Montes de Oca Hotels with Airport pickup service

We stayed at this hotel at 3 occasions between February and March 2024 and it is a good hotel for a short stay. Rooms, amenities, breakfast, ..., all very enjoyable. I would especially like to mention the front desk clerk Andrey Gomez who was very professional and attentive, with a 'let's solve the problem' attitude. This can not be said about our shuttle driver. We needed a shuttle to the airport (outside the hours when it is free) and the driver was late and upped the pre-arranged price en route to the airport. Due to a misunderstanding with my co-passenger (my mistake) I overpaid the driver, who did not blink and cashed the money, giving himself a 50% tip on an already overpriced ride. This person should be fired immediately.

We felt that for an upscale hostel, this place was on a whole, a great experience. My only suggestion is that the rooms need more ventilation. Our 4 person dorm room had a tiny window blocked by the beds. Putting a vent fan in the window would solve this issue. Otherwise, for what it is we loved our 2-night stay here. This was at the end of our 3 week trip and had been to many towns and places across the country, I'd say we met the most friends here and had the best time. The cafe could use more larger/common tables but we were able to meet people easily regardless. They have activities and events to encourage interaction as well as a bar and pizza oven. While these amenities are overpriced, they were convenient and similar to other hotel restaurants/cafes. We didn't feel the staff was pushy at all and if we just wanted to hang out in the cafe we weren't bothered and didn't feel forced to buy something. (and probably because of this, we usually did buy food or drinks) The location was good enough - we could walk to the central market / pedestrian mall in 10 minutes. It's walkable (during daytime) from the 7-10 bus station and the Tuasa bus to the airport. The co-working space we felt was a good value, and fantastic. High powered wifi can support video meetings and it's just across the street. Also somewhat social and a good environment to work. The staff and regular patrons were amazing and we felt that we had new friends as soon as we arrived. The place had a warm feeling that I can't quite describe, created by both the staff and the guests. We didn't want to leave.

We stayed for one night after arriving in San Jose. We got a taxi from the airport, which took about half an hour to get to the hotel. The hotel is really big and spacious, the rooms were comfortable, and we particularly enjoyed the lovely pool area outside where we could relax with drinks from the bar.

I appreciated that the room was spotlessly clean, with all sorts of amenities. The staff was very proactive and helpful, and the location right across from the airport was the main reason I chose it. The problem, though, is that our room (#135) had no window curtains to block out light. All it had was a flimsy screen that you could easily see through. I imagine anyone passing by the first floor room would have been able to see inside the room, because it was easy to see outside through the screen. At night-which comes very early in the tropics-the light from eight powerfully bright lights in the parking lot lit up our room. There was no way to darken the room, the light was so bright you could have read by it. None. Hence I got NO sleep because the room was lit up. Please, put up black out curtains.

We stayed in this hotel in March 2023 for one night. The staff at the front desk were superb, and the room was clean. The hotel is extremely close to the airport, which makes it a great place to stay for your first night in Costa Rica. Noise from the hallways did carry into the rooms, but other than that, everything was great!

The hotel was clean and comfortable with great food and good service. We were there for 3 nights at the beginning of our trip and 1 night at the end. The staff accommodated our early check in on our last stay, which we very much appreciated. We also had relatives visit us in the lobby and they were very accommodating with moving the furniture around for us to be comfortable. There was a lot of variety for breakfast! We would definitely stay again, if in Costa Rica.

Thanks to Trip.com staff for coordinating the check-in time and adjusting the quiet room in time. The front desk staff of the hotel has a young lady's professionalism and is better to find the staff to connect to Wi-Fi in time.

PROS: Very clean, air conditioned and modern for a good rate. Wifi and decent breakfast included. The stromanthe triostar plants in the lobby were very nice. CONS: Staff is miserable and takes no accountability for customer service. Stephanie literally lies to your face and tries to overcharge you. Examples: -”oh your safe is broken? just reset with code 123456.” nope. the safe code was set by a previous guest and left open so this didn't fix the problem. We had to take all our valuables on a 13 hour tour because of this - very inconvenient. -”oh, you need another towel because we only gave you 2 despite 3 people in the room? we'll send someone up right away”. no one ever shows. when you call back, if they ever pick up, they say the same thing. -”your shuttle from the airport is confirmed and the driver will have a sign with your name on it” nope; after a long trip we had no one to pick us up. The driver didn't have my booking (he had another name on the sign), so he called the hotel and they confirmed nothing had been booked for us. -”well there's no booking because you obviously have to book it in advance; how would we know you need a shuttle?”. Excuse me? Yes, in fact, I did book it in advance and showed them the email chain (7 emails) with her own confirmation 3 days earlier! -”ok so you found the driver, perfect”. No, not perfect as we've been searching in the sweltering heat, walking up and down through the crowds for 45 minutes with a small child after a long trip. An apology, not a dismissal would be more appropriate in this situation. After speaking to the driver and Stephanie (we are still in the heat outside the airport), Stephanie who confirmed the booking by email then blamed her colleague who in fact didn't book it, And, they still charged us $16 USD for it - which was like rubbing salt in the wound. -”it will be an additional $20 USD for the shuttle” - when they previous told me $16 USD (thankfully in writing) -”it will be $16 USD to have a child in the room” - when my confirmation clearly shows children stay free (thankfully in writing) -guests aren't ”allowed to use the stairs”; long wait for the elevator

Excellent location 10-15 minutes walk the the Zoo/Botanic Garden, city parks, museum and Chinatown Walking distance to the city Main Street shops Next door to Club Colonial ****** for sport bar and entertainments Locate take out or eat in Airport Shuttle pick up and drop off USD11.50 per person Private Taxi normally USD25

The room was big, clean, quiet, and the breakfast was great!