16. ∗ Some of our family had been to Dreams at Christmas and
had big arguments with management about repeatedly
being told they can’t make reservations, but then when
they showed up, the place is ½ full but they couldn’t get a
table because people reserved them.
∗ The same situation a month later. The group in front of us
– a party of 8 – was being told there was no tables
available for them. They pointed to an unoccupied 8
person table. The staff said that ‘those people are coming’.
This group was arguing with the staff that THEY were told
you can’t make dinner reservations.
Dinner reservations?
Can’t make them?

17. Is that really helping me?
∗ Something I repeatedly noticed – from Neo at the restaurant,
from the concierge desk and elsewhere
∗ We ask a question about the property, that we think should be
known by managers and / or concierge desk.
∗ The question stumps them and the people disappear or call on a
radio, taking minutes to find out ‘where is the fire show’ or what
time the water sports desk closes’.
∗ They eventually get the answer. They feel they ‘helped’ me. That
it took 5 – 10 minutes each time and that they should know the
answer on their own is beyond them. ‘What’s the problem, I
helped you’.

18. ∗ The promotional info says you get 2 sinks in the bathroom.
∗ We got a single sink just bolted to the wall (no vanity to
hold it up)
∗ And the caulk between the wall and sink was coming away
(the sink wasn’t on the wall tight?
∗ We were in room 3216 – not sure if it was just that room or
that building. Family of ours stayed in building 7 during
Christmas. They got 2 sinks. But then again, that was an
upgraded level from our room.
Only 1 rickety sink in the bathroom?

19. ∗ Sorry, as fancy as the place is, do you think you could
spurge on a soap dish in the shower?
∗ Balancing the soap on the grab rail is a bit tedious
∗ We were in room 3216 – not sure if it was just that
room or that building. Family of ours stayed in
building 7 during Christmas. They had a soap dish.
But then again, that was an upgraded level from our
room.
Uh, where do I put the soap?

20. ∗ My wife is very beautiful.
∗ But she still treks around with all kinds of makeup and
toiletries.
∗ Where to put even the minimal of personal things?
Toothbrush? Hairbrush?
∗ There was NO shelf or surface in the bathroom to put
those, other than the FLOOR or top of the toilet. Yumm!
∗ We were in room 3216 – not sure if it was just that room or
that building. Family of ours stayed in building 7 during
Christmas. They got a shelf! But then again, that was an
upgraded level from our room.
No counter in the bathroom?

21. ∗ There’s several permanent signs on the way to the
beach saying not to talk to people on the beach, don’t
buy things from them, don’t deal with them for water
sports, etc.
∗ It’s a public beach so anyone can legally be there
∗ So I’ll just deal with Dreams employees?
∗ Dreams doesn’t run the water sports, so who’s
legitimate? I have no clue!
Don’t talk to people on the beach

22. ∗ Actually, the beach is small and bland AND you do
have to shun the locals trying to pitch this or that.
∗ But along with that, there’s permanent signs warning
about not touching the water – all kinds of bad
animals that can sting you?!
∗ Ah! Relaxation!
Beautiful beach but lots of warnings
about not swimming

23. A tribute to the power of the internet
∗ To really appreciate ‘the power of the internet’, have
you ever heard of the ‘Yours is a very bad hotel’
PowerPoint?
∗ Back in 2001 (14 years ago!!!), a hotel abused some
customers. The customers made a PowerPoint about
the abuse… and 14 years later, it’s still on the web:
∗ http://consumerist.com/2006/07/14/explaining-bad-service-so-e
∗ Please share my website and this slide deck.

24. ∗ Please, if you still have any thoughts of still going to
Dreams, please check back. There’s more issues,
videos and pictures of our terrible experience at
Dreams.
∗ Email me at info@DreamsIsANightmare.com to get
on our mailing list for when we update the site!
∗ And email me to let me know of your pitiful
experiences at Dreams. I’ll include them on the site!
We’re not done!

25. ∗ As much as I want to make sure you have a good vacation
by avoiding Dreams properties, I do have other things to
do.
∗ So this is an ongoing project – PLEASE check back often.
There’ll be a revision timestamp on the bottom right of the
first page.
∗ If you’d like to help or want me to mention issues you
experienced, please email me at
info@DreamsIsANightmare.com
∗ For media inquiries, please email me at
info@DreamsIsANightmare.com
Please bear with me!