We visited Da House about 4-5 years ago, and loved it. The style, the comfort, the staff. Very en vogue and you felt at the time like you had found a hidden gem. High-end Puerto Rican artwork and interesting furniture. But, my husband and I stopped back just today and noticed the entrance/check in area had changed and moved from the alley. But, now the entrance is poorly designed with gaudy red and silver stripes and packed with chincy tourist-trap crap that you can get at every other bad gift shop around San Juan. Such a bummer. Da House had such a good thing going that truely honored the original historic architecture.

So the one pro - good location for going out at night... restaurants, bars, salsa, sites, etc...
The 2nd floor has a very cool area for hanging out - but I didn't see a soul using it. Without alcohol or food, I guess what's the point? There were games - but this isn't the place for anyone under the age of 18.

Cons... The wood doors were recently stained, the smell was awful. They weren't even dry and were still sticky. The AC unit was leaking. Our room was small. My friend stayed here in the past and recommended it - she agreed her room last time was so much nicer so I will have to give them the benefit of the doubt. The housekeeper's kid spent the entire early evening playing and yelling (prime time nap time before going out) in the hallways which was terribly annoying.

There is no shampoo, conditioner, hair dryer, etc... It may as well be an overpriced hostile. I personally would never stay here again. For $160, I would much prefer a short taxi ride and peace and more cleanliness elsewhere.

Also, we got lost on the way there (streets can be slightly confusing in Old San Juan) - we called 6 times and no one answered!! The next day, a totally different staff was there and they seemed a lot more attentive and made sure we had a nice stay. Perhaps we arrived on an off/busy day and should have been offered a different room that wasn't smelly and leaky?

If you want to party all night and stumble on in, then this is the perfect place for you. If you want to party and still have a good night's rest, perhaps look elsewhere.

We stayed here the first night we got to Puerto Rico. (We rented a car from the Luis Munoz airport and parked a few blocks from Da House, which cost us $13 for overnight. Be careful - there are two garages next to each other on Recinto Sur and one is hourly with no maximum, so staying overnight would have cost a fortune. The one to the right of it (it's a one way street) is the cheaper option.)

I'd booked us a room on the 4th (top) floor in hopes of not being able to near Nuyorican Cafe below at night, but it turns out that it didn't make any difference. We were in Room 405 Manuel Hernandez. It was simply furnished and clean, with air conditioning that felt lovely after the trek from the parking garage and then up 4 flights of stairs with my 45 lb. suitcase in the Puerto Rican heat.

There's free wi-fi but only in the lobby, but if you have a laptop you can plug a LAN cord into it in your hotel room. Rooms don't have shampoo/conditioner but they do have soap.

If you're clumsy (like I am) watch out for the corners of the bed frame. I walked into it and ended up with a nasty bruise on my knee that is still there a week later!

The location was good - we could walk to both castles, which is all I cared about seeing on our one day in San Juan - but driving on the one way streets was pretty frustrating. The streets are poorly labelled, as were the maps we had. I managed to find a close up map of Old Town in my guide book (Moon Handbook) which helped - but still didn't label which direction each street went since they're all one way. Drivers do not follow the same right of way rules as in the States.

We decided to chill out in our room after dinner (at nearby Cafe Berlin, I will review separately) and then went down to Nuyorican Cafe on the ground floor of the hotel around 10:30 or 11 pm. The cover fee is $5, not waived for hotel guests. A rum and coke cost $5 and while it was in a small plastic cup, it was STRONG. Afterwards, we went upstairs to the roof of the building and sat in the very hot tub, which I thought I wouldn't want to go in since it's so hot there (compared to DC in November) but after standing in the club for a few hours, the hot tub did feel good! By the time we went to bed it was close to 2 am and I was glad to have brought a pair of ear plugs with me. If I hadn't had those, the noise from the club would have annoyed me - but instead I fell right asleep.

So basically, if you're okay with carrying your luggage up and down the stairs and you bring some earplugs for sleeping, Da House is a cool place to stay.

I wanted to be near the party and restaurants. This hotel is great for that. My room was directly over the party. Three flights down and great stumbling distance for anything in old San Juan. They have two types of rooms; some facing in to an inner art gallery space and some facing out to the street. Lovely staff, super friendly maids, cool space.