PR San Juan Doubletree

The Doubletree Hilton in San Juan is a newly renovated hotel that is located at the border of Santurce and Condado. I stayed here with my significant other for two nights at the end of January 2009, after booking through Hotwire for $100/night (thanks to Betterbidding.com for identifying the property!). Here are my thoughts about the property:

Rooms: The room that we booked had a single king bed. The decor inside was beautiful, at least if you like ultra-modern styling (geometric shapes, dark browns/black, metal lamps, mirrors - think a loft in Manhattan and you'll get the idea). The bathroom had a shower but no bathtub, which wasn't a big deal to us. The bed was very comfortable and there was a TV and refrigerator included in the room. I will say that the room wasn't particularly big - it would have been fine for one person, but it felt slightly cramped for two people.

Facilities: There is free Internet in your room as well as a business center with three computers that have internet access and a printer. The hotel seems to be popular for business meetings, as there are a number of conference rooms. The pool looked nice, though we didn't use it.

Food: At the time we stayed, the hotel's restaurant and bar hadn't opened yet, so we had a complimentary continental breakfast that featured juice, coffee, pastries, toast, and fruit. It wasn't anything special, but management told us that when the restaurant opens (around February 2009), they will be improving the breakfast.

Service: Check-in was smooth. We were offered a delicious chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven during check-in. The staff spoke good English and were very helpful in making recommendations.

Parking: Valet parking is available, but we chose to park in the hotel garage for $15/night with unlimited in/out privileges. The garage is right around the corner from the hotel.

Location: The location is something of a mixed bag in my opinion. On the one hand, the hotel is very easy to find from Interstate 26 because there is a clearly marked exit for Avenida De Diego, the road on which the hotel is located. Also, you can easily walk to Condado and the beach in 10 minutes. Finally, there is a gas station and 24-hour supermarket right across the street. The problem is that the immediate neighborhood of the hotel is, for lack of a better word, gentrifying. There are a few run-down looking restaurants with barred windows across the street, and if you go about two blocks east on Calle Loiza, you end up in Ocean Park, which is a somewhat rough part of town. During our trip, we happened to drive west on Calle Loiza from Isla Verde through Ocean Park to the hotel - it was quite striking to go from an economically depressed area to seeing the beautiful Doubletree, along with its neighboring super-luxury condomonium complex.

In general, we didn't have a major issue with the location because we had a car. I don't think most people will have a problem either, but if it's important to you to be in a super nice part of town, you might want to look elsewhere.

Cost/value: The rack rate for the hotel was somewhere around $210/night. We booked through Hotwire and ended up paying $100/night, plus $10/night for tax (which was added at check-out). At that price point, this hotel is a fantastic value. At $200, though, the value is more debatable. If you look at the price for hotel rooms during high tourist season for Puerto Rico (i.e. winter), you'll find that $200 is about average for a 3-star hotel. Personally, I'm a budget-minded traveler so I wouldn't pay $200 for this hotel, but others may have different opinions.

Overall: We had a good stay in this hotel and would definitely stay here again, but only if we were able to get a discounted rate through HOTWIRE or PRICELINE. The hotel will continue to improve as the renovations are finished, so you might want to call before you book to see if you can get a status update.