We stayed at Casa 69 the night before our flight out of San Jose. First, had I known that CR is so small (and we had an afternoon flight) we would have come straight from Arenal for our flight rather than going to San Jose.
Positives - From what I read Casa 69 is one of the better hotels to stay in? The staff was friendly, but didn't speak much English. Later we met the owner who is very nice and fluent. Breakfast was ok - simple, but ok. There is one decent restaurant within walking distance (unless you want to try the Pizza Hut), though downtown San Jose is a short cab ride away. I can see how staying here before a 6am flight would be a good idea. If you can avoid staying in San Jose though - I recommend it.
Negatives - San Jose aside, Casa 69 is on a back alley in downtown San Jose (don't even dream of finding it without the help of a GPS - but they don't know where it is... so good luck!) Your cabdrivers will have no idea where it is either - but it helps to mention the Nicaraguan Embassy. There is no parking - just parking on the street which made me VERY nervous. Our car was fine, but my nerves were not. Later, we tried to use the safe to put our valuables in, but it was broken and the staff didn't know how to fix it (comforting). We were suffering from some stomach-related illness and spent most of the night in our small and cramped room, which thankfully had cable TV. There's no A/C however, and the windows open to the courtyard and do not have screens! Though we were sick, and it's unreasonable to ask people to be silent at 10pm on a Saturday, I was woken up continuously throughout the night by hotel guests, staff, and loud people on the street. The hotel staff begins work promptly (and loudly) at 5:30am. In the morning we also found a ton of little tiny ants in the bed. After 9 days in CR I had gotten used to them on the floors and walls, but never in my bed!
I usually try to blend in with the locals and really experience my destination, but at the end of our stay in CR I wish we would have saved ourselves the discomfort and either stayed at our previous location, or stayed at one of the major Americanized hotels (the Best Western sounded fantastic) out by the airport rather than at Casa 69.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Would I recommend this hotel to my best friend?
no way!
I do not recommend this hotel for:
Young singles, An amazing honeymoon, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, People with disabilities, Older travelers, Great pool scene, Pet owners, Families with young children, Families with teenagers, Tourists
I selected this hotel as a top choice for:
Other
Management Response
Doug Dosdall, owner
(Management representative)
Oct 5, 2008
It looks like the guest was not at our place and confuses us with another B&B.
We are in less than10 minute walking distance of the following restaurants most of which you can find in all Costa Rica Travel Guides: Limoncello, Café Mundo, Olio, Juergens’s, Tin Jo, Don Wang,
La Esquina de Buenos Aires, Nuestra Tierra, Bagelmen’s, Luna de Valencia and Trocadero.
The pedestrian mall downtown is less than ½ of a mile away. If you need a cab for this distance you really should not consider Costa Rica your destination.
We are not on a “back alley” nor in downtown but in a small street with sidewalks between the two largest Avenues in San Jose, Avenida Central and Avenida Segunda close to downtown. Concerning parking , we do offer valet parking for $ 10.00/night. Our B&B is less than 2 years old. Everything is new and we never had a broken safe.
Like the Grand Hotel Costa Rica we do not offer AC as it is unnecessary in San Jose. Daytime temperatures never exceed 80 and at night the temperature is below 70. To my knowledge no hotel in San Jose has screens. Once a month an exterminator sprays all rooms. It can still happen that some critter can get into a room. We never had an ant problem.
Breakfast is offered starting at 7 am. It’s continental breakfast as stated on the web site. I start preparing breakfast never before 6:30 am. Who likes to get up unnecessarily early anyhow.
Our guest appreciate the comfort we deliver at the prices we charge. It shows how little this guest
seems to know about San Jose. He should have stayed at the Best Western. For everybody to know: Our area is safe to walk in the evening and all the above mentioned restaurants as well as San Pedro Mall are safe to walk to in the evening. However the Best Western San Jose is in the middle of the crime ridden red light district with no restaurant around and if you dare to go for a walk chances are you will not make it back.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
