www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Stayed in a suite for 3 nights. It was free using Choice Hotel points in my account that were going to expire this year.

The hotel interior is pretty nice, and the lobby is set up nicely. There are some tables and chairs set up where they serve breakfast and there are 3 computers and a couch and large screen TV. There is wireless internet in the lobby. The rooms are exact carbon copies of any room you'd find at any Choice Hotel (ex. Comfort Inn) in the states, down to the colors of the comforter and carpet.

Pros
-location (aside from being next door to HDR, it's a block from Mas X Menos/Ave Central, 2 blocks from Bank of Costa Rica)
-clean
-very good breakfast buffet (3 hot foods (scrambled eggs, gallo pinto, and a 3rd dish that changed daily (yucca, steak and onions, sausage aka hot dog ), plus, 4 types of fresh fruit, cereal, coffee, 2 types of fresh juice, milk, yogurt, toast, croissants.
-good casino on premises
-exchange rate for guests was 505 (bank was 506), but only $100 max
-didn't feel like anybody was judging me or looking down on me (then again, I didn't do the "perp walk" through the lobby with a hooker in high heels)

Cons
-weak in-room internet (1 or 2 bars at best and about 25% of the time I got no signal at all)-not a good choice if you need internet to do anything important
-$25 chica fee (I wasn't going to bring any chicas there anyway, but just wanted to share in case anybody was curious)
-I hate the fact that the windows don't open. No fresh air. That fucken air conditioner (even just set to "Fan") makes me wake up with a sore throat. There's no way to point the air flow away from you.
-my wife bought a souvenir from their gift shop that costs about 5400 colones. She gave the clerk a 10k bill and she couldn't make change. Are you kidding me? They list themselves as a 4star hotel, but they can't break $20 (all they needed was 4k in bills). She ended up giving her 2 red 1k bills, 2 rolls of ¢100 coins (1k each), and some loose change. I just gave the rolled coins back to the bell boy and driver as tips. I know it was only 9am (they opened at 7) but come on.


I still have some more points to use up, so I may stay there again, but I wouldn't pay those prices for those rooms (plus their elevator fee is $25).

The chica fee and no change sounds discouraging.

_________________
PacoLoco: "You pay for it one way or another."
Ace: "Rent everything, do not buy in Costa Rica"

$25.00 to use the elevator is like buying a set of tires from a tire store and then they charge you $5.00 a tire to fill them with air after they mount them.

ELEVATOR FEE? Are you serious? An additional fee to use the elevator? Do they charge you by the floor?

How much extra was it to have an actual key to the room?

Just being facetious...never heard of an elevator fee ... not even in NY and they will ring you up for anything in Manhattan. I need to (or dont need to) stop slumming in 3 & 4 star hotels.

Wow ... at one time I inquired about staying there (Sleep Inn) because of the proximity to everything, but the pricey chica fee sealed the deal as far as looking elsewhere.

Thanks for the heads up.

Amazing

Elevator fee is for chicas.
Regards, 911 Driver

_________________
The happy hour is a device either for getting rid of social obligations hurriedly en masse or for making overtures toward more serious social relationships, as in the etiquette of whoring.- Brooks Atkinson

Code word for chica fee using the HDR as the reference point.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Whew! Thanks for clarifying that. I knew there was a $25 chica fee, but I thought he was speaking of the elevator fee being different.

It still sucks, but atleast I don't have to fear getting a room on the top floor and being charged extra for it LOL!!!

Thanks for the clarity.

good read

I have never stayed there, but I always use it before I book my air if SL doesn't have space. Then I look around for other more favorable establishments without a chica fee. So far, I have always found something else and have just ended up canceling as it is easy to do online.

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OK, I Admit It....I have an Asian Obsession. But I also have a Latina Obsession, too! Perhaps I just have a Pu**y Obsession? -----------------------------------------------------
Next Trip: SJO - April or May??????


Someone PLEASE STOP Me.................LOL