We stayed in the Gran Hotel the last 3 days of our visit to Costa Rica because of the central location in downtown San Jose. We enjoyed the nicely decorated square where we could watch the gathering of people enjoying the Christmas decorations and bringing their young children to feed the pigeons. The location put us in walking distance of the local points of interest. Our room was on the front side of the hotel and it was nice to be able to look out upon the square but beware of the noise. I was forced to wear earplugs in order to sleep. Even after the noise died down, the traffic light "chirped" the entire night. Taking a shower was a challenge - constantly adjusting the water going from cold to hot to hot to cold. There is a certain quaintness to this old hotel and service from employees was cordial, price and location was right but don't expect modern.

First let's start with the room: Boiling hot with no AC, cracked caved-in tile in the bathroom, no hot water and a trickle at that, bed as hard as a rock.
Now let's move on to the customer service or complete lack there of.
Our flight was delayed and we would be arriving in Costa Rica a day late, so we requested to change our reservation to our last night in San Jose through Orbitz. Was on the phone with Orbitz multiple times to request and confirm the reservation change which they ensured us went through. When we arrived at the hotel they said they had never received our reservation through Orbitz. I showed them the printed confirmation to no avail. They suggested we contact Orbitz to which we replied to use their phone. The front desk staff said they were unable to make international calls, which is laughable for a supposedly top tier hotel. They told us to go outside and find an internet cafe. Did not offer to hold our bags. After getting in touch with Orbitz again we returned to the hotel to finally get into our room. We were then told the hotel was 100% booked. Finally someone from Orbitz contacted Dixon, the operations manager who said he would work something out for us. We waited a total of 2 hours standing in the lobby until we were finally given a room. We requested an upgrade for our wasted time and were merely given nods and smiles in reply. I would be scared to see what our original room looked like if the room we were given was truly an upgrade. It was one of the most uncomfortable rooms I have ever stayed in in my life.
Instead of being treated like guests we were treated like unwelcome beggars. An overall awful experience.

I'm sure this place was amazing in the 30s, but now it's time for a few upgrades. Don't be fooled by their beautiful lobby...that's the bait and the hook. Service at reception was terrible. The thought of sleeping on the floor crossed my mind when I laid down on the hard mattress. The room was hot all night from the vents blowing hot air straight into the tiny tiny window that had a view of...the vents. San Jose gets chilly at night, but this night I slept without sheets. Breakfast wasn't good. Sorry I'm not being creative right now. If you want a nice Hotel go down the street to Hotel Presidente.

We stayed twice at the Gran Hotel Costa Rica on our trip over the holidays. The first time was fine and we liked the location of the hotel so despite the service we booked it again for our departure which we now regret.

After one night in the Gran my girlfriend and I both woke up with bed bug bites up and down our bodies. It was disgusting. When I approached the front desk to let them know that they had a bed bug problem, they did not show a sign of concern. This is obviously not the first time this has happened. I would highly advise avoiding this hotel.