******* wrote:
Finding the right hotel can be tricky if you've never been to San Jose. Here's a brief summary of the local hotel landscape as of Feb. 2013. As with everything I say, YMMV.
1. Hotel Amistad – This is a very well managed hotel. Girl friendly, excellent rooms, a managerial staff that genuinely cares about your experience, and excellent breakfast. Measures have been taken to minimize or eliminate the noise from the nearby train. TL and CRT members, as well as long-time clients enjoy a discount.
2. Mona Lisa – This place has the brightest of futures. An upscale option on the end of gringo row. Opposite side of the gulch from the Rey. Very nice rooms, elegant lobby, reasonably priced. This place is both girl friendly and eager to please. They are going through the new hotel learning curve, otherwise they’d be number one. Adding Guy Grand as customer service manager certainly didn’t hurt. TL and CRT members enjoy a 10% discount on room, food and beverage.
3. Hotel Little Havana – This is a boutique hotel with nice rooms and a very friendly environment. It has more promotions than is humanly possible to remember, and a decent line-up of talent in the bar on most days. Reasonably priced to boot. TL and CRT members enjoy varying discounts.
4. Sportsmen’s Lodge – This is a well run hotel with a great bar scene. While it’s a competitor’s headquarters, it still warrants a worthy mention for the effort ownership puts forward to provide a memorable stay. Downsides are the courtyard rooms are too noisy for any kind of pleasant sleep, the girls crowd the computers in the RFM room behind the bar, and the service can be a little slow. CRT members enjoy a 10% discount on room, food, and beverage.
5. Hotel Cocal – This place made short work of the Beetle Bar. With a well run hotel, condo options, a lively poolside bar scene, and casino to entertain its clients, this place has the right mojo for the long term. TL members enjoy a 20% discount on rooms.
6. Sleep Inn – This place is overpriced. But it is clean and centrally located. Charges a $35 guest fee, and runs about $90 per night for single room occupancy.
7. Hotel Freebird – This is not so much of a hotel, as a private home with an annex of guest rooms. A couple nice rooms, and some other clean rooms that share a bathroom. The owner is very helpful in providing a great experience. High cleanliness standards are maintained. Drawbacks are shared bathrooms and location away from gringo row. TL and CRT members are offered a discount.
8. Dunce Inn – This place is a testament that a nice hotel and bad management still equals a bad hotel. Clean rooms next to an empty, albeit very nice restaurant and bar with terrible service. You can be the only diner, with 3 waitresses, and still not get a drink in 20 minutes. And you’ll have to wait until they finish their conversation to get your change. CRT members are offered a 10% discount after a little arguing.
9. Hotel Hemingway – This place has seen better days, and not lately. Tired, old rooms, cheap beds, cheap everything. The place needs to be completely remodeled, but as long as there are guys that can be talked into paying their entire stay upfront so they can't check out after one night, they will carry on. TL and CRT members are offered a 20% discount.
10. Hotel Castillo – If you take a nice hotel, and ignore doing any kind of upkeep or repairs for several years, you have the Hotel Castillo. This place was once very nice. Years of neglect and indifference have taken their toll. A $35 room that is marked up to $79 can be discounted by 25% for TL and CRT members.
11. Hotel Del Rey – This hotel is kept alive by its lobby and bar scene. Every inch of the hotel shows signs of repeated wear and tear. Tired, worn out rooms, a staff of formerly attractive barmaids who generously buy themselves top shelf liquor (kool aid) on your tab, this group of chubby sharks can’t be bothered to clean tables between clients. I haven’t had a drink in over 20 years, and I’ve had these jackals insist that I ordered multiple shots of patron when I disputed a bar tab. With the Mona Lisa and Sportsmen’s Lodge offering a night scene, there’s really no ‘non-sheep’ reason to go there.
12. Hotel Morazan – I would stay at the Morazan if the trannies woke me up and told me I couldn’t sleep in the park. This place is an absolute dump. It’s proximity to the Rey is the only thing keeping it from being completely empty. Truly the trailer park of the gulch.
More to follow...
Sportsmens Lodge....."While it’s a competitor’s headquarters"Very nice words regarding SL, however with this quote on CRT from another web site with CR forum owner?
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