The Royal Sonesta San Juan

Let’s start with the positives: the rooms were spacious, the hotel is conveniently located close to both the beach and the airport, and the warm pools were lovely. Breakfast was also decent. Unfortunately, the service significantly affected our overall experience. The staff, who I believe can make or break a hotel stay, came across as very transactional and business-like, with very little warmth or genuine hospitality. One incident in particular stood out. When we arrived, the bellman initially came over to assist with our luggage. However, once he realised we had more bags than he expected, despite having a trolley available, he simply directed us towards the entrance and left us to handle the luggage ourselves. We were charged a compulsory breakfast tip at check-out despite tipping them at breakfast individually. The whole thing was just transactional and very matter of factly. Overall, while the hotel itself has some very good qualities, the atmosphere simply didn’t feel particularly warm or welcoming. For me, good hospitality is about more than facilities and location: it’s about how guests are made to feel, and unfortunately, that was where this hotel fell short.

Me and my family’s room was cleaned by H Donaire. He is a very lovely and sweet man, that carefully cleaned our rooms and unclogged our drain. I really appreciate him :)

Had dinner tonight at Karaya Royal Sonesta. Food was delicious. Best part was the service. Naomy Oquerta was fabulous. Really knew the menu helped us make perfect dinner choices. Loved her enthusiasm. Very attentive server. She made our night !

Jorge Torres is the best player and bartender... He is a MUST SEE!!! Un Caballero and great service!!!

We stayed at the Royal Sonesta San Juan for two nights after finishing a cruise, arriving at around 10am on 8 August. We knew we were arriving well before the normal check-in time and certainly weren’t expecting our rooms to be ready. I have to give particular credit to the lady at reception who looked after us when we arrived. She was excellent. She arranged for our luggage to be stored, kept things moving so we could get our rooms as soon as they became available, and was also very helpful during our short stay with things like restaurant recommendations. Unfortunately, I didn’t get her name, but she was easily the standout member of staff we dealt with and made us feel very welcome. The hotel itself looks great and the facilities and surroundings are very nice. However, beyond that one member of staff, we didn’t find the overall service particularly warm or welcoming. Nobody was necessarily rude, but there was a noticeable lack of the friendliness and hospitality we have experienced at other hotels and resorts. One thing we also found quite strange was breakfast. Breakfast was included in our reservation, yet every morning we were presented with a bill and asked to sign it. To be fair, the charges were not added to our final hotel bill, so there was no problem financially, but the whole process felt unnecessary and a little onerous. We have travelled quite extensively and stayed in hotels and resorts in many parts of the world, and I can’t remember having to do this when breakfast was already included in the room rate. Breakfast itself was okay – nothing particularly wrong with it, but nothing especially memorable either. Overall, the Royal Sonesta is a very nice-looking hotel in a great setting, and we genuinely appreciated the lady at reception who went out of her way to help us. But based on our two-night stay, the overall level of customer service didn’t quite match the quality of the hotel itself.