Ventana al Atlantico at 681 Ocean Drive — Hotel in Arecibo

This property appears to be largely managed from a distance with little hands-on attention, if any at all, for long periods of time. Our room was dirty from top to bottom. The floors were unswept, the dishes were all dirty in the cabinets, the bathroom had used towels left behind from previous guests, and there were non-working appliances in the kitchen. To that end, the room (and the entire hotel) was without water from the sinks, toilets, or showers for the majority of our stay; this issue was not resolved when we left in the morning and other guests were still without water when we left. The wifi did not work during our stay and the air conditioning was locked in its setting with no way to adjust the temperature in the room. The bed frame was broken and falling apart. Further, there was not enough parking for all the hotel guests in the parking lot and many cars were blocked in or parked illegally in the property adjacent to the hotel. But all of this pales in comparison to the way in which the hotel handles its wastewater, which was piped directly onto the beach beneath the pool. I have pictures showing the pipe directly dumping human feces onto the beach where guests would otherwise hope to enjoy a beautiful, secluded, serene strip of coast; the smell from this pipe was very apparent as it wafted down the beach for at least half a mile where we walked. Outside of those complaints, this hotel was either unaware or uncaring of the fact that it is currently sea turtle nesting season in Puerto Rico. There were bright, white lights blaring through the night at all hours, despite surrounding lamps and street lights being changed to red lights to prevent baby sea turtles from disorienting to the bright lights of the coast. I have photos documenting what appear to be disoriented hatchling sea turtle tracks, likely as a result of this hotel's blaring white lights along the beach. I am a marine ecologist and have spent more than a decade studying sea turtles, marine conservation, and marine resource management; I would be happy to elaborate on the ways in which this hotel is problematic for both its guests and importantly the delicate coastal marine ecosystem on which this hotel depends for its existence. ||||I received over a dozen emails throughout the course of our stay asking us for detailed check-in information, the status of our stay, and ultimately a review. Not to mention the hotel requires its guests to undergo a very lengthy check-in process multiple days before arrival. My partner and I both had to submit identification documents days in advance, confirm our travel plans multiple times with the hotel through email and their "client portal", and were pestered relentlessly via email and text message during our stay asking how the stay was going. All of this to say there were no actual staff physically present at the hotel during check-in or check-out. The only staff we saw appeared for 5 minutes to drop off a bottle of chlorine for the pool and he left immediately after. The staff did not address the water outage during this interaction, but rather dropped the bottle of chlorine by the pool and left.||||The entire stay from top to bottom was problematic. This was not at all worth the money, aside from the fact that it just so happens to be on a very pretty beach with a partially maintained pool. The beauty of the beach is entirely separate from the disgusting, disappointing state of this hotel. Puerto Rico is known for beautiful beaches, this hotel is but a blight on that reputation. The only redeeming qualities of this hotel are its proximity to the beach (on which it appears to be dumping human feces)...

This property appears to be largely managed from a distance with little hands-on attention, if any at all, for long periods of time. Our room was dirty from top to bottom. The floors were unswept, the dishes were all dirty in the cabinets, the bathroom had used towels left behind from previous guests, and there were non-working appliances in the kitchen. To that end, the room (and the entire hotel) was without water from the sinks, toilets, or showers for the majority of our stay; this issue was not resolved when we left in the morning and other guests were still without water when we left. The wifi did not work during our stay and the air conditioning was locked in its setting with no way to adjust the temperature in the room. The bed frame was broken and falling apart. Further, there was not enough parking for all the hotel guests in the parking lot and many cars were blocked in or parked illegally in the property adjacent to the hotel. But all of this pales in comparison to the way in which the hotel handles its wastewater, which was piped directly onto the beach beneath the pool. I have pictures showing the pipe directly dumping human feces onto the beach where guests would otherwise hope to enjoy a beautiful, secluded, serene strip of coast; the smell from this pipe was very apparent as it wafted down the beach for at least half a mile where we walked. Outside of those complaints, this hotel was either unaware or uncaring of the fact that it is currently sea turtle nesting season in Puerto Rico. There were bright, white lights blaring through the night at all hours, despite surrounding lamps and street lights being changed to red lights to prevent baby sea turtles from disorienting to the bright lights of the coast. I have photos documenting what appear to be disoriented hatchling sea turtle tracks, likely as a result of this hotel's blaring white lights along the beach. I am a marine ecologist and have spent more than a decade studying sea turtles, marine conservation, and marine resource management; I would be happy to elaborate on the ways in which this hotel is problematic for both its guests and importantly the delicate coastal marine ecosystem on which this hotel depends for its existence.

I received over a dozen emails throughout the course of our stay asking us for detailed check-in information, the status of our stay, and ultimately a review. Not to mention the hotel requires its guests to undergo a very lengthy check-in process multiple days before arrival. My partner and I both had to submit identification documents days in advance, confirm our travel plans multiple times with the hotel through email and their "client portal", and were pestered relentlessly via email and text message during our stay asking how the stay was going. All of this to say there were no actual staff physically present at the hotel during check-in or check-out. The only staff we saw appeared for 5 minutes to drop off a bottle of chlorine for the pool and he left immediately after. The staff did not address the water outage during this interaction, but rather dropped the bottle of chlorine by the pool and left.

The entire stay from top to bottom was problematic. This was not at all worth the money, aside from the fact that it just so happens to be on a very pretty beach with a partially maintained pool. The beauty of the beach is entirely separate from the disgusting, disappointing state of this hotel. Puerto Rico is known for beautiful beaches, this hotel is but a blight on that reputation. The only redeeming qualities of this hotel are its proximity to the beach (on which it appears to be dumping human feces)...

1* experience with a 4* view. Don’t let their pictures fool you.

We weren’t provided our code to unlock the box to retrieve the key to our room. After calling, we were able to get the code and key, but the lock was broken. Because no staff is on site, we waited 3 hours for the property manager to come and let us in. We left to eat dinner and when we returned, he still had not been here to unlock the door. We were unable to “check in”/ enter our room until 7:30 PM.

When we finally got into the room, the letdowns continued. The bedding is garbage. The pillows are flat, stained and disgusting and have probably been in use for the lifetime of this hotel.

Mattress wasn’t much better and the sheets I guess at least seemed washed. We were provided with one towel for 2 guests and again, because there’s no front desk had to make due.

Finally comes time for sleep and that didn’t happen. Between the lack of any sort of light control (the curtains don’t fully cover the window) and the giant glass front door with a gaping crack underneath it, light poured into the room at all hours. When we finally drifted off around 2 AM, the stray dog started barking to ensure any pretense of a restful night was not to be had.

Pretty view, horrible everything else - would highly encourage you to seek any alternative...