Hotel Aranjuez — Hotel in Carmen

I have stayed at the Aranjuez hotel in San Jose for the last 17 years whenever I am in San Jose. I have a rental home in Costa Rica and have recommended the hotel to many of my guests as well. However, tonight’s stay has been a complete nIghtmare! They put me in a room right next to their restaurant. They assured me it closes at 9 and this wouldn’t be a problem. I need to get up 5 am to leave the country. So I was surprised when there was a large raucous party of several people seated right outside my bedroom door around 8 pm. A child in the party was screaming non stop at the top of their lungs and others in the party were talking very loudly to be heArd over the screaming. There was lots of dish clattering and noise. I am sure the large group was just having fun and dealing with having a difficult child in the group, which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t right outside my door. I went and talked to the night manager close to 9 m and asked if he could ask them to be a little quieter. He said the restaurant closes at 9 so it won’t be a problem much longer. They eventually left, around 10pm and then the noise started up in the kitchen. Very loud shouting amongst the workers and things being banged around. I called the front desk and asked to be moved to another room. He said the hotel was full and it wasn’t possible but the Restaurant workers should have left by now and he would talk with them and tell them to wrap it up. It was still going on at 11:15 so I called again. Still unbelievable noise coming out of the kitchen, banging clanging, dragging things. Voices shouting over the noise. Next, I went and knocked at the restaurant and asked them to please keep it down, I had to be up early and I couldn’t sleep with the noise. They were a little less noisy for about 3 minutes. Then the same level of noise as before. I called the front desk again and the person who answered acted like they didn’t understand me. I got redressed for a 3rd time and went out and saw the night clerk walking away as he heard me coming. I followed him and told him they hadn’t stopped and I couldn’t sleep. I said this is not okay it sounds like they are right in my room it is impossible to sleep. He said he couldn’t do anything because the owner’s son was there and he had no power. I asked him to call the owner and he said he was out if the area. I asked him to call a manager and he refused. He said talk to them yourself. I told him I had. By this time it was 12:30am. I went to the kitchen again and said, “Please stop! I need to be up at 5 and I can’t sleep! “ the night manager was standing there with me. I again said I want my money back, this isn’t ok. Then went to write this review. They finally wrapped it up at about 12;45. Whatever you do, don’t allow them to give you room number 7. Also, there was a giant centipede smashed into my wall and not cleaned up and I took a photo and there were mosquitos...

Staying at Aranjuez Hotel in San José was an extremely disappointing experience, marked by disorganization, poor customer service, and a level of service far below expectations. We had chosen this hotel expecting a comfortable stay, but the reality was completely different.

The check-in process was a complete disaster. The staff was rude and inefficient, especially a tall, thin man with glasses who made us wait for 40 minutes, repeatedly saying that our room would be ready “in 10 minutes.” In the end, we only got access to our room at 2:45 PM, well past the expected time. During the wait, no one even offered to store our luggage at the reception, showing a total lack of attention to guests.

The biggest disappointment was discovering that our room was not inside the hotel, as indicated at the time of booking, but in a separate building that looked more like a hospital than a hotel. The room, while not old or dirty, was far from welcoming and did not match our expectations at all.

The soundproofing was terrible: we couldn’t sleep all night due to the noise coming from the neighboring room. Additionally, since we were in a separate building, it was impossible to communicate with the reception in case of any issues, making our stay even more frustrating.

The bathroom was also very disappointing: the sink was broken, the shower had visible mold, and the hot water was barely existent, with extremely low water pressure.

To make matters worse, when we asked for directions to the city center, the staff provided very vague and unhelpful information, as if they were annoyed by our questions.

The only positive aspect of our stay was the breakfast, which was served in the hotel’s garden—a pleasant and well-maintained setting. Unfortunately, this was not enough to make up for all the other issues we encountered.

In summary, a completely unsatisfactory stay, far from what we expected. We had booked a hotel room but ended up in an external apartment with numerous inconveniences. Poor service and zero attention to guests. We do not recommend this...

U was in my room with my friends (it was a saturday night) we were in room 30, which is sort of isolated from other rooms and we were talking normally, keep in mind that our room doesnt share any walls or even close to other rooms, one of the staff comes over and says "you are being extremely loud and we need you to be quiet, I understand that other people are probably sleeping, but everyone i saw that day were staying in the hotel (a big german group and then me and my friends and family) the german people were outside on the porch talking and smoking and then my group was mostly out for the night so nothing to worry about. He still told me to be quiet nevertheless. In the mornig we were eating breakfast, the milk was rotten and the the food was bland, someone of our party arrived at 8:30, and moved a table to sit with us, and the staff moved it back, so they asked why they couldnt move the table he said "its just not possible" then the person that arrived from our party arrived with someone else and she asked for some eggs and pinto (rice and beans) but the staff said that they were no longer serving breakfast. They told us that they close breakfast at 9:00 and it was 8:30, so we just had a big blowup with the staff and no one was helping out, so we just left, never again, it was a pretty hotel but...