Travel Costa Rica | Q&A with the Owners of Hotel Poseidon in Playa Jaco
You wake up early to witness the beginning of another beautiful day in Jaco, Costa Rica. Drowning in the peaceful sound of crashing waves, with your toes buried deep in the soon to be hot sand, you recognize that the only thing that could enhance this moment is a great meal to fuel your day ahead. Thank goodness for Poseidon Hotel!
Being one of a few restaurants in Jaco opened for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and with the perfect location in the center of Jaco- 1/2 a block from the beach, Poseidon Hotel, Restaurant, and Bar has been well known for the last 15 years as a prime place to relax and enjoy a good meal. Owners, Tim and Chrissy Odom, have worked hard to transform the hotel and attached restaurant into an accommodating place for locals, residents, and tourists alike. The most recent transformation being a restaurant renovation that included the addition of AC and flat screen TVs.
In addition to the restaurant, the attached hotel has 14 rooms that vary in size and luxury- capable of accommodating anyone’s vacation needs.
Curious about how Tim and Chrissy have successfully created and managed a desired environment and experience, I took the opportunity to interview the inspiring couple.
Why did you choose Costa Rica to live and start your business?
I had some family in CR back in the 90’s, so I came to visit and fell in love.
We moved here November 2001, so we just hit our 15 year anniversary of owning the Hotel Poseidon. And yes, we still live out at Las Nubes. We lived in the upstairs apartment (now the Sky Lounge and Sports Bar), for the first 2 years here. But then moved out when our son was 6 months old and lived in a few different spots in Jaco for the 10 years in between.
Why do people visit your restaurant and stay at your hotel?
Our restaurant is very well known for the large pieces of fresh Ahi Tuna we serve. This is probably our most popular menu item servedHPtuna at dinner. Over the years we have also added various cuts of steaks, fresh seafood, lamb chops and pasta. When we bought the property in December 2001, the former owners were only operating the hotel and the restaurant was sitting inoperable for the last several years. We knew right away that we needed to create a great restaurant from day 1 if we wanted to succeed. We started out with a Dinner-Only restaurant for about the first year and we were lucky enough to begin to draw a large crowd from the newly developed Los Suenos and Marriott Hotel. After the first year, we opened for Breakfast and Lunch and have continued serving Jaco locals and tourists 7 days a week, 365 days per year!
15 years ago, the rooms were very Cabina-style….no A/C, no TVs, no refrigerators or safes. And over the years we have upgraded the rooms to be a nice moderately-priced hotel which is located right in the middle of Jaco. Our location is a very good benefit to many people who want to be close to the beach, and right in the middle of the action.
Where are you from?
Chrissy Cousins Odom is from Atlanta, GA and Tim Odom is from Fort Collins, Colorado and Chattanooga, TN. We met while both were living in CO and Tim talked Chrissy into this crazy adventure.
What do you love about living in Costa Rica?
We love raising our children here because it allows us to own a business and still spend a lot of time with our boys. We also moved here from Colorado, and do enjoy wearing flip flops and tank tops to work every day instead of snow boots and heavy coats!
You recently did some major renovations to your restaurant? What has changed?
We glassed in the walls, put A/C and added TV’s for viewing sports.
Are there any special deals for the hotel or restaurant that we should know about?
Yes, I can send you the artwork image for our Daily Lunch Specials and the 2 People for $35 Dinner Special we also offer every night of the week, year round. Let me know if you want these in both English and Spanish.
Daily Happy hour is every day from 4pm-6pm we offer $2+tax Margaritas, Local Beers and Chips & Salsa. We can also send you a little ad artwork for this too.
We have Dish Network and Sky TV so we can get almost any sporting event around. Downstairs we have 7 large Flat Screens, and up in the Sky Lounge we have 5 large Flat Screens.
What makes your hotel different than the other places to stay in Jaco?
Location, Consistently quality food, great service. A/C!!
What have been the biggest challenges to running and growing your business?
Adjusting to the slower pace of getting things done here in CR. All the condo development has made it very hard for small hotels in CR. Especially, when they began competing with our rate as the economy went down. It is a catch-22, as we love them for our restaurant but they are hard on the hotel occupancy.
Are there things that you miss from home?
Family/Friends, Skiing and hiking CO Mons!
What is your favorite part of living in Costa Rica?
People and weather, flips flops for 15 years.
What do you love about having a restaurant here in the Jacó community?
We love the small town atmosphere here and knowing that we will run into the same smiling faces day after day. We are fortunate to have a very large local following and also see tourists who return to Poseidon every time they come back and vacation in Jaco. So over the years we have met so many nice and interesting people and would not have had this if not for our restaurant and hotel. We also love this as a central spot in Jaco where our kids and their friends can come hang out after a day of surfing. During school breaks, our kids will surf and just walk to the hotel, swim in the pool for a bit and eat some lunch. They can safely do all of this while we are working and they are having a blast too!
Do you and Tim handle different aspects of the business or manage everything together?
We manage everything 100% together, but also have our areas that one does more than the other. Tim is in charge of hotel revenue bookings and interacts with the customers and employees as much as possible. Chrissy is the bookkeeper and handles most marketing and operations in the back-of-the-house. We have been fortunate to find some very great and long-time employees who know the ins and out of the property. We have 3 employees who have been with us since we bought the place. Harold, Lizbeth, and Clariza have been through this crazy ride with us since the first weeks of opening!!!
Poseidon serves a diverse menu including but not limited to: traditional Costa Rican meals, tacos, burritos, hamburgers, a variety of fish, soups, sandwiches, salads, vegan and vegetarian meals.
Poseidon Hotel, Restaurant, and Bar, is located on Calle Bohio 50 mts West. Calle Bohio is the street that intersects with Pastor Dias in front of Orange Pub. The restaurant is opened 7 days a week from 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
For more information, visit their website http://www.hotel-poseidon.com/, call (506) 2643-1642, or email info@hotel-poseidon.com.