Irazú Hotel & Studios — Hotel in Uruca

This was my review for the Holiday Inn Express at the airport in San Jose where We booked our layover room well in advance based on the fact this hotel had a 24 hour shuttle and we had limited time to depart and return to airport. We reached out to hotel and received confirmation that, indeed, the shuttle ran every 20 minutes. However, we were delayed by weather and I emailed twice to let hotel know we would require late arrival and I included our arrival time. We waited over 60 minutes for shuttle only to be told the shuttle bus was broken down. Finally a local taxi driver offered to take us there. The front desk then informed us that they had given away our room. But they would send us, at no charge for anything because of the mixup, to another property. The Izaru. Strangely enough, it was the hotels shuttle bus that transferred us to the next hotel. We arrived at a dingy, dark hotel after midnight, was given a room, asked for a 330am wake up call. We also requested a taxi to be called to be at hotel at 3:50 am. We did not receive wake up call. There was no hot water to shower and only one single pkg of coffee in room for 2 people. The taxi had not been booked and we were left til after 4 am, so we boarded the shuttle bus hoping not to miss our flight....shortly after 4 am a taxi came for us so we went in it back to airport. There was no cost to us at the time. However, we were told at the initial hotel that "they would take care of all costs for everything" yet the next day our visa was billed almost $292.38 Cad. We are not people to ever give bad reviews but in this case, after being so proactive ( I can provide the email chain) we are heartily dismayed by our experience at San JOSÉ holiday...

We stayed here for a week for a taekwondo tournament. The hotel arranged our hassle free airport transportation which was nice. Although, they do cram as many people as they can into one van with everyone in seats. The hotel is a little outdated and the rooms do have a weird smell that seems to come from the restrooms. The beds are comfy, and the restrooms seem to be more modern than the exterior and hallways. Housekeeping came and cleaned our rooms and replaced the towels everyday even though we didn't place the door knob notice outside, which was appreciated.

The hotel-provided shampoo is a 2 in1, which unfortunately never works well for us ladies. They also provide body soap and lotion. The rooms have AC which works well, the flat screen TV is nice and a good size. They also offer a safe, coffee maker with Britt coffee and hairdryer.

The hotel free breakfast buffet was the best! With lots of fruit options, coffee, cereal, and a variety of hot foods and made to order omelete station, this was totally worth staying here!

There are restaurants on site as well, Denny's and Sangria Bar. Dennys was EXPENSIVE! But the staff was friendly. Sangria Bar had descent food at average prices but unfortunately the staff could have been A LOT more friendly and helpful. The entire time we stayed here, we only had ONE good experience at the Sangria Bar where our server was extremely nice and attentive. The rest of the time, the servers would purposely ignore us even when we try to wave them down. And unfortunately, the hotel is so far from everything else (restaurant options), we had no choice but to dine here.

The welcome drink coupons is also...

4.5 Stars. This is an excellent hotel in an ideal location within San Jose. There are restaurants like Subway, Denny’s and the in-house Sangrias. There is a supermarket within walking distance as well. Plenty of free parking space with security attendants around the clock. A Britt souvenir gift shop, concierge and an Alamo car rental kiosk are next to the lobby. The open air lobby has plenty of tables and chairs for meeting guests. There’s an internet room with plenty of computers. They have a self service laundromat that could use some new machines. Next to this is a workout room with machines and free weights. The well manicured pool/jacuzzi area is probably the best amenity of the hotel. Even if you don’t go in, it’s beautiful to look at and gives the grounds a refined and tranquil setting. Best Western provides a complimentary warm breakfast every morning. They do mix up the primary elements but you will get eggs and pinto every day. Pinto is black beans and rice mixed together. It’s part of a traditional Costa Rican breakfast. The room is adequate and satisfactory and will remind you that you’re not there to stay in a room all day. For some reason the key cards will not work for your entire stay. Even if kept in a protective sleeve, you will get to your door and have to walk to the lobby to have it restriped. The staff was friendly and helpful and bilingual. The hotel was value priced and I would stay there again and recommend...