I stayed in this hotel for a week for work in San Jose - it is a nice hotel in a not-so-nice location. I didn't know anything about San Jose before this trip, but if I came again I wouldn't stay in downtown San Jose. If you want to shop though then this would be the place to stay - it is close to bars and restaurants and San Jose sites - but go out of San Jose as much as you can - the rest of the country is incredible! That being said - the hotel is nice enough, the rooms are very spacious and clean, and there is free wifi, the staff are helpful and can speak enough English to help you get by, and as previous reviews had suggested, excellent water power in the shower! The coffee in the hotel restaurant is excellent, as is the food - the breakfast buffet is good as well. Friday nights they have live music which is amazing so I recommend going down to the bar. My suggestion to people arriving at the international airport though is not to use the hotel for transfers from the airport if you are arriving late - I arrived very late and the transport never showed up and I was left waiting - just get a taxi from the airport - it should cost you around US$35.

Although touting itself as the "new" Balmoral, this hotel still needs work:

Rooms:
We understand that the "new" Balmoral is consciously "greening" its services and infrastructure, but when bedroom and bathroom fluorescents are so dim as to require turning them ALL on at once simply to read or shave, it defeats the purpose...
Also, the useless little table and chairs in the "sitting area" would be better dispensed with and the entire room redesigned to expand the bathroom...

Bathroom:
Whomever decided that A) bath towels should be hung INSIDE the shower area and B) the hand-towel bar should be directly beside the toilet (yes, the towel fell...Guess where?) should not be in the hotel design business...

Restaurant:
The Patio Restaurant while attractive, needs to work on both service and food preparation; their Arroz con Pollo arrived lukewarm and one was hard-pressed to find any pollo amongst all the arroz. The Tiramisu was was lacking the usual cake, was served in a champagne glass and was overpowered by the completely unnecessary addition of cinnamon...Breakfast service was adequate, but weak coffee and a dearth of pastry selections detracted from the overall appeal.

Special mention:
Francisco at the front desk was exemplary in his attention to his guests' needs and gave excellent advice and service in arranging tours...Unfortunately, his choice of rental car agencies, Hola, turned out to be questionable since we are having a dispute on a promised refund from Xavier when we were forced to cut our vacation short.

I stayed at the Balmoral because of its location downtown. The rooms have been upgrade and are very clean and the water pressure in the shower is fantastic. If you travel much to Costa Rica you know this is a pleasant surprise.
The most impressive part of my stay was the staff. The front desk, bell, and room staff are all very nice and helpful in every way.
For that reason I will continue to come back. And the water pressure of course

The hotel has a great location right in the heart of the capital city. You can walk everywhere and explore the area very easily.
We just needed a place to stay for one night before our flight out of San Jose the next morning. Our travel agent selected this one since we didnt need anything fancy or expensive. Well, we certainly got what we paid for.
The front desk didnt have our reservation or any records of our payment. Well, I pulled out our reservation confirmation and payment receipt and they quickly changed their tune. Something seemed a bit shady.
They dont have King size beds so my husband and I shared a Queen. WARNING: The rooms dont have SAFES!!!! If we wanted a safe we would have had to downgrade to a room with 2 single beds!! Are you kidding me?? So I just locked my pasport in my suitcase.
The breakfast in the morning is okay, nothing great.
The bathrooms were clean and the showers were spacious.
I'll try another cheap hotel the next time I need a quick place in San Jose.