Anyone stay at the Caribe Hilton recently?

[Deborito]

I just won Caribe Hilton on Priceline for 1 night postcruise stay in February. :( I was trying for the Marriott. I checked out tripadvisor and the recent review are not very good. Has anyone stayed there in the last few months. If you had a really nice room could you share the room number so I can see if it is available. Thanks for the help Debbie

[simplelife]

I've found those tripadvisor reviews to be only minimally helpful. More than not you will get some very negative reviews from a few disgruntled guests who I suspect would find something wrong no matter what their accomodations.

Every place I have ever stayed has been far better than the reviews have made it out to be.

[Deborito]

Thanks I have had lots of postive reviews for Caribe Hilton here on CC. Deb

[lovemylab]

We stayed at the Caribe Hilton last November for one night pre-cruise. Like yourself, I booked through priceline and had also read some negative reviews on Trip Advisor and was worried. However, we were very impressed with the hotel. The staff was friendly (we received a complimentry upgrade to the Towers section of the hotel without asking), the grounds were beautiful and the rooms were clean.

 

We are headed back to San Juan next November and I would love to get the Caribe Hilton again. My only complaint was that I wish I would have stayed longer.

[jtmalt]

I just won Caribe Hilton on Priceline for 1 night postcruise stay in February. :( I was trying for the Marriott. I checked out tripadvisor and the recent review are not very good. Has anyone stayed there in the last few months. If you had a really nice room could you share the room number so I can see if it is available. Thanks for the help Debbie

 

We won the Caribe Hilton in April of 2008 on Priceline, and stayed there for one night pre-cruise. I don't know if this is typical for Priceline customers, but they placed us in the "Condado Lagoon Villas". I wrote a review of the hotel on TripAdvisor, but for the sake of convenience, here's what we had to say:

 

We booked this hotel for a one night pre-cruise stay through Priceline, for about $169.

 

The grounds of the hotel are absolutely beautiful, fronting the ocean in the Puerta de Terra district of San Juan, and the Condado Lagoon. There are plenty of shady walkways, a tropical garden complete with koi pond and black swans, an open air reception desk, multi level swimming pools, and a private beach in an area protected by a jetty. It's a good thing the grounds were so nice, because we spend four hours strolling them, waiting for our room to be ready. We were able to check our luggage with bell services, but their security was very lax...my wife and I both went back to retrieve items from our luggage, and no one paid any attention or questioned what we were doing. I'm glad I had luggage locks.

 

Check in lines were long, and the reception desk was polite but firm in their insistence that my room would not be ready until exactly 4pm. My room wasn't in the main building or the tower, but in the "Condado Lagoon Villas".

 

These peculiar rooms appear to be part of a time share or condominium venture. They're very large, with doors to adjoining rooms, and many locked closets. The bathrooms are huge, with a shower and separate tub, two sinks, and a separate water closet with toilet and bidet. Our room had a shared ground floor terrace with two other rooms, with a view of the Condado Lagoon. These rooms are off the beaten path, to say the least...so much so that it has its own reception desk and pool area. This section of the hotel gives the impression of being old and musty, but it actually wasn't bad. There was, however, a party at a beach across the lagoon on Friday night, that made things a little noisy until well into the night.

 

There are a number of restaurants on site, including a Starbucks, and all are what I would consider to be expensive. We ate at the Italian restaurant one night, and found it to be very fussy, with poor service, but good food with large portions. A meal of chicken parmigiana for two, with no alcohol, ran over $90. At times, it seemed like a parody of a fancy restaurant.

 

The location of the Caribe Hilton is the major drawback. Neighborhood food options are limited, and it's an inconvenient walk through a tent city full of protesters (protesting the construction of a new high rise) and across a bridge to get to the Condado district. There was a substantial police presence, including mounted units, while we were there.

 

Checkout was less arduous, as there was an interactive TV in the room. Internet was $14.95 per day, and we were hit with an unexpected "Resort Charge" of about $24 when we checked out.

 

I wasn't displeased with my stay, but in the future I would be more inclined to book a hotel right in Old San Juan.