Laura's Place — Hotel in Alajuela

The woman who runs this location is very professional. Everything is very clean and she cooks a delicious breakfast!

I found the whole experience to be very business-like. Many cabinas/hostels that I stayed at in Costa Rica, I felt like family or friends. Here, I felt like a customer. However, like a customer who was treated well. It just depends on what your preference is in a hostel.

The breakfast was homemade and really delicious! The rooms were decorated nicely and the beds were comfortable. The shared bathroom I used was clean and happened to be close to my room.

One thing that bothered me is that the owner became angry at me when I had problems. I politely brought up my concerns, and she seemed to think I was blaming her, when I simply wanted to let her know. It's true the problems may not have been her fault - they could have been my fault, or the fault of another entity, but I wish she could have nicely explained things to me rather than getting angry.

FYI - if you book online on a third party entity and they charge your credit card, then just let the payment go through the credit card. Don't pay in cash when you arrive. I paid in cash and my credit card was still charged (probably because of how their system was set up with that entity). My credit card company helped fix it, but to save yourself the hassle, if you already gave them your credit card information online, don't pay in cash, just let it go through the credit card online & get...

Our experience with Lajuela BnB & Hostel (that’s the name on Booking.com) was unfortunately disappointing. We travel frequently and book accommodations regularly, but we have never encountered such an unusual booking procedure. A day before our stay, the host suddenly requested that we send $100 via PayPal as a deposit for potential damages and gave us only three hours to do so. On top of that, they changed the booking date without our consent.

After checking, we found that this requirement was indeed mentioned in the fine print on Booking.com under "Important Information." However, it was never communicated to us directly at any point until the day before our arrival. This is highly uncommon, as deposits are typically handled through a credit card, and such policies should be made clearer upfront. Because of this unexpected demand, we decided to cancel our reservation.

Instead of responding with understanding, we received a rude message from the host, making negative remarks about us as foreigners. We found this very unprofessional.

If you are considering booking here, I highly recommend carefully reading the terms and conditions to avoid...

I flew into Costa Rica quite late and had booked one night here as it was close to the airport, with the intention of leaving the next morning to meet a friend. I ended up getting quite sick with food poisoning (from the place I had been before) and staying an extra night. From the very beginning of my stay the host Laura really went above and beyond - initially she gave me tons of useful information from where to eat locally to tipping practices and how to convert dollars to colones in my head. When I got sick they were super nice about me not checking out that day. Additionally the breakfast here is amazing (tea, coffee, juice, eggs/pancakes, fruit etc), the beds (I stayed in a private double) are huge and comfortable and the bathrooms really clean. ||||As a traveller who got unexpectedly sick having just arrived in a new country, it would have been so easy to feel overwhelmed and confused had I not had the help of Laura and everyone else at this hostel. The location is perfect - in Alajuela, near shops, close to airport. They also gave me advice on how to get to La Fortuna by public bus which was extremely useful....