Courtyard by Marriott San Salvador — Hotel in Antiguo Cuscatlán

When I arrived, it took a while to begin the check in process. After about 10 minutes of standing there, staff came over, from having a conversation behind me in the restaurant. It was nice that they eventually thought about helping guests instead of continuing their personal conversation.

I made the reservation online, trying to get breakfast included. But when I arrived, it wasn't included. They added it. It could have been me, it could have been the system. I don't know.

Food was good. I ordered and it was ready very quickly. Unfortunately, I saw some friends in the restaurant that I haven't seen for years. So I talked with them for a while. The person who was waiting for me to pick up my order came up and seemed mad that I had not picked it up yet. I didn't really need them to be upset that I didn't pick it up quickly enough. They saw me, came up and I got it It was a cold dish anyway.

When I checked out, the person who was assisting me was "multi-tasking." He was making arrangements for a large event. So even though I was standing there, he was on the phone for quite a long time. He couldn't type and talk on the phone because he had to make notes for example that the live music would begin at 6:00pm. So, it felt like it took about 15 minutes to check out. As a "valuable" guest, I want staff to pay attention to me when they are charging me for the stay. He didn't even say to me I'm so sorry, I have a deadline and have to submit information really quickly...or something. He called me up, said he could help me, took my credit card, then made a call on the radio, made a call on the phone, helped someone else who came up saying "just a quick question," and then answered a phone call. After that, then he helped me.

There was a problem with the billing. So, my office wrote a letter, before I left, called to follow up and make sure everything was okay, they made a special trip across the city to get it cleared up. When I got there, they said it was missing a "seal" so they wouldn't accept the letter... I was leaving and didn't have time to get the letter re-done again and again.

Very poor...

The Hotel follows strictly the Courtyard Policies and Standards, so I found a high quality place with quite new facilities and everything I needed for a business trip.

The common areas are new and nice, very welcoming, with business center with computers and printer available. There is free wi-fi all over the place. I saw a pool (but didn´t use) and a good gym.

The breakfast if very good, with plenty of options (grains and whole grains, many tropical fruits, fresh juices, excellent Salvadorian freshly brewed coffee, mix of breads, sweets. Omelet station and a good variety of hot dishes, including the amazing Salvadorian "pupusas".

The room is good, with enough space for individual business travelers (in my standard one), large king size bed, flat-cable TV with nice variety of channels, cozy sofa, strong wi-fi signal. The bathroom is quite large and good Paul Mitchell´s amenities.

I thing the strongest features of the Hotel are:

Location: by the Gran Via Mall, with many restaurants, stores and a Cinemark, and very close to downtown. Staff: great, supportive and sympathetic staff! Everybody receipts you with great smile and ready to help! I wish all Courtyards in other countries could have the same type of staff...

CONS:

Although relatively new and cleaned, the carpet in the room gives an impression of "oldness" to the room, on top of that, it is quite bad for allergic people.

It is quite a shame that a relative new Hotel decided to use some old and noisy type of air conditioning unit, being that there are many types of AC units more efficienty and way more silent!

About the breakfast policy: The Hotel has a differentiated rate for people taking late breakfast (from 8:30am to 10:00am), giving a USD 5,00 discount. I tried one day and despite arriving at 8:40am I was charged the full price simply because their computer system is almost 30 minutes delayed! It is not about the price, but the principle! If the Hotel has this Policy but the own Hotel cheats then is better not to have the Policy at Hotel! This can really damage the...

Where to start. This hotel is beyond outdated (which I partly expected reading reviews prior). However, due to changing location last minute, I was left with limited options in San Salvador. I believe for the rates they are charging it is just a huge rip-off. None of these rooms should be over $100 USC/night. They can at the very least try to update the bathroom shower curtain. When I first arrived to my room, I realized that the refrigerator smelled like someone had dropped salad dressing it, Just smelled real foul. Notified the front desk and they said they would have someone look at it. Upon my return to my hotel, I realized the smell was partially still there, but it was late, and I just left it alone. A few days into my stay I noticed some little bugs crawling on desk near tv as well. Breakfast start should start at least one hour earlier in my opinion for ppl who start their day early. I feel as the staff recognized ppl spoke English or not fluent Spanish & was less reluctant to help those guests. Even at one point, a Spanish speaking patron began talking over me and I was already speaking with the receptionist as I was the only other person in the lobby at this time. She stopped what she was doing to assist him even though I was already being helped. Extremely rude. The final straw which this hotel keeps quiet is how LOUD it can be Friday/Saturday nights. They had some event going on and I felt like it was a nightclub playing outside my room with all the noise, partying, and bass. I would highly recommend paying a few extra dollars and staying at maybe Hyatt Centric. Way more modern, amenities, and anything you can think of (Especially to my solo travelers). Pros: Great A/C, bed was really comfortable, next to mall and some food locations. Would not recommend to anyone. Courtyard needs to invest these dollars in modernizing if they want to charge...