My husband was bound and determined to find something wrong with this hotel, as when we checked in, the front desk clerk advised him he could not make change for $100 but we could change it at the bank across the street. Unfortunately, the bank was not open until Monday and we checked in on Saturday.
What the clerk did not mention was that San Jose has a problem with counterfeit dollars and therefore they would not break anything over $20 for that reason, but by failing to mention this, my husband assumed the man was just being difficult.

This historic hotel is beautiful! The room is spacious and yes, it can get a little noisy because of the location, however, the noise did not bother this family of 4. The breakfast buffet (which is included) is outstanding. The lunch and dinner prices were expensive by Costa Rican and even some American standards. You can definitely find comparable meals at much better prices elsewhere. (try the Balmoral Hotel). They even changed a $100 bill for us.

The business services area and game room (chess, foosball and billiards) were quite pleasant, free of charge, and available 24 hours/day. We did use the gym once and it's quite well equipped.

Don't buy anything in the hotel gift shop. The prices are astronomical! They wanted $10 (yes, DOLLARS) for a souvenir pencil. It was a plain pencil with a frog and Costa Rica written on it.

The only other drawback to this hotel is that because they are an historical landmark, they do tend to have a snobbier attitude than most other hotels in Costa Rica. While polite, they are not overly friendly.

All in all, though, this hotel is lovely, well maintained, and in a wonderful location. I highly recommend it. Just don't expect the staff to be typical Costa Rican friendly. And don't forget your smaller bills.

I m really think for that price we was book it , we book it via octopustravel.com , was really good deal! The room was really large and clean what we was want it. OK , the room furniture maybe a bit old but well, that was not that important to us. And location is the best you can find in San Jose. Yeah, true it is , there can be noice on the night time, but well, if you want to stay in the middle for everywhere what you expect then ? deffenetly i will book there again when i m go to San Jose. And service there was perfect and very friendly and i m think the breakfast was very yammi!

I was extremely disappointed with my stay at the Gran Hotel Costa Rica and would NOT recommend this hotel to anyone. Minus a few, the staff as a whole was very unhelpful, disagreeable and difficult to work with. It is sad that poor staffing can ruin a stay at a suitable hotel. Unfortunately the management was even worse! When I tried to speak with the two different managers about my concerns I was shrugged off immediately and very rudely. They were impolite and belittling and offered no recourse for their mistakes. The management is setting a very poor example for the rest of the staff to follow. Amenities and room quality varied and were not extremely impressive The hotel is also located in a bad area of San Jose making it difficult to enjoy the city from that location. Gran Hotel needs an attitude makeover before it tries to attract anymore guests. In such a beautiful country I DEFINITELY recommend staying in another one of Costa Rica’s wonderful destinations.

I had read other reviews of the Gran Hotel and was initially hesitant to book a room here, but since we were only in San Jose one night before leaving for the coast, I thought the location was too good to pass up...and it turned out SO WELL. It truly was a jewel in the middle of a busy business district.

We got to the hotel very early on the day of arrival, and as expected our room was not ready. However the staff was kind enough to give us another room to rest for a while and freshen up. That has never happened to me anywhere before! Even at chain hotels where I carry "status".

Every member of the staff that we encountered was beyond helpful and did everything they could to make us comfortable including charging my cell phone for me when my converter didn't work.

I've read in other reviews that the rooms are small, but if you spend a little extra (we spent $100 which by American standards is still extremely affordable), you will get a decent size room, and with the ceiling fans, AC isn't necessary.

Yes, it's on a traffic laden plaza so therefore tends to be noisy. Request a room on the inside of the courtyard or bring earplugs like I did and it will be fine.

It is located in the middle of several attractions that are all walking distance, and architecturally there's nothing close. If you want to experience the history and culture of Costa Rica, this should be your first stop.