InterContinental Costa Rica at Multiplaza Mall by IHG — Hotel in San Rafael

We dressed up and made a special trip on Thursday, April 17, to dine at Pimento, a restaurant we had genuinely enjoyed during our extended two-week stay at the hotel in the past. We enjoy the restaurant and the food there and were excited to come back, we could have gone to Andiamo La instead - at least there, they know how to treat their guests. ||We started with a drink at the bar and then we headed to the restaurant and there at the host stand was Jose, who introduced himself as the sommelier and also the manager. When we arrived at the restaurant around 7:15 PM, there were at least five open tables and only two reservations on the books. We didn’t have a reservation, but it was clear that space was not an issue.||So, it truly caught us off guard when we were told, “Sorry, tonight is reservation-only.”|No didnt even try. No suggestion to wait or see. Just a flat "No." - he told us that we can dine at the other 2 restaurants which frankly irritated me more the way how it was delivered because we are not there just to eat, we are there to intentionally dine at this particular restaurant. The body language was such in a hurry and ready to walk away and go back to the floor. ||From a hospitality standpoint, this was deeply disappointing. We were already on property, dressed for dinner, and clearly ready to dine. As returning guests who had previously supported the hotel and its dining venues including events, it felt incredibly dismissive to be turned away despite the availability of multiple open tables. ||To make matters worse, as we walked back to our car, confused and disappointed, we checked OpenTable and easily found a reservation for 7:30 PM, with plenty of availability showing. We made the reservation, turned around, and walked right back in. It was frustrating and honestly a bit embarrassing. Jose came back and was surprised that we were able to make a reservation. Instead of apologizing and just rectifying the issue right away, he made more excuses and it just made us more upset. Embarrassing that we had to argue with him while the guest was arriving. ||We couldn't understand why the manager would choose to let us walk away instead of simply seating us. His explanation was that the tables were being held in case hotel guests decided to come down but even he wasn't certain those guests had any intention to dine. So essentially, we were turned away for guests who hadn’t shown up or committed. At that point, we decided why will give this restaurant our business? they clearly don't want us, so we walked away instead and we will never come back and not just that, we will share to our friends our experience. ||This experience didn’t reflect any hospitality — it reflected someone who was following policy over guest experience. Hospitality is about reading the moment, not just the rules. We were there. We were ready. The tables were available. The message we received, instead, was “You’re not important enough to seat unless you’re on a list.” That isn’t what hospitality should...

My husband and I visited this hotel for three nights as part of a Tauck tour. We enjoyed our stay. ||Diego at the front desk was kind enough to Xerox a required health form for me when our tour company did not give us enough forms. ||The room was attractive and comfortable. We had glass glasses in the bathroom, a perk that I appreciated. There was a coffee maker that we did not use. I liked having 3 waste baskets: one each for the toilet room, sink, and bedroom. ||Our room on the sixth floor overlooked the pool and some nice landscaping and had a good view of mountains. ||Every meal we ate at the restaurant was very good or excellent. The dinners were especially good. The first night we ate at Pimento Italian. The second night we ate at the Market Cafe. ||The lobby and first floor common spaces were spacious and pleasant. ||We enjoyed sitting in the first floor bar which blended into the lobby. The service was very good. I enjoyed trying local beer. We never sat outside on the veranda but it looked nice due to the pretty landscaping. Some people who ate at Pimentos sat outside. ||A Costa Rican-American businessman I met in the plane said his San Jose (tech?) company holds special events at Pimentos.||The bed in our room was either too soft or worn out, although I did not feel any springs. We prefer a firmer bed.| |For some reason our room smelled. Maybe that is a consequence of a tropical climate. On the whole the hotel and our room were quite clean.||Fellow travelers visited a shopping mall several blocks away for dinner. As I recall they were not impressed with the mall restaurants. I am glad we are at the hotel. ||I would stay at this hotel again when visiting San Jose. It is out in the suburbs. ||We arrived in San Jose a day before our tour began. During our free day my husband and I Ubered to the wonderful Jade Museum and the very good National Museum of Costa Rica. We also Ubered to the small collection at the National Museum of Costa Rican Art, housed in a very attractive former airport terminal. (The local businessman I met on the plane told me Uber is officially illegal so one passenger should sit in the front seat to make the vehicle look like an ordinary car.) As part of our Tauck tour we visited the very good Gold Museum and the interesting...

This hotel is one of the best in San José however it is in dire need of renovations. We stay here at least once or twice a year and have been noticing this issues for some time now. Carpets look old and in some places (both halls and room) they are lumpy. The rooms look somewhat dated also and in general it looks like it doesn't get much maintenance. You can see damaged doors or ceilings in some places and in general the rooms don't feel so taken care of. It feels very different from the first floor where every thing is very up kept.

What made us uncomfortable in this stay is that we first got assigned room 224. When we got there the room was evidently smaller (easily 20% smaller than a regular room) so we first call guest services for help, they said they would call us back but didn't. So my GF went back to the lobby and the receptionist told her she was wrong that all rooms have a standard size. The problem with this is 1 he was implying my GF was lying and 2 we know this place and the room IS smaller. After some time he found a room we could change to and sent a bellman with us which confirmed the room is in fact smaller (it even has a crooked mirror as it doesn't fit in the wall.) After we changed rooms everything was better.

Regarding food we had dinner at The Factory and it was just superb, couldn't ask for something better. And we need to add that the staff at The Factory is simply the best. Breakfast however we think it has decreased it quality over time and it lacks consistency in what they serve. For instance sometimes the have sausages and sometimes bacon, before they had both (and they did have bacon available because I saw several a la carte plates done with bacon.) Cheese quality is now different, etc. Just little things that make the difference. In general now it feels way overpriced. Also for room service I would suggest having the Zambra Bar menu available as we couldn't see all options comfortably and ended up just having some wine instead of a cocktail.

Last but definitely not least it is a true shame the Executive Pass is no longer available. It made such a difference for us. I can truly say we went from being there at least once every two weeks to maybe once a...