www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Hi everyone..

I am a newbie here and will be coming down from 1/21 thru 1/27. I have read the forum and am just confused. I looked at SL but they seem to be all booked up, so what are my options? I was looking at the Clarion, but am open to the collective knowledge of you experts.

I am looking for (obviously) chica friendly, reasonably priced and a fun atmosphere with a location that puts me close enough to ground zero.

If I can get out of this post without excessive flaming, (':D') I promise a fine, detailed trip report and look forward to possibly hanging out with a few of you.

Peace,

ID

My choice is the Dunn Inn But everyone has thier own preferances The Hotel is a sponsor and there is a link to them in this section
Have a blast amigo

castillo gets my vote

IntelDesign,
If you want to avoid any flaming you might want to avoid signing off with the initials ID. Those initials are already taken by another frequent poster who picks up on every little detail like that. (inside joke, please don't hate me for some gentle ribbing)

To answer your question, the Clarion is a nice hotel but I wouldn't exactly call it a fun atmosphere in the sense of it have a frat atmosphere (though it does have a casino). It is located 1 block from the Little Havana (aka LH or ZB for its former name Zona Blue). Recent pricing and staffing changes has made that place a less desirable place to hang out for me personally, but it is still very popular with many CRTers. Beyond that it is centrally located on the north edge of the city but not overly close to the other usual gathering spots like the SL or BM. If you do decide to stay there be sure to book through Nixon at the Casino rather than through the Clarion website in order to get the best rates AND to avoid their usual chica fees.

As for other alternatives, in the same general area as the Clarion you also have the Inca Real (1 blk to the west), the Casa Vino (1 blk to the south across from LH/ZB) and the Dunn Inn (already mentioned and 1 blk to the east heading towards the New Fantast MP and the SL). I believe all of these places are CRT sponsors that offer discounts to VIP members and are popular with some members. However I don't think I'd call any of them "fun atmospheres" in that sense that you're likely to find any chicas or many fellow CRT members hanging out in the lobby.

Some other alternatives that I might recommend as better fitting YOUR particular criteria as a newbie (close to the action and fun atmosphere) would be either the Hotel Morazon or the Hotel Castillo.

The Morazon is very reasonably priced at under $50/nt with no chica fees. It has a casino in the lobby and a bar with some working girls filtering through but is not exactly a place that I would hang out for a "fun atmosphere", however with the Hotel Del Rey, Blue Marlin and Key Largo (HDR/BM and KL) being only one block away you'll always have a fun atmosphere at your finger tips any time you want to step out.

The Castillo also has rooms starting at under $50 with the CRT and cash discounts and there is never a chica fee there. It is a bit farther away from the ground zero of the HDR/BM being several blocks further north. Most guys would recommend taking a cab to/from there and the BM after dark and that is probably a good idea for a newbie, but I confess I've walked that stretch many times at all hours. What puts this place on my list for you is that it is just a block from the New Fantasy (NF) heading back towards the Clarion and LH/ZB and a block and a half away from the SL going in the other directions. As you already know the SL, has a fun bar with lots of chicas and fellow CRTers to meet (only open until midnight though), so if you don't want to walk or take a cab "all the way" to "ground zero" you can usually just step around the corner to the SL to find playmates. Also the Castillo has a pretty nice bar itself situated outside in the back. They do not allow working girls back there any more but you can often find fellow mongers there to pick up as a wingman or to help show you the ropes.

The Amistad is another very nice hotel that is gaining in popularity with many CRTers. It is also located just a block away from the SL but it is in a direction further away from everything else and is a little pricier than these other 2 hotels I've recommended for you.

I'd vote for Castillo or Amistad.

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La Amistad and ask for a penthouse. You won't regret it.

_________________
Hit them fast, Hit them hard and NEXT!
A good chica is like a good carpenter - No wood gets wasted!!!

JOsie,
I've never actually stayed at the Amistad, though it is certainly a place that I might consider for myself sometime. It also might be very reasonably priced, at least in terms of value for what you get. And it might be ideal for other fellows such as yourself based on YOURS & THEIR criteria. However, I was not trying to answer the question for either you or me or anyone else but for this newbie.

Among his stated criteria was that the place be reasonably priced which I interpreted to mean median priced or less for SJ, not penthouse priced. As such, while the penthouse may well be very wonderful, I'd hardly consider a room with a rack rate of $109/nt to be the best place for this PARTICULAR guy. To be fair, Amistad does have some exceptional CRT discounts, particularly for longer term stays, which bring those rates down considerably, however this poster also stated that his trip was only going to be for 5 nights. That means he "only" gets the 15% daily discount. Offset against the additional room tax and the Penthouse will still cost him nearly $110/nt total. Their cheapest rooms go for $65/nt, which again come out to nearly the same thing after discount and tax. That is certainly a more reasonable rate and that might even be the best deal for this guy. All I know was that I spent 2 nights at the Castillo earlier this week for just $43/nt total and enjoyed being able to walk to the NF only a block away or chat with my CRT buddies in the hotel bar. Relative quality of the rooms aside, I don't think you could make either of those claims about the Amistad.

Hello Intel Design! Welcome to CRT.

There have been many good repliess here already. Depending upon your price point (and don't forget to add 16.5% hotel taxes to any price you're quoted), there are a number of options, although none have the "fun atmosphere" of a Sportsmen's Lodge or Hotel del Rey.
Just to make it clear when discussing hotel options:

The following hotels are all north of the Hotel Del Rey/ Key Largo/Monkey Bar/New York Bar enclave by around 5-9 blocks, depending:
Hotel Clarion Amon Plaza
Hotel Inca Real
Hotel Dunn Inn
Hotel Little Havana (formerly Zona Blue)
Hotel Castillo
Hotel la Amistad
Hotel Vesuvio (an inexpenssive new CRT sponsor)
Sportsmen's Lodge
Casa Vino - the small suite on the ground floor is fairly inexpensive, but this is an apartment, not a hotel).

Figure a taxi ride will cost less than $2.00 to/from "Ground Zero" Of the above, the Castillo meets your criteria of price and convivial, if not lively atmosphere.

You have the Morazan or del Rey options of course, as well as the Presidente; of these three, only the Costa Rica Casino Hotel Morazan would be considered a "mid priced" hotel for C.R.

Not to forget: Many guys absolutely love Hotel Freebird. Good CRT discount, particularly if you get one of the regular rooms with shared bath. The suites are reportedly very nice, and Dennis the owner is said to be a great guy. Four blocks south of the Hotel del Rey/Blue Marlin etc. Very close to Bar Idem, Pantera Rosa nightclub, La Mansion and other massage parlors.

All hotels above have security boxes in the rooms for stashing your valuables.

Whichever hotel you choose, be sure to stop by the Sportsmen's Lodge or the HDR and meet up with CRT brothers.

Why not go and post a Roll Call notice, maybe get in contact with other CRT guys who will be in town at the same time you are?

Have a fantastic trip...and be sure to post a trip report when you come home. (important).

_________________
Pura Vulva! Wandering through the dark, I am El Ciego.

Great post ElC.



As always Pro, true to form, jumping to conclusions. You are way out of left field with the above. My post was directed to the newbie, unless you can read my sub-conscious and see something else. You are way off.



Why are you assuming something like this about anybody? To me reasonable price is a penthouse at La Amistad. So why not give him the benefit of the doubt and present all options. I did not say that the Morazon is a shithole, which in my opinion it is, but you gave those as an reasonable option and I did not jump all over you.

The rest of the quote is just too much poppycock about room prices. Your $49 reasonable hotel price range could equate to a miserable time for him. So why are you narrowing assuming the options of hotels? Expand your mind.

_________________
Hit them fast, Hit them hard and NEXT!
A good chica is like a good carpenter - No wood gets wasted!!!

It depends on how you roll. Are you an MP guy? If so you have many cheap options to just sleep at night. If you are more into bringing them to the room, I always like having a nice room. Many times chicas have told me it's especially cool when the room is nice along with the company.

Have fun,

Cujo

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"Pain is the fuel that fans the flames of my pyre. A battle plan is only as good as the general carrying it out on the field. This is my war son, and I have the biggest bombs and the smallest conscience"...

JOsie,
Calm down and don't take what I wrote so personally. If it seemed like I was jumping all over you, I'm sorry. I thought I was just furthering the discussion and adding my views to the topic you brought up. If you want to comment on what I wrote, such as your opinion of the Morazon, I certainly have no problem with that and may offer my response (civilly of course) to whatever you care to write. That is why this is called a discussion forum. But first let me clarify my last post.

First of all, if you read the first 2 sentences in my post again you should see where I basically allowed that the penthouse could be considered a reasonable price FOR an upper end room and might be a great deal for someone who wants such a room. However, out of the 4 criteria that Intel listed none indicated a desire for a higher end room. So I think my interpretation of what he meant by reasonably priced was entirely reasonable.

Secondly, if you reread my post you'll see I wound up writing "median priced or less" not lower end. Maybe median priced rooms seem like shit holes or equate to a miserable time for you but by definition they are more than adequate for most guys and most likely to this guy who made no mention at all of any minimum room quality standards. BTW, you may have failed to notice that I also included the standard rooms at the Amistad, which ARE median priced and more than $49 as a possible reasonable solution for Intel.

Finally, the entire point of my post was that what is great for one person may not be the ideal for someone else. Perhaps I was wrong in assuming you were just answering with what you like personally rather than taking careful consideration the particular criteria of this newbie, but it is not like you laid out your reasons for your particular recommendation against those criteria. In my post, I gave fair consideration to rooms in different price ranges and offered my recommendations that were clearly based on someone else's criteria other than my own. So who really needs to expand their mind here?

And now as to your latest comment about the Morazon, I'll grant you that it may well seem like a shit hole, particularly to someone used to staying in penthouses. I haven't stayed there in a long time myself. As I remember it, it definitely wasn't the nicest place I ever stayed but the rooms were adequate. Being priced at less than just about all of the other hotels listed so far in this thread, one shouldn't expect their rooms to be quite as nice as any of those other places. OTOH, as mediocre as they were, IMHO, their rooms were at least as nice as the cheapest rooms at the nearby HDR despite those rooms being considerably more expensive than those at the Morazon. Again the rooms aren't great but they are reasonably priced in the sense that they're more affordable than any others discussed thus far. And their proximity to the "fun atmosphere" of "ground zero", criteria explicitly mentioned by Intel, is also far greater than any of the other options. Finally, if those rooms are too downscale for Intel, there is a long range of reasonably priced places where some room should prove more than adequate short of staying in a room that costs over $100/nt. Just my humble opinion, YMMV.

I can't begin to express how the quick responses make me feel like I'm part of something good here. So before I get all misty..

Lots of good points raised in the responses. To clarify, I am not looking for the bargain basement necessarily, I would like to go to the $100 neighborhood at the top end. If I can find better for less, so be it.

As Jadcujo mentioned, I think it depends on my plans. I would prefer to bring the chica back with me, so no chica fees are important, but would like somewhere that doesn't remind me of the pit I am in here in an unnamed country that you hear about on the news. So a little upscale is good, but not so much that it impacts my other parallel (Chica) budget.

As to distance, I would always prefer closer to the fun, but since i haven't been there, I can't really say how far is far. If that makes any sense.

I have been reading about the HLH and wondered if that might be a good option?

So thanks again and I will read all the responses and rely on the collective wisdom of those who have been there and done that.

Peace,

Intel Design

The newer rooms at HLH are around $125/night (less 10% CRT discount) which is a little more than you're shooting for, however when you factor in the $25/hr rate for sessions with the girls (hotel guest rate) you could probably justify it.

Membership:

Hotel review section: warning opinion! Why is there not a permanent thread (I think you call them stickies) in the newbies section for each hotel in and around Ground Zero. You know something like basic room rates, guest fees, available facilities and stuff like that. To include a section where each member can give it a rating from one to nine. Or just something as simple as recommended by blank number of members. It sure would be useful to the new guys and guys who may be thinking about changing hotels. As always just my humble opinion. Two weeks minus two days away from my favorite hotel.

Lee

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Orange put together a pretty good list in his newbie thread- https://costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16357

IntelDesign based on your criteria my choices would be in this order:
SL (new section)
La Amistad
Clarion Amon
HDR

I'd put the Presidente #3 but doubt you can get any discount after 12/31 so that would put them out of your price range.

PS
Lee you didn't tell us what is your favorite hotel

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