Wanted to let you know about Hotel Aranjuez in San Jose Costa Rica (www.hotelaranjuez.com).
You need to pass through a series of Herculean tasks to get a reservation, including international phone calls, numerous e-mails and faxed copies of credit card information and releases. Despite completing all of these tasks, speaking fluent spanish and bringing our confirmation number, our reservation was not honored and we were put out on the street at 11 pm. Thought future readers might avoid the same mistake, since it seems to be a systemic problem and probably not an isolated event, given their lack of organization.

Sounds like JW had an awful experience and I'm sure there are plenty of decent establishments in San Jose, but unless you really HAVE to stay in the city, which is one of the few low points in this wonderful country, I'd advise making the small effort of getting out to somewhere more interesting.

We spent our 1st two nights in CR in the Orosi Lodge - it is around an hour or less (dependent upon traffic) from the airport and they will arrange a pick-up if required. It's a delightful spot which will give you a much more realistic introduction to Tico culture than staying at an airport hotel. After 21 hours of travel from the UK it was tempting to just call at the 1st hotel we saw - we're still glad we made the extra effort.