Check-in was a mess: I asked for a room with no connecting door to an adjacent room. Due to this, the receptionist changed my preassigned room, but when I got upstairs, there was a connecting door in this room, as well. The receptionist didn’t pick up the phone, so I went down and changed rooms – only to find a connecting door in the new room, as well! I didn’t want to try a third time after an 11.5-hour flight, so I just took it. And noisy it was, a kid screaming his lungs out behind one wall and a couple making love behind the opposite wall and that connecting door of mine. Fortunately, they checked out the next day, and as the hotel was fairly empty, they didn’t assign the room to anyone else during my five night stay, for which I was grateful.

The room felt like any Holiday Inn in the US thirty years ago. Considering its age, it was in good condition, but there was for instance no socket by the bed for your phone – nobody needed that in the early 1990s. There were two sockets by the desk, though. Two lamps in my room were missing lightbulbs, so I had to screw one off of the lamps in the hallway. Oh well.

The room was of good size, the bed was comfortable, there was a large desk, a coffee table and chair, lots of drawer space, a safe, a noisy, empty fridge and A/C that wasn’t very efficient. Wifi was free, fast and reliable. No problem watching videos. To my surprise, no complimentary water bottles were provided.

The bathroom felt a bit aging and came with your typical US bathtub&shower combo, where the shower is wall-mounted and there is no handheld shower. The bathtub was low, not a soaking tub. Water pressure was good. The non-branded toiletries came in single-use bottles, which I prefer as it is more hygienic than those wall-mounted containers some hotels choose to put on their bathroom walls. Shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and bars of soap were available.

The extremely modest and unpretentious breakfast (6:30–10) cost $9. Selection was narrow: some fresh fruit, yoghurt, toast, ham and local cheese, and a few daily changing local hot items.

There is a nice restaurant with a view of San José on the 17th floor, but it is only open from Thursday to Saturday.

The indoor pool was very cold, too cold to be enjoyed, sadly.

The receptionist, as well as other staff members, were all friendly and polite, but perhaps not very polished. They spoke English well. If you need colones, the receptionist changes them at rates posted on the desk, not that much inferior to banks, saving you from a lot of queuing.

The location is good. It’s a quick walk from Avenida Central and all the museums, and you can even walk to Escalante. There is a small shop, Musi, for water and snacks a few steps from the hotel entrance, and a larger supermarket a block away. The taxi from the airport took 25 min and cost $30.

Outside, the hotel has a sign claiming five stars, which actually made me laugh out loud. It’s not a bad hotel at all, but by European or American standards, it might be worth perhaps 3.5 stars, definitely not more than four even by Latin American standards. I didn’t find it overpriced, though, and would consider staying again.

Although I had read several reviews indicating water issues, I decided to give this place a try because there are almost no chain hotels in this area. And since I am a business owner and MUST have good internet, I don’t usually stay in local hotels due to so many bad past experiences with poor internet (truthfully, I would prefer local hotels if I could count on good connections). Like many older hotels (past their glory days), the lobby is kept up beautifully while the rooms are not maintained well. While most of the staff were wonderful (Luis at the front desk was superb), I found the manager Rafael Rojas to be inflexible and void of understanding. It was a shock to find the staff to be far better than the manager - that is very unusual. The first room problem I found was that the minibar was absent. I went down to the desk to ask why it was missing since I triple checked at booking time that the room had a fridge. They immediately sent someone to my room with one – well done! The hallway carpet was in poor condition, as is the carpet in the rooms - all well past due for replacement. I noticed much wear and tear in the room, but that did not bother me. What did bother me was the condition of the bathroom. The pictures illustrate the broken toilet seat, falling shower shelf, disgusting shower head, and VERY poor water pressure. Additionally, after 4 days here I discovered that indeed the hot water is very inconsistent. Hot water was available in the mornings, but in the late afternoons or evenings it was often unavailable. I learned fast to shower and shave in the mornings only. But even with hot water it was uncomfortable to shower and difficult to shave due to almost no pressure! Another treat was the presence of mosquitoes and other flying insects in the room. Not really sure how they got in since the windows do not open. There is no heat in the room, but that seems to be normal in San Jose because I don’t think any of the 6 hotels I’ve stayed at in the past actually had heat. Never used the AC, so I cannot comment on that. Lighting in the room is poor, but I’ve seen worse. The one thing I loved about the room was the beds. They were SO comfortable! Best hotel beds I’ve experienced so far in San Jose. So to sum up: beautiful lobby, mostly excellent staff (excluding manager Rafael), extremely comfortable beds, rooms badly in need of renovation (especially dilapidated bathrooms), virtually no water pressure, inconsistent hot water, annoying insects in my room, no heat in rooms, may or may not have minibar/fridge, and overall simply a poor experience in my opinion. I will never return, nor would I advise others to book here. The Radisson Park Inn is not too far away and a FAR, FAR better property. If you want to be in this exact area like I did, the Sleep Inn is just across the park and is mostly excellent, although the beds are extremely hard! You can read my review of that property here also.

I don't expect much from airport hotels, just a bed and a good nice sleep. This hotel is fine, rooms are basic but do the job my only issue was that i was in the room nearest the reception and dining area and I could hear everything. Experience has shown me to bring earplugs to every hotel so I did manage to sleep, but it was noisy. Breakfast was pretty good and staff were helpful. R