Hotel Herradura Means BUSINESS
Written: Apr 27 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nicely appointed luxury hotel near San Jose
Cons: No real local color, expensive
The Bottom Line: The Herradura Hotel is a very comfortable, posh hotel that caters to business travelers and convention business--expensive for tourist budgets
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| mrkstvns's Full Review: Costa Rica |
Last summer I visited Costa Rica for a few days while my wife was attending a business function. The training conference she was attending was held at the Hotel Herradura Convention Center, which is also where we stayed. The Hotel Herradura is located a few miles outside San Jose. This review is only about the hotel itself, not the area in general, although I also have a general review in the San Jose category. Enough chitter-chatter -- on with the review!
Anaesthetically Comfortable Rooms
Pick an upscale American hotel chain...Hilton, Hyatt, it doesn't matter, any hotel chain will do...chances are the rooms there are cookie-cutter clones of those at the Hotel Herradura. (Or is it the other way around? I'm never sure about these things.)
Our nicely spacious room was well appointed with the same faux-oak finish danish-modern style furniture that you find at Hiltons. The linens were all of good quality, but were virtually identical to those I see in Hyatt hotels. There wasn't anything that looked Costa Rican, or Central American, or even particularly hispanic in general. Even the wall paintings were the same kind of innocuous landscapes that you find in North American hotels. It was nice...it just wasn't local.
Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the place though...
The room was perfectly comfortable and everything worked. There was cable TV with about 20 or so english-language stations. There was a coffee maker in the room, complete with little packets of your choice of regular or decaf. There was a mini-bar with all the same brands of liquor that you would find at the Radisson in New York City. And there were tons of little foldout paper ads and little plastic tents offering daily laundry service, room service, etcetera e ad nauseum. Everything for the busy corporate executive on the go!
Frankly, I've never been especially crazy about "upscale business hotels," or even business-oriented hotels in general, and Hotel Herradura was clearly a hotel that catered to the business community, as if the presence of the huge conference and convention center had left any doubts.
I yearned to be in an old family run Mexican hotel -- some place where you can count on something being wrong so that you can call the front desk to complain and they can send someone up to help you laugh about it. Oh well, I wasn't paying the bill...
Beautiful Grounds
Walking around the hotel grounds, you might be forgiven for thinking that you had actually checked into a big beach resort. The tropical plants along the landscaped walkways and near the swimming pools make the place feel like its in the heart of the jungle (which isn't really that far off, considering the location).
There are at least three swimming pools and the main pool is often crowded in the afternoon with people laying out in the sun or playing water polo or other aquatic games. There is a swim-up bar where you can sit and have a margarita or a beer without even having to get out of the water, and they've even got little tables whose tops are almost at the surface. ("Hey you kids! Don't make waves, you'll spill my drink!")
There are 18 tennis courts on the grounds, but I can't imagine that many people wanting to sweat at once -- the heat and humidity had me dripping wet just thinking about chasing a ball around. There is also an 18-hole golf course adjacent to the Herradura. I believe it is actually owned by the neighboring Melia hotel, but Herradura guests are invited to play the course. I don't golf either though, but I do like pools.
Sitting in the shade out by the pool with a cool drink in one hand was a little more what I had in mind. That way I could just sit back and watch the people, and admire the view of the mountains off in the distance. Hotel Herradura is really a very beautiful place to be...too bad all those guys in business suits have to work during the day. I'm just happy to be here loafing in the sun...
Restaurants
I'm the wrong guy to ask about food in hotels. I almost never eat in hotel restaurants, always preferring to strike out and find the best and most authenticly colorful restaurants a region has to offer. There were several restaurants in the hotel though, one was an upscale Japanese restaurant with fairly high prices, another was called Tropicana and featured more typical Central American food. There was also a non-descript looking cafeteria, plus room service, and a few bars. The only bar I ever went to was the one out by the swimming pool.
Conveniently Located?
Convience is always relative. Hotel Herradura is close to the airport. It's far from everything else.
Hotel Herradura is very close to the Santamaria International Airport -- the airport at which any foriegn traveler is probably arriving. In fact, it's a little too close. After arriving and clearing customs, we made our way over to the taxi sitio. I was happy to hear that the fare to our hotel would only be about $10. I was not so happy when I discovered that we were there within a couple minutes. $10 for two miles, eh? A very expensive ride for such a short distance, but such is the nature of airport taxis everywhere. At least I feel no guilt pangs when I don't leave a tip...
Hotel Herradura is not particularly convenient to downtown San Jose. It's about 10-15 miles to the city. Fortunately, the city taxis are more reasonably priced than the airport cabs. I was paying about $5 each way to go in or out of downtown. (You'll often be quoted a higher price at the hotel than you would by hailing a cab on the street.)
Nice Place to Visit...
As I said, the Hotel Herradura is a very business-oriented hotel. As such, it isn't cheap -- I didn't pay the bill so I don't know exactly what the final charges worked out to, but I know that our rate was around $200 a night -- and that's with the conference event discount. At those prices, it's really too expensive for a casual tourist hotel, although if you are an upscale traveler who appreciates the usual amenities that you find in American corporate chain hotels, then the Herradura is an excellent choice. On the other hand, if you're a tourist on a budget then I don't recommend the Herradura -- it's not close to downtown San Jose and it's not particularly convenient to any of the parks, jungles, beaches, volcanoes, or other natural attractions that make Costa Rica such an attractive destination for outdoor travelers.
Bottom line though...nice upscale hotel with about 300 rooms. If you find yourself there, I recommend laying under the palapas near the main pool. And when Carlos is bringing those big Pina Coladas over to you, tell him I said "hi".
Note: I wanted to add this review into the Hotels category, but I can't. Even though it is one of the largest hotel in Costa Rica, it is not one of the handful of hotels that epinions thinks exist in all of Central America. Of course there is no way to add a hotel. I apologize if you think it belongs elsewhere (I do too).
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
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