Continental_Drifter Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 Just booked 2 rooms for $116 per night for April 4 to April 7.I'm done! Using PRICELINE, I was able to $1900 on our vacation and that's no exaggeration. The Marriott Airport's least expensive retail rate shows $135. We booked two rooms for one night at $56 each, a savings of $158.The Waldorf Astoria El Conquistador's least expensive retail rate shows $279 for a garden view room. We booked two rooms for four nights at $105 each, a savings of $1392. The Conrad San Juan shows a least expensive retail rate of $197/night. We booked two rooms for three nights at $116 each, a savings of $486. To top it off, we have three free full-sized car days with National, a savings of $99. We saved $75.25 on airport parking by parking at the hotel and booking our parking in advance at the Marriott MCO.We booked our flights on Spirit for $182 each including luggage fees. That requires us to drive down from Atlanta, but the ATL to SJU fare was $638 when I was booking, so even though we'll have a hotel night, the savings there is $456 each or $2280.All in all, not a bad spring break trip for a family of five. (Yes, I've called both hotels to arrange our room configurations.) And yes, I used the QuickQuote PRICELINE link from this page to book! :) Link to comment
AaronJB Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 Congrats on your success. :)Definitely a nice result for this resort property. Glad you are looking forward to your stay.Thank you for sharing your win and using the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.Enjoy your stay. Link to comment
toledo Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 Good deals there! As long as we're bragging, here's our family's Easter break savings: (1) night at the DTW Hampton Inn $129 which includes 7 nights parking at airport(3) roundtrip tickets DTW to SJU $615 total with tax and luggage on Spirit(1) roundtrip ticket PIT to SJU on American ?? Don't remember(2) nights at LaConcha, booked 6 months ago, $237/night (new tower with 2 Q, 1 sleep-sofa in living room)(4) days rental car $30/day on full size vehicle with Costco discount(1) night at Wyndham Rio Mar $97 X 2 rooms on Hotwire(2) nights on Vieques, with airfare from Cieba, rack rate at hotel, Biobay tours, $100+/day car rental (No Deals here)(1) night at El Convento in Old San Juan $185 x 2 rooms website mid-week specialOverall, Puerto Rico is a very reasonable travel destination. Link to comment
Continental_Drifter Posted March 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Nice work, Toledo! Is it bragging if we're saving? My hubby says no... It's not being a mamby-pamby. :)It's actually a bit strange to us, as we ALWAYS stay in a vacation rental home where we're going since we are five people. It's usually the cheapest/nicest alternative for a large family and our teenagers can bring friends at no additional expense. This time, it's just the five of us, though.Thank you to all who provided guidance via this board. It certainly helped! Link to comment
Continental_Drifter Posted April 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 I'm pleased to report that our stay here was just fine. I would not describe it as a "resort" hotel and I think it's rated too highly, as some parts of the property are tired and a bit worn, but it was FINE for the price and location. Housekeeping could be stepped up a bit.The beach is a huge disappointment. It's actually a public beach with access from the main road in front of the hotel as well as a gate from the pool area. Because it's public and accessible straight from the street, there was a great deal of trash and glass on the beach. The water was pretty, and it did seem to have a bit of protection because of the enormous rock formations at the mouth of the lagoon, but it could have been cleaner.The hotel did seem to handle the full capacity well and it is very convenient to Old San Juan. The price made it a good choice. Link to comment
thereuare Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 I believe like many other islands in the Caribbean all beaches must be public. Hotels and those who own property may set things up in such a way to discourage public/non-guest use, but many islands have laws that all beaches must be public. With this noted, i agree, the beach here is not a 'true' beach as it's a short sandy area basically in a lagoon (i haven't seen it recently but that is how it was nearly 20 years ago when i was there)At least you found it to be a good value for the price paid, which is usually the sign of a good stay :) Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Continental_Drifter Posted May 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Hello,I actually believe that all beaches SHOULD be public, but in this case, it was more public beach than a mixed use beach. I grew up on the Outer Banks and ALL of those beaches are public beaches. I'm completely accustomed to sharing the beach, but this was so small that it's major use was from street traffic, not hotel access. So, you had to tolerate the hotel's inconveniences of it trying to control access to the hotel. (Show your room key going in and out of the pool area or to use hotel chairs on the beach, etc. Hotel employees tried to run us off the chairs three or four times until we showed our hotel key.) That being said, you can go down the beach (east) from there and will find very nice beaches with wide sandy areas and plenty of space. Enjoy! Link to comment
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