Hotels Near Doña Luz Park in San Pablo

We stayed twice at Bougainvillea, 3 nights at the start of our birding tour, and one night at the end. It is a great introduction to Costa Rica and birding. We really loved the garden out the back, which had plenty of new birds for us. The buffet breakfast in the morning was probably the best on our trip (the only one that had a good muesli for me!) and the restaurant catered well for gluten free and vegetarian diets, with enough variety when staying a couple of days. The sandwiches are highly recommended. The rooms are spacious. There is a security box that works, and WiFi is flawless. There is a fan in the rooms but no air conditioning, and on the hot days we were there I did find the rooms a little too hot in the evenings when trying to sleep. It does cool down to around 20 degrees overnight, but that is a little hot for me. Service from all staff was excellent. They do money exchange at reception and help organise taxis for going in to San Jose. This hotel is very popular with western birders arriving in the country and it lives up to its reputation. Highly recommended.

PROS: Very clean, air conditioned and modern for a good rate. Wifi and decent breakfast included. The stromanthe triostar plants in the lobby were very nice. CONS: Staff is miserable and takes no accountability for customer service. Stephanie literally lies to your face and tries to overcharge you. Examples: -”oh your safe is broken? just reset with code 123456.” nope. the safe code was set by a previous guest and left open so this didn't fix the problem. We had to take all our valuables on a 13 hour tour because of this - very inconvenient. -”oh, you need another towel because we only gave you 2 despite 3 people in the room? we'll send someone up right away”. no one ever shows. when you call back, if they ever pick up, they say the same thing. -”your shuttle from the airport is confirmed and the driver will have a sign with your name on it” nope; after a long trip we had no one to pick us up. The driver didn't have my booking (he had another name on the sign), so he called the hotel and they confirmed nothing had been booked for us. -”well there's no booking because you obviously have to book it in advance; how would we know you need a shuttle?”. Excuse me? Yes, in fact, I did book it in advance and showed them the email chain (7 emails) with her own confirmation 3 days earlier! -”ok so you found the driver, perfect”. No, not perfect as we've been searching in the sweltering heat, walking up and down through the crowds for 45 minutes with a small child after a long trip. An apology, not a dismissal would be more appropriate in this situation. After speaking to the driver and Stephanie (we are still in the heat outside the airport), Stephanie who confirmed the booking by email then blamed her colleague who in fact didn't book it, And, they still charged us $16 USD for it - which was like rubbing salt in the wound. -”it will be an additional $20 USD for the shuttle” - when they previous told me $16 USD (thankfully in writing) -”it will be $16 USD to have a child in the room” - when my confirmation clearly shows children stay free (thankfully in writing) -guests aren't ”allowed to use the stairs”; long wait for the elevator