I booked this property for our honeymoon stay largely after reading the reviews here on Tripadvisor, and I don't regret doing that, as 90% of previous reviews were accurate enough for my tastes.
The airlines forced us to arrive roughly 12 hours late, but a quick phone call to Felix took care of things for us. He even told me not to let our seemingly clueless cabbie take advantage of me, telling me that standard cab fare from the airport should be $15-$20.
Upon arrival at 10:55pm, our hearts sunk just a little bit. The lobby was very dark, oddly decorated, with a few strange characters hanging around it. Some ominous music in the background gave the situation the feel of a bad 1970s scam job from some movie.
After getting checked in and settled (room 205), as expected, the room was small with no closet. There was no plasma TV, only a small tube TV. The room was exceptionally clean, and our favorite feature was the very nice oversized shower. Room 205 was well away from the hot tub area, so noise was never a problem. We saw very few other patrons throughout the rest of our stay.
As for the hot tub, it is easily the crown jewel of the inn. It's a little convoluted to get to from our section of rooms, but once we got there, it was worth the search. Most of the time there was only one other couple in the 30' tub. My wife and I even got to enjoy it by ourselves for a solid hour on a wonderful starry night. (NOTE: The jet controls are located right over the sign. We couldn't find them until another couple helped us.)
The hotel location is well away from the tourist part of town, which is both good and bad. When you walk away from the strip, you get to experience the real San Juan, which is a little dirtier than the strip. Plenty of bashed up cars line the streets, as does a fair amount of garbage. Several of the other establishments were graffiti'ed up, and had razor wire protecting their fences, which is never a good sign. Despite all of these things, we were never in the presence of any threatening people at all.
As for the beach itself, it is steps away from the main entrance, heavily lined with palm trees, as most photos will indicate. The beach was very peaceful with very few people on it. The surf was rough and the sand very peculiar. The grains were large, and with every step you sank 2-6" into the sand, even very close to the shore.
The staff was polite and courteous, and even recommended a nice seafood restaurant for our final day on the island. My only complaint about the front desk is that they close from 11pm-6am, so if you need to check out in the middle of the night, you have to walk a block down the street to do so at the At Wind Chimes sister hotel. (I only make this complaint because we had to do this in the rain at 4:30am to make our 7:00am flight.)
Despite the odd start, it was a good stay, and I would recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to deviate from the land of tourist traps and typical sterile chain resorts.
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