Hotel La Rosa de America

Hotel La Rosa's Climb for Charity

2011-12-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

Yay, we did it! For two days in December, three climbers and a local guide hiked over 40 km to achieve the summit of Cerro Chirripo, the tallest point in Costa Rica and return. This climb was done to support the Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary in the Nicoya Peninsula, an organization working to draw attention to illegal poaching in the many National Parks of Costa Rica.
Alongside the Owner of Hotel La Rosa de America, two Canadians and a Costa Rican Guide climbed for charity. Raising a total of $225.00 USD for Rainsong the climb was a success. We are hoping to repeat this success again in February as our donation goal is $500.00. Our secondary goal is to educate interested people in the importance of wildlife preservation in the Old Growth Rainforest such as that found in the Chirripo area.

We arrived about three hours late in to San Gerardo de Rivas, after a rather torturous climb over the Cerro de Muerte where there was a large landslide that caused significant detour into the steep hills to the south (where our Toyota fell into an enormous hole...). We met our guide on the night of the 4th Dec and went over trip plans. After a supper at the Hotel Uran in San Gerardo, we retired for the night. Morning came at 0430 hours and we rose for an early breakfast. We entered the trail head at about 0530 hrs and began our climb through ankle deep mud! Fortunately this lasted only until the Kilometre One Signpost. After that the trail became drier and easier to hike.
After about two hours of steady climbing, we reached the actual National Park Gates at Kilometre Four. Though this area was pretty, it was about to get much more spectacular as we entered the area of original growth forest. Huge ceiba tees, dense moss, "Old Man's Beard" and hanging vines were everywhere. To add to the mystery, a mist clung to the canopy giving a very surreal feeling to the landscape. We continued until reaching Llano Bonito (Beautiful Plain) just past Kilometre Seven where we stopped for a quick lunch at the shelter located there. In four hours we had already climbed three thousand feet above our starting point.

The middle third of the climb saw the rainforest give way to cloud forest, which in turn gave way to a bamboo forest before dying out altogether as forest gave way to alpine meadows, flowers and bushes. During this middle third, the tired remark from one hiker became the quote of the trip... "agg.. it hurts to chew" !!! This comment was expressed during a particularly challenging area of switchbacks and steady climbing. Around the Kilometre Eleven area we entered the portion of the climb called "The Burns", an area devastated by forest fire some twenty years ago. Due to the high elevation (around 9,500 feet) the flora is much slower to recover then it would be if located in the lowland rainforest. We continued for some time through the Burns, followed by the rather not motivating sign entitled "Monte Sin Fe" or Mountain Without Faith. Past this point, the original inhabitants of the area would not go due to religious beliefs. Prior to reaching the Base Crestones area where we planned to rest for the night, we had to first hike over the final hill before the camp. Aptly named "Repentant" we made it to the top and saw our Base Camp located just past Kilometre Fifteen nestled in a valley under the striking peaks of Los Crestones. To this point Cerro Chirripo was nowhere to be found. We had hiked for approximately 8 hours. Clouds began to roll in and though we had excellent weather for the climb, sunset was not be in the cards for us.

After spending the night at Base Crestones, and enjoying a hot supper, "bird bath" and a sleep in a bunk bed, we set off at 0400 hours for the peak five kilometres distant. After a two hour climb in the darkness with only the millions of stars for light, we achieved the summit of Cerro Chirripo. Almost until the last moment did Chirripo remain out of sight. Just before sunrise, we crested a saddle between two peaks thinking we were almost there. Only then, in the distance looking like a black cloud did Chirripo reveal itself - complete with frigid forty knot winds and frost on the rocks. We achieved the summit about ten minutes before sunrise and as a result, had time to enjoy both the view and our accomplishment! Returning to Base Crestones, we first passed through the moraines of ancient glaciers enroute to the Valley of Rabbits (Valle de los Conejos). After a short breakfast, we then continued down the mountain arriving at our Hotel before supper.

All in all, it was a successful trip. Though we had planned for five climbers plus a guide, two were unable to make it at the last minute. Still, the climb was a great experience, and made better though the satisfaction of raising money for a worthy cause. For anyone interested in taking part in our second planned climb in the third week of February, please contact Hotel La Rosa de America at info@larosadeamerica.com or visit us on Facebook!

Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

La Rosa Benefit Climb - Cerro Chirripo 2011

2011-11-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

"Place of Enchanted Waters"

Welcome to the blog home of Hotel La Rosa de America's charity climb! On Dec 5th and 6th we will be climbing Cerro Chirripo in Costa Rica to raise money and awareness to support the efforts of the Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary in the Southern Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. This organization is striving to protect animals within the National Parks of Costa Rica from poaching and degredation of habitat. To find out more about this worthy cause, please check out their website and associated news releases, blogs etc...

Also for future climbs, you can help by spreading the word and letting people know about this opportunity to blend a great holiday experience with some hard work, and a great payoff through supporting our environment.

Basic Facts about the Mountain:

Cerro Chirripo is 3,820 metres or 12,533 feet in hight.
The second tallest mountain in Central America and the tallest in Costa Rica.
Trailhead elevation is 1,520 metres
Overall hiking distance is 40 km over two days
Non technical climb - great for fit adventurers!

Our Guide:

Integral to our climb is a strong desire to learn about the various environments that we will pass through. That, coupled with the extra safety of a guide, led us to search out one of the best! Ameila Garita, daughter of Jose - the man with the World Record for Chirripo ascents, has agreed to be our guide. Amelia holds a degree in tourism from the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, is bi-lingual and has extensive experience in the Chirripo region. We are very happy to have her join us!

The Itineray:

Day 1: Enroute from the Central Valley, we will cross over the famous Cerro de Muerte and see our first glimpse of the Cerro Chirripo rising over the omnipresent Talamanca Mists. Arriving in San Gerardo de Rivas on the afternoon of 04 December, we will enjoy a dip in the Thermal Springs prior to supper.

Day 2: Rising early, we will enter the Chirripo National Park and begin our hike, passing through many distinct climatic regions as we climb. After about 7 hours, we will enter the "La Cuesta del Agua" which will prove a challenge to our endurance! We will then enter the Paramo Valley and then stop at Base Crestones for the night.

Day 3: Rising early, we will have a quick breakfast, and then begin our climb to the Summit in time for a "continent spanning" sunrise. After an hour at the top, we will commence our descent down into the Valle de los Conejos (Rabbit Valley) and through the Paramo high altitude equitorial vegetation. If time and energy allows, we will take a look at the Cerro Terbi and Los Crestones features as well. Coontinuing our descent past Base Crestones, we will arrive back at the Hotel Uran before nightfall.

Day 4: After breakfast, and the inevitable swapping of stories and maybe a few aches and pains we will say goodbye and continue on with our holidays - until meeting up again at Hotel La Rosa prior to departing Costa Rica.

We are very excited about this chance to climb the highest point in Costa Rica and hopefully have the chance to see the Pacific AND Atlantic Ocean at the same time! Thank you for your participation and for your willingness to support our wildlife charity cause! See you at the top in a month!

Hotel La Rosa Book Donations Update

2011-10-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

BOOK DONATIONS UPDATE:


Reading at the Coligio del Carmen

Through the generosity of hundreds of our guests from all over the World, our Costa Rica Airport Hotel is nearing our initial goal of 5,000 books donated to local schools. Thank you for your support of our program. To have this kind of success in only three years has been a humbling experience for us and has left many local school Principals amazed at the generosity of people from countries they have only seen on a map!


Ambiente Liste El Roble Readers

Though clearly difficult to put a monetary value on these donations, we estimate that the resale value alone in Costa Rica would be in the area of $50,000.00 USD. Of course, the new book purchase value would be much greater. The great cost of books for Costa Rican Schools means that only the most important books for learning can be purchased. Novels, picture books etc are very much a secondary concern to having sufficient pens and paper, rulers etc. Sadly this is resulting in a culture-wide loss of the love for reading.

With the kind assistance of an expat Canadian with close ties to the Women's Club of Costa Rica, and a local teacher, as well as the employees of Hotel La Rosa de America, we have been able to organize, sort into appropriate age groups, source deserving schools, and deliver over 3,500 books so far in English, French and Spanish as well as large numbers of school supplies. Some of the benefit schools, statistics and pictures can be found on our website page devoted to the project: BOOK DONATIONS
Many of the schools we have donated to now have large numbers of books in English. To ensure that these donations are best used and distributed, we have volunteered to host the Women's Club at Hotel La Rosa and to potentially team up with this organization in order to expand the current scope of the program.

The WOMEN'S CLUB of COSTA RICA:

The Women's Club of Costa Rica has deep roots throughout Costa Rica, especially in the local schools and we believe that their experience with Costa Rican schools combined with books from Hotel La Rosa's Donation Program will lead to targeted donations that will provide the greatest benefit for Costa Rican children. The Mission Statement of the WCCR is "a philanthropic organization supporting education, primarily through scholarships and development of school libraries for children in Costa Rica."
To this end, our San Jose Airport Hotel will be hosting the next planning meeting of the Woman's Club of Costa Rica on the 26th of October 2011. For Hotel La Rosa, this will be a charity event with all Hotel services donated for the event. During this meeting, Hotel Staff will introduce the "La Rosa" book donation project. We hope to continue our donation project and develop our new link with the Women's Club.

Again, thank you all for your great support of our book donation program, and lets keep the books coming!!

Hotel Owner, Teacher and Principal

Focusing on our Customer Feedback!

2011-08-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

Once again, as the summer period draws rapidly to a close, we are faced with yet another transition into the wettest of the wet season. This is typically a time for consolidation among the various tourism businesses within Costa Rica and can sadly often lead to significant layoffs of employees. At our Costa Rica airport hotel, we prefer to cross train our existing employees to do "other" functions in the times we have few guests. This way, our employees can retain their jobs, and the hotel benefits by ensuring all our intensive training of staff is not wasted every year through layoffs.

Some of La Rosa's Staff showing off our New Artwork!

During the Sept-Dec timeframe, we have traditionally focused on significant capaital improvements to enhance the hotel, and to renew it's 15 year old services and presentation. However, this year, we are going to focus on customer feedback generated over the past year. This feedback is invaluable to us as it allows us to maintain what works and conversely to eliminate any problems that may come up over the course of hosting thousands of guests per year. This year we have received some guest concerns over hot water reliability. We are currently addressing these concerns and we expect to complete the change over from gas to an electric system by the end of August. It is disappointing to us that the carefully picked gas water on demand system failed to deliver what it promised to do. We had hopes of eventually removing ourselves from the power grid, by first converting all major energy users to gas and then utilizing solar for the remainder. However, this plan has proven ineffective therefore we are adapting to a new electrical energy saving on demand system. When it is complete, guests will not be able to tell the difference between the systems they use at home and the much more powersmart on demand system being put in place. Complete installation throughout the cabins is taking some time due to the need to rewire many areas of the hotel to 220 Volts, complete with heavier guage wiring and breakers.

New High Output Electric System on the Left

Other upgrades will include improvements to our existing WIFI system, finishing up of the exterior painting of the entire hotel, resurfacing and repainting of the walkways, and replacement and painting of the roof over the restaurant area. Significant upgrades to Cabin 12 and our handicapped certified cabin will also be done. Inside, we will be upgrading all our computer systems, installing wireless music and speakers in the common areas, and introducing a brand new reservation system for better guest management. Gone will be the hand-draulic paper based system complete with it's mountain of colour coded sticky notes!!!! :-) Of course continued maintenance and minor improvements will continue apace!

As always, there is lots to be done. We want to ensure that Hotel La Rosa is 100% ready for the 2012 High Season so as to ensure maximum guest satisfaction! Shortly we will be making a blog comparing and contrasting some of the "then" and "now" differences at La Rosa as we will shortly be celebrating our fourth anniversary of hotel ownership in Costa Rica!

La Rosa enters the 2011 Green Season after busiest Dry Season ever!

2011-06-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hotel La Rosa de America continues to thrive thanks to our many guests who chose to include us as part of their holiday plans this past season. As we enter the quieter time of the year we are looking forward to the opportunity to make more positive changes and upgrades to improve our service.

Hello once again and thank you to all of our guests who have helped make our Costa Rica Airport Hotel a success! We have enjoyed hosting our many guests from around the world - we have experienced increased diversity. The hotel now accepts Canadian dollars for the convenience of our Canadian guests and we are working towards accepting Euros.

In response to our increasing popularity with families, we have created two new family suites that can accomodate the needs of larger families. The suites have a double bed and two adult-sized harwood bunk beds, thereby being able to host a maximum of 6 people. The suites have been very popular this year.

We have also done complete redecorating of our popular rooms, with new mattresses, bed linens, artwork, and nice touches that add to the tranquil ambience of the rooms.

Our dining room has been redecorated also, and our breakfast service has changed to buffet-style, with more choices such as eggs, cheese, and cold meats for those who prefer more protein in the morning! Also our guests enjoy being able to control their service time, in the event that they are in a rush to get to the airport or get on with their trip. We now provide coffee service before the dining room opens, for our coffee lovers who need that cup of locally grown Costa Rican coffee right away!

Staffing has been restructured so that there is always someone available 24 hours a day, for guest needs. Our reception staff speak Spanish and English, and are always very happy to help. Hotel La Rosa de America staff pride ourselves on our exceptional service, and we have been repeatedly complimented by guests for the friendly service.

Our parking lot entrance has been resurfaced, with a lovely rose design motif added. Our gardens are blooming well, and the mango trees are heavy with fruit. More plants have been added outside the breakfast area, adding to the beauty of sitting down to a nice first meal. These plants are favorites for attracting hummingbirds, butterflies and also as an extra benefit, many have a beautiful scent.

We continue to make changes and improvements, and we will be focused on marketing, training and customer service in the upcoming months.

The dry season is winding down and soon the beautiful green season will begin, to the relief of the plants! We hope that many people will choose to travel during this lush time of year, where the sun still shines just about every day.

Costa Rica Tourism Officially Upgrades Hotel La Rosa to Three Stars!

2011-02-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

Recently, Hotel La Rosa de America underwent a periodic inspection performed by the Government controlled Instituto Costa Rica de Turismo (ICT). This inspection was designed to examine quality of service, safety standards, employee standards, cleanliness, and general maintenance of the property.

Having not been inspected formally for two years, this inspection was quite extensive. After all the work we have put into upgrading cabins, providing handicap accessibility, improving the gardens and stressing customer service, it was gratifying to find out that after the inspection, the ICT would without solicitation, be upgrading our Hotel Star rating from the current 2 Stars, to 3 Stars. We were very surprised by this as we did not formally request a review, nor did we expect to be raised two complete levels! (Hotels are rated in 0.5 increments to a maximum of 5 in Costa Rica).

Furthermore, it was strongly recommended that we petition for a Sustainable Tourism Level (CST) as the inspector indicated that we were already incorporating sufficient activities to rate a possible level 3 sustainability. Currently at the Hotel, we operate new, energy efficient gas appliances and hot water, we have an in depth recycling program, and we reintegrate the majority of waste water back into the garden and property via underground drainage fields invisible to guests! Also, of course, we maintain a low density cabins to garden ratio thus ensuring that guests never feel crowded or having to compete for hotel services. Rarely will you have to wait for anything!! Also, all the water we use to maintain both swimming pool and gardens originates from the Hotel property itself, thus reducing stress on the municipal water system. Guest drinking water however is municipal so as to guarantee it's quality.

All the staff here at Hotel La Rosa feel very proud to have met with such success over the past two economically challenging years. This acknowledgment of our efforts by the officials at the ICT have only served to re-enforce what we already hoped... that we are headed in the right direction to provide our guests whatever they need!

CANADIAN DOLLARS NOW ACCEPTED!!!

2010-12-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

HOLA CANADIANS!!! Hotel La Rosa de America now accepts Canadian Dollars! As of 01 January 2011, our Costa Rica airport hotel will accept Canadian dollars as well as US dollars, CR colones, US and Canadian dollar Traveller Cheques, and the credit cards Visa and Mastercard.

Please check HERE for current accomodation rates.

For the past two years here at Hotel La Rosa, we have been seeking a way to process and accept Canadian Dollars. This effort has been undertaken in recognition of the needs and preferences of our many Canadian travellers. We understand the costs and hassles of having to exchange money more times than necessary. This way, Canadian travellers can at least arrive in Costa Rica with familiar currency and not be at the mercy of the non-advantageous Canadian Dollar to Colones Exchange rates or have to change all their funds into USD prior to departure from Canada.

We very much value our Canadian guests, many escaping the cold of the True North, looking for the best climate in the World!!! The owner of Hotel La Rosa, having lived for three years in Yellowknife NT very much has first hand experience of the true meaning of COLD!!!

POLICY:

At this time, the policy of the hotel is to treat Canadian dollars on an equal basis with USD as long as there is no more than a TWO percent difference in the value of each currency. If there is a greater than TWO percent difference, then the posted hotel accomodation and package rates will be converted from US dollars to Canadian dollars and be charged accordingly. Please note the value of the currency is measured at the time of payment, not the time of booking.

Christmas 2010 at Hotel La Rosa de America

2010-12-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

Another year has come and gone at our San Jose Airport Hotel.

As always, the beginning of December was ushered in by the Hotel La Rosa Christmas decorating party. Most of the staff participated in this party and had a great time putting up decorations, the Christmas tree, having a party and listening to Christmas Carols.

This year was characterized by a number of new faces among the staff. Our receptionist, after performing excellent work for 18 months was promoted to Interior Hotel Manager. We created a new full time Cleaning/Food Prep position and rewarded our longest serving part time cleaner with the position. In the exterior areas, a recent gardener hire proved so good that after the retirement of our head groundskeeper, we promoted the new gardener directly into his empty position. So far, he is doing an admirable job of assisting the hotel in ensuring the hotel grounds survive the transition to the dry season - always a challenge when the rain stops falling in a jungle environment and hundreds of guests begin to arrive for Christmas! A forth hire has been in a bi-lingual evening concierge/receptionist with some basic maintenance skills! This jack of all trades has somewhat carved out his own position here by being useful in more areas than we have the ability to spare him in!

Unfortunately, this year we have had to say goodbye to a couple of staff members. Miguel, our gardener and groundskeeper of 15 years retired at the end of November. During his good-bye party, he indicated an imminent desire to move to Hawaii... an odd and unlikely choice indeed! Also, in mid December, we said good-bye to our former Hotel Manager. We wish him well, especially as he is our next door neighbour!!

Overall, our Costa Rica Airport Hotel is looking towards the future with high hopes. We used the second part of 2010 to complete a major hotel re-organization, launch a new marketing campaign (with upgraded/updated website) and conduct a comprehensive staff restructuring in preparation for the 2011 tourist season. This was necessary due to the increasing business at our airport hotel and for our desire to maintain and even improve upon our already famous customer service and attention to detail. Therefore, we feel confident that, with the new training and organization at the hotel, we will be even better able to ensure your satisfaction when you stay at our San Jose Airport Hotel!

Hotel La Rosa Restructures for the 2011 High Season

2010-12-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

We have been very grateful for the increasing business at our San Jose Airport Hotel especially during these very difficult economic times. In the last three years Hotel La Rosa de America has gone from a quiet, barely heard of Costa Rica Aiport Hotel with an average of under 30% yearly occupancy to being the number one entry and exit point for over 8,000 guests last year. We have also recently expanded, adding two new large family suites which have been very successful and we are still finding that on many days we have limited or no space left! Naturally this has resulted in a need for employee and services restructuring at the Hotel. Thus, in a process that started in June 2010 and was finally completed 01 December 2010, we have completely overhauled all aspects of our customer service and redirected efforts towards improving and enhancing the overall guest experience. One of the main components of this task was to fully restructure and retrained our employees to meet the expanding needs of our Costa Rica Airport Hotel.

One of the cornerstones of our sucess at Hotel La Rosa has been our honest, individual style guest service. It is our policy to ensure that every guest has the opportunity to interact and talk with staff about their trip plans, or trip experiences and of course to ask any travel related questions they may have. We want to ensure you have as best as possible a Costa Rican experience here in our host country! Of course, this was much easier to do when we had half the guests coming to our hotel! Thus, we have had the pleasant task of being in a position to hire more staff during a recession. Due to the current difficulties in the Costa Rican Tourism economy, and the necessity of so many hotels needing to downsize, we have been able to access a very wide selection of trained workers needing employment in a stable position. Now as a result, we have five new employees, all of whom have completed Hotel La Rosa's training program and we feel are now well equipped to assist with guests needs.

Part of our new season's goals are to provide a better overall experience for our guests. Our guest's feedback, repeat business, and guest referrals provide the single largest component of our international marketing campaign. Thus ensuring guest happiness and loyalty is extremely important for us. We know we are one of over a hundred and fifty competing Costa Rica Airport Hotels! To that end, La Rosa staff will ensure that all guests will still feel like they have entered a Hotel that still provides Bed and Breakfast personalized service. Another major change for the 2011 year is our breakfast service. We have completely changed the way we present our breakfast. It is now in an all you can eat buffet style. Our kitchen staff now prepare almost double the options we provided for in the 2010 season including eggs and on certain days, the Costa Rican favorite, "Pinto". Returning guests can still enjoy our famous Banana Bread - the secret recipe that came all the way from Raffles in Singapore many years ago! If you like tropical fruit, you will have a feast at La Rosa! We offer a minimum of five different types of seasonal fruit including what we think is the "best pineapple in the world" - the Costa Rican Pina Dorada. This local variety of pineapple is much sweeter and less acidic than normal pineapple.

Completely restructuring our breakfast would be pointless without a complete remodelling of our Italian designed dining room area. New for 2011, the dining area now displays new curtains, a much warmer sandy paint colour on the walls, a greatly expanded buffet display area, new chairs, and all new table cloths. The tables have also been re-organized to offer greater privacy for guests during breakfast time. Just outside, we are re-doing the flowerbeds to the rear of the property to increase the beauty of the breakfast area view. We are planting the beautifully scented Gardenia Flower so guests coming to breakfast can smell the scent of this "purfume on a tree'. These changes are designed to increase the early morning enjoyment for our guests - especially those who have just arrived from long flights the night before and have yet to actually see the beauty of Costa Rica.

Another objective for the hotel is to become recognized as a 3 star hotel. To this end, we continue to upgrade hotel infrastructure services, using environmentally friendly solutions wherever possible. Also, we now have 24 hour, 7 days a week night concierge service. No matter when your flight arrives, we will be waiting for you! At this time our Reception area will still close at 10 pm however, this will not be a problem for late arrivals or early departures as our night staff are now fully trained to deal with most guest needs.

Hotel La Rosa de America has spent five months of the low season restructuring in preparation for the 2011 high season. Though we recognize this process never ends (nor should it!) we do feel that our Alajuela Airport Hotel is now in an even better position to provide great service to our guests, both repeat and new alike!

Our Alajuela Airport Hotel now has Two New Familiy Suites!

2010-09-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here at Hotel La Rosa de America, we have received numerous requests for cost effective accommodations suitable for larger families. Recognizing the fact that not all families consist of two adults and two children (and maybe a pet...) we have recently completed two large family suites designed for larger families. Each suite can take a maximum of six and seven guests respectively.

This way, larger families can now relax in their very own suite - all at a price significantly less than the cost of two or even three separate rooms!

Beds in each room consist of a mixture of double bed, single bed and bunk bed and can be changed as required, depending on guest needs.

Each suite also has the same services as the other rooms at the hotel with the exception (currently) of safety boxes. Each suite has a private entrance, private porch, private bathrooms, beautiful garden views, hot water, cable TV, a sitting area and Suite One has a walk in closet whereas Suite Two has access to a large private deck.

These rooms are also designed with our groups in mind. Over the past three years, our Costa Rica Airport Hotel has seen significant increases in specialized group bookings. We are now hosting a large number of groups from Canada and the USA, as well as England, France, Cayman Islands, Panama and Costa Rica.

We very much enjoy and encourage these groups to stay with us at our La Garita Airport Hotel. Most of these groups are designed around principles of learning, donation, environmental awareness, or language study. In many cases these groups give back more to Costa Rica then they take. This is in keeping with the over-arching ideals of Hotel La Rosa de America and our personal hotel business ethic.

There have been a number of other changes that have been recently implemented at La Rosa. In part, due to the increased volume of guests, we have restructured our breakfast to be more like a buffet. This has allowed us to provide even more food options to our guests. Groups especially find our breakfast buffet to be faster and simpler now now that is no longer served. No worries though! Even if our breakfast is no longer served, we always have staff available to talk to our guests and answer any questions they may have about their trip planning or whatever they wish to talk about!

Another big change at the hotel is that it is now staffed 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We have permanent English and Spanish-speaking night Concierge staff at the hotel so there are no problems with late arriving or very early departing guests. Though Reception closes still at 10 pm, we understand that most of our travellers will at some point be arriving or departing via the San Jose International Airport (Juan Santamaria Airport) and that this means they may need taxi's or other assistance during the night. Our night staff are trained to handle all normal guest needs and if a situation arises where they need more assistance, they are trained in what to do!

So, along with a variety of other ongoing changes, including the installation of a new, more environmentally friendly laundry facility and hot water production system, we at Hotel La Rosa de America are gearing up for a new, and hopefully exciting high season. We are very thankful for the loyalty and support of our past guests, many of whom have returned year after year to our hotel. You, our guests, are the reason we have been able to succeed during the last 18 months of difficult times. We are now hoping for an even better future and a great year of prosperity here in Costa Rica! Pura Vida!!

Well, our San Jose Airport Hotel gets a New Mascot

2010-07-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it is pretty likely that most businesses that receive thousands of guests from around the world end up with some pretty interesting, even unlikely stories from time to time. For us at La Rosa de America, one of the most bizarre stories commenced about four years ago.

The Gardens of Hotel La Rosa are a sanctuary for scores of birds, animals and interesting insects all busy trying to make a home away from the noise, pavement, cars and the excessive number of dogs owned by Costa Ricans in the populous San Jose Airport region.

One day, four years ago, a baby tree squirrel tried for the first time to hop from one mango tree to the next. (Costa Rican tree squirrels are aggressive jumpers and can easily jump from tree to tree) However, this poor fellow got all knotted up, missed his landing zone and fell to the ground. In doing so he broke his back and was now a paraplegic squirrel. Normally this is where the story would end as in the wild, the survival time of this squirrel would be measured at most in hours. However, the staff at La Rosa rescued the injured squirrel, bought a cage and cared for him.

Charlie the squirrel became the unofficial mascot of our Alajuela Airport Hotel.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature never really let up on Charlie and he slowly became sick and eventually died undoubtedly from complications resulting from his paralysis.

So, La Rosa was without a mascot (we have no dogs on the property unlike most hotels as it is too hard to keep them from barking when they hear another dog bark at 2 in the morning!) Therefore, we acquired a Guinea Pig in a moment of "weakness". :-) Chancha is now about six months old, more or less fully grown and sits/squeaks proudly outside the reception door happily greeting guests. More likely, we suspect she is mostly hoping for more food! Thus the name "Chancha"... which in Spanish is a common reference to coins destined for the "Piggy" Bank.

Chancha has already nosed her way into the hearts of many children who have recently visited our hotel - and more than a few adults too! If she is out surveying her domain when you arrive, do remember to say hi to her!

Hotel La Rosa Enters the 2010 Low Season

2010-05-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

After too many months without a blog, we have finally found the time to start writing again!

So far 2010 is proving to be somewhat of a recovery year in Costa Rica. Though most hotels and tourist businesses have suffered significant declines in revenue, and some have been forced out of business entirely, we have been very fortunate. Year 2009 was an excellent one for us and was the year where we saw our hotel transition from being the second choice for many guests arriving at the San Jose International Airport to being the primary choice for thousands of travelers needing safe and beautiful accommodation in the Central Valley of Costa Rica.

We have now entered the 2010 Low Season in the Alajuela area (aka Green Season) and are continuing to meet with greater than hoped for success. This success has allowed us to make hundreds of improvements, both small and large to our hotel in the hopes of being able to offer even better service to both new and returning guests alike.

These changes have targeted every sector of our operations. Continuing improvements in hotel structural services have occupied much of our time and resources, however we have also completed renovations to two more of our triple/quad cabins. Also, and just in time for the Dry Season, our Garden Staff completed the underground sprinkler system and got it hooked up to our well cistern. The difference this new sprinkler system has made to the lawn and flowers over the Dry Season has been remarkable.

La Garita is recognized as having the sunniest weather in the entire San Jose region. Therefore without these new sprinklers, the Garden would suffer without water for weeks.

One of the most exciting (and demanding) projects was the development of a new, more modern and more secure website. As of 27 May 2010, Hotel La Rosa de America launched a brand new website using the same URL location. https://larosadeamerica.com/ Though not all sections are 100% complete yet, it is fully functional. Improvements include a better presentation, more modern style, 100% SSL security on all pages and updated pictures. Be sure to check out the new Picture Gallery set to the beautiful reed flute musical adaptation of the famous Con Te Partiro. We will next be concentrating on the Tourist Information and Book Donation Pages. As always, questions and comments are welcome!

Season Two of new Ownership at LA ROSA ends with great success despite Global Economic Recession...

2009-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

Now that the rains have arrived and the guests have for the most part left Costa Rica until the next high season, the time has come for our San Jose Airport Hotel to start all the large maintenance and improvement projects that have been delayed throughout this busy year. Hotel La Rosa de America has started this maintenance period by going on a major hiring campaign with the result of more than doubling our existing staff! We are proud to be able to do our part in the La Garita community by hiring both skilled and unskilled labour in this time of economic hardship.

Tourism throughout Costa Rica is sharply down both in numbers and in dollars spent per guest. Local newspapers have reported the decrease in tourists as high as 40% and the overall loss in tourist dollars spent as high as 60% over the last year. As predicted, this has had a major impact in all sectors of the industry but especially at the many coastal hotels.

On a positive note, competition brings out many great human qualities and in our opinion, this is occurring throughout Costa Rica with respect to tourism. The result is an ongoing, and in our humble opinion, a much needed revolution in the quality of customer service, in reliability (less Pura Vida/Mañana and more action) and in more reasonable pricing throughout the industry. Though there is significant pain being felt throughout the tourism industry at this time, we feel that once tourism rebounds in Costa Rica, the remaining quality establishments will be in a position to offer vastly better service to guests from around the World.

At Hotel La Rosa de America, we have managed to avoid much of the economic downturn. We are fortunate due to our sunny La Garita, Alajuela location. We are convenient to the one major airport - San Jose's Juan Santa Maria International Airport, and to the many world class attractions all within easy day trips, and our hotel has experienced the busiest year in it's 13 year history. We have received over 50 highly positive guest reports on the popular internet travel site Tripadvisor alone, all of which we are very proud of. We are grateful for all the continued loyalty shown by our many returning guests and for our new guests without whom, we would not be able to consider these new improvement projects.

Not wanting to take our past success for granted, we at La Rosa have taken note of all our customer comments, both the positive and the suggestions for improvement (yes there have been a couple!!) and this Fall, we will be implementing major improvements to our rooms, continuing with our upgrading of electrical throughout the hotel. We will begin switching from electric hot water to gas as much as possible as it is more efficient and better for the environment in Costa Rica. Projects currently underway include upgrading of telephone lines, increasing our high speed internet bandwidth from 1 Meg to 2 Megs, and a complete rewiring of our Cable TV so as to provide a clearer television picture within the rooms.

As always, no maintenance period would be complete without large garden projects. We will be planting a large laurel hedge down the one partially exposed side of the property with the aim of both beautifying the western end of the garden and to provide an even greater sound and privacy barrier for the hotel guests.

A number of other projects are slated for this fall and we will keep everyone up to date through this blog as the projects are completed. For now, as Hotel La Rosa de America enters it's third year of new ownership, we would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has stayed with us in the past and to encourage future potential guests to give us a try!

Lush, Lush, LUSH La Rosa!!

2009-07-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

With the onset of the spring rains and some well placed fertilizer, the gardens of Hotel La Rosa are looking better then ever. All the work from last year, all the decisions, and concerns of cutting five big trees down has now resulted in more light getting to the ground. Now we have lots of flowers, virtually no biting insects and a vastly improved lawn as well. The remaining trees still offer plenty of shade and are looking more healthy.

The last few months have been a bit of a roller coaster for the hotel in bookings. May and June were quiet, more so than last year, and we were becoming concerned for the remainder of the year, what with the global recession and all. Then July occurred! Fourth busiest month on record for the hotel and by far the busiest low season month we have ever had. Thank you to all our guests who made this happen!

As a result, we are now well set to enter the REAL low season starting at the end of August. September and October are normally very quiet months. Even though one is virtually guaranteed rain each day in these months, it is still a great time to travel. The best weather in the country can be found on the Caribbean during this time and minimal tourists mean better prices and no lineups!

Here at La Rosa, we will be using this time to modernize parts of our hotel. Slated are major upgrades to two of our cabins, a reconstruction of our existing lawn sprinkling system, necessary in order to cover all the areas which are not covered now, and a major painting/changing of colour scheme inside the hotel. This, plus some other "non-visual" improvements in essential services will be completed in time for the beginning of the new high season in December. For those guests planning to visit our hotel in these months, no interruptions or inconvenience is anticipated as most of the work is self contained and not noisy.

All in all we consider ourselves very fortunate to have escaped the troubles of this economic recession. Many other tourist establishments have not been so fortunate, especially those still recovering from the January earthquake.

2009 High Season Coming to a Close

2009-04-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

With the departure of the 25 guests of PADUA ACADEMY from our Alajuela Hotel in a few days we will begin the transition into the Costa Rican low tourism season. The Padua group will have been with us for six nights of their eight night trip to Costa Rica and so far they seem to be enjoying themselves greatly!

Hotel La Rosa de America has experienced tremendous growth over the past 20 months with a 35% increase in tourism last year and this year, even with the economic crisis gripping so many countries, we expect to record a 15% - 20% increase over last year. Naturally this is a good thing for the Hotel and our employees. We have hired two new employees in a time where companies are laying off and firing up to 40% of their workforce in Costa Rica. Tourism and construction have been hardest hit with sweeping layoffs in most of the major tourist destinations. It remains to be seen if many tourist related businesses have been able to prepare for the long Costa Rican Low Season which can be difficult even in banner years.

All this growth at our Alajuela Hotel has of course come at a cost. Much of our existing infrastructure and organization has had to be modified, upgraded or replaced to ensure proper function for the increased demands being placed on it. Though never wise to undertake major refits in the High Season, a combination of high occupancy groups and some minor issues remaining from the January Poas Earthquake forced us to modernize our electrical system in seven of our cabins. We were able to upgrade both above and below ground wiring, breaker boxes and associated electrical items in accordance with Canadian electrical codes which are of a significantly higher standard then the normal electrical work found in Costa Rica. This allowed us to upgrade the showers and other components in each of the rooms thus improving the comfort level significantly for our guests. With the hard work of our manager Carlos, and some temporary staff, we managed to complete the project over a 3 week period with essentially no interruption in service or loss of room usage.

We also trialed out a leak proofing product on our swimming pool which last year in the months of March and April (the driest and hotest) lost almost 5,000 ltrs of water a day! We were very skeptical of this pool sealer and I had a very hard time beliving that two litres of this goop would be sufficient to coat a pool of 125,000 litres of water! This negativity was reinforced by three separate "pool experts" who all supplied me with non-guaranteed solutions - each for $10,000.00! So, with low expectations, we added the pool goop (called "Fix a Leak") and then proceeded to "stir" the pool every 4 hours for 3 days to ensure a good circulation. Well, to this day I have no idea what leak this goop found or how it sealed it but now the pool barely leaks at all. Best of all, the pool goop solution cost only $100.00!!! Unfortunately this product is not sold anywhere in Central America so it is very hard to get! Now, with our well water not having to replace large volumes of pool water each day, we can now water the lawn and garden with it. Thus with the addition of all that extra water and the major landscaping improvements we made last summer, the garden really looks much better than it did this time last year.

Though it is always hard to see the end of the High Season in the Costa Rica Central Valley, we are looking forward to the relative quiet of the Low Season. A number of new improvements and projects are slated to keep everyone busy and I intend to get some of my own travelling and exploring in!!!

Earthquake rocks Poas Community

2009-01-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

On January 8th 2009, a shallow Richter 6.2 earthquake rocked the local area. It was centered near Varablanca, on the slopes of Poas Volcano. Though the quake caused significant structural damage to buildings and services throughout the Poas region of Alajuela, the real damage was caused by landslides on the eastern slopes of the mountain.
Fortunately, we at Hotel La Rosa de America were relatively unaffected. Though the quake was powerful, the hotel structure was built quake resistant and we suffered only minimal superficial damage. However it was quite something to see 130,000 litres of swimming pool water still sloshing about 10 min after the quake subsided.
Unfortunately, not all were so lucky. Approximately 2,800 people were left homeless and there were many injured and some dead. The real numbers of dead and missing will not likely be accurately determined due to incomplete census data and as a result of the scope of the landslides.

Four days after the quake, we decided, as a hotel, to offer aid to the newly set up emergency Red Cross (Cruz Roja) stations near the worst affected areas. People were still being rescued when we decided to drive as far as we could to deliver our donations. The staff at the hotel put together 100 individual meals, and about 25 sets of bedding and bags of clothing. We managed to get as far as the town of Poasito, located at about 7,500 feet above sea level. A short distance past Poasito, the road showed significant damage and then it disappeared entirely over a new cliff. Even though tropical, in this area the night time temperatures are very cold for those without proper clothing.

We were quite impressed with the organization of the Cruz Roja. Costa Rica has no military and only a small police force. There are few emergency resources to draw from and virtually no heavy lift/helicopter rescue ability. This clearly compounded the rescue difficulties faced by the Cruz Roja until assistance came from Columbia and the USA. The over 3000 aftershocks (some of which registering a high as 4.8) have not made their job easier or safer either.
Fortunately, the epicenter of the quake was in a relatively unpopulated area of Costa Rica. Just 25 km to the south is located the densely populated Central Valley with over a million inhabitants. From a tourism point of view, the road north from Poasito via Varablanca towards San Carlos suffered catastrophic damage and may never be rebuilt. La Paz Waterfall Gardens is closed indefinitely as is the upper Sarapiqui River. The Sarapiqui sustained a series of huge landslides which plugged up the river causing significant environmental damage and halting river rafting, fishing and snorkeling activities on the River for probably at least a year. Fortunately, the Paquare River was unaffected and rafting operations continue there unabated.
This earthquake occurred virtually under POAS volcano. Fortunately, the volcano is still quiescent and shows no signs of becoming active soon. Poas National Park re-opened to visitors last week. Most other tourist attractions and facilities are back to normal now.
We sincerely hope that the 900 remaining families without shelter find placement within Costa Rica soon and that proper geological studies are done of the Varablanca region to determine proper slope stability in advance of any re-construction efforts. A repeat of this disaster due to lack of planning would be horrible indeed.

Book Donation Program for Increased Literacy

2008-12-21T04:56:00.000-08:00

Approximately six months ago, we decided to find a worthy cause for La Rosa de America to support. Eventually, after receiving a suggestion from the owner of another local hotel, we decided to begin a book donation program. Achieving high levels of literacy in Costa Rica is very important to the government and by extension, the people. However, in reality, the schools have next to no books nor funding with which to accomplish this task. This results in a very difficult situation for the teachers tasked to educate their pupils.
We ask guests to fill up their reserve "souvenir space" in their baggage with books. Children's books, school books, English, French or Spanish books, and/or classroom supplies.
To date, we have had a very good response, collecting over 375 books in three languages. We have now donated to two local Alajuela schools and we are hoping to be able to donate a further 350 books by the end of the 2009 high season in April.
If you are interested in supporting this program, please visit our webpage devoted to this project at: http://www.larosadeamerica.com/page9/page9.html
We appreciate the thoughtfulness of all who participate in this program.

Hotel La Rosa de America hosts LSOP

2008-12-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

For 13 busy days this November, we were the hosts to 21 of the best poker playing dealers around. Two LSOP tournament players stayed with us as well. In conjunction with another local hotel, we provided the accommodation for the Latin Series of Poker inaugural event held in Costa Rica. The actual tournament was held at Casino Martino's, just one kilometer down the road. The LSOP is a new tournament for poker players around the world and will include other exotic stops such as Cancun (Mexico) and Ecuador.

To host this group it was decided that the best way to be fair to all concerned and to provide the best service, was to shut the hotel to other guests for the two week period. Fortunately it was still in the quiet part of the low season. This decision was deemed necessary though because of the special needs of the dealers. Hotel hours were turned upside down and our "quiet" hours and breakfast hours were extended to noon. Being night owls due to their trade, it was completely normal to find a collection of dealers sitting on our reception porch at 3 in the morning having just gotten back from work!!!
It was a great time, and a new and positive experience for the hotel. Everyone enjoyed their stay - both guests and hotel staff! We are looking forward with anticipation to their return probably in May 2009.

New Services in our Day Spa

2008-11-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

After almost three months of searching and too many interviews to remember, we now have a new Massage Therapist and Esthetician.

Karol has newly graduated from a three year program of Massage Therapy and Sports Massage. She has also obtained skills in a variety of other Spa disciplines such as alternative massage, facials (complete with skin analysis and targeted treatments) body wraps, and waxing. Karol is currently completing her training for the delivery of manicures and pedicures and we hope that she will be ready to offer this service some time next March or April.

As an added benefit, she is learning English so as to better interact with the majority of our guests who may not speak Spanish.
We have high hopes for our Day Spa this dry season. We have an new and expanded list of services that we offer and we have maintained the competitive pricing that seemed so popular last year with our guests.

New options include:

- Lymphatic Massage
- Aromatherapy Massage
- Reductive Massage
- Full Facials (Treatment Facials, Facial Analysis and Facial Masks including Caviar!!)
- Body Wraps (Chocolate, Volcanic Mud or Seaweed)

To complete the SPA overhaul, we will be refurbishing the attached bathroom area and the music sound system so that guests can more enjoy their experience.

If you are interested in seeing more details about this, a complete list of Hotel La Rosa de America Spa services or our Spa prices, do visit the Spa Website at:
http://www.larosadeamerica.com/page8/page8.html
We are also offering Karol's services as part of a package deal as indicated a:
http://www.larosadeamerica.com/page4/page4.html

All who come to our hotel are welcome to use our spa, provided that, of course the owner is not in there already!!!! :-)

More or less finished in the Reception area

2008-10-24T07:44:00.001-07:00

Well, as is the story with most renovations, this one was no exception... AAGGG!!! :-)
We started small, with ideas of paint and a reshuffle of furniture in our Reception area of La Rosa de America. What actually transpired began with a new 9 foot copper lightning rod and new wiring throughout the reception area, office and sala. After that, came the computers. Formatting hard drives and dismantling of computers is always a memorable experience and this time it didn't disappoint either!
However, all's well that ends well. We now have a high speed internet connection, with wireless throughout the hotel on a well functioning computer! We will be offering this to our guests as a free service.
That was phase one. Phase two consisted of alternating between laughing and arguing over what was rapidly becoming a VERY challenging paint colour... Green. Wanting to bring the feeling of nature to the reception area without being gaudy, I introduced some artwork, wicker furniture and what was to be a nice green wall. During the course of the painting, the colour was changed not less than five times and it changed actual walls once! Now we have a temporary truce with the green wall in question and are polling guests as to their opinion!
We just took receipt of new curtains, and now hope to create a display shelving unit to show small artistic objects. This will complete the reception area.

In other news, we will be hosting 23 guests for the LSOP or Latin Series of Poker in November. This will be a major event for Alajuela with many high stakes professional poker players descending on the town of La Garita area for a two week period to test their skills.

Christmas bookings are about half complete now and we project that by early December that the two week Christmas period will be completely booked.

Our next project will be to purchase all sorts of Christmas decorations for the Hotel as all the old decorations went missing. This should be a rather fun experience. We intend to have an employee "decorating" party at the end of November so we can get everyone involved in the Christmas spirit!

One year of Hotel Ownership!

2008-09-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been exactly a year since starting out on this adventure! Overall the year has been good with the hotel undergoing significant construction and maintenance improvements as well as the hiring of new employees, marketing efforts and a new website. www.larosadeamerica.com
These changes are now paying off as our last year was the busiest on record for the hotel.

Certainly making the cultural changes from living in a high paced Canadian lifestyle to the slower, "tomorrow" lifestyle of Costa Rica has been interesting but I am learning to relax! Definitely, the climate is fabulous in the La Garita area. Not too hot or cold. The wet season can drag on a bit but I now know that come late March, we'll be crying for more rain so really I can't complain!

The current activity at the hotel is centering around the complete face lift of the Reception area. New paint colours, artwork, upgraded wiring, wireless internet, new computers and a new nook for the sale of small locally crafted objects. We just finished the installation of a big "bodega" or storage area, and a complete redo of the main garden area with the emphasis of letting in more light to help develop a stronger lawn and encourage flowering plants.

Lots of work for the "quiet" season! Come mid December, things will be busy again.