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

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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

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

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

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

Charismatic, dirty, ugly, poorly located, seriously the worst, it's basically a warning not to leave me, they're going to charge the price of a three-star hotel for an unhealthy place, they're charging me 70 dollars for a room in which the mattress was in terrible condition, the hot water wasn't serving and they were listening to everything and tolerating people making a scandal.

A scam of the worst.

It probably doesn't help anyone because you don't have internet in a taxi, but we too were lied to by a taxi driver with the strike to drive here. After much discussion and after we called the police, we got 40 of our 60 dollars back (before we stayed here).

Get out of here!

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.

Charly's Place Hotel

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