Caribbean - Doubletree Hilton in San Juan - parking and SJ in general

Got a couple of nights booked here next month.
Planning on renting a car for 2 days, 1 of these involving a night at the hotel and the other I'll would have checked out and wll be driving around.

It mentions $15 to park in the hotel car park but:

Is the car park on site or say across the road?
What if I rent the car at say 9am and don't arrive back at the hotel till 10pm. Do I still have to pay $15 regardless of how long I park for?
Hotel owned or private that requires a ticket to be validated?

What is parking in general like in San Juan?
Will pop up to the fort and to the Barcadi factory, so how easy is it for me to find somewhere to park?
I know Old San Juan has some narrow streets so would probably want to avoid some of them.

The carpark is on-site. I believe the $15 is a flat daily rate for hotel guests regardless of how long the car is actually in the lot. Considering most other hotels charge upwards of $20, it's a pretty good deal. The parking is owned by the hotel.
Parking in San Juan is usually not a problem. At the Bacardi factory there's a lot for visitors and at the forts in old San Juan there is also an underground parking lot nearby. Hope this helps.

Parking in San Juan is standard major city parking. Many garages, and fights over street parking. Within the city limits of San Juan (condado for example), have some change on hand for parking meters, and don't be surprised if metered parking isn't available.

At Bacardi, I would recommend NOT driving there, and rather combining it with a trip to Old San Juan, and going over on the ferry. Aside from Bacardi, there's not much else there that would be attractive to a visitor.

The carpark is on-site and hotel owned but you do get a ticket to go in and out. Each time you're exiting the carpark the parking attendant asks for your name and room info to validate your ticket. So you dont pay him directly, just in your bill when you check-out.

You're going to have the car for 2 days and 1 night? Then I think you'll just get charged the $15 plus taxes once, not 2 days worth, but I may be wrong. Because although it says "daily rate", its really that they offer the rate for a full 24hrs regardless of how often you come in and out of the parking garage. So if you're going to have the car on the day before and the day of your check-out, it may only be one charge. And if you're only going to have the rental car for part of your stay, be sure to let the hotel know which days, so they only charge you for the time you actually have a car.

You might not be able to do on street parking on the same street as the Fort because its on a narrow and steeply inclined street, but there is a parking garage near it that you could park at. Can't remember how expensive the hourly rate is though.
And I agree with "mkt" about driving to Bacardi. Depending on where you park in Old SJ (carpark or on street), it might be worth it to leave the car there, tour OSJ and take the Cataño Ferry which only costs like 75 cents/pp and there's always taxis at the Cataño side to take you to Bacardi. My only warning is that sometimes the Ferry takes a loooong time to arrive/depart, so if you get tired of waiting, you'll still have your rental as backup to drive over instead.

Hope this helps! Have a great trip!

I'm at the hotel on Monday and Tuesday.
I've hired the car for first thing Tuesday morning until early Thursday morning.
Was going to see the fort, Barcadi factory etc on Tuesday and return later in the day / evening.
Them planning on checking out of the hotel on Wednesday, driving down to El Yunque and then to Faradjo (sp?) and doing things there etc. By the time I get back to San Juan, it will be midnight at least and my flight is at 6:15am so there's no point in a hotel for around 4 hours.

The hotel mentioned $15 + tax for parking but didn't specify the hours.

What are the specifics of your group? Ages, etc...

If there's no kids, bring a decent change of clothes, and hit up the bars in Old San Juan or Condado after midnight and drink for a few hours before your flight.

I'm at the hotel on Monday and Tuesday.
I've hired the car for first thing Tuesday morning until early Thursday morning.
Was going to see the fort, Barcadi factory etc on Tuesday and return later in the day / evening.
Them planning on checking out of the hotel on Wednesday, driving down to El Yunque and then to Faradjo (sp?) and doing things there etc. By the time I get back to San Juan, it will be midnight at least and my flight is at 6:15am so there's no point in a hotel for around 4 hours.

The hotel mentioned $15 + tax for parking but didn't specify the hours.

Just curious, you aren't worried about driving back to San Juan at night? What kind of GPS do you plan to have, or will you just rely on printed maps? I'm taking a trip there in late December so I'm running into these issues.

Tom Tom and Garmin work in PR. The only potential issues one would experience entering San Juan at night are police checkpoints and traffic.

Just curious, you aren't worried about driving back to San Juan at night? What kind of GPS do you plan to have, or will you just rely on printed maps? I'm taking a trip there in late December so I'm running into these issues.

Blind luck probably.

I'm assuming there are road signs about and I'm sure I'll find one of the main roads / highways leading to SJ and/or the airport.
Will have my laptop and phone with me so Google Maps will be on hand should I get really lost.

Well, been and drove around a bit.

Firstly, the parking for the Doubletree isn't technically on site. It's under a building next door. You pretty much drive past the Doubletree with the SuperMax supermarket on your left, then turn right and right again.
The first time I went to park, I saw the signs for parking and drove up to the barriers next to the hotel but was told by the man there that this was for the private apartments / health club etc next door.

Roads wise:
I though roads in the UK were bad. There are potholes everywhere and as you head eat along the highway, things get worse. The earthquake in Japan which destroyed highways left roads in a better condition than in Puerto Rico.
A lot of swearing as I hit them even when trying to avoid them.

That said, it's very easy to drive around. Signposts are reasonable - there are times though when there's no indication of where you are in San Juan or Fajardo (signs for the ferry on a road that goes in a straight line yet the ferry is nowhere near it and you drive for miles with no further indication).

El Yunque has about 3 signs, 2 of which cause you to pull in just to pull out again and the third one you want is pretty much a small road between some shops at the side of the road - easy to miss.
May need $1.50 in change if you go through the toll booths (stay right as the left side is for passes).

Got to and from the airport easily. Few more signs for that and if you head east out of SJ along the highway, you can't go too wrong.

Biggest problem I had was in Condado. Drove though the tunnel to see where it went and ended up on the south side of the city. Then couldn't find any way to get back to the touristy part. Any sign mentioning San Juan took me onto a highway heading to another city or though unmarked streets or through one way systems that went on for miles alongside the highway with no way onto it.
Did stop at a fast food place at one point after pulling just off the highway. Then tried to get back onto it but every street was a one way system. Had to drive miles around some back street residental areas to get the 100m back onto the highway.