What are your favorite features in a hotel when you visit Costa Rica?

for my trip to costa rica the things that i appreciated most were the friendly and helpful staff at the hotels we stayed at. they helped with planning of day trips even before we got to the country. airport pickup and transfers helped immensely...the bonus of staying at a hotel in the central pacific coast area was the proximity to the beach while still "living" amongst the animals and trees of the jungle...costa rica is the favorite of all my travel experiences and it is the people and country, not the amenities, for which i will definitely return.

Close to the beach, AIR CONDITIONING (at top of list really), clean, safe location. You dont want to goto Costa Rica to be near the airport. San Jose is all ghetto and mostly unsafe. You dont go to Costa Rica to use the Internet... there are very, very few hotels that have phones in the rooms, forget about the Internet... not to mention you are in paradise... dont sit on the Internet. :) Pool's are nice... but again, I can go to a beautiful hotel in the USA and have an awesome pool... so it is really not that important. In Costa Rica, you sweat all day, so it is nice to be able to come back to the hotel, take a shower, and have air conditioning so you sleep comfortably to be refreshed for the next day. The location of the hotel is important, as travel is slow and difficult... once you get someplace, you dont want to have to spend a lot of time in the car. My last trip to Costa Rica was Pavones... the drive is 10 hours from the airport to the small town, but once there, the car was not needed at all. Figure out what you want to do, what town will meet those needs, and find a hotel there.

Cleanliness#1 (clean sheets, clean pillows) Good Smell#2 (some hotel rooms have a bad smell) Friendly customer service#3 ac, cable tv, free breakfast, telephone.

HOT WATER! What most people don't know about Costa Rica is that most residences don't have water heaters. Most homes have shower heads that contain a heated coil that is used to briefly heat water for showering (sometimes you don't have enough warm water to even wash your hair). So, hotels with water heaters are always welcomed.