Name: Charly's Place Hotel
Address: 200m north, 20m east from Central Park, Alajuela, Alajuela, Alajuela, 20101, Costa Rica
Rating: 4

24-hour reception

Smoke-free property

Terrace

General

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Airport transportation

Area shuttle

Transfer

Parking

Pets allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Juan Santamaria International Airport

Tobias Bolanos Airport

Guapiles Airport

Fortuna Airport

Charly's Place Hotel

Alajuela

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

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17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

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4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

We were disappointed with breakfast not being included.   We weren’t advised until morning. Apparently due to the pandemic they only served coffee. But weren’t told when we paid (which was $$$) and other hotel/hostels served breakfast so    it didn’t make sense.  The place was clean and pleasant.

Disappointed no breakfast served but web said it was included

Dirty, ugly, seems very unsafe. Would recommend not staying here. The owner seems like a dangerous guy who, while staying there overheard he is having legal issues. Would not be surprised if the palace is shut down by police

Worst experience ever

Sadly, I did not read the reviews before staying here, had I read them I would have never done so. Like most people, I was offered a “taxi” from the bus station. As a solo female traveler, I think I was targeted. My first mistake was not realizing this was a legit taxi, rather than guy with a red car and a driving meter. I asked him how much the ride would be, to which he said that it depended on whatever the meter read, so I agreed. He then proceeded to tell me about this huge strike that was going to take place the following day, I was so relieved to be informed about this so I wouldn’t miss my flight the next day. Long story short - there was no strike and he pretended to call my hostal, which then recommended Charly’s place. Obviously this is a complete elaborate scam and they are all working together. The taxi driver demanded that I payed 80 USD for what should have cost 30 USD. He even offered to take me to an automatic cashier so I could withdraw money (I didn’t have enough cash). Then after arriving at Charly’s I paid 50 USD for the most basic, unclean and unfriendly hotel I’ve ever stayed at. I stayed in my room and was afraid the whole night, I even overheard the owner and a woman talking about their legal issues with the police. Please, please do not stay here. This place should run out of business ASAP!!

PLEASE DO NOT STAY HERE - THIS PLACE IS A SCAM!!

Scamming still

I will begin and say Charly seemed a happy nice guy. We did end up staying there over night. We did not realize we were scammed until we checked in went to a cafe and got Wi-Fi to contact and cancel a massage I had booked in San Jose. Once they informed us that things were normal there we looked into things. 

Getting off the public bus in San Jose our taxi driver, in a real taxi red car with meter, started driving to original hostel then asked if we knew about tomorrow the big protest. Then he said no problem I will call cancel and bring you to safe area out of the bid dangerous city. He then called a colleague who pretended to be our hostel. We then went to Charlys place. He insisted he would bring us in and carried our bags both big bags so that his friend would give us a good price. We then paid triple what we would have paid to get to the original hostel to the taxi driver. We paid 65$ for the room at charlys and we felt “safe”. Thanked them both as we thought they saved us from missing our flights etc. Once we got Wi-Fi we realized we had been scammed and felt very unsafe the rest of the night not sleeping very well. Nothing did happen at night but we did leave at 5am. Again I have nothing bad to say about charly except that he clearly is part of this tourist scam.

Still scamming, beware

Due to a highway landslide, my 6-hour bus became 10-hour and I arrived in San Jose late at 7:02 pm, so I missed the last bus leaving San Jose at 7 pm.  The taxi driver, Albert, saw me a solo female traveler, offered to drive me to catch up with the bus that just left.  I was in a hurry and didn't want to stay in San Jose that night so took up his offer and jumped in his car.  Lesson learned:  don't make decision based on your emotional state while being in a hurry.  

Albert wasn't a taxi driver, because his car was black, not red, and I doubt if Albert was his name.   In the car, I asked how much the taxi would cost me, he said "We'll see".  When we caught up with the bus 5 minutes later, Albert would have plenty of time to get in front of the bus and stop at the next station so I could get out to board this bus, that was when he slowed down and said I owed him 70 dollars.  I said "No I don't have 70 dollars", we argued back and forth in my broken Spanish and his broken English, and missed the bus.  Albert appeared angry, demanded 70$ still, so I looked up Alajuela Backpacker Hostel and asked Albert to take me there.  He said the hostel was closed then called up a person (who was his accomplice) to confirm that it was closed.  The hostel's web site was slow and my cell didn't load, so Albert suggested a place he knew that was nice and open, Charly's Place.  I disregard his suggestion, looked up another hostel and showed him this hostel's address.  He drove there but we couldn't find the hostel, I still don't know why, so finally I agreed to go to Charly's Place.  At this time it was dark, raining, and I just needed a place to crash for one night.  When we showed up at Charly's Place, I had to pay 70$ to Albert and 50$/room to Cecilia (the front desk manager at Charly's Place).  I went to the room, then walked back out pretending to ask Cecilia for the wifi password and witnessed her paying Albert the commission for taking me to her hotel.   Albert also asked Cecilia to call me a taxi  the next morning to take me to the bus station at Puente Villa Bonita to catch the bus I wanted.  I turned their offer down and walked <2 miles to the bus station the next morning.  By the way, I needed colones to buy a bus ticket so I asked Cecilia to change my dollars to colones.  She charged me a ridiculous exchange rate.  When I asked why her rate was much  lower than expected, her answer was, I would need to go to the bank to get a better rate.  This I know was a lie, because I'd previously bought bus tickets at bus stations and admission tickets at national parks with a very good exchange rate.  

Over all, Albert and Cecilia were teamed up within their criminal network to scam tourists, targeting vulnerable female travelers especially.  Realizing they were scam artists, I got the hell out of there as fast as I could the next morning, just felt happy that I could leave Charly's Place safe and sound.  Not to say the room was noisy and dirty, the mattress paper thin and lumpy.  Yuck.  

So, do yourself a favor and avoid Charly's Place like the plague.  There are plenty other places out there that deserve your business.  Charly's Place can go to hell.

Charly's Place is a big scam.  Do not stay there.

I can back up all of the below reviews and I’m so angry after reading them! I also arrived at the bus station today and was offered a taxi only to get scammed out of 60 dollars and taken to this decrepit hotel. After finding out it was 40 dollars a night I luckily decided to leave and find another place to stay! It’s disgusting that they are working with taxi drivers to target solo female travellers.

SCAM!

Lesson learned : always, always, always check reviews before going ANYWHERE. 

I too got skamed by a taxi driver. 

I didnt have any reservation as I missed my flight and was perfect target as there was no need to lie to me about fake protests or closed roads -as it's been said many times in the past- to take me to this very bizarre place... 

I knew the driver wasnt a real taxi, I knew he had some kind of deal with the place but still went for it cause he was truely nice to me. 
Maybe he was kind out of guilt as he charged me $10 more than the right price to get to Alajuela from the airport and got another $10 tips from me. 
Hotel got $45 for a room worth wayyyyy less. 

It looked clean and all but the vibe... 
I was so NOT confortable that I even blocked the door with a chair while I was there.

I went out for dinner anyway but kept thinking "this guy was just too nice to be true, maybe they waited for me to go out to steal my stuff" so I checked reviews... 

I jumped off of my seat reading what I read ! 
Never seen so many BAD reviews, felt so much fear from other solo female travelers like me... So I begged the male staff members of the restaurant to please help me go get my stuff there - pretend we met at dinner - as I was terrified of what could happen if I was going back by myself. 

Meanwhile, other members called a trusted hotel owner who came and picked me up personaly and took me to a lovely clean and safe room where I didnt feel like I even needed to lock myself in to sleep : Casa Tago <3

In the end, after reading all reviews, I dont believe neither me or my stuff were at risk staying there, but still I am very happy I left and DO NOT recommand this place to anyone. 

F U Charly ;)

SKAM / ESTAFA / ARNAQUE

I am a single female traveler and when I arrived at the bus station a younger man asked if I needed a taxi, thinking he was one of the red taxi driver's I said yes. He asked me where I was going and I said the Selina hostel. He told me I couldn't stay there, or shouldn't, as the principal highway to the city would be closed for a workers strike against the president tomorrow so it would make it hard for me to get to the airport. I tried quizzing other cab drivers about this but my Spanish was not good and neither was their English. Being silly, I went with the driver who pretended to call my hostel and ask them for advice in my situation. My driver said the Selina said I should go to Charly's place and when I asked him how far away it was and how much it would cost he pretended to look up their location and call them for me. He even brought me to an atm and charged me 48,000 for the ride and said it was $60 for the hotel. By the time I arrived to the atm I decided to go to the hotel as I could get wifi and leave, I didn't want to pick a fight with the driver alone and with no cell service. The hotel was creepy with many men lurking outside of it and the room I was practically shoved into was quite literally in the foyer..like I was being monitored. The taxi driver came in with me, I'm assuming to get his commission. I put furniture up against my door and then called an uber. I ran/ snuck out of the hotel and when I hoped in the uber the lady who received me had followed me out and had me roll down my window which the uber driver did, confused at my situation. I got away safe to my original hostel but it was a dangerous situation I wish on no one, especially females traveling alone. This is a huge and dangerous scam.

A real scam

The hotel owner works with taxi drivers to scam people into staying at this crappy hostel! We arrived in San José by bus, an decided to take a taxi to our hostel! This very normal-looking nice guy told us he could drive us, but on the way to his car he asked when we were leaving San José, and when he heard we were leaving the next day, he said that there was going to be a strike and that all the road out of the city would close in an hour! First we asked that he drive us to our original hostel, which was Selina, so that we couls consoult whith them about what to do! But then suddenly this other guy comes over, wearing the logo and identification of said original hotel, saying he could cancel our booking at Selina, and that we should get out of the city fast! He then «called» the hostel and canceled our booking (this was fake we later learned when contacting the hostel)! Since we did not have any internet to check, and it alled seemed legit, we took the taxi to the place the taxi-driver recomended! To make the scam seem more real, the driver pretended to call tourist-offices to hear about the closed road!! All on loud-speaker!!! FAKE! He took us to Charlys place, where we had to pay $70 for a dirty room whith no electricity woriking. We also had to pay the taxi driver $70! We thought all was fine at first and that the host charly was nice! Then we got internet and started to read reviews and searched for the strike in San José (which was NON-existant)! As we also read about that the host Charly could become agressive when confronted, we (as three girls) really didnt feel safe, and packed our bags and snuck out to find a safer place to stay! At the new plays, the owner said that charlys place was known in town for these scams, and that police would not do anything about it!! We lost our money (and a lot of our faith in people), but we hope that others do not have to! SO DO NOT STAY HERE! AND TAKE UBER NOT TAXI!! Taxi sucks here

THIS IS A SCAM! They work with taxi-driver (nice-looking) who drives a way to nice black car!!!!!

This is SCAM!!! The owner cooperates with taxis!! I wish I could put up a sign on toutside so people comming from the taxis, which are involved in this process, would know that they are being fooled. The hotel it self is REALLY BAD. It’s not clean, toilet seat was broken, lights were flickering, no hot water, the power didn’t work during the night etc. We would much rather sleep at the airport
Full story: we were supposed to take a taxi to our hostel in San Jose, our driver told us about a strike which made it impossible to go to the airport the next morning. He suggested that he could take us to Alajuela which is like 5 min from the airport. He called the the tourist police (fake), he helped us calling our hostel to cancel (fake), drove us to Alajuela (the 62 km long highway cuz the short one was close because of the strike) and on the way called this hotel and made a reservation since every other hostel/hotel was full. He CHARGED us 105 000 COLONES. With no internet and no one to ask it’s quite hard to argue. If we would have asked him to prove the price he would have made another fake call. Worst ending imaginable 

Charly's Place Hotel

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