I would not recommend this hotel. My daughter and I stayed there for 2 nights prior a departure to another hotel. Presidente made the arrangements for interbus and they took us to the wrong city and the wrong hotel. Interbus looked at my hotel reservations fot the other hotel before departure as well and informed us after 3 hrs. of travel that they did not got to that location. They said Presidente made a mistake. I then had to get a Taxi and pay additional $50 and they took me to the correct hotel I called Presidente when I finally arrived at my correct hotel. I had to continue calling for 4 days and someone would always say they would call me back in a few min. They finally called back on my last day and said interbus was going to pick me up. They stated they would refund the $50. when I arrived back at the Presidente for my final night in Costa Rica they still needed to check into the return of the $50. They never refunded the $50 they said they would do. The rooms are OK and the walls are very thin. It is not a place you will get much sleep. The breakfast is the only good thing about this resort. My internet never did work in my room and we got a suite. The TV did not work as well which they replaced.

Better accomodations than most hotels in the downtown area. Restaurant was recently refurbished and very good breakfast included in price. Rooms are a little small but modern. Bringing in female guests can be a little tricky. There is no extra charge but if she is wearing a mini skirt or tanktop she will not be allowed in. The working girls know this but your legit girlfriend probably will not.

We stayed at Hotel Presidente for a night upon our arrival in Costa Rica before heading to Manuel Antonio and Monteverde for several days. We stayed in a standard double room (full/queen bed, twin bed).

We arrived at around 2:30 pm (check-in is 3 pm). We were given keys to Room 25 on the 5th floor and when we arrived at the door, we heard loud music and talking coming from the room. We returned to the front desk and they investigated the situation, offering us a free drink at the bar in the News Cafe (restaurant at the hotel). We went to the bar to wait and ordered some food as well - which the hotel actually comp'ed very graciously. After about 30 minutes, the front desk staff, David, gave us the keys to our actual room and apologized for the inconvenience. But it was absolutely no problem because not only did they store our luggage, but we got a free meal. It was really refreshing to experience such great customer service despite the mix-up.

The hotel itself is in a great location for exploring San Jose (although it can be explored in probably less than a day). The streets are very crowded and noisy, but only an extremely light sleeper would have a major problem with the street noise, as most of the shops close around 9 or 10 pm and the number of people in the streets dwindle. Our room was higher up, too, so it was a little further from the noise.

The free breakfast is WONDERFUL and it is a really great convenience to have free internet stations in the lobby. There are lots of guards and staff members on duty so we felt very safe the entire time.

A buddy and I stayed here for 4 nights in October, 2007. It is located on a pedestrian only street, which is convenient and well patrolled. There is a security guard at the door at all times, so there were no beggers, prostitutes or other "non-guests" loitering in the hotel. There are taxis outside of the hotel 24-7. There is a casino on site, but it was so full of smoke that I could not go through the doors without wanting to puke.

The room was not elegant. It was not plush. It was reasonably clean and marginally comfortable, but for $100 per night, its hard to complain.

The tour people were great. They helped us arrange 2 rafting trips and a zip line trip. They also handled our exit tax, which saved time at the airport.

My favorite part of the hotel was the bar. There are seats which are raised and adjacent to the pedestrian street, which was great for people watching. People did come up and beg and try to sell garbage, but a simple "no" was enough to get them on their way. There are numerous televisions in the bar tuned to American sporting events.

The hotel is not a "resort", and certainly is not Four Season's quality, but it does not pretend to be. It is a basic, reasonably priced hotel in a third world city that tries hard.

San Jose is a dump of a city. But we used it as a base for adventure tours, and it was just fine. It's near the country's primary international airport which saved us time on such a short trip. I would do it again, and would not hesitate to stay here, unless the price was dramatically increased.