Is Hotel el Descanso pet-friendly?

No, pets are not allowed at this property.

This hotel doesn't offer parking.

What time is check-in at Hotel el Descanso?

Check-in start time: 1:00 PM; Check-in end time: 6:00 PM. Late check-in is available during limited hours.

What time is check-out at Hotel el Descanso?

Check-out is at 11:00 AM. Late check-out is available for a fee (subject to availability).

Where is Hotel el Descanso located?

Located in Hospital, this hotel is within a 15-minute walk of Sabana Park and Central Park. Morazan Park and National Museum of Costa Rica are also within 2 mi (3 km). San Jose Cemetery Station is 14 minutes by foot and San Jose Contraloria Station is 20 minutes.

6/10 Okay

Lisa

Nov 14, 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities

Disliked: Staff & service

Very clean . Staff do not respond well To tourists . Location for Uber is terrible. Taxis and Uber have trouble finding the Hotel.

Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2024

6/10 Okay

Alexios

Jan 13, 2025

Pros: Strong wifi. Bearable for a night or two. Cons: Little insects (baby cockroaches?) in the room at night. Small room. The ceiling fan's switch cord was broken so it was always on with the room's light. Room with window facing the corridor, not outside like the internet photos. Uncomfortable and short mattress. No english speaking staff. No hangers.

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2025

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

Aug 11, 2025

Liked: Staff & service, room comfort

Disliked: Cleanliness

Ok

Would have been ok for the price ($25 a night) but there were a lot of cockroaches. I killed a couple dozen.

Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2025

10/10 Excellent

Conny

Mar 7, 2025

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Great location, friendly staff

Friendly and nice staff. Quite comfortable. Very good location, in city center of San Jose, was able to walk everywhere. Supermarkets, convenience stores, fast food are near. Great sodas located on the first floor, under the hotel. Very good price overall. Someone here complained: The hot water is near the beginning of the knob as opposed to the back. There are some roaches in the bathroom and they stayed near there, which is the only downside.

Stayed 7 nights in Feb 2025

10/10 Excellent

Lina

Feb 28, 2025

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Great hotel

This is a great hotel. It is in downtown San Jose Costa Rica. The staff was excellent. I highly recommend them.

Stayed 16 nights in Feb 2025

6/10 Okay

Richard

Feb 4, 2025

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

It was ok cheap

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2025

2/10 Terrible

Allen

Jan 22, 2025

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

Be Warned: avoid this hotel, the room amenities presented by expedia.ca, are misleading, and are often not provided by the hotel. The hotel will not provide any customer service to resolve the issues, and they will not refund you. Expedia.ca needs to revise their listing info because the room info they are presenting is misleading. I know since the past two years, I have booked several stays on expedia.ca at hotel Descanso. My most recent reservation for Jan 21, for a single room, the online room info clearly displays: one twin bed, private bath, city view, ceiling, fan, free Wi-Fi, 32 inch LED TV, and cable channels. These amenities were not provided, which is misleading and unacceptable. Worse, the hotel management made no effort to resolve matters, despite being a repeat customer. And so I declined to stay, and the hotel refused to refund what I had prepaid online for the accommodation. In fact, only a few rooms actually have a city view. Most of the rooms are located off the noisy second and third floor corridors, with no city view, and no fresh air, and are hot, and insecure. The 32 inch LED TVs tend to be cheap old models, often the remote controls do not work. The cable TV system was not functioning, and another hotel guest told me that the cable TV had not been functioning for several days. The hotel amenities offered on expedia.ca are not in fact provided by the hotel. So I urge expedia customers to not reserve this hotel. Regards, Webster, Ontario, Canada.

Stayed 7 nights in Nov 2024

2/10 Terrible

Allen

Jan 22, 2025

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

Be Warned: avoid this hotel, the room amenities presented by expedia.ca, are misleading, and are often not provided by the hotel. The hotel will not provide any customer service to resolve the issues, and they will not refund you. Expedia.ca needs to revise their listing info because the room info they are presenting is misleading. I know since the past two years, I have booked several stays on expedia.ca at hotel Descanso. My most recent reservation for Jan 21, for a single room, the online room info clearly displays: one twin bed, private bath, city view, ceiling, fan, free Wi-Fi, 32 inch LED TV, and cable channels. These amenities were not provided, which is misleading and unacceptable. Worse, the hotel management made no effort to resolve matters, despite being a repeat customer. And so I declined to stay, and the hotel refused to refund what I had prepaid online for the accommodation. In fact, only a few rooms actually have a city view. Most of the rooms are located off the noisy second and third floor corridors, with no city view, and no fresh air, and are hot, and insecure. The 32 inch LED TVs tend to be cheap old models, often the remote controls do not work. The cable TV system was not functioning, and another hotel guest told me that the cable TV had not been functioning for several days. The hotel amenities offered on expedia.ca are not in fact provided by the hotel. So I urge expedia customers to not reserve this hotel. Regards, Webster, Ontario, Canada.

Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2024

2/10 Terrible

Allen

Jan 22, 2025

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

Be Warned: avoid this hotel, the room amenities presented by expedia.ca, are misleading, and are often not provided by the hotel. The hotel will not provide any customer service to resolve the issues, and they will not refund you. Expedia.ca needs to revise their listing info because the room info they are presenting is misleading. I know since the past two years, I have booked several stays on expedia.ca at hotel Descanso. My most recent reservation for Jan 21, for a single room, the online room info clearly displays: one twin bed, private bath, city view, ceiling, fan, free Wi-Fi, 32 inch LED TV, and cable channels. These amenities were not provided, which is misleading and unacceptable. Worse, the hotel management made no effort to resolve matters, despite being a repeat customer. And so I declined to stay, and the hotel refused to refund what I had prepaid online for the accommodation. In fact, only a few rooms actually have a city view. Most of the rooms are located off the noisy second and third floor corridors, with no city view, and no fresh air, and are hot, and insecure. The 32 inch LED TVs tend to be cheap old models, often the remote controls do not work. The cable TV system was not functioning, and another hotel guest told me that the cable TV had not been functioning for several days. The hotel amenities offered on expedia.ca are not in fact provided by the hotel. So I urge expedia customers to not reserve this hotel. Regards, Webster, Ontario, Canada.

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2024

2/10 Terrible

wayne harrison

Dec 11, 2024

Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

He promised first floor and hot water for $51. I gave $60 cash to hold. When i checked in the room was upstairs. The room down stairs was$71. He said the money was gone so I couldn't have it back. Ater saying I would call the police he said OK for the $60. But no hot water.

Stayed 7 nights in Dec 2024

4/10 Poor

Jesus

Nov 20, 2024

Disliked: Staff & service

There was unseen circumstances and was unable to make it to my room. I let them know ahead of time but they wouldn’t refund me for cancellation.

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2024

4/10 Poor

Jordan

Nov 19, 2024

This hotel is close to the main road in San Jose and the room itself wasn’t too bad for the price but that is where the positives end. It was our first time staying San Jose and the impression that was left with us was a dirty and gross city. Im sure there are nice areas but don’t expect anything better from the area this hotel is in. The walls separating the rooms are like cardboard and we could hear moaning from the sex workers multiple times per night. Other than the moaning the noise from other people in the hotel was also very loud. On our second and final night a man checking in to his room tried to open our door while walking down the hallway. Sleeping here was difficult which is ironic for a hotel called “Hotel el Descanso” and that is why I am leaving behind a bad review.

Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2024

2/10 Terrible

JUANA

Nov 8, 2024

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Terrible

Horrible, el hotel muy viejo, súper austero, los baños todos tenían techo de plástico, hoyos en el techo, muchas cucarachas, las camas son esponjas y súper incómodas! Cero recomendable.

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2024

6/10 Okay

Guillermo

Sep 29, 2024

N/C

Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2024

10/10 Excellent

Bradford Chester

Sep 22, 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

The staff was great. Rooms are very basic but sufficient. The hotel is located close to the downtown area. The neighborhood is safe but looks dumpy and is noisy. Ear plugs help. There are lots of homeless. Overall, this hotel is a good value. There is a lot of food options. Again, the neighborhood will look scary but its actually very safe.

Stayed 7 nights in Sep 2024

10/10 Excellent

Lina

Aug 16, 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Great place to stay

This hotel is perfect for a traveler who wants to explore downtown San Jose. I highly recommend this hotel. The people were fabulous. The area really wasn’t bad at all and you can walk to downtown. It’s central market just about where you wanted to go so I definitely recommend it. Awesome hotel.

Stayed 16 nights in Jul 2024

8/10 Good

Joseph

Jul 21, 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities

Descripción real

Está bien. El personal está muy amable. Hagan lo posible para hacerme sentir conforte. En realidad, recomendaría el lugar a otra persona, pero con una advertencia de que la recepción está en el segundo. Al salir y entrar tiene que tocar timbre y esperar que le abra a caso que la señorita no está a su escritorio. También, uno puede comprar el desayuno por 2 colones si pagan a la recepción. No es una queja. No tendré ningún problema regresar allá.

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2024

4/10 Poor

Nohemias

Jul 20, 2024

Liked: Staff & service

Very very small room too many stairs to get to the room and really near near stairs and very very small bathroom everything's really small I won't stay in a place no more

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2024

8/10 Good

Thomas

Jul 14, 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

It was okay for the $.

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2024

6/10 Okay

Gustavo A Murillo

Jun 15, 2024

Liked: Staff & service

Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities

Rooms provide no privacy. Anyone can hear even if you fart. Bed sheets must be replaced [they are washed, but maybe because they're old]. No A/C. And once again, no privacy.

Stayed 9 nights in Apr 2024

2/10 Terrible

giovanna

May 25, 2024

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities

Cockroach party. Literally felt like I had to beg for room service, towels, toilet paper, garbage changes etc. we literally got in trouble for TALKING the room at late hours. The walls are extremely paper thin. And there is a “window” that faces towards the hallway in the bathroom so all noise carries throughout the building. There is no AC. The worst part of it all was I felt like I was being scammed because when my guest would come visit, one of the staff would charge 5,000 colones and some wouldn’t. So I wasn’t sure if the money was getting pocketed. The hotel is very close to San Jose central market and all the hot spots. But it is located on a weird one way corner that a lot of Ubers have difficulty picking up from therefore they would cancel a lot and no near by taxis :(.

Stayed 6 nights in May 2024

8/10 Good

Shigeru

Mar 30, 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

シャワーが冷たい

Stayed 6 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Allen

Mar 10, 2024

No English speaking channels on the TV The MTS did not work… frustrating Good clean economical room With private bath.

Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

Feb 14, 2024

Liked: Staff & service

Disliked: Room comfort

Geen fijn bed

Buiten het gebied van restaurants en bars. ‘s Nachts 3 keer wakker geworden van een alarm. Het is is hard met een dikke plastic matrasbeschermer.

Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

Zhong

Jan 30, 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

budget friendly helpful staff, convenient location

I like the location, halfway between the cathedral and Sabana park. There's always someone at the front desk. The gate is locked, so you ring a bell for someone to open it. Feels safe. I arrived at midnight, and was able to get into my room. I had some problem with an ATM machine, and one lady at the front desk helped me to call the bank. Fan works, but very noisy. Pretty good wifi. Now the negative: no place to hang anything. No cups. Street noise and the door bell are not good for light sleepers. Thin curtain. Overall, worth the price.

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

Hotel el Descanso

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