www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I posted this some time ago right before the opening of the Sleep Inn,however it seems relative again.
The Hotel was built by Shelby who owns the Colonial casino,along with a group he put together. You all may have noticed that there is an awning between the Casino and the Hotel. This is to adhere to the pending law which is in today's www. amcostarica.com. The new laws detail the number rooms and quality of hotels necessary to qualify for a casino.
At the time it opened and the "chica fees" were in force,I approached the hotel Manager and told him about eleiminating the fees for CRT VIPs and possibly for all members. The hotel would get access for our 1300 paid members and 20,000 participants. I didn't even mention room discounts, since He wouldn't even extend the courtesy to VIPs for eliminating "chica fees". They clearly could care less about free access to our membership.
It is well known that Shelbe doesn't even want the chicas in the casino unless they are spending money with or without a "date". I believe that the $35 fee now charged is more for keeping the working chicas out of the rooms rather than to make more money.

Of course not - you don't think they knew what they were doing before they did it - obviously they don't care, for whatever reasons - I suspect they are more in the casino business vs the hotel business, but that's a just a guess.

Read Vegas Bob's excellent post and reflect on mine

In Sept, I was in SJ and looked into reservations in Jan. for a group of friends - at that time they had like 50 rooms available - seemed like a lot to me, in prime tourist season.

Even if you can afford it, the costs start to get stupid - if the base room is say, $100, and you take 2 guests a day, the per day rate - with the tax; you pay what, 13.47% on each guest fee - is like $192 and change - I don't care what your circumstances are, almost $200 a night (or $153 w/ one guest, for that matter) starts to get crazy - or so it would seem to me, b/c while OK, these are rooms in the USA that would go for well under $100/night (under $80 in most locals) - and yeah, I get it - you are paying for more than just the room - which to me is worse.

As I posted previously:



Its a shame b/c you can't beat the location, and I've heard good things about the rooms and the breakfast.

I stayed there over Halloween . If you pre pay online the rooms are only 73+ per night . There are some advantages such as free breakfast and shuttle service to and from airport . I paid the $35 fee (cash no tax) and am prepared to do it again this weekend . I have stayed at Freebird 3 times but the convenience of SI is hard to overlook .

Sure, green season the rates are lower - I posted about Jan '12 - and from their site:

1 King Bed, No Smoking
Also Included: High-Speed Internet-charge, Interior Corridor, Desk, Pay-For-View Movies
Max Room Occupancy
2 persons$90.00 USD


Add the 13% tax, and you have a rate of $101.70; standard room, one king bed

Add 2 guest fees a day - and I'll take your word that they don't charge tax on that fee (but I would bet they do if you just add it to your bill and pay by credit card) - and you have $177/per night charge.

Still way to high - for me - for what the place is; I'll stand by my post

And you are comparing a very, very nice hotel hotel with

With what??? Don't leave us hanging - finish your post

Yes the pre-pay rate is $73 + tax, but their policy is "use it or lose it".

My friends stayed there over Holloween (not any more now that chica fee is $35) and when making their reservations, found that once you make your reservations on-line and pay for it 100% in advance, there is ZERO refund, ZERO credit to your account for use at a later date, if you have to cancel or change your reservation.

I went to their web site and put in January dates; did not see any mention of a $73 pre pay -A month ago (height of green season) some friends booked there and are paying $91 per room - I could be wrong, I suppose - can only report on what actually happened

Re the no change policy @ $73 - I absolve them of blame; its a good rate (even though I will not stay there for reasons previously posted) - and so long as you know the rules going in....