Sweet Willie

We just finished a four night stay at Las Casitas using the Q3FN certs. We had a 3BR villa reserved and not one family member was able to join us. Oh well, their loss.

The drive from SJU took nearly an hour; we left SJU around 3pm. While most directions will steer you to 66, then to 3, etc etc, we really enjoy 187 which you can catch just outside SJU when exiting the airport. 187 in my opinion is one of the most beautiful roads in all of Puerto Rico, usually one is whizzing by beach/ocean views or driving in a tree/palm canopied area, simply a marvelous drive, you’ll hook back up with 3 later. I wouldn't take 187 all the way from SJU to the resort at night; you miss out on all the beauty.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Will our bellman and escorted into the Manor House which serves as the nerve center for Las Casitas, but not before Will offered us either fresh iced guava juice or a bottle of ice cold water. Bottled water is free at Las Casitas, they didn’t refill our room but we were able to take as many as we needed from the large fridge in the Manor House. Also in the Manor house are two PC’s with a printer, these are free to use and rarely busy.

Our bellman Will walked us to our room, taking his time to talk about Las Casitas and the nearby El Conquistador. By the time we got to the room, our luggage was already inside and our car had been parked as close to our room as possible, NICE.

We stayed in the south villas; these seemed to be the most private/quiet. Even numbered villas are ocean facing and odd number villas are parking lot/golf course facing. Our 3br villa comprised a single floor in the villa itself. The even numbered south villas are all situated on top of a high bluff that overlooks the ocean. Our particular villa had a balcony that was large enough to easily accommodate a 4 person table and two chaise lounges with table in between the chaises. It was sooooo quiet at night, the frogs calling, ocean waves could be heard off in the distance crashing on shore, and all the while a warm ocean breeze caresses your body. Mrs. Sweet Willie & I ended each night relaxed in the lounges enjoying a drink, ok drinks

The villa contains a kitchenette (stove, dishwasher, full sized fridge w/icemaker, and microwave) with a 3 stool counter. There is also a large living room. Each of the 3br's have their own bathroom w/shower/toilet.

Breakfast was free as I’m Diamond but is not offered at Las Casitas, instead one takes the golf cart (or shuttle van if raining) to the El Conquistador where one has two choices of where to have breakfast. Las Brisas restaurant is the large restaurant that overlooks the ocean; it isn’t the greatest view and is JAMMED packed with everyone else. We far preferred taking our breakfast in the quiet fountain court inside of the El Conquistador. No view but sanity and we were getting better views when we were out on the beach or pool so no loss IMO. To get to the El Conquistador, one can either walk up the hill/steps or call the golf cart driver to come and pick you up.

We took the resort boat out to Palomino Island a couple days. Lots of fun but holy crap expensive. The burger I’m very sure has TVP (textured vegetable protein) in it; it was NOT a good burger at all. A bucket of 5 beers (cans) on ice will run you $27.76 after tax, the cans are only 10oz (look closely). So do yourself a favor and bring in your own which we did after the first sticker shock day. A six of the same beer will cost you $7 at the nearby grocery store called Amigo (3 miles from the resort). Amigo does not have a good champagne selection but does have some ok cavas, decent selection of beers and of course foodstuffs.

At the El Conquistador we dined at both the steakhouse restaurant and the Chinese restaurant. Steakhouse was meh but then again, I think I cook better steaks at home than a steakhouse does. The Chinese restaurant was surprisingly good. The duck and lobster with black bean sauce were satisfying. (As good as my local good places? No, but great for Puerto Rico).

One of the best meals we had in Puerto Rico was at a place ź mile from the resort entrance, a place called La Estacion www.laestacionpr.com TERRIFIC service and good food in an outdoor setting, well worthwhile. Kevin is owner and chef. We had a number of items: green papaya salad with ginger sofrito vinaigrette, Caribbean chicken wings with a spicy passion fruit sauce (I’m not a chicken wing guy, these were delicious), mofongo w/skirt steak, spare ribs w/guava BBQ sauce.

We did have a spa day; 80 minute massages ran $165. I didn’t have time but I’m sure if I asked around, there would be a spa nearby we could have driven to which would have been a better price and just as good. Massages were fine.

The pool in the south villas is not that large or luxurious but we found it far less crowded than the El Conquistador pools that we were allowed to use.

We enjoyed not having valet parking as it was easy to simply walk down the stairs to the parking lot and grab our own car. Just to get to the valet stand would have been a farther walk that it was to our own car.

naroowal

Sweet Willie,

How do you reserve a 3BR at Las Casitas using the Q3FN - I wish to get a couple nights there.

Thank you,

naroowal

Sweet Willie

easy to do, take a look at your cert so you have the cert #, then call Hilton reservations and make a reservation saying you want to use Q3FN, Reservations will ask for the cert numbers. Enjoy the property!!

Chicago Wine Geek

But the certs are for regular rooms, not a 3BR......

??

naroowal

I got 3 nights booked in a 2BR villa ocean view . Will report back soon.

- naroowal

Sweet Willie

oh, sorry I didn't notice your question earlier, Las Casitas doesn't have regular rooms, only1, 2 or 3 BR villas (Casitas):-:
so peaceful, you are going to love it. Congrats^

naroowal

As promised I am putting my report for a 3 night stay at Las Casitas using the Q3FN certs. We had a 2BR villa reserved and were provided with villa 5592 which is towards the south end of the South village. If given a choice, we would go with the North Village next time for a better view not that the view was not good.

We stayed one night at the Embassy Suites because of a late flight and then moved on to Las Casitas for the rest of the 3 nights.

Upon arrival there was a welcome drink provider and he escorted us into the Manor House As mentioned by Sweet Willie, Bottled water is free at Las Casitas and they provide free refill into your casita. The villas are very spacious with a huge living room, a kitchen, a huge balcony with ocean view and a very spacious master bedroom.

The balconies for all the villas were large enough to easily accommodate a 4 person table and two chaise lounges with table in between the chaises.

The following perks were initially provided:
2 welcome drinks (alcoholic at most of the casual restaurants including the vendana la caribe - restaurant at the infinity pool which is exclusive to Las Casitas guest).
20% off spa

I asked for free breakfast as another friend of mine (sweet willie of course) was provided breakfast for a reward stay a month ago . They agreed to it after one more call to the manager and the coupons were butlered to the villa . Breakfast for me was offered at the Las Casitas Cafe which is a very private pool and ocean overlooking cafe. Beautiful views and ambiance which is outdoors. Breakfast was cold and hot items although limited but very good. On the last day which was a tuesday morning, there were no hot items and we were allowed to order MTO omlettes and anything else that we would like. Even otherwise, breakfast was 19.95 and it included MTO stuff which is pretty good for the food quality.

My kid enjoyed the resort to the fullest extent including the beach, coqui water park, the infiniti pool and the gold cart rides. I do agree with SW above that the food at Palomino Island is pretty expensive.

IF YOU DO GO, PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO VISIT SECRET COVE ON PALOMINO ISLAND - ask for directions - it is pure bliss.

Now onto Food - At the resort we dined at 3 restaurants - Ventana Del Caribe - the infiniti pool restaurant - food here was decent but the drinks were awesome especially when you soak in the view and the service from Linda was very good.

The restaurant at Palomino Island - nothing to write home about.

Cafe Bella Vista - good wine and good pizza but nothing great

Outside the resort we tried a couple of places

La Estacion - we ordered a Shrimp and Mahi Mahi Mofongo and a vegetable platter both of which were okay - I could have used more flavor in both the dishes.

The best place we liked was a place Punta Caribe - right in front of Amigo Supermarket which SW points out above. Authentic stuff - great taste. Beware though they only speak the local language with some words of english. If you know a few key words - this place will not disappoint you.

The pools at the Las Casitas definitely beat the El Con resort pools in terms of privacy and beauty especially the infiniti pool.

Regarding parking - we did not get charged for parking at the South Village .

Sweet Willie

You have to love Flyertalk to get some inside, elite treatment/info on a property^

I was told (as Diamond) that breakfast was only served at the El Conquistador resort, which clearly is not the case. Hmmmm, I wonder why the different treatment?

Anyways, thanks for the report^, more data points on a property help one make a better decision !!

Lookin4Points

I was excited to see your post but when I went to the website I noticed that they do have non-suites called "CASITA VILLAGE GUESTROOM".

How did you get a 2BR reserved from the start?

I am inquiring because I have a few certs that will expire in a few months. I will be traveling with kids and don't want to play Russian Roulette with my chances of an upgrade into a suite. Right now I am only considering properties that are all suites.

naroowal

Since you are Diamond call the diamond desk and say you want to reserve at the Las Casitas - they will offer you a choice of 2 BR or a 3BR ocean view casita. Choose one or the other. Once you get the reservation ask for a high north village casita - these ones would have a good view of the palomino island too.

Hope this helps

- naroowal

jerseybum

I was also unable to book las casitas and told that I could not use the certs there. I was getting frustrated as the first diamond desk employee couldn't even find las casitas and kept asking if I wanted to stay at conrad (???).

I may try again today. LOOKIN4POINTS - let us know if you had an success.

Sweet Willie

to be honest, like naroowal's quote below, I simply called DD and they offered the 1,2,or 3 BR villa.

I wish you and jerseybum the best of luck going forward as there are at least two FT'ers that have used Q3FN's for a multi BR villa.

The ocean view from the south villas is not too shabby either. One can see a number of islands.

jerseybum

Thanks! after 5 tries I was finally able to book a 2BR for 5 nights in late March, using all my Q3FN certs. One girl actually tried to tell me that there were like 4 hotels along with the vacation clubs that didn't accept them including las casitas. Anyway, I'm really excited about the trip and finally getting the payback for all the hotel hopping I had to do last year to get the certs.

Sweet Willie

excellent:-: It sure sounds like there is confusion amongst CS reps about this property. Oh well, one simply has to use the FT mantra, keep calling back until one gets an answer they want Please report back on your trip^

Edited to add: If anyone is driving between SJU/San Juan & Las Casitas around dinner time, there is a very good Puerto Rican restaurant with great views of the ocean about 1.5 miles off of RT 3 (take the Wyndham Rio Mar exit (State Road #968) and drive past the Wyndham Rio Mar entrance) Riche’s Café ( www.richiescafepr.com ) will be at the top of the hill. Riche’s Café was a really fun place; it is on an open air restaurant on a tall hill top overlooking the ocean. Our mains of pork tenderloin w/tamarind glaze, & skirt steak charrasca with chimichurri sauce & a guava BBQ sauce were delicious; the hit was the appetizer of baby conch served in a warm garlic sauce (I’m going to be dreaming about this one for awhile).

To clarify, Richie’s Café is 19 miles east of SJU airport and 11 miles west of Fajardo.

Winecaptain

Have tried on 7 occasions to call the Diamond Desk to book WA Las Casitas using Q3FNs with no luck... Finally broke down and booked 2bd Oceanview @ 125K points per night. Very frustrating, as I still have 7 Q3FNs (and 2 Marriott certificates) to use up by November... The last lady actually read me the exclusions on Q3FN use. They are any All-Inclusive property, Any Hilton Grand Vacations, The ES Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach, the Hilton Royal Palms in Myrtle Beach, the WA Las Casitas Village, the WA Qasr al Sharq, and the Hoolei at Grand Wailea. I was taking notes as fast as I could and I think that this is the complete list that she mentioned. I apologize if there is an error here, as I was taking notes as she was reading a list off to me on the phone.