dbuckho

Just stayed there last month - last night of the trip before leaving at 5 PM the next day. Great hotel - higher end than your average Courtyard. Lots of restaurants in the little shopping center next door (including Outback if you just want a bloomin' onion at the end of your trip). Friendly staff. Free Internet a plus. They even sent the shuttle to pick me up at the off-airport Thrifty car rental when I decided to return my car at 9:30 PM to save some money.

I checked out in the morning, stored my bags with them, and took a cab ride to the mercado central downtown. I think the cab ride was $12 and took about 15 minutes.

fritz1

Can anyone who has stayed at this property comment on it?

I am interested in finding out if this is a good family location.
Can I go off site for dinner and entertainment or is it a "stay on-site" location?

All comments are welcome.

Regards,
Fritz

SanDiego1K

This will give you a start:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ghlight=suenos

Tiojelly

I didn't look at the link provided, but I stayed at this property in Dec. 2001.

It was a very nice property. The golf course could have been in better shape (especially for the price). It does not have long beaches or walks along the ocean, as there is a port and some industrial stuff close by. They were building hundreds of condos around the property / golf course, so it's probably a bit more crowded now.

The town of Jaco is pretty close with a bunch of food options and beaches, but finding something to eat won't be a problem. There is a neat little hotel just up the road (on the way to the bridge where you can check out the Croc's waiting for lunch) that you have to drive up a really isolated driveway a few miles. They have an ampitheatre with occasional music in the evening, and views that are really hard to top. The private beach down the road is also worth the drive (at sunset, your kids will get to see all the creepy crawlys coming out of the woods onto the beach and road back up). I would suggest checking this place out for a meal if you are staying at the Marriott.

jammiecat

My Husband and I stayed at Los Suenos about 6 weeks ago. The resort was beautiful, the beach terrible, the rooms ordinary and the pool exceptional (kids would LOVE it). The High Season room rate is very $$$$$, not worth the cost, but Costa Rica was incredible. The resort food was very average, but there are many places for dining in Jaco( 9 miles) and Herrandas beach has a few places (3 miles). Without a car, the Hotel would be very isolated.

A must see was Mt Arenal and Manual Antonio National Park. The hiking, Eco-tourism and wildlife make the country so unbelievable. Even during the peak of tourist season, it was not crowded.

schriste

Stayed here in late October and pretty much agree with the above hotel related comments. As lowly Silver I was upgraded to a very spacious room with large arched windows directly over the main entrance (very large bathroom with separate shower too). The regular rooms are indeed very average. My room had no ocean view, but at this resort the ocean view is not all that great anyway. Also pool and facilities not very crowded during the day (and the hotel was full during my stay) as most people are away on tours or arriving late/leaving early on a group tour. The hotel completely messed up posting my MR points (as did the San Jose, CR Marriott... twice!!).

schriste

I stayed twice at the San Jose, Costa Rica Marriott during the end of October 2005. The hacienda style architecture of the hotel is very nicely done with very good attention to detail. You might even think it was once a real hacienda (well, probably not, but it really is way above average for new construction... they didn’t just throw in a few arches and a fountain and call it quits). The grounds a nicely landscaped and the pool area is also very nice and was never crowded during my stay. There is a very large tiled Jacuzzi too look forward to also. The rooms are OK, comfortable and everything worked fine (except for poor shower performance), but I thought they were not up to the design level of the rest of the hotel.

During my second stay I was granted Executive Lounge access as lowly Silver. The lounge is open all day and there was usually something there to munch on. There was a decent breakfast spread with 2 hot dishes that changed daily, great fresh salsa and chips during lunch and another decent spread in the evening. Drinks are charged.

The service level was very high. You are met as you arrive and checked in immediately... no visit to the front desk necessary.

The hotel totally messed up posting my MR points on both stays (as did the Marriott at the beach in Costa Rica).

I would stay at this hotel again.

snorkmaster

We were at the hotel in late October as well (Oct 23-25.)

Staff was friendly, but I was unsuccessful in my repeated attempts to receive an upgrade as a Gold. I didn't have my card on me, and I suppose that didn't help in my effort to communicate my status. We received a very standard "tennis court view" room.

As has been mentioned before, the facilities are beautiful, but the beach is downright miserable.

We had mixed experiences with dining - the room service was fair, the breakfast buffet was slightly above average (but paled in comparison other "tropical spreads" like that at the JW Cancun), and the one evening meal we had at the casual restaurant was actually quite good. Of course, everything at the hotel is a good 200-300% over off-site pricing, but I imagine there are few comparable venues in the area.

Lastly, I had troubles with point posting as well -- I have no idea why I received the amount that I did, but the problem was resolved by MR.

Other thoughts:

I would strongly recommend the drive over toward Manuel Antonio and Quepos -- it's beautiful.

The most direct route toward Puntarenas includes a particularly pot-holed stretch of road by the coast. It's perfectly doable with a normal car, but be prepared for a less than relaxing drive.

The drive up and around Lago Arenal is gorgeous.

socrates

Terrific staff all around, great concierge lounge, great bed package (WC wasn't much to write home about but was avg Marriott IMO)....loved the grounds and the views of the hills...It kinda gave me the feel of a slightly resortish business hotel

socrates

I LOVED this resort.....terrific service all around, while I was there the casual restaurant was under contruction...breakfast was good (standard Marriott) and was served in the ballroom/courtyard which made the atmosphere (if you were in the Courtyard) that much more pleasant.

Wife didn't like that HSI wasn't in the guest rooms yet but we were told it was to be installed shortly (if not already by now)

Terrific pool (especially if you have kids)

I can't wait to return

snorkmaster

HSIA is now installed -- I think it is the equivalent of $12.95 a day.

craz

Is there a Lounge at this Hotel for Plats use and are there breakfast foods served?

socrates

No lounge but they do give plat's entire party a full breakfast daily

socrates

Good....maybe I can talk my spouse into going back next year I absolutely LOVE Costa Rica.....

GregWTravels

The hotel is quite pretty, hacienda style as discussed. The lounge is nice. The pool is small, but there weren't very many people using it when I was there, so no issues. Food and drink is very expensive when compared with anything in San Jose itself (or the rest of Costa Rica). The hotel is very far from San Jose, about a 10 or 12 dollar cab ride, which is a minus.

In general, the beauty of Costa Rica is not in San Jose, and generally if I was going back to San Jose (which I may do in December), I wouldn't bother spending more than 1 night in San Jose.

Greg