San Jose - Hotel Recommendations

[MikeMark]

This is great advice to anyone heading to the Taoromina. Another tip that I found (unfortunately) after my February stay, when you book your room or check in. Pay in advance the additional fee to bring girls to your room!! Otherwise, everytime you bring a girl to your room. You will have to pay an additional fee for each girl, every time. I have been staying at the Taormina for a few years now and didn't know this till AFTER my stay this year. If you are seeing multiple girls per day. You will save a lot of money over the course of your stay. Shout out to the board member who originally posted this info!!

This info is incorrect as I just found out on the main SJ board. Apparently even if you pay upfront. You still have to pay $12 for additional girls to come to your room. Sincere apologies!

[Zeos1]

There was an execution style murder outside the Taormina a couple of days ago. Guy shot multiple times, daylight hours. Great spot. Drug central.

Shot 19 times in the head, chest, and abdomen. Directly in front of the front door of the hotel. Body was by the pillars where the drop off area is in front of the hotel. 2 guys on a motorbike or motorbikes rode up, shot the guy, a 30 year old Costa Rican man, and rode away.

Correction. It was in the early morning hours, not in daylight hours.

[Zeos1]

I'm heading there next month. Staying for a night.

Any suggestions for a hotel near all the action with girl-friendly policy?

Yep, the Taormina. It is central to the action these days.

[AlexTref]

There was an execution style murder outside the Taormina a couple of days ago. Guy shot multiple times, daylight hours. Great spot. Drug central.

Shot 19 times in the head, chest, and abdomen. Directly in front of the front door of the hotel. Body was by the pillars where the drop off area is in front of the hotel. 2 guys on a motorbike or motorbikes rode up, shot the guy, a 30 year old Costa Rican man, and rode away.

I'm heading there next month. Staying for a night.

Any suggestions for a hotel near all the action with girl-friendly policy?

[Zeos1]

This is great advice to anyone heading to the Taoromina. Another tip that I found (unfortunately) after my February stay, when you book your room or check in. Pay in advance the additional fee to bring girls to your room!! Otherwise, everytime you bring a girl to your room. You will have to pay an additional fee for each girl, every time. I have been staying at the Taormina for a few years now and didn't know this till AFTER my stay this year. If you are seeing multiple girls per day. You will save a lot of money over the course of your stay. Shout out to the board member who originally posted this info!!

There was an execution style murder outside the Taormina a couple of days ago. Guy shot multiple times, daylight hours. Great spot. Drug central.

Shot 19 times in the head, chest, and abdomen. Directly in front of the front door of the hotel. Body was by the pillars where the drop off area is in front of the hotel. 2 guys on a motorbike or motorbikes rode up, shot the guy, a 30 year old Costa Rican man, and rode away.

[MikeMark]

I initially booked the Taormina through a 3rd party site (was one I had not heard of or used before), but then I found I could save some nice money by booking direct. So, I cancelled the 3rd party booking and booked directly with the hotel for some nice nightly savings. I was not concerned about the points, but I can see why you would be.

This is great advice to anyone heading to the Taoromina. Another tip that I found (unfortunately) after my February stay, when you book your room or check in. Pay in advance the additional fee to bring girls to your room!! Otherwise, everytime you bring a girl to your room. You will have to pay an additional fee for each girl, every time. I have been staying at the Taormina for a few years now and didn't know this till AFTER my stay this year. If you are seeing multiple girls per day. You will save a lot of money over the course of your stay. Shout out to the board member who originally posted this info!!

[The Cane]

I'd prefer to stay at Taornima, but it appears they only do direct booking and I prefer to book through a 3rd party site with travel points. It's effectively the difference between paying full price and nothing for me.

I initially booked the Taormina through a 3rd party site (was one I had not heard of or used before), but then I found I could save some nice money by booking direct. So, I cancelled the 3rd party booking and booked directly with the hotel for some nice nightly savings. I was not concerned about the points, but I can see why you would be.

[MikeOxHuge]

Can anyone with recent experience confirm if Dunn is chica friendly? I've seen mixed reviews on recent posts saying they are, they aren't, and anywhere from $10-30+ chica fee.

Also, from what I've seen / read, it's maybe a 100 yards walk for Taornima. Any reason to be worried about safety going between one and the other at night?

I'd prefer to stay at Taornima, but it appears they only do direct booking and I prefer to book through a 3rd party site with travel points. It's effectively the difference between paying full price and nothing for me.

[Zeos1]

Is this hotel chica friendly?

If it is the Gran Hotel, no.

[Lh895]

Is this hotel chica friendly?

[HardDrive]

Does the "modern" wing in the back have elevators? I stayed once before, in one of the ground floor rooms in the old section closest to the street, I think in the Alegria room. Definitely to low end for a repeat. Hoping back wing is a few steps up, but I have a bit of a bum leg and don't want to hump up & down multiple flights of stairs several times a day.

No elevators At the Sportsmens or Castillo. Request a ground floor room.

[Ebauche]

Does the "modern" wing in the back have elevators? I stayed once before, in one of the ground floor rooms in the old section closest to the street, I think in the Alegria room. Definitely to low end for a repeat. Hoping back wing is a few steps up, but I have a bit of a bum leg and don't want to hump up & down multiple flights of stairs several times a day.

[Ren087]

I need some suggestions for a place to stay one night. I do not want to stay at any of the normal monger hotels, and would like to find something on the east side of town in Barrio Escalante if possible. If it is guest friendly, that would be great, but not necessary. Just want a safe, inexpensive, clean, simple place to spend one night before my Airbnb is ready the next day. One last thing, not looking for a high rise or dealing with elevators, even for one night.

[Tiny 12]

There is no regular hotel in San Jose that will welcome a "guest" that you want to bring in. If they cater to families or tourists they do NOT want men bringing in working girls. Its very simple.

Now perhaps you might get away with it. Perhaps they may allow it if you are discreet. Perhaps perhaps perhaps. But guarantee they do not want it there. Same with most airbnb's. So either you stay in a place that does welcome guests for their guests, or specifically get the ok from your host you will have a problem. I am in an airbnb now. A condo building, and even though I registered my long time girlfriend with me, and the host agreed, the front desk is giving me a lot of grief. I'm sure even if I was married to her I would have to show her ID and the marriage certificate and get the written authorization from the host every day for my wife to visit me. Even though technically she is as much a guest as I am.

Winetaster's post didn't show up until after I posted. If it had, I wouldn't have said anything.

I don't think it's that simple.

The problems you're having right now are extreme. I'd be extremely insulted if I were you, or your girlfriend. Treating her like a wh*re isn't acceptable. It doesn't usually pay to get mad or self righteous in another country, but you could get away with it here.

In my years of mongering I've never had a woman denied entrance to a hotel that I can remember, except for one place in Spain. The woman was someone I picked up in a bar, not a hooker, and she was older than me. They wouldn't let us in because we weren't married. Anyway, these are my strategies.

1. If you're going to have a steady stream of women, then yes, make sure the hotel is hooker friendly.

2. A busy lobby is a plus, unless you're planning on bringing back a skank at 2:00 AM when nobody will be in it.

3. Look for a bar or restaurant in the hotel you can take your date to before you go to the room.

4. Is there a side entrance you can use, that doesn't go by the front desk? Maybe you can drive up to the room?

5. If you're in a situation where you just have to pass a single security person, be it in a hotel or at a check gate, passing the guy a generous tip on the way in isn't a bad idea. Generous tips in general will do wonders (not always. See Cuba experience below).

6. If I believe the hotel is problematic, I won't meet a date and bring her back late at night. Instead I'll set up a date for the next day. This gives you more options for subterfuge. You're going to tell her to dress conservatively, and it's not a bad idea to meet her outside the hotel and walk in together. Props can help. I've given women yellow writing pads. Then engage her in serious conversation while entering the hotel. Spout off something like "Me preocupan sobre el efecto de la tasa de interes.Y si el gobierno cambia. Eso podria crear un mal ambiente para el negocio. " Say it loud and say it clear. And say it in English if you want. Make her look like your business associate. Nobody wants to tell a business woman she's a w*ore, even if they have their suspicions. Or walk in with shopping bags. That just shouts "girlfriend." And, except for the assholes in your condo complex, nobody wants to call a girlfriend a w*ore either.

7. Register your guest. Or you can book for two people and if they ask, say your girlfriend hasn't arrived yet, so you can register some random woman later. The problem frequently is they'll ask for her name, so that can nuke you. If they do I just make one up.

In my years of mongering, I can't recall ever having the hotel tell me I can't bring my date to my room. And I can only recall three, rather embarrassing, encounters:

1. Once at the Bristol in Panama a receptionist with an attitude, probably like at the place you're staying now, said you need to wait and have me call security and they will interrogate your date. Or she must leave her ID and I will copy it and put her on my naughty girl list. (I guess if she came in a second time with another guest they wouldn't let her in.) This happened while I was registering by the way, and my date was someone I met about an hour before at the famed Golden Time brothel. It wasn't a big deal, but annoying because the receptionist was so damn haughty. My date was dressed like a professional, which I think was standard for the ladies at GT doing outcalls or leaving the premises. The problem was that she was Colombian. Panamanians can spot Colombian hookers a mile away, because they're drop dead beautiful, and all the Panamanians are ugly. So even though my date kept her mouth shut, so they didn't pick up on the accent, they had her figured out.

2. I got a woman in Cuba into my room for an overnighter by taking her to the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. If you don't know, Cuba's the hardest place in the western world to take a hooker to a hotel room. If the girl's caught, or staff is caught letting the girl in, there are potential repercussions with the police. Paying a generous tip to the security guy beforehand wasn't going to do any good, because he'd be gone by morning. Anyway when exiting the hotel the next day, the security guard gave me the third degree, even after I slipped him $40, which was more than a months wage. Nobody got in trouble though.

3. There was this instance, in Bangkok at the Mandarin Oriental, http://www.internationalsexguide.nl/...in#post1889858. I told my date, who was about 30 years old (old for Thailand) to dress conservatively. Instead she came to our dinner date dressed in a skimpy, sleeveless T-shirt with her massive store bought breasts hanging out. Before going to dinner, I actually verified with a bellman, who I tipped generously, that there wouldn't be a problem bringing her back to the hotel. And there wasn't. The problem occurred when leaving the next morning.

In Costa Rica when I was mongering I always stayed in a girl friendly hotel. But I have been to several hotels in San Jose and one in Manuel Antonio with a woman who was a lot younger and a lot more attractive than I am. I never had your problem. Sorry for your suffering, honestly! That sucks.

[Zeos1]

This is not actually an answer to your question. But I've stayed at the Marriott Hotel Hacienda Belen close to the airport and it's my favorite of the hotels I've stayed at in San Jose by far. I had access to the executive lounge and that was a big part of the reason I liked it. I have no idea whether they'd hassle your guest.

There is no regular hotel in San Jose that will welcome a "guest" that you want to bring in. If they cater to families or tourists they do NOT want men bringing in working girls. Its very simple.

Now perhaps you might get away with it. Perhaps they may allow it if you are discreet. Perhaps perhaps perhaps. But guarantee they do not want it there. Same with most airbnb's. So either you stay in a place that does welcome guests for their guests, or specifically get the ok from your host you will have a problem. I am in an airbnb now. A condo building, and even though I registered my long time girlfriend with me, and the host agreed, the front desk is giving me a lot of grief. I'm sure even if I was married to her I would have to show her ID and the marriage certificate and get the written authorization from the host every day for my wife to visit me. Even though technically she is as much a guest as I am.