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.

from the time we arrived to try and check in and they couldn't find our rooms, to the horrible food and worse service in the Med restaraunt, to the security guards who made you feel like a crimnal in your own hotel this was a terrible place to stay.
We were attending as part of a conference and had packages shipped to the hotel attn to the name of the sales person in charge of the show. Upon arrival (Sat night) nobody could tell us where our materials were to be able to hand out at the show that started on Sunday. Beginning Monday morning we began searching for the sales person at the hotel who was on our manifest to help us locate our packages. I was assured the packages would arrive by Monday afternoon. They of course never arrived and I never was notified by the sales person as to why. I went to the sales office at 9am the next day (Tues, the last day of the show) and hunted the person down. They told me they had turned the packages down when DHL had called to have them delivered the week before with no explanation as to why. I was then told I would have to wait 24 hours to have them delivered. Of course by then the conference was over and all of our collateral materials were still sitting in customs.
I would never recommend anyone staying in this hotel and have a very bad taste of Costa Rica because of the way they treated us as guests and they manner in which they conduct business.