ikonos

HH Diamond members get complimentary full breakfast for two at the Las Brisas restaurant. The hotel by itself is ok but does not deserve to be a top line Hilton hotel. If you are going for the beach and sea then this hotel may not be for you. The water around palomina island is full of sea weed and rocks and you can not walk on it with out proper shoes. This is supposed to be a top end beach resort and you can not walk in the sea water or enjoy swimming in it. The first post in this thread is dead on describing the issues for this hotel. 3 years on and those issues still remain the same. I think you have better alternatives than this hotel.

standingoten

I booked this place through Cheap Caribbean...but I am a Hilton Gold Member. Can I still get the benefits?

standingoten

UPDATE: To let those who had Gold Status know...

I stayed at the Conquistador for a few nights and mentioned my HHonors Gold Status during check-in. (I booked through Cheap Caribbean so I bet you can do the same).

I got:

-2 free bottled waters in the room
-2 vouchers for alcoholic beverages at any of the restaurants/bars
-Free spa access (jaccuzi/hot tubs, steam rooms, robes, free tea)
-1000 HHonors Points for the stay

There was probably 1-2 more things but not worth mentioning.

Sweet Willie

appreciate the reporting back !^

DCAproducer

By the way, the Conquistador is an Amex Platinum Fine Hotel property. This gives you the full breakfast buffet for two and a room upgrade if available.

I'm HHONORS Gold, but when I stayed at the Conquistador I booked through my Amex Plat Concierge. The staff was over the top friendly when I checked in, I got a room upgrade, breakfast and some complimentary bar coupons.

Amex surveys all Platinum card holders after their stay and hotels lose their Fine Hotel status if they get bad reviews, so I've always found hotels to be very kind on these bookings.

Sweet Willie

was the Amex Plat Concierge rate the same as lowest rate on hilton.com?

momo2000

Staying here Christmas eve to New Year's Eve. Diamond status. Will have a car. 2 adults 2 children (18 & 16). Hope to scuba one time. If anyone has any "latest & greatest" tips, it would be appreciated.

dmel

+1

I'm arriving 4-Jan (and staying at Las Casitas) for four nights. When the Thank You promo came out, I split my res... I'm now using the TY rate (44% savings from what it was) for 4-Jan through 7-Jan, and my corp rate for the last night.

iahphx

My family enjoyed the El Conquistador. We liked the private island. Also read up (perhaps on tripadvisor) as to how you can do the waterpark for very little money late in the day (probably only of interest to kids).

I also recommend doing a nightime bioluminesence trip in Puerto Rico. The blockbuster place to do this is nearby Vieques. But if you're not making the trip there, Fajardo has good options. We like going on the night trip to Las Cabezas. It's a very good value, compared to private kayak trips. Book ASAP if you're interested, especially around the holidays.

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/la...ature-reserve/

momo2000

Thanks, iahphx: Thanks for the tips. I'll take a look at that URL as well. I'll be sure to report back after our trip, in hopes of helping someone else.

momo2000

We are back. As promised here is my follow up report, and payback for the help I received in advance of my trip (gotta love FT). We stayed from 12/24 to 12/31.

-As everyone has stated, this property is not of the quality that you would expect from a WA. The standard rooms are pretty cheesy.

-I am Diamond. We got a suite upgrade in the main property for 2 nights. This was a notch better on quality and a whole lot better on space (we have 2 teenagers). It is basically a standard room and then has an adjoining door to another room that is about 2X larger than a standard room. It has couch, bar, murphy bed, dining room table, and a great ocean view. Again, great for having teenagers, who slept in the standard room adjoining, we slept in the suite.

-The suite was not available for the entire 7 nights, so we asked, and received a standard room at the marina level (and the standard rooms there were a bit better than the ones up on the main level).

-Other things I received as Diamond: 2 drink coupons, 2 water coupons, 2 breakfast/day, spa access (otherwise $25). I think that is it.

-Not sure if staying “up” or “down” is best, as you’ll end up riding the funicular (tram) no matter what, just enjoy it and go with it.

-The island shuttle worked well. But food/drink service on the island is SO SLOW and BAD.

-Basically food is not so great, slow and over price, but just be prepared. We did eat at the Italian pace upstairs and it was better, but of course more expensive ($174 for 4, w/two glasses of wine).

-Had a rental car, and would recommend that. It was great to get off property and see some of the local places. We felt very safe off property, especially in the day. There is a CVS at the “bottom of the hill” (on route 3) and we made a visit about every other day for snacks, drinks (fridge in room), misc, or the RedBox machine. Parking was about $22/day for the rental car at the hotel for full valet.

-I’d recommend taking the “alt” route from the airport (I think 187, it is mentioned in a previous post by another person) instead of route 3 (in the daytime), to see some of the local sites. Probably only took 30 minutes more, and was great (eye opening for the kids).

-The Scuba at the resort was LAME, and I do NOT recommend it. We are not big divers (just got certified last year), but you’ll be disappointed, we didn’t see much. Reef looked dead to me (not much color, everything was brown). Depth 10-15’. I wouldn’t recommend snorkel there either.

-Did the Bioluminescent Bay tour and recommend it. You don’t need to book through hotel. You can just walk through the gate by the scuba shop and a 5-8 minute walk later you are at a “park” where there are dozen operators that will take you. You can find these guys on line. They pretty much all seemed to do the same thing. We went with “action eco tours”.

-We did a kayak tour to Monkey Island and HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Bob & Keishya (owners) www.barefoottravelersrooms.com It won’t be a big group, they just take you there themselves. GREAT folks. We snorkeled (as a bonus) at a sunken barge and saw WAY MORE fish/coral/activity than we did on the aforementioned hotel scuba trip. DO THIS TRIP. Tell them that Mary from Atlanta sent you.

-Apparently this is the best property on the island. If you lower your expectations a bit on what you expect the room, and food and service to be, you will have a GREAT time. That sounds bad when I put it in writing, but we did have a great stay, but thanks to FT for helping me lower MY expectations (and the families) so that we DID know what to expect, and had a great time.

Message here, or PM if you are staying there and want any more specifics.

vinotinto

This is not considered to be one of the top properties on the island; it's just a family resort. If you are looking at top properties, you may want to check out:

Ritz Carlton Reserve in Dorado
St Regis Bahia
W Hotel in Vieques
Horned Dorset Primavera in Rincon

andy96

have you travelled?
do they honor gold despite booking through cheapcarribean?

jammanxc

I stayed at this property last week and it was spectacular. As a Hilton HHonors Gold guest, I received:

room upgrade to the Las Casitas tower
2 free welcome cocktails
2 free bottles of water

For a detailed review with pictures please check out: http://first2board.com/pointssummary...o-puerto-rico/

jammanxc

I stayed at this property last week and it was spectacular. As a Hilton HHonors Gold guest, I received:

room upgrade to the Las Casitas tower
2 free welcome cocktails
2 free bottles of water

For a detailed review with pictures please check out: http://first2board.com/pointssummary...o-puerto-rico/