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Does anyone know if they have rollaway beds here? I'm looking at taking a trip with the family, and want to get a room with a king bed and get a rollaway for the older kid and bring my own travel bed for the little one. Or do I have to get two double beds?

writetorich

Surprised that I did not see a thread. So I thought I would start one. Perhaps this can be a post renovation thread. Please post stay experiences, reviews , elite treatment etc.

writetorich

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...o.html?m=19905

I say a credible review because 5 year member, lots of posts, lots of helpful votes. A distribution of star ratings and reviews posted spread out

Jasper2009

Does anyone know what the "continental breakfast" is like that Gold members receive? Is it a coffee and a muffin, or access to the breakfast buffet, or something inbetween?

LAXer

We were there earlier this week. We are Diamonds, but the breakfast benefit was just Continental. This meant any of the "cold" food on the buffet. Personally, we found the cold offerings more than enough for a good breakfast. It included dry cereals, oatmeal, large assortment of fresh breads and homemade pastries, fresh fruit (including tamirind!), smoked salmon and turkey with accompanying salad, capers, onions, and sour cream.

Alternatively, we were told that if we did not eat at the buffet, a $10 credit will be applied towards a purchase at the beach or indoor bar. They informed us at check-in that we would have to inform the front desk at check-out to apply the unused breakfast credit.

That's exactly what we did one day when we had a birding tour that started before the buffet restaurant opened. We had a drink at the bar when we got back that night. When we checked-out the next day, we informed them we didn't eat at the buffet the previous morning and they applied the "breakfast credit" to the bar charge.
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iahphx

It's a bit unfortunate that they're "cheaping out." That would certainly be enough food for breakfast, but also considerably less enjoyable. I assume you can't give them a few bucks to upgrade to the full buffet?

LAXer

Jaimito Cartero

Scottydoesntknow

kyushuman

With 2x Hilton Free Night Certificates expriring by mid-March, I found Fri-Sat over Presidents Day Weekend available, and then booked 2x50K points for the next 2 nights. Room rates here (and just about everywhere in SJU) are over $400/night.
Even with middling reviews, I am happy to get this! I'm hopeful that some of the reviews would be better if the price wasn't so ridiculous. For $450 a night, I'd expect perfection. Using points and certificates, my expectations may be lower than theirs.

iahphx

The hotel has been oddly cheap on points this year. 50K often doesn't get you too much in the Honors program these days. I've seen plenty of Hamptons for 40 and 50K. I agree, though: if you've gotten a 50K deal, you only need the hotel to be good, not fantastic, to be satisfied.

kyushuman

How about this: The Embassy Suites San Juan, Doubletree San Juan (not on the beach), and the Hampton Inn San Juan all charge 60,000 per night. Caribe is 50K.

iahphx

Right. It's weirdly cheap (for Hilton). They've even been offering it for Xmas week. Thanks to Frontier, there's also a fare war to San Juan from several cities this winter. Other airlines, like AA, are sometimes matching. I would say the combo of cheap airfares and the cheap redemption rates at the Caribe make for a good winter vacation deal. I doubt you can find a Hilton resort in Florida for 50K.

iahphx

I just stayed at this property over the Christmas Holiday. I think it's under-rated -- certainly at 50K Honors points/night. It is a very good resort. I think it has excellent location. As the first resort on the island, it has the best location. The Hilton "compound" (which does feel very secure and safe) probably has the best beach in San Juan. Since there are some bad beaches at other Puerto Rican hotels, this is a big plus. It's a 15-minute, $12 Uber ride from SJU. While you're "in the city," it doesn't feel like it. Yet, it's about a mile-and-a-half to Old San Juan, where there are lots of good restaurants and things to do. You can even walk to OSJ if you want to along the water (I did it), but it's a solid 30 minute walk that could get quite hot, so I'd generally suggest the $5 Uber. But with all the activity going on at the hotel and the great recreational opportunities, you may not want to leave that often. Service is not fantastic at the hotel, but service in general on Puerto Rico is not fantastic, and the Caribe Hilton is above average for the island.

There are some annoyances, though, especially for elites. First, even though this is a great family resort (it's good for couples, too, but I wouldn't really call it "romantic"), the rooms aren't configured well for families. Even though the rooms are fairly large, they've chosen to go with 2 double-beds instead of 2 queens even after the recent renovation. Meanwhile, my bathroom was huge. I like a large bathroom as much as the next person, but who would prefer a large bathroom over larger beds?

Second, the Gold/Diamond breakfast benefit can be annoying. If you're just 2 people you're fine. You've got a choice of a free cold buffet for 2 (served in the Rustica restaurant, at least over the Holidays), or giving them an additional $11 per person for the full restaurant buffet at Nectar. The Nectar spread is much better, but some will be fine at Rustica. The problem is that if you have your kids with you, they will charge you $29 for each additional breakfast at Nectar (children under 12 may be less). Frankly, even with an Aspire credit to use, it's not worth that. There is no lounge or lounge breakfast. I don't know if you can "pool" your breakfast credits to, say, bring 4 people one day and none the next (which would be a good idea).

Hotel food and beverage prices are relatively high, but not out of line. Think $16 for a poolside bar sandwich with a side and $11 for an alcoholic drink. Entree prices in the main restaurants start at about $29 and run to about $50.. They have an on-site Mortons that has a good food/beverage happy hour most days from 5 to 7 pm. I've heard that there's sometimes happy hour at the main bar, Caribar, but that may be seasonal (not at Xmas). The hotel does have a high end mini-mall just across the street with lots of dining choices, including a large and decent food court. The prices there are "normal," and cheaper than the hotel. You might also want to look at the Gustazos website (it's like Groupon for Puerto Rico) as several of the restaurants in the mini-mall restaurants have deals. Even without a coupon, you can get a 14 inch very decent wood-fired pizza at lunchtime for 12 bucks, so it's a good and easy place to feed a family at the resort with no hassle.

We were given an oceanfront room on a high floor in the tower building, but I think most of the rooms in the hotel will have a decent ocean view. Most rooms also have balconies. There's still a little hurricane damage on and near the property, but after spending $150 million on renovations, the hotel is looking good.

DeeCipher

Thanks for this review. We're going on Sunday for a week.