The Royal Sonesta San Juan

The BEST experience ever! Everything was perfect. Food was amazing, service was great, room was super clean, view was spectacular, cannot say enough great things.

I highly recommend the suite on the upper level. It comes with your own conference area. Staff were great and extremely accommodating. Special shout out to the manager Salvador and our cleaning lady, Krystle Nieves!

I'll start by saying that the overall positive experience we had was heavily dependent upon the type of room we chose. #1 tip: GET THE CLUB LEVEL ROOMS! Our room was #209 (second floor, offering more privacy than ground) in the low-rise Lanai section overlooking the pool and it was great - so quiet and kept spotless every day. We stayed at the same period of time as the last (very unhappy) reviewer, but were not at all affected by the prom parties in the main building so location was key. Info on the club level rooms are scarce but they include a nice lounge area where we ate take-out dinners a few nights, with fruit and sometimes cookies. Club level rooms also include daily buffet breakfast for 2 (including 2 mimosas as our server Wanda kindly informed me) AND free apps and drinks every day at the lobby bar during happy hour (5:30-7pm). Alexis at the lobby bar was so nice and remembered what we liked to drink every day. Seriously, excellent value with this level of room. I honestly thought the food was great. Faves: @lobby bar: ceviche and amazing arepas appetizer, goat cheese balls, lamb meatballs. Pool bar/Ocean breeze: kids burger, my kids liked the tenders and fries, chicken skewers. The margherita pizza was phenomenal. The turkey club was DELICIOUS and was NOT made of turkey deli meat. Their frozen cocktails ($14) were so yummy as well. The pool and large hot tub were amazing. There's a big "shallow" 3/3.5 foot pool so my kids didn't need floaties. I love that you can get fresh towels by scanning your bracelet (and get into your room without a key). We went mid-week so there were plenty of chairs (more umbrellas would've been great). It did get busy by 10-11am but surprisingly no one was laying out towels at 7am like they do at other resorts, at least not when we were there. Beach is SO close to the pool. When we went (June 15-20), there was NO seaweed and water was prob 80 degrees. Sand was golden/white, clean with no shells or seaweed either. I couldn't have asked for better, considering our last few beach vacations. Ubers are plentiful, fast and so so cheap. Remember to tip very well since the rate is dirt cheap. Uber from Isla Verde to the fort in Old San Juan was under $10 (plus tip). People were flying kites at the fort. If you can get one, what a fun idea! We also booked a jungle waterslide tour through TripAdvisor with Casa Venturas (Stephanie and Luis were our guides) and LOVED it. I didn't know you have to go fully into the water with whatever shoes you have on your feet so be aware and ready to sacrifice a pair of sneakers like I did. Still worth it! We also rented a jet-ski on the beach ($100 for half hour) which the kids enjoyed. Location was less than 10 mins from the airport (I think the Uber was $4 on the way home - yes, $4!!) and we did hear planes now and then but honestly not that often and definitely not in the room with the balcony door closed. Only negative and the reason for 1 star deduction from an otherwise awesome stay was the AC went out for about 36 hours. Looking at other reviews, it appears to have happened again end of March too so it's a recurring problem. We got a fan, but honestly sleeping that night was super uncomfortable (80+ degrees in the room) and the rug felt damp with the humidity. Some people we met ended their stay early and negotiated some comp. There is a daily resort fee of about $60/65 which we expected and a $500 hold for meals/etc. Checkout was easy and NO wrong or surprise charges but we chose to pay for all meals directly with our credit card to avoid any confusion at the end, which was a smart move on our part, I think. Overall we really enjoyed our stay, aside from the broken AC. If we went to PR again, we wouldn't hesitate to stay here again and would recommend it to others. Service was excellent - everyone we encountered was very polite, from front desk to bar and restaurant staff.

The first night we had no air. It was running by the time we went to bed. It was prom week , a large amount of high school kids . We were on the 5 th floor, our last night at the hotel there was unnecessary noise. Doors slamming , parties going on and when the prom was over at 1:00am the crowds in the hall way woke me up again. Had to call security 2 times. Next morning we were checking out, we asked for late check out since we had a terrible night sleep. At first we were told they were all booked and couldn’t accommodate us. After we went to the front desk they did extend our time but were told since we were doing a late check out, the people coming in would be inconvenient. We asked to be compassionated by giving us a breakfast voucher. They said one or the other not both. Eventually they gave us 2 breakfast vouchers, even though we are a family of 4. I checked to see if they were telling the truth about being sold out , they LIED. They had plenty of available rooms. Poor customer service. Very disappointed on how we were lied to. They should not have put the prom guests on the same floor as a family. Poor choices were made . I hope upper management sees this . .

Francisco at the Royal Sonesta truly made our vacation special! It's wonderful that his sweet demeanor and exceptional service left such a positive impression, elevating an already amazing hotel experience into something truly memorable. He is an absolute gem! Can't wait to go back!