Country Inn & Suites By Radisson, San Jose Aeropuerto, Costa Rica — Hotel in Ulloa

So far, I am loving my stay at County Inn & Suites. Since I don’t speak Spanish, they have been going out of their way to help me out. Here are some tips to maximize your stay. First, if you want to take advantage of the free airport shuttle, you need to email them ahead of time with the details of your itinerary. The shuttle comes once an hour, but I believe it only comes if requested, and it helps if your name is on the list if people they are expecting. The shuttle is a white van with the name of the hotel on the side. It picks up at the airport in front of the Malinche Restaurant, which is just to the right as you exit the hotel. It is also where the taxi drivers are and where a lot of other hotel and rental car shuttles pick up. You will probably be inundated with people asking you if you want a taxi, but you can politely tell them no, gracias. I flew in on a Monday at 11:11 am. It took me 90 minutes to get through immigration. My shuttle ended up getting there about 15 minutes late, but other than that the ride was great.

As for the free breakfast, it is also great. They will seat you, and then it is essentially buffet-style. When you are done you can just leave your plates on the table unlike some buffets where you clean up your dishes. You do need to give them your room number. Today, I just said “no hablo espanol” (I don’t have a Spanish keyboard) and they found someone who spoke English to explain the set up to me. However, tomorrow I plan to try to do it in Spanish. Now that I know the setup, I know the Spanish numbers for 1-10, and I no si and no, and I also know cafe is coffee. I think that should be enough to get me through, and I actually do want to try to learn a little Spanish while I am here.

As a heads up, the one problem I have had is there was no elevator to my room, so I did end up carrying my luggage up the stairs. However, it was able to figure it out, and so far everything else about my stay has...

My first hotel stay (solo) was very good. I booked a standard Queen room for 1 person. I was given a huge multi-chambered room with a queen bed (and a loft with 2 single beds) with a spectacular courtyard view. The cost was delightful and assumed to be so because of our travel club benefits.

I was extremely elated to share this amazing find with my husband so I booked us again 2 weeks later. It was 80% more expensive but I believed it to be due to the difference of booking a "King" room this time. This room was radically less impressive. A small 15' x 15' single-bed room with a bathroom and a view of the side of the adjoining business yard.

We were shocked and immediately suspicious of why such a strong difference. I then went to the front desk for some clarity and the hotel Manager offered an explanation of, the first stay was an upgrade ... to which I was completely unaware of up to this point. The upgrade was neither asked for or indicated as an upgrade by the attendant at the first visit.

The manager only offered a room of the same size but with different view, for the same price. Still completely unacceptable.

I would have been extremely dissatisfied with the excessive cost of this meager room at the lowest price and NEVER would have booked a second stay had I known what the actual room was up front. Tha Manager had no interest in finding a mutually satisfying outcome to this upset. Based on the principles of gross misrepresentation and excessive cost for unsatisfactory accommodations we took a chance that the prepaid booking would be refunded and chose to leave.

I would simply never reccomend this...

Location was key, and we appreciated access to the airport shuttle- however booking the shuttle was difficult. Called the week before and was told to do it when I checked in. Day before we were to arrive got an email saying we must Prebook shuttle. Called again and was told not to worry do it when we arrived. Noted at this point that it was running at limited times for free; and every hour at the 15 minute mark. Luckily this worked well for us however traffic was bad at 715 on Saturday am and we sat nearby on the highway- so it you’re tight for time go the earlier hour.

Overall, had this of been more than 1 nights stay we would not have stayed. Echoing others reviews about the inconsistency of the rooms: family members stayed the week before and the night after without issue or complaints. Our room on Friday March 14 smelt strongly of bleach initially, but after returning from dinner we could smell musty mould. The odour was almost unbearable when the bathroom door open. The door to the room had a large opening to the right of it so light was constantly let in from the hallway. The air conditioning unit turned off/malfunctioned with a bright red light and beeping noise every few minutes all night long. The floor appeared clean but turned our white socks black. The bathroom sink backed up so much that you couldn’t brush your teeth without it almost filling with water. We opted not to use the shower at all due to the smell in the bathroom. We felt itchy all night, tried to inspect for bugs and couldn’t make anything out however our legs have bites all over them. Strongly suggest washing everything in your...