Petr Minařík
Google
It hurts me to write that, as the hotel is the nicest we stayed in when in Costa Rica... Everything is really clean, looks new-ish, just nice. But unfortunately, all this is shadowed by our terrible experience.
We picked the hotel, as we wanted to stay more than a week, it was off the main street (so it promised being quite there), rooms were advertised as being soundproofed on booking, even selected the priciest room.
Unfortunately, what we have not noticed, as the metal blinds were shut and staff did not tell us, there is a bar right across the street. If we knew that, we would have just turned around and did not checkin...
And the bar is loud. We found out a hard way the first night... It was like being on the dance floor, just the quality of music was bad. No sleep that night for me. Soundproofing? Lol. Single sheet windows, no soundproofing at all. Guys at reception were even surprised it's listed there.
In the morning we had to leave for our trip, stopped at reception to complain, they assured me they will find a solution, so we left...
Early afternoon, we were told that it will not repeat and were offered $70 compensation, which they got from the bar. That did not seem right considering the price of the hotel, so I requested a refund and that we will move to some other hotel.
This was declined with an excuse (see later) that they cannot refund us, as it was booked from booking and we would need to deal with them.
Owner came later, seemed really nice, promised the bar will close at 10 this night, or he will just come there and close it. (yeah, I was really skeptical about that, as it was super bowl night and was right to be... see later)
As refund was not an option, I've agreed with the promise and we went to get some food.
What a surprise when we got back - it was like a helicopter was landing on the roof. Humming, room was vibrating, even making my GF nauseous. Probably AC unit on the roof, but not from our room, as our AC was off. Went to reception again, guy there confirmed it and was like he will try to find a solution. Knowing there will be none for that night, I was firmly requesting a refund (remember it was 1+week stay, so $1000+ price). Denied. Will try to resolve it... Humming was on/off for random amounts of time. That's when we realized that even that first night, it probably was not just bass from the club, but this AC as well...
Hour later, no resolution, so I called Booking. Long story short, they told me owner is lying, that refund is fully in their gesture, as we paid directly to them and that they will try to resolve it. I came back to reception and suddenly, after boo-boo from booking, it was possible to do it, we just have to wait for the boss to process it.
After he came, he was still trying to keep that "nice" posture, but I saw something is off. He requested some time (30m) to crunch up the numbers on how much to refund us. It took him well over an hour. He subtracted full price of first night and even charged full price of second night (day we were dealing with this crap and did not stay for the night) and those $70 he got from the club suddenly "he did not have...".
He was playing "a friendly face" but I saw he was not really that friendly, that it's all just a facade. I tried to argue the second night very shortly, but could see how it agitated him. He was in position of power, so either take what he is offering or leave with no money at all was what I was seeing. As I slept maybe 2hrs in total that day, that "refund process" took like 4hrs in total, we just accepted being angry at the owner, and left at around 11pm, being scammed of ~$300 for 1 night without sleep... Not to mention, the bar nearby, that should have "stopped the loud music at 10pm" was blasting it once again.
To be fair, if you do not have to deal with the owner, you'll probably have a good stay.
Honestly, if we were given refund and apology right away, I would accept it was just a misfortune that can happen and give 3*, but after all this lying, excuses and scam (not sure how else to call it), would give 0...
