Look, I love the SL. Everybody loves the SL. It's my hotel of first choice when I travel to Costa Rica.
I was confronted with a couple problems in my room ("El Rey), and I want to tell you how the hotel handled them.
Problem 1: The room and sometimes the hall outside ) were permeated by what I can only describe as a dead fish odor. I do not agree with management's assessment that the smell came from the kitchen, which is very close to the room; if the fish smell came from the kitchen, I would expect other smells as well (bacon, coffee, fryer grease etc.). This odor to me smelled more like fish emulsion fertilizer, and since the next door neighbor was landscaping his lawn, this seemed a more logical explanation than grease traps or a bad ventilator in the kitchen. But hell, what do I know? What was done to resolve the problem? Bill told me that they cleaned the grease traps in the kitchen. Although I thought I smelled the odor afterwards, it was certainly better after they thoroughly cleaned the grease traps.
Problem 2: This one is more serious. I was in the suite three nights before I discovered that the keylock to the room's entry door was broken. The door would appear to lock, but a simple twist of the knob reopened the door. This means that anyone might have had access to my living space and my stuff until I discovered the malfunction. In fact, the discovery of a used condom on the bathroom floor was what prompted examination of the lock. I reported the problem to Carlos at the front desk and received adequate compensation, but I was never told the result of examination of the security camera tapes My belief is that some opportunistic hooker turned a trick in my room while I was occupied in the bar. It certainly was not Vera the room maid's fault; the bathroom floor was absolutely clean earlier in the day. The logical conclusion since the condom wasn't mine, is that the room was used by someone to knock off a chunk while I wasn't there. Thankfully, none of my possessions were touched. Once discovered, the lock problem was immediately repaired. And I mean immediately. Turns out it wasn't a lock problem at all, but a loose strike plate. Tightening two screws did the trick.
Finally, the terrace (and I wonder if that's a bad name for the space; it's more like a bodega attached to the kitchen) was almost unusable because of construction dust. It was not a pleasant sitting space. I don't blame housekeeping here; the amount of dust would have required an additional hour of cleaning per day to remedy. I therefore never complained about it.
On the plus side: SL continues to serve excellent food, offer great service and ambience, has the best English-speaking staff in the area and is just plain good. 24 hour armed security, great beds, good folks and very reasonable prices for gringo-style amenities bring me back to the SL again and again.
My suggestion to Bill would be this: I know you're preoccupied with building the mansion section and getting the permits etc. done, but the rest of your house could use a deep cleaning and some rudimentary maintenance. To my mind, there's no excuse for the broken room lock. While the permits for the newest section are being processed, how about paying some attention to cleaning, maybe some new linens/towels for the old section and the "new" section behind the bar? Just a thought.
I will stay at the SL again. I really love the place, and I know that any minor problems will be handled by management. Thanks SL people for another great stay. Asta... I want to have your baby.
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