Friendly (English speaking) receptionist took great care to show me the room thoroughly. The room (215) was spacious, very clean and comfortable. It had a good fridge, although the TV was pretty old - but I didn't watch it anyway. See comments below on getting a good room. There are no room safes but you can leave stuff at the reception if valuable. The wifi internet worked every time and the speed was good. The AC was very powerful (good) but a bit noisy so I turned it off at night (bad). Comfortable quite firm bed - I slept well.

The hotel is conveniently situated right on highway 2 which joins up onto Autopista 22 or goes straight into Arecibo (about 10 mins). If you are ariving into San Juan try and avoid the evening rush hour as the traffic is terrible (like the driving...). Travel time from San Juan airport to this hotel can be from 1 hour to 3 hours.

The associated restaurant looks at first sight a bit like a "cafe" but actually the service was friendly and the food was very tasty (try the garlic bread strips - which are complimentary - and the coffee). It is also open from 5:30 in the morning to late so availability is good.

Be careful with security in Puerto Rico - don't leave anything valuable in your car. A friend had hers broken into and rifled in plain sight in a relatively busy car park while we were there.

There are not too many choices in the Arecibo area, but El Buen is a good pick. The rooms are clean and spacious, but with nothing fancy. The internet speed is good. The hotel staff was quite friendly and helpful to someone who does not speak Spanish. It also conveniently next door to the companion El Buen Cafe, so there is no problem finding a good place to eat. It can be a little noisy from the street traffic, but not bad.

Our family of 3 adults stayed here for one night during a quick 3-day jaunt around Puerto Rico. Although the hotel is right on a major road amidst suburban development, the room was quiet and impeccably clean and comfortable. The restaurant was great for a very affordable breakfast, and the location is perfect for visiting the Rio Camuy Caverns, Arecibo Observatory, and north coast beaches from Isabella east to Punta Mar Chiquita (all of which we very highly recommend!) Our only issue is that the map on hotels.com (which we used to book our stay) showing the hotel's location was inaccurate. It was off by about 2 miles (said it was at PR 2 and PR 130 intersection, which is not true!). After using our phone's GPS, we did find the hotel by driving about 2 miles further east. All in all, El Buen is a very clean, modern, comfortable, reasonably priced, and convenient place to stay for a night or two.

Worst and most stupid place ever to stay avoid at all costs or be sorry.

This place is the worst dump I have ever encountered in any of my business or personal travels.
Part of it is the arrogant stupid attitude the employees and perto rican folks in general have here.
Rude and just plain dumb is how I have found the locals to be on this trip. Being on an island is no excuse because the modern world is way more educated and past this by now.
The best use for this island would be a prison society for the criminals of the world to exile them and sequester them from the rest of the intelligent decent people of the world.
I was in line to inquire about the buffet lunch advertised by a street sign in the hotel affiliated restaurant across the street with my quite adequate spanglish when the restaurant’s manager steps in front of me to pay for a bag of chips and proceeds to eat them at the cashier’s counter, while I am standing there hungry and a pocketful of money just looking for something to eat.
Then the cashier, who couldn’t grasp any of what I was saying in my best Spanglish, (and was not about to try to understand me), passed me off to another employee who was somewhat intelligent enough to muster some English then proceeded to blow me off so she could finish playing her lottery numbers instead of answering my questions or show me to a table.
This hotel may seem like a good idea on paper or a website but don’t waste your, or your company’s money on a place that will be nothing but miserable for you and your family.
Immediately after posting this review I will have to resort to contacting my company’s emergency travel department to beg for a change of stay because to be stationed here for the duration of my work assignment would be sheer hell.
This is at the risk of jeopardizing my job of course; but I work very hard and deserve to be treated with at least a minimal amount of respect and accommodation. If not, it’s time to look for a new job as well as a new place to stay for the duration of this work project.

Sincerely,


Jason W