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I was in SJ a couple of weeks ago and had to book rooms two different times at the Hotel Castillo. Both times I was promised room 23 a king room with air conditioning. When I arrived the first time I was told room 23 was not available but I could have room 22 which was a double room but with air conditioning and that was ok. However the second time I arrived for my room late in the evening I was told that the only room available was room 6. This really pissed me off because I stopped off earlier in the day to make my reservation and was promised room 23. Room 6 was in the old part and had no air conditioning. I complained but to no avail. I was told by an employee that this happened all the time but never to me before. I told them I was going to write about my experience on this site. Has anyone else had this problem?

I stayed there 2 nights in August then 1 more night later that week. I reserved a deluxe room with A/C for the whole stay. The first part of the stay was fine, nice room with king bed and A/C but when I came back from the beach they put me in this stuffy old room with no A/C and a weird stench. I complained and they offered me to a bigger room with A/C , BUT asked me to pay the difference in price. It was only $4, and I would have argued usually as a matter of principle, but I was very tired from a long trip so I just went to sleep.

There will be problems with reservations in ALL hotels, in CR and the US. That's part of the business. What sets hotels apart in my book is how they handle these types of mistakes. If they say "You want A/C?, we can put you in a different room but you HAVE TO PAY the difference [even though we phucked up]", that's no good. If they had said, "That room is not available, we're sorry. We can offer you this room which is more expensive and we'll knock off another 10% off your bill or give you a free night next trip to make up for our mistake", that's something you remember. Some hotels understand this, MOST don't.

Did you talk to Darren? I stayed there for a week 2 months ago. No problem. I loved the place. Be back down in 2 days and I am going to stay for another week.

Berk......

I will be staying at the Castillo in a few weeks and have had nothing but the most amazing communication and customer service from Darren. If I send an email with a question... he gets back to me within an hour. I did ask him about this specific situation and he was aware of it. He did say that there was a reprimand given to the employee that made the change and did not check with him first. He is deeply committed to all CRT VIPs and making sure that we are treated with the best service possible as he has told me in the emails that he has sent. I am definitely looking forward to my stay there!!!

No...I never had this happen to me at the Castillo. Did you discuss this with Darren Rutherford, the manager?

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Blue Devil

Pura Vida...enjoying life to the fullest...

Darren is definately the man to talk to. He made my stay extremely enjoyable. The folks at the front desk (as much as I love them) often don't have the best info. Example: I emailed my request for a room and phoned to make sure. When I phoned, the person I spoke to said they had no rooms so I booked a room at the presidente. The next day I get an email from Darren saying that they had a room for me.

Even with that little problem, I highly doubt I'll be staying anywhere else next month or for all of my future trips. The staff was just too great to risk it with another hotel. Add to that sitting downstairs at Sonny's talking to the veterens and the Bartenders and I think I've found my second home.