San Jose Travel Guide
Barbie Hotels / Family-Friendly Hotels / Doubletree Hotels / Costa Rica Hotels / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags
Pink Power! Barbie's Cruisin' to Costa Rica's DoubleTree by Hilton
You know we're the biggest kids at HotelChatter. We see rooms intentionally designed for children and we get all pouty and think "we want that, tooooo!". But alas, we're big kids now, some with little tykes of our own, so we get our thrills when we see things like this--the new Barbie Room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cariari in San Jose, in Costa Rica.
We are positively entranced by all the pinkness that is Room 2036. It is filled top-to-bottom with Barbie-themed linens, clothes, costumes, games, dolls, movies and accessories galore. And do not ask about Ken. This is not about Ken!
Through Nov. 11, 2012, kids can spend the night in the Barbie room for only $139 per night (two-night minimum), and includes breakfast for two children. The room is attached to connecting parents room which starts at a rate of $109 per night for a king-size bed. And yes, you have to purchase the parents room, too.
Hotel Openings / Budget Hotels / Aloft Hotels / Costa Rica Hotels / Starwood / → All Tags
Aloft Costa Rica Won't Cost-a You Too Much
Aloft launches its second Latin American hotel this month with the opening of Aloft San Jose in Escazú, close to the Juan Santamaria airport. Though Aloft Bogota opened last year, this is the company's first location in Costa Rica. The budget, easy-in-easy-out appeal of Aloft must have outweighed its flashier big sister, W when it came time for Starwood to decide which brand to introduce.
A quick TripAdvisor search reveals that until now, Escazú has boasted little in the way of hotels. While Real InterContinental Costa Rica and Marriott San Jose are both viable options (and also both boast killer spa servies) $149/night rates will make Aloft very attractive to cost-conscious travelers.
And all the usual Aloft trimmings (w xyz bar, re:fuel snack station) are here. The website is also showing photos of a "backyard" space with tables and chairs—since we know how much Aloft loves its social butterfly guests...
Anti-View / Costa Rica Hotels / → All Tags
Room With an Anti-View: An Unattractive Scene at the Hotel Don Carlos
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Found in the oldest historical section of San Jose downtown in Costa Rica, the Hotel Don Carlos looks so beautiful from the outside, and it is known to be one of the better hotels of the area. But if you have the luck of vacationer and Flickr-poster katinalynn, you might be inside a great hotel but with this very uninviting anti-view.
Large grey air vent aside--we can appreciate that these need to be up there somewhere, although that's not really an excuse--what's with the aggressive looking fence? Definitely not the kind of place we could go sleepwalking in without the danger of being impaled.
[Photo: katinalynn]
Geek Hotels / San Jose Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Geek Hotel Update: Hotel Montgomery
When we compiled our Best Geek Hotels List, we were disappointed that there was no outstanding Geek Hotel in Silicon Valley, San Francisco or even Cupertino, where the Apple Headquarters are.
Since our list, we discovered the Hotel Avante in Mountain View and the Fairmont San Jose, both very encouraging. Today, we came across the blog Thoughts on VoIP, technology... and more who recently stayed at the Hotel Montgomery in San Jose which is another JDV hotel (Avante is the other one.)
Here's what blogger Luca Filigheddu had to say:
I immediately realized I was in a hotel for geeks, just 15 minutes far from Cupertino (where the headquarters of Apple are), from this: [picture of an iHome] Definitely fantastic. An iPod stereo dock just in my room.
Hmm...that's not very satisfying. The whole point of Geek Hotels is to go beyond an iPod docking station because you can find those in Westin Hotels these days. We need to see some robots, killer technology or at the very least a shrine to hobbits or George Lucas.
Got a Geek Hotel tip? Spill it.
Related Stories:
· Best Geek Hotels in the World [HotelChatter]
· Hotel for Geeks [Thoughts on VoIP, technology... and more]
· Montgomery Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]
Geek Hotels / Hotel WiFi / Fairmont Hotels / → All Tags
Geek Hotel Surprise at the Fairmont San Jose
We're not sure a blog can get any geekier than VoIP Watch but we won't throw salt in this blog's game because we actually learned some useful information about WiFi in San Jose, an area that is surprisingly lacking in Geek Hotels.
Andy Abramson writes:
At the Hilton two years back the bandwidth was so overloaded that it hurt. The Marriott wasn't that better, but I'm over at the Fairmont San Jose where the lobby bandwidth is FREE WiFi and the in-room broadband is free to me as I'm part of the Fairmont President's Club.
What's amazing is the quality of the lobby bandwidth...good enough for VoIP Calls (at least on Sunday)..it's so good I know Rich Terhani will wish he was staying here.
God, we love it when geeks name-check other geeks.
[Photo: TimWilson]
Related Stories:
· Gotta Love Great FREE HOTEL WiFi and Broadband [VoIP Watch]
· Best Geek Hotels in the World [HotelChatter]
Fairmont Hotels / Green Hotels / → All Tags
Fairmont Hotels Think Green
Buried halfway through this article about the perks of owning hybrid cars is the mention that The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose offers free parking for those driving the eco-friendly cars.
The hotel also has a bunch of other environmental initiatives such as food redistribution, water and energy conservancy, and the purchase of environmental-friendly products.
Related Stories:
· Rates Hybrid Owners Get Perks for Thinking Green [NY Newsday]
· Fairmont San Jose Reviews [TripAdvisor]
