Radisson Europa Htl Conf Ctr - San Jose, Costa Rica 

I stayed here before embarking on a Brendan tour of Costa Rica the following night. I had a week's worth of dirty clothes to wash, and had to use their laundry services. Before 9:00 AM, they return it the same day. After, it's an additional 50% to guarantee the clothes back within 2-3 hours. The staff got my clothes back to me quickly and actually dropped the express service charge, too. The bellboy was very friendly, and the reception staff was a pleasure to deal with. The restaurant provides a much larger variety of food selections than similar hotels, which is always a good thing, though I'd have to say even for hotel food, it's pricey. It's very near a mall, and located in Barrio Amon, so going out for something during the day is always an option, though going out after dark is not at all recommended. The accommodations were clean and neat, the room was very pleasing to look at, and the TV was large, though the reception was a bit fuzzy, but nothing terribly bothersome. If you're here on business, this is a good spot, but not really where you want to stay for sight-seeing or anything like that.

We stayed at the Radisson Europa beacuse the hotel was selected as the venue for a Central American/Caribbean international training. We combined it with some days vacation before and after. We found the inner garden around the swimming area gorgeous. Water was cold, and did not invite to swimming, but when sunshine, sunbath on the beach chairs was pleasant. The gym opened already at 5 A.M. and closed 8:30 P.M. We did not need to wait long for a "jogging path" and the combination of a commercial Gold's Gym in a hotel seem to be a good feature. Staff in the Reception was very kind and helpful, but were not willing to explain the bus system of San José. There is a bus stop on Calle Central near the back gate of the hotel for the bus to/from Tibas, which takes you close to the Avenida Central for 150 colones. To get a taxi, do not ask the hotel. Find instead one outside on the street. Going from Radisson to the Downtown area costed us 800 colones (USD 1,6) with a meter taxi, when the taxis at the hotel entrance wanted USD 4 for the same trip. Complimentary coffee, tea and fruits in the lobby and the free wireless internet everywhere in the hotel are giving competitive advantage compared with other hotel chains, who charge for everything. You have to be patient with the Central American un-systematic way to make up the room. Some days no shampoo, other days flowers in the room, the next day no coffe or tea bags for the coffeemaker. As a summary we found the hotel convienient for business as well as for our vacation days.