Down in Costa Rica the Doubletree Cariari by Hilton San Jose has been open a few months now since its renovations, and now they're trying to drum up some extra business by jumping on the green bandwagon.
We are definitely fans of some green hotel action, but this package from Doubletree Cariari seems a bit misleading. Yes, they call it the Green Getaway package, but that's making us think of environmentally-friendly hotel features and warm fuzzy give-back-to-the-earth thoughts. In fact, the only slightly green thing about this package is it includes a day tour out to a volcano and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. That, and the fact that Yale ranks Costa Rica as the fifth greenest country in the world, apparently.
But apart from this suspicious labeling, the deal sounds nice--you also get a buffet breakfast, access to the fitness center and WiFi in public areas, and it starts at US$199 a night all the way through 31 October. Don't expect to save the rainforest, but you'll probably have an enjoyable vacation.
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.
Looking for a quiet hotel? How about a silent one like the just-opened El Silencio Lodge in the jungle of Costa Rica. The owners reckon this is a place where "daily stress is hushed and the sounds of nature bloom", hence the name. With a 500-acre area and just 16 luxury suites, there probably is a tendency for it to be more-or-less silent, we guess.
The El Silencio is keen to promote a healthy lifestyle. is completely non-smoking, doesn't have TVs in its villas and expects its visitors to have a keen interest in and respect for nature. There's even an Eco-Concierge on staff to take you on hikes through nearby forests and who organizes any outdoor activity you could imagine.
The healthy-living policy extends into the kitchen, which offers "wellness-inspired dishes" and doesn't serve red meat but if you want a good piece of steak, the El Silencio will give you a free voucher to head to a local restaurant.
Open since November 2007, the introductory rates have now finished. Rates for the January to April high season start at $560 for a double including all meals and non-alcoholic drinks, but note there is a minimum stay of two nights. It's out in a pretty isolated spot and they'll only let you arrive during daylight hours, so plan ahead.
Hilton is kicking off 2008 with three new properties in Costa Rica, two of which are offering introductory rates of $199.
The Doubletree Resort Puntarenas is actually the refurbished and reflagged Fiesta Resort. The all-inclusive has four restaurants, seven bars, beach access and plenty of entertainment. It's also close enough to national parks to make day trips for hiking and birding easy.
Rooms and public areas at the Doubletree Cariari in San Jose have been spruced up, and the capital city hotel also offers two pools, a pool bar, a fitness center and a casino. Both the Resort and the Cariari will open on January 1.
A few weeks later, the Hilton Papagayo Resort joins the party with rates starting at $539. While that's a bit steep for a hotel in Costa Rica, it's a bit further afield, on a quiet stretch of beach in Guanacaste. While it's secluded, it's not hard to get to: Liberia International Airport is a short 20 minute drive away.
Here's a shot of the infinity pool at Costa Rica's Hotel Villa Caletas. Sure the hedges behind the pool need to be trimmed to blur the line between man- and god-made bodies of water. But the place still looks pretty serene, and it's surrounded by plenty of other natural wonders that make us feel guilty for our Christmas-only church routine.
The hotel offers four-night packages, starting at $965 in low season. Included in the package is a tour of the nearby Manuel Antonio National Park. Guests can glide on zip lines through the jungle canopy and or paddle on kayak through the winding rivers, scoping for the country's famed fauna breadth. The park alone has more than 100 mammal species and almost 200 species of birds. Or you can just lay by the pool and watch the whales and dolphins migrating out at sea.
The ultimate eco lodge vacation is one with as little in the way of disturbing modern technology as possible, and that's where Costa Rica's Tiskita Jungle Lodge trumps many of its competitors: Tiskita is usually reached only by airplane, and once you're there you won't be interrupted by phones, TV or email messages. Local birds and animals will be the noisiest thing there and you can go fishing, riding or hiking with a guide instead of watching the box.
Accommodation at Tiskita is in wooden cabins that are quite separate from each other; they come complete with hammocks that you can lie in and watch the Pacific Ocean. There are both single room cabins and family cabins. Meals are served along "healthy eating" lines using local produce.
Tiskita also truly deserves its eco-lodge label, as it runs a number of interesting conservation projects. These include the Scarlet Macaw reintroduction program, the sea turtle conservation project and a focus on native tree reforestation.
Typical packages at Tiskita include all meals, two guided walks and some exotic tropical fruit drinks; high season rates start at $895 for a four-night package or $1065 for a week.
A tipster named Charlie from the U.K. let us know that a TV actress named Bobbi Phillips is supposedly the woman responsible for bringing celebs to her hidden hotel in Mal Pais, Costa Rica.
Her hotel, Casa Chameleon (named after her most successful TV series) was recognized by Conde Nast in 2006 as one of the Best Hotels in the World.
There are TripAdvisor reviews on the place which are all glowing reviews--some suspiciously so like this one, "Let me just say as soon as I walked in our villa tears of joy just filled my eyes."
But Charlie is having no luck booking one of the four bungalows. He couldn't even find it on one of his recent trips to the area. But he did get some scoop on how celebs get brought in there.
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Tim Leffel checks-in with HotelChatter today from Costa Rica.]
Some hotels try to wow you with their bath butlers, silky soft sheets, and fawning helpers that answer every request with, "My pleasure." Ones like Arenal Observatory Lodge in Costa Rica don't need all that. They've got a frickin' live volcano!
"There is a Rolling Stones concert every night here," says the guide on our adventure tour. It's a good joke: sounds like rolling peals of distant thunder are rumbling every few minutes in the distance, a sound really coming from hot boulders being ejected from the Arenal crater and then rolling down the steep slope.
If you are lucky, you will go to sleep watching a show out your window. The morning alarm clock is howler monkeys, eight types of woodpeckers, 11 types of wrens, and 12 types of noisy orioles.
The lodge was originally housing for vulcanologists studying the volcano from a safe distance, away from the path of destruction. Now it's a comfortable hotel with killer views from every direction and more wildlife than you can shake a stick at.
Apparently you shouldn't let your guard down totally though, judging by the notice in the room, over a map of "Emergency Gathering Areas:"
DO NOT look for danger. DO NOT panic, ALWAYS remain calm. VALUE YOUR LIFE. We wish you a pleasant stay enjoying this natural wonder.
