www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I have a few questions about CR that, even after the numerous trips, I don't understand. Over the years, I have emailed and/or called various places to make reservations. Calling has been the only contact where I would get any kind of immediate response.

I have emailed hotels for reservations and, depending on the hotel, a response has taken from two days to never being received. Here, personally, I am talking about the SL, Castillo, and the Presidente. I have to say that the Presidente is much better than the SL. Email wise, I rarely got a response from the SL if they did not have rooms available. Even a "we do not have rooms avaiable" response would be great.

I understand that CR is different than the US but I am surprised that a repeat customer like me or any customer would be somewhat ignored. Especially since most know that I spend a bunch of money on my trips.

Recently, I inquired about a hotel and have not received a reply since my inquiry of 12/8/06. I followed up on the original email the other day and still no reply.

I understand, to some degree, if these were Tico only run places but I would think that Americans would understand the need for customer service and respond quickly.

Second question, I understand why places like the Presidente will not offer discounts based for longer stays as it is a big hotel. However, Amon Plaza will discount their superior rooms for longer stays.

On my last trip, I offered to pay an additional $150 a night for a stay of seven days and I was turned down. Now, I know that these rooms did not book up for that period as it was a slow part of the year. Why would a hotel not discount for immediate use something a customer that is right before them is willing to pay over a $1,000 for? I don't understand it.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Have a Great Day,

Dave

Re: the hotels not responding...I kind of ran into this when booking my last trip. However, I found Darren at the Castillo to be pretty prompt. I didn't get a response from Sportsmen's (& I sent them 2 emails), so ended up at Castillo, which was my second choice. Based on the way Darren responded to my emails & helped me out with a travelers cheque issue while there, and also because the staff were so friendly, I booked the Castillo again for my trip in Jan. Again, Darren was very prompt with the email response for my January reservation. I'm sold on the Castillo, will stay there on every trip thereafter.

All because Sportsmen's didn't return 2 emails.

I've never been interested in staying at the Presidente, so have no experience with them.

Even though they're Americans, they're still living in CR....I can only assume the slower way of life can rub off on someone in that position.

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I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries. Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!

Bob,

I agree with all your comments on the Castillo.

I also feel it should be just common courtesy for a hotel to repond back to you, even if they have no vacancy.

Zebra

Hi Guys,

This is Bill at the Sportsmens Lodge...this is a complete surprize to me that you have not received responses from our staff? if we have a server problem then this can be resolved right away. I have asked the gentlemen by PM who have had this recent trouble to help me with this important problem I need to solve right away if they can tell me the dates that they wrote us I can check our "sent" file and see if our staff responded to them and you and if so maybe the ISP or email providers may of sent our replies right to the junk mail file which happens a lot these days due to much more sensitive filters due to spaming.

Please if you guys can help please let me know asap...plus we do have a toll free number you can call as well 1-800-291-2798.

Thanks,

Bill
Sportsmens Lodge

Dave:

I cannot comment on the hotel's you mentioned specifically as with few exceptions I always stay at the hotel Del Rey. But one comment I will make about hotels in Costa Rica in general is that they do not track repeat customers as hotels do in the US. Back in the early 80s and 90s I'd make four to six trips to the Riviera in Vegas a year I have not stayed there since 1996 but to this day I get brochures from them in the mail offering special rates on rooms.

In the past 10 years I have made uncountable trips to the Del Rey. Not as many as some on this board but far more than most. Up until my last trip in August 06 I have never in any way been greeted, recognized or thanked for my repeated business. Included in the e-mail confirming my last reservation was a paragraph thanking me for my return trip to the Del Rey and saying how happy they are that I chose to come party with them again. Yes it's a little thing but yes it did make me feel good.

Lee

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PS: DO NOT SEND MONEY!

One Note: For the last couple of weeks, remember there was an undersea cable that was cut causing many outages throughout ICE and all of Latin America with Internet being slow & many messages never getting through.

This happened to me on more than one occasion contacting persons on the Latin American Cable systems. I would give whoevery you contacted another shot as it very well could be a Internet issue rather than a CSR related issue.

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

Admin 1,

You know that I do not post lightly. This was and has not been an example of a short term problem or a situation where something has happened that would explain the non-response. The responses that I have been given from the hotels just does not rise to what would be expected or desired.

I am a little upset about the response of the hotels that I have received. I got one email that seems to show sympathy for what I am saying but then the almost exact email is posted on this site. Please at least be original to me while you are protecting your interest on the site. I receive another email indicating that my recent email was only recently sent to the responder. I do not understand as the first contact was made with an auto-response type system where I know that my contact was received almost immediately.

I am sorry but I do not believe that it is a computer system failure. I do not know what it is but it does not make sense to me.

Have a Great Day,

Dave

I booked my Super Bowl trip through Nixon @ Amon Plaza. Within 30 min. of my email , I had a resopnse from him.Same from the Sportsman on later dates.

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its the land of hoodoo , voodoo & all kinds of wierd shit.

I've always had good response from both the Castillo and SL.
Tony from CasaVino is very good at getting back to you as well.

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Butchering the Spanish Language since 2005

I just booked the prez with no problem. Also, Darren from the Castillo was very prompt on my email. I almost forgot, I received a response on the same day from the Amon.

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She is so hot I will drink her bath water!!

Always had superb communication with Presidente and Castillo. SL on the other hand, always seemed to be hit and miss.

To me, email communication is critical. I personally hate the hassle of making phone calls to book rooms/confirm rooms, often getting charged long distance fee's. That, and the fact that I have the hardest time getting a clear precise phone line into any of those countries.

For me, email just makes more sense. Everything is right there in front of you and theirs no she thought he said this or whatever.

I agree completey with Jmacula's post and have had the same consistent results with the Pres and Castillo.

Hotel Presidente had been my hotel of choice but it no longer has the same feel it once had for me, for many reasons.

Hotel Castillo's staff is incredible! They could work on the breakfast buffet a bit, but other than that I find this as a great affordable option. Sonny's Bar and Grill has a depressing atmosphere, the food sucks too.

Hotel Neuvo Johnson is the cheapest option for those travelers on a budget that wouldn't mind experiencing a Tico hotel. $10 a night, cash. It's a dump but if you want to book frequent trips per year you can't beat it.

Have never stayed at SL but if I'm in town for the Labor Day weekend again next year I may book there. It was ground zero for all the festivities and walking from Hotel Neuvo Johnson to SL ever day tired me out.
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"i'm in love with a whore and i don'te even know it." - Traylor Park

I recently stayed at the Castillo and Darren was very prompt in answering my emails. Also, had very good responses from Maria at the Prez when I last stayed there.

have booked several stays at the prez and have always gotten a reply within 1 day