Just returned this morning from a stay at this hotel so the details are fresh in my mind. Me and a group of friends stayed here this weekend for our close friends wedding which was also out this hotel.
My 1st impressions were that the lobby decor was pretty nice with a Tommy Bahama “tropical plantation” style. Went to check in and the front desk agent was professional and answered my questions but did not crack a smile the entire time. Neither did the agent next to him helping another guest. I also found it strange that they charge your entire stay right at check in. I've never had a hotel do this. From the outside the buildings and facilities seem nice enough. After arriving at my room, neither of our 2 room keys worked. The bellboy, who was courteous but also not a smiler, went and got us new keys. I was in room 116 which was very large but seemed to have the same furniture as smaller rooms so it made the room feel a bit empty even with 2 queen size beds. I did enjoy having a larger room though. At 1st quick glance the rooms seem okay but upon further inspection you notice that the walls and ceiling are done in popcorn style, something I haven't seen since the early 80s. The door to the small terrace was a white aluminum door and looked like something you would use in an industrial setting, not a guest room. The entry door and closet doors were wood, but were faded and in need of some sanding and varnish. The furniture was in the same style as the lobby and seemed fairly new and nice, just not enough of it to fill the room. The air-conditioners are also new and quiet and work well but the beds did not have a comforter (or a fitted sheet for that matter) so you can't make the room too cold or you'll freeze which is what happened to me on the 2nd night.
On Friday night we had dinner at the hotel's restaurant, Brasas. The service was about as slow as I've ever had. I know a lot of tourists complain about slow service in Puerto Rico but this was really beyond anything I've experienced here so far. The food was mostly bad as well. We had a table of 7 and ordered many different plates as well as some tapas and I would say about 85% of the things we tried were pretty bad. My rack of lamb was supposed to be medium but was pretty dry and a friends churrasco had a curly hair in it. Somebody from our group had to eat earlier and when we arrived at the restaurant we saw them sitting alone at the table with a frustrated look. Later on we found out that they waited 1 hour and 5 min. for a salad and that it wasn't even good either. We also had to ask for the check at least 3 times before it arrived.
After dinner we met up with the rest of the wedding party at the lobby bar for drinks. I'm pretty sure that this bar made more money that night than in the rest of the month. There were at least 30 people there, almost all Puerto Rican and experienced drinkers, so we were taken aback at the attitude of the bartender who clearly wanted to close the bar and go home. He even made several comments to some of us indicating that he wanted to close up and leave because “he too had a social life”. Let me be clear and say that the group was not being obnoxious or belligerent towards him so I didn't see the reason why he wouldn't be happy to make as much in tips as he probably did. Oh, and he didn't crack a smile all night either. At one point around midnight he disappeared for half an hour. We thought he had closed up and left but he returned saying he went to get more bottles of vodka. At around 2 AM, he finally closed the bar and left. Some of the group stayed for a little while to finish up their drinks and one of my friends went behind the bar to get a bit more ice for his glass. The overnight front desk agent saw this and screamed “hey hey hey!” from across the lobby. I was surprised because I thought it might have been someone from the group being loud, but when I saw it was the front desk agent, I couldn't believe it. I am of the mindset that the customer is NOT always right but in this kind of situation, I think an employee in the hospitality industry should walk up to a guest and inform them of what they can and can't do rather than scream at them from across the lobby. The grooms dad joked that his next wedding would be somewhere else.
Saturday morning, me and a friend woke up late so we decided to grab a quick breakfast and not leave the hotel since our friends were waiting for us at the beach. Bad decision again. Same slow/nonexistent service. We had the breakfast buffet which mainly consisted of some dry scrambled eggs, chewy bacon, toast, decent breakfast sausages, salmon that looked more like prosciutto ham so I didn't touch it, and a few other items. On the bright side, the pineapple was very sweet and juicy and a chocolate chip cookie was nice. They do offer à la carte for breakfast but as I said, I was in a hurry and didn't want to wait based on their service history. After trying to get a servers attention for the bill and failing, we decided to go up to the front. While waiting for them to get paper for the machine to print the tickets, I heard a waitress saying “what time is it so I can get out of here”. Mind you, she wasn't whispering and it was 10 AM!
We relaxed by the pool and beach that afternoon where I saw the 1st employee with a smile. It was the pool bartender who was genuinely friendly and had our backs all afternoon. The pool grill waitresses were friendly as well. Unfortunately, the food at the pool grill wasn't much better. A few of my friends ordered chicken fingers and fries which were okay but I ordered a shrimp cocktail which according to the menu consisted of half a pound of shrimp with cocktail sauce. In actuality it was nowhere near a half pound and the size of the shrimp seemed more appropriate for a seafood stew. Oh, and the cocktail sauce, which had more of a liquid consistency than saucy and didn't taste like cocktail sauce, came in a plastic cup smaller than a medicine cup. I am not exaggerating.
That night the wedding was in the ballroom which I think was the nicest part of the hotel. It was a bit tight for the size of the wedding but that is not the hotels fault. I like the decor that was used though some had some critiques. The food was buffet style and was okay but I seemed to be unlucky in being the 1st in line. The pasta I got was from the top of the chafing dish and had become very cold due to it not being covered. I also had no butter for my bread as it was brought out way later after I had finished eating. The banquet servers were very friendly and overall gave speedy service. Wish some of them worked full-time at the hotel.
Sunday morning we woke up and decided to have breakfast outside of the hotel no matter what. We checked out around 11:15 a.m. and again got no smiles from a different front desk agent. I also had to give them my credit card again to pay for incidentals. Not sure why they couldn't use the same one I had on record. More of an annoyance than a real inconvenience but again I find their systems out of the ordinary.
Speaking with other people who were staying there for the wedding, the stories I just shared were pretty much the same experience most others had this weekend. Don't be surprised if you see a few more reviews like mine pop up soon. Reading through some older reviews here I noticed that bad service is frequently mentioned. The hotel does not look old and has some physical potential but you can see where they tried to cut corners. My room was not serviced on Saturday and when we saw a housekeeper late in the afternoon, we asked for service but were told that they were understaffed and each had 18 rooms per day. I also never saw a supervisor or manager anywhere on the property. I came in with an open mind and no expectations but left very disappointed as did many others.
Can't say that I would recommend this hotel.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
