I stayed at the Herradura for seven nights while attending a conference at their convention center. I really enjoyed my week at the hotel, although I wish I could have seen more of the beautiful country of Costa Rica during my stay! The staff was very friendly and helpful. I booked two excursions through the Grayline tourist office. The Noches Tradicionales excursion was good, and the Tortuguero tour through Jungle Tom's Safaris was excellent!. My "superior" room had a very comfortable bed, jacuzzi, huge closet and a separate sitting room with a second tv. The TVs had cable with channels in multiple languages. I felt very comfortable in the hotel and in my room. The hotel has three restaurants, and I only tried two. The Tropicala cafeteria was good and had an excellent complementary breakfast buffet that featured some typical Costa Rican dishes as well as pancakes and cereal. Dinner was good, but pricey. The Sakara Japanese restaurant had the best sushi I have ever had, but it was expensive. The pools seemed nice and beautiful, but it was too cool for swimming. The convention center is next door, although some of the rooms are inside the hotel itself. The rooms in the center were clean and spacious. There is a business center with three computers for free internet access for guests. The hotel is about five minutes from the airport and 15-20 minutes from Downtown San Jose. If you are booking online, make sure you get a response from the hotel before you go. I tried booking a shuttle from the airport and did not get a response, so I wound up taking a taxi to the hotel. Overall, I enjoyed my stay at the Herradura and would recommend it to anyone going to the San Jose area.

I stayed for a conference in July of 2008, and was there for 8 days. I flew in early to see some sights before the conference started, and I was very pleased with the tours offered through the hotel. They seem to use Grey Line. However, it seems that there is a constant problem over the time of pick-up. But that's largely an issue for Grey Line.

The location was very pretty, and the hotel itself was beautiful. It's actually not in San Jose, but a suburb called Heredia. That's just fine by me, because San Jose is unimpressive and has been experiencing a growing amount of street crime recently. Stay in the suburbs, and enjoy the natural splendor of Costa Rica.

The staff was incredibly helpful and cheery, though how much that had to do with the fact that I speak Spanish, I can't tell you. The waitstaff in the in-hotel restaurant were very enthusiastic, and eager to please. The food prices are slightly high, but that's sort of what you can expect in a hotel of the Ramada Herradura's caliber. The food was good, though it seems to lack real variety. People who have never tried Central American cuisine should note that it is flavored very differently from Mexican food, which most North Americans are familiar with. It's satisfying, but not particularly sumptuous, nor does it wow the tastebuds. There are other restaurants at the hotel, a Mediterranean restaurant and a Japanese restaurant that has a sushi bar. There's an Italian restaurant down the road, and the mall across the street has American fast food. Don't feel like you only can eat what's on the room service's or downstairs restaurant's menus.

I was overall very pleased with my stay here, though there was initially some confusion over my nightly rate and accommodations. Accommodations were comfortable, clean, and easily meets the expectations of any North American or Western European visitor. I definitely recommend this hotel if you want to get away for a while and don't mind paying American hotel rates in Latin America.

Spouse and I and 36 others stayed here 3 nights as part of a tour. Staff and bell-boys seemed overwhelmed (or incompetent). Stayed two nights at start of tour and 1 night at end. On the last night our luggage did not come to room in 45 miniutes - I went to the lobby and got it and brought it to room.

The room the first 2 nights (2000 building) was spacioius - 2 double beds, large shower - nicely apportioned and all gadgets (safe, toliet, alarm clock, thermostat, etc) worked fine. The last night 's room (5500 building) was very small - one double bed - with tattered carpet and drapes, safe that did not work, A/C whose face plate fell off upon touching it and a blinking message on the phone that would not turn off (I asked staff to fix -they could not).

So one room was excellent, one was pretty awful. Ask for a room in the 2000 building! Staff tried to be helpful, but regularly gave incorrect information . Advantage to the hotel is it is close to airport with free airport shuttle service, food is good (generous excellent breakfast) and some rooms are nice. I would stay here again IF I could have a choice of rooms.

We were already booked into this hotel when I read the online reviews, the large percentage of which were really negative. I was tempted to change our plans, but stuck with them anyway. And I'm really glad we did. This is a beautiful (well, beautiful for San Jose) hotel, with excellent service, great food and really reasonable prices. Staff was very friendly, although not always knowledgeable (the concierge had no idea there were ATV tours until we showed him the brochure!) There is a great little bar (open til 5am) with entertainment, 3 nice pools (could use a little more maintenance), a small casino and 3 great restaurants. It is in the industrial section of San Jose, but who cares. There is a footbridge to the shopping mall across the street. Security is very evident, especially in the lobby, but they were polite and friendly. Overall, we loved it and would recommend it for a nice getaway.