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Absolutely terrible experience. Please don’t use them. There were 6 of us (family with 2 young kids and 2 grandparents) who visited in June. We were at the JW marriott where TAM has an office and and given that association assumed it was a high quality organization. Couldn’t have been more wrong. We signed up for the Arenal trip which was supposed to include a long (2-2.5 hr) hike through the rainforest - I explicitly made sure we wanted that - it was supposed to be one of the highlights of the trip for the kids and one of the reasons we paid for it ($1,200) despite the grandparents not being able to actually partake in it. Was supposed to be a walk through rainforest, over suspension bridges and sight a few waterfalls.
None of that came to pass! Just the beginning of an absolute disaster of a trip.
We drove 4.5 hours to a private reserve close to Arenal (not actually Arenal National Forest) and took a 45 min walk over what essentially felt like a paved road. Tried to call TAM both before and after (called the Marriott office and was given the run around by Marsha and Freddi, who said they’d call right back but never did).
I requested the guide to spend more time there (turns out the guides are outsourced via local firms who are much cheaper and provide direct services too). The guide got through to TAM and spoke to a manager (Erick) there, who said he’d look into it and come back, which he never did.
The guide was, however, very accommodating and took us to another sanctuary where we ended up paying another $200, which was supposed to be refunded to us after per what the TAM manager told the guide. TAM didn’t even pick up the phone when I tried calling again from the sanctuary.
Anyways, we spent the additional money (and honestly it was money well spent, as we had a good time and enjoyed the additional time)
Once we got back, we kept being told they are working to make it right and fix the problems, potentially a refund (of at least the $200 we were promised would be refunded). We were leaving Costa Rica the next day and it looks like they were just waiting for us to leave as they could just choose to be unresponsive after.
It has been 10 days since the trip and we didn’t hear a word. When I followed up again, was told they won’t do anything.
It’s hard not to think they basically lied and cheated (or at least misrepresented). Seems like the MO is to partner with high-end hotels to portray high quality, overcharge, outsource the actual work and rely on the fact that patrons being from outside the country to avoid making up for issues. I’m sure many folks have good experiences, but it’s also a Q of what does an organization do when they fall short, on purpose or not. And this is where TAM just comes across as cheats. They had multiple chances to the do the right thing, but took zero responsibility for not just providing a horrible experience (which is the most important thing) but then did nothing to make it right and just hoped we’d be too lazy or tired to follow-up.
All-in, we ended up spending $1,500 for what was essentially 9 hours in a bus (4.5 hours two ways) for a 45 min walk. If we’d been told that’s what it was and had chosen it willingly, it’s one thing, but telling us one thing and doing another is just BS. Honestly, we’d have been okay spending twice as much of the experience measured up.
I would avoid these guys and find better and cheaper folks - there are several other providers in Guanacaste, who at the very least would be cheaper than these expensive cheats who pretend to be high-quality - via 