I loved my stay at La Catalina, The satff was great they made my vacation special. I stayed in a room with King size bed jacuzizi and an amazing view of the valley. The food at the restaurant was great i had breakfast, Lunch and Dineer their, i recommend the sea food soup.UMMMMMM the front desk helped my wife booking the tours , and a good thing of this hotel is that they make their tours, they dont send you with other Tour agents, I will be back for sure, Thanks to tha amazing staff .

I got the feeling that at different times of the year this could be a nice place. It was more expensive than the places we stayed in La Fortuna and Santa Elena and no where near as nice. Plus we paid more than our quoted price per night due to the exchange rate. We were wuoted in US Dollars but then charged at the end in Colones. I expect to travel to other countries and pay in local currency but they play a game that cost us almost $20 more per night. They also quoted us an exchange rate much higher than the banks. We had dinner there one night as we had a kitchen in our room, and it was plain and tasteless cosados compared to other places. We tried cosados and loved them everywhere else. The pools were cold, the stove didn't work and the shower was cold. I spent the whole time back and forth to the office to ask for something to work. No phone in the room. (we were in the room next to the family pool). The only redeeming factor was that they let us stay 1 night out of the 4 in their other hotel in Jaco Beach, Copa Cabana. Nicer place for sure. I would not stay here again.

I stayed at La Catalina 1 night when i arrived to Costa Rica because is 20 minutes from the airport, then i went to the Copacabana in Jaco and went back to La Catalina for 3 nights more, your are close to many tours like the Poas Volcano and La Paz waterfalls, was great. The rooms are nice i stayed in one with jacuzzi and king size bed and the view was amazing. We relax , we had massages and great food, 2 swimming pools jacuzzi and much much more. Great and friendly staff they always try to help you .

La Catalina was a bit of a disappointment to my group of 5 during our 9 night stay in May, 2008. The staff is very friendly and helpful, but the amenities are lacking - at best. We had a private 2 bedroom house - which was OK - and the views from the front porch were great (very relaxing and the BEST thing about the hotel). The rooms were clean, but the furniture/bedding seems really outdated - mattresses not very comfortable. The hotel advertises 2 heated pools. NOT TRUE. One of the pools is "heated" by solor panels we were told - but it never got warm enough to swim comfortably. The other pool was always very chilly. Also advertised is a 5th night free after April 2008. We did not receive this. And, they also state free massages with extended stays - we did not get this either - even after we asked about the service. A hot tub was recently installed - though it wasn't installed properly and the hot water is added to the tub via a water hose. So, using the tub was not convenient at all. The restaurant was great for breakfast - but other meals were average at best. Overall, if you are looking for a cheap place for a group with OK facilities, it's a decent place to stay. If you are looking for comfort, good food and management that honors what they advertise, I'd look elsewhere.

After all of the wonderful reviews I had read on this and other web sites, I was very excited to check into the hotel, April 5, 2008. What a huge disappointment. Let me preface this by saying that I am not a hotel snob. I can stay at a Motel 6 and be perfectly content, provided it’s clean and everything is in working order. I've stayed at hotels around the globe and understand that the quality of hotels vary greatly, but the simple basics tend to be universal. That was not the case with La Catalina Hotel and Suites in San Jose! Admittedly, the grounds are beautiful, but hotel itself was in extreme disrepair. The tile in the bathroom was pitted, scratched, broken and moldy. The black mildew around the faucet was disgusting and the shower door was almost falling off. The showerhead was so corroded that we could get only a small trickle of water, at best. The carpet was badly stained and worn and in need of replacement - or at the very least, a good cleaning. Even the bath towels were stained. The room is above the restaurant and the noise kept us up all night. On Saturday night, they had karaoke and some sort of party that lasted well past 2:00 AM. Even with earplugs in, it was so loud that we spent the next night at another hotel, even though we had already paid for La Catalina, just to get some sleep! But, the best part had to be that the electricity went out on some of the units our last night there. When I asked about it I was told there was something wrong with the electricity. (Gee, really???) Our outlets worked but none of the lights did. I was told to go back upstairs and check if the television worked. I explained that I was not interested in watching television, I was interested in having light in the bathroom. I was told again to go check the television because they did not want to move us to another room that they weren’t sure was any better, and if the television worked, we should stay where we were. In the end, I pulled in one of the lamps from the room and put it in the bathroom. I then got in the shower to find that we also had no hot water. We checked out the next morning. Maybe the hotel is under new management since the last review??? At any rate, if you do stay here, do not let them put you in room 104.