We stayed here for the first two nights of our vacation to Costa Rica. With four people, the room was about a hundred US dollars, which seemed a little steep. On the plus side, the room was decently clean, had working hot water and cable TV, and was in a great location, within walking distance of many of San Jose's attractions. They also served a very nice breakfast and picked us up from the airport at no extra charge. However, the location, while convenient, was quite noisy. We were misled to believe that there was air conditioning in our room; it was a rather unpleasant surprise when we found that not only did it lack air conditioning, but the windows didn't open, either. There was no maid service - which meant no fresh towels - which I was a bit surprised by. All in all, it was not a bad place to stay, but I probably wouldn't choose the same hotel if I went back.

Stayed 9 nights Staff was great and the Hotel is very clean, it is small but nice, forget TV poor. Two great places to eat, one across the street and the other 1 block left out of the Hotel. Traffic can be a little loud. The price is hard to beat for the low season!! Barry Hyde Lawrence, Kansas

The location is great - really close to Central Market, etc. The staff was super friendly. The room was the cleanest I had seen in Costa Rica. No working TV channels and a bit of noise from traffic, but otherwise nice overnight stay. The shower took a good 10 minutes to warm up.

On the outside Hotel Colonial looks nice enough, charming, unique, and in a great location if you want to see the Central Market, Artisan Market, or Gold Museum. That's where the good ends.
1) TV has no picture, just snow with audio (and no English channels, not that it would have mattered)
2) COLD shower. I mean, not even lukewarm. I was shivering throughout the whole shower. This was after waiting 9 hours for them to "fix" the hot water - the water was no warmer (if you can call it that) after they supposedly fixed it. It was lovely taking a cold shower at 3am (7:30am flight).
3) Very noisy ceiling fan, no A/C. The fan made horrible loud snapping and clicking noises all night. This meant sleeping with pillows over our heads in order to fall & stay asleep.
4) Dirty room, gross toilet.
5) Awful customer service. Reception staff was very rude and incompetent in dealing with the lack of hot water. You are completely on your own if anything goes wrong in your room!