San Jose - Hotel Recommendations

[Pier999]

I stayed at the Marazon and have mixed feelings about the place. The place is a dump and if you aren’t on the 4th or 5th floor its too loud. DO NOT stay on the 2nd floor unless you plan on going to bed at 9:00 am. Last Sunday morning I got up at 8:30 am to get some breakfast at the restaurant/bar in the lobby and it was packed. The music was so loud that you could hear it in the elevator from the 3rd floors. It is old, dirty, and generally dingy inside and out. It rivals a skid row motel in the States. My AC rattled and made loud noises intermittently. The fat guy that works the front desk is a prick and not helpful. He selectively charged guys a 20 dollar chica fee if you have 2 guests, and when I checked out he called me a taxi and after I started to negotiate the fare with the driver he dismissed the guy. That being said I may return under certain circumstances. It is cheap and next to Key Largo and Del Ray. No taxis needed. No chica fee unless gordito catches you with a second Tica. The security is good and when the girl leaves you get a call from the lobby to make sure every thing is cool before returning the girl’s Id. They have 24 hr room service and casino. Its fine for a long weekend of partying but nothing more.

BTW after the Jones v. Trinidad fight on HBO there was a fight at the door steps of the Del Ray and security rushed out only to watch.

[Nixonbd]

Has anybody ever used this site to book a hotel? I'm returning to CR in May and did a search on kayak.com. "Skoosh" quoted the Balmoral for $60 per nite, excl taxes (comes out to $70. 25 per night). I stayed at the Balmoral last time and had a great experience with them. It's booking through "skoosh" I'm concerned about. If anybody has any pros or cons about this "skoosh" site, I'd like to hear about it. It looks like its European based.

[Superman06]

I will be in SJ for a few days mid of february and only for fun.

I am looking for the good hotel to book: quite, Chicas friendly, good location, internet and clean, what would be the best recommandation?

Thanks by advance.

Lots of invaluable advice here if you take the time to read this forum.

[Hk Traveler]

I will be in SJ for a few days mid of february and only for fun.

I am looking for the good hotel to book: quite, Chicas friendly, good location, internet and clean, what would be the best recommandation?

Thanks by advance.

[Pepe27]

Pierre999,

I will also be flying out Monday the 21st. I will be staying at the Holiday inn. holiday inn is about 3 blocks from Del Rey. and around 4 blocks from New Fantasy. Holiday inn is a little more on the expensive side. (company pays for it). There is the Balmoral. I do not know what they charge.

[Prolijo]

I'm not sure about the Rincon del Valle but reportedly the Palacio charges a $35 chica fee (ouch).

Distance-wise it is located north of Sabana Park or about 2-2.5 miles from the HDR/BM, i.e. not terribly far if you don't mind taking a cab (as you'll probably want to do late at night any way for most other places you'd stay at). But it is much farther than you'd probably want to walk during the day or go on a whim and far enough to be a bit of negative sometimes in chica negotiations. You see, some chicas prefer not to have to travel that far from the bar. OTOH, it could also be argued those are also the ones in the biggest rush to get back and maybe being that far could also be seen as a useful screening tool.

Bottom line: for most guys that $35 fee would be the real deal killer, however if you've got a free voucher and don't plan on bringing back more than 1 a day, it will probably be much cheaper in total even with the high fee to stay there than to pay full price for a more "chica friendly" hotel closer to the action.

[Paxsie]

Has anbody stayed in the Barceló Palacio or Barceló Rincon Del Valle before? I have a voucher to stay in either of the hotel. But I couldn't find any info regarding these hotels. They seem pretty far from all the action, is it? Also how much do they charge for "guest fee", that is even if they allow you to bring "female guest"? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Mr Jetsetter]

The Castillo is a decent option if you stay in the right room. I like rooms 20-23 in the new section, as they are in the back on the second floor and pretty quiet. Rooms 11 and 12 are in the original section but are on the top floor and are nice and spacious.

I have heard Amistad will be very nice once all the construction is completed. If indeed they are done with all the work, I wouldn't hesitate to stay there. It is only 1/2 a block from the Sportsmens Lodge.

[Diesel E]

Hey Guys,

On a whim I decided to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King by going to CR next weekend. This will be my first time. I am an experience traveler just returning from Bangkok last summer, and $300 RT from Tampa sealed the deal. I have contacted Presidente, Del Ray and Sportsman and all are booked. I want to be where the action is. I’d like to have the entertainment be within walking distance or very short taxi. I plan on calling Castillo and Amistad but neither look very inviting. I posted my adventures in Thailand and look forward to posting my Tica adventures so any help will be appreciated and rewarded.

Just spent a week at the Castillo over the Holidays ( first time to CR ) and highly recommend giving the Castillo a try. It is just around the block from sportsmens and a block away from New Fantasy. During the day it is a nice five minute walk to DR and at night a short cheap taxi ride. They are completely monger friendly and even allow multiple chicas. There is also a nice bar / restaurant attached. I was able to get the discounted rate and would not hesitate to stay there again.

[Pier999]

Hey Guys,

On a whim I decided to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King by going to CR next weekend. This will be my first time. I am an experience traveler just returning from Bangkok last summer, and $300 RT from Tampa sealed the deal. I have contacted Presidente, Del Ray and Sportsman and all are booked. I want to be where the action is. I’d like to have the entertainment be within walking distance or very short taxi. I plan on calling Castillo and Amistad but neither look very inviting. I posted my adventures in Thailand and look forward to posting my Tica adventures so any help will be appreciated and rewarded.

[Mr Jetsetter]

There is no chica fee at the Presidente. However, they do impose a dress code for the chicas, and this can cause you problems if your lady isn't dressed to their standards, which can be selectively and subjectively imposed. If she is wearing a short skirt or revealing too much cleavage, for example, it is very likely she will not be allowed up to your room. Many of the Del Rey gals are aware of this code and dress accordingly or bring a jacket and extra clothes with them to pass muster.

This dress code policy is quite controversial, and I personally know of a couple of mongers who now refuse to stay at the Presidente because of it.
One acquaintance of mine has stayed there a half-dozen times, and twice had ladies rejected during his recent stay in December. This had never happened to him in the past.

It should also be noted that you can only take one chica to your room at a time.

The consensus seems to be that the Presidente is no longer a "monger-friendly" establishment. I have also heard it is now very difficult to book a room with the CRT discount. At best, they have a limited number of rooms at this rate, and they are almost always unavailable, from what I've heard.

[Superman06]

You can get a discount if your a CRT member. Heres a comparison from the CRT site:
RACK rates 2008
Standard room single or double $ 89+tax
Junior suite $ 125+tax
Spa room $ 131+tax
Grand spa suite $ 145+tax
Master suite $ 325+tax

CRT rates 2008 (only for CRT VIP members)
Standard room single or double $ 62+tax
Junior suite $ 91+tax
Spa room $98+tax
Grand spa suite $ 111+tax
Master suite $ 270+tax

I don't know about the chica fee.

There seems to be lot of conflicting informtation in this page about Presidente.

Could somebody clarify the following points?

1. Does Presidente charge chica fee?

2. How does one get discount at presidente. Somebody mentioned "casino discount". How does this work. Do you just call up and mention casino discount or do you have to provide some kind of code?

I am visiting San Jose is a week and any help would be greatly appreciated. In return I promise to share with rest of the members my experience out there.

[Alphajpr]

There seems to be lot of conflicting informtation in this page about Presidente.

Could somebody clarify the following points?

1. Does Presidente charge chica fee?

2. How does one get discount at presidente. Somebody mentioned "casino discount". How does this work. Do you just call up and mention casino discount or do you have to provide some kind of code?

I am visiting San Jose is a week and any help would be greatly appreciated. In return I promise to share with rest of the members my experience out there.

[Prolijo]

IMHO, there are certain weekends when you always got a bump up in guys going to CR - Superbowl, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and to a lesser extent July 4th. For obvious reasons, religious holiday weekends like Easter and Xmas are not so popular for mongering. Some guys come for just a long weekend (of varying lengths) and some come for the full week leading up to it or full week following before heading home. So its not exactly like the place just immediately and completely clears out come Monday morning, but things do start to ease up fairly quickly as guys dribble away from their 3, 4 or even 5 day weekend trips or weekend to weekend trips. By Tuesday or Wednesday night things should be pretty much back to normal.

I have sort of mixed feelings about this phenomenon. I can appreciate the camradery aspect of going to CR when my friends will also be there (or guys I know from on-line who may become new ones). Its also great to be able to compare notes with those guys you know and trust - e.g. which chicas are great and which are ones you should avoid, swapping rounds of drinks and always be able to find willing wingmen to go out with to hit the nightly hotspots. Plus sometimes such "group weekends" are the only time one can get away for more than a couple of days without burning through all of their vacation time. OTOH, when I go to an MP, I want to get my first choice of chica and at least delude myself into thinking I'm the first one she's been with that day rather than having to decide whether to wait until my favorita is done with her current client or to just go with one of the other chicas who aren't quite so popular. So I can certainly see the pros and cons of both sides.

As for you chica question, this is not like going home for the holidays. As long as there are fresh gringos coming into town there is money to be made and there will be chicas trying to capture part of that money. Supply if it dips at all dips only marginally while demand takes a dramatic shift. If I were you and I couldn't go any earlier, I'd go later. Unless, of course, you can go for more than just a long weekend, in which case you can have the best of both worlds - some time to meet some very nice guys and some time to have the chicas more to "yourself", well yourself and the other guys that also choose to remain or come later.

[ArchieLeach]

I've been RTFF since I'm not an experienced CR monger (other places, yes. CR, No). I was planning to come in Jan for about ten days staying at the Sportsmens Lodge and maybe a few days at Zona Blue, but when I called SL the girl couldn't get me a room for more than a night or two without having to move to another. It was obvious they were packed. And on some nights there was just nothing at all.

I now understand that a lot of this has to do with the lead up to the Superbowl etc.

My questions is this: Since it looks like everything clears out after the SB (am I wrong on that), is that a great time to come? I'm sure I won't have free run of the entire country myself without a single monger to compete, but...... Do all the girls run off somewhere right after the SB every years to recuperate or anything like that? Or are they all alone and desperate for a Walking-ATM Gringo to come service them since their newfound boyfriends have all returned Stateside?

Any thoughts on my timeline, the SL, or ZB (or any other places to recommend would be much appreciated).

I can put it off to right after the SB if that's what works best, but I'm jonesing to come ASAP. I just got back from a month in Asia and I'm not satiated.