Aire de Olive — Hotel in Carolina

I chose this hotel because it looked good online. I liked the location, especially its proximity to the beach, and the photos made it look clean and chic. I was deceived.

First, the GOOD: Location: The hotel is right on the beach. Walk out the front door, cross the street, and you're on Playa Alambique. Best thing about the hotel. Convenience: The hotel is located conveniently in between Old San Juan and the airport. It's only about a 10-minute ride to the airport and a 25-minute ride to Old San Juan on account of traffic. It's situated in an area populated almost exclusively by hotels. If you're not staying in Old San Juan, you're probably staying in a hotel somewhere within this 3-block area. In fact, they all looked pretty much the same from the outside, no matter the name on the building. There are a few chain restaurants and a few local bars/restaurants nearby that looked decent, too. All within walking distance.

Now, the BAD:

Cleanliness: The hotel, like many of the buildings in the area, could use an exterior cleaning. It was by no means filthy, but it showed more wear and tear than the photos suggested. This was a very minor complaint, but we immediately noticed it when we pulled up for the first time. Décor: The inside was hardly better. Most of the décor looked cheap and worn. It was not up to the standard you would expect at a nicer hotel. Again, a minor complaint. The elevators: There are only two elevators in the building, which stands over ten floors tall. One of them was out of service when we were there. Of course, this could have been poor timing, but I suspect it wasn’t. Some other guests told us the elevator had been out of service for their entire stay. My guess is that it’s been out of service for weeks. There didn’t appear to be any urgency to fix it, either. I understand these things happen, but the single functioning elevator could not accommodate the number of guests and employees trying to use it. Also, the walls of the elevator were covered inexplicably in blankets (see photos). Be prepared to wait ten minutes before you get to where you need to go, or do like we did and use the stairs. We stayed on the fourth floor so we got our exercise in. We also built up a sweat, which brings me to my next complaint. The AC: The halls and the stairway were hot and muggy because the AC was not working in these areas. Our room temp was fine, but we expected better from the hotel. The room: Our room was laughable. There was no closet. Instead, there was a clothes rack along the wall to hang clothes. The walls had been painted without care sometime a long time ago. It was strangely furnished and the window, which looked out over the ocean, was barely more transparent than plexiglass. TV and WiFi: A Roku TV was mounted to the wall. It turned on fine but there was no cable service and the WiFi signal was too weak to stream movies or TV without constant buffering. It was frustrating attempting to watch a movie at the end of the night on Netflix (my own account because that was our only option). We called the front desk from our cell phone (there is no telephone in the room) and they offered to send an “engineer” to look at the problem. It was 10:30 PM and we were already in bed so we declined that option, and that was it. No other option was offered. We finished the movie on my cell phone. The pool: The pool on the rooftop was small, shallow, and very cloudy. We didn’t even bother jumping in. There was no hot tub, either. In summary, if this hotel is available at a cheap price, you could do worse. However, if you want to spend over $300 per night on a good room (this cost me $330/night after the $20 valet fee), then I strongly recommend you...

Wouldn’t recommend this place.

The only positives were the shower, comfortable bed, and housekeeping.

Pool is way too small so didn’t use it, walls are paper thin, majority of the staff were not friendly or helpful, endless construction going on taking away from the entire experience. I wrote an email after my stay because I truly felt robbed of an experience. No reply, but that’s fine. I’ll just leave it here for you all. For the price, I recommend choosing a different hotel. San Juan is too beautiful not to fully enjoy!

Email: To Whom It May Concern,

We are writing to express our extreme disappointment with our recent stay at the San Juan Water Beach Club Hotel. Our experience was not only marred by subpar service and noise disruptions but also by the sight of the hotel itself, which was nothing short of an eyesore. As customers who paid a premium for accommodations, we regret our decision to stay here seeing that our experience fell far below expectations.

Upon arrival, it quickly became evident that the accommodations fell below our expectations. Regrettably, the front desk staff, who we anticipated would be helpful, were anything but. They failed to address our concerns adequately and appeared indifferent to our dissatisfaction. Moreover, crucial information such as WiFi access was not provided during check-in.

Furthermore, the 4 pm check-in time seemed unreasonable, exacerbated by the lack of adequate waiting space. With no comfortable area available to wait for our room to be ready, the situation became increasingly uncomfortable, especially given the presence of multiple other guests experiencing similar delays. The ongoing construction at the hotel not only presented a visually unappealing environment. The sight of half-finished structures and debris scattered around the premises was deeply disappointing and detracted from any semblance of a relaxing getaway.

The advertised amenities and ambiance promised online were nowhere to be found, with the reality being a stark contrast. It is unacceptable that guests are subjected to such unsightly conditions while paying a premium for their stay.

Our dissatisfaction only worsened when we visited the beach and ordered drinks. The waiter attempted to charge me twice for the same transaction, insisting that I hadn't paid. After providing evidence of payment, the service continued to disappoint. I was charged for water that was never delivered, and the drinks I did receive were clearly watered down, likely due to prolonged waiting time. Additionally, when my drink order was incorrect, the solution provided was substandard – merely pouring the missing ingredient into the existing drink.

Moreover, the hotel's ongoing construction proved to be extremely disruptive, with only one working elevator for guests and a lack of walking paths and entrances. The rooms, advertised online, bore little resemblance to reality, with paper-thin walls and amenities that did not meet the promised standards. This experience has left me feeling utterly dissatisfied and, frankly, robbed considering the exorbitant price paid for such substandard service.

I urge you to address these issues promptly and take measures to ensure that such experiences are not repeated for future guests. Guests deserve to experience a pleasant and aesthetically pleasing environment during their stay, and it is not fair to advertise or price such services when that is not the reality. As a customer who values quality service, I hope that appropriate action will be taken to rectify these...

It would have been a five if I wasn’t in room 410. Our stay was 5/31-6/2/21. The hotel is amazing but our “ garden view” room was definitely a straight LIE. The view is the side of the building of ventilators and a wall 🙄🙄🙄. My hubby and I were barely in our room but it def makes a difference when you wake up and go to bed. Who wants to see NOTHING when you look out the windows. I called the reception desk about the view and was told “no I can’t change rooms and the “garden view” posted on the booking sites are general words for the basic rooms. Some rooms have better views of the garden behind the hotel than others ”. The receptionist wasn’t mean or nasty. She was honest about the number of complaints about the fake “garden view” in certain rooms. I told her that it was such a shame for such a beautiful hotel to false advertise to people. The hotel really need to update the sites about the “garden view” and just put “no view” as an option as well. Allow people the choice to pay for what they really want instead of faking like they have it. I would have spent the extra money for an ocean view and balcony if I knew “no view” was an option.

Besides the view, it was amazing and the hotel is so close to everything. The rooftop bar and pool are to die for. The beach is right outside the doorsteps. The parking price isn’t too crazy $17 a night after taxes. If you have a car, it is worth it because they valet park it and it is no free parking anywhere that’s close. Trust me when you see how crazy they park and drive in PR you won’t regret it. If you dont plan to drive, the airport is 10mins away from the hotel which you can Uber for 20 bucks. Old San Juan isn’t far either about 25 dollars in a Uber but get a car if you want to see alottttt more. The cost to fill up the car was 20 bucks right down the street at the PUMA. Also, get a small car because all of the streets outside of the new San Juan are super small and definitely accident prone.

The food and drinks at the hotel were definitely reasonable price and tasty as well. I would hands down eat here over the local restaurants due to the super long hours of waiting to eat at local restaurants. The minimum time waiting to eat at local restaurants for authentic PR food is 2-3 hours if you go to Old San Juan. Don’t believe it if they tell you the wait is 1 hour for food. My hubby and I learned that the hard way waitingggg 3 hours at El Jabarito, which is considered one of the top rated restaurants. We were so disappointed in the food it wasn’t worth it. The wait in the area of the hotel for authentic PR food is 1-2 hours. They have the fast food chains such as BK, Church’s, etc but who is going to PR to eat that???

Nightlife and food is dead in this area by 1030pm due to Covid-19. However, the nightlife is still ALIVE but“underground” in La Perla, Old San Juan (15-20 mins) away. You are warned by the locals to go there to have fun buttttt follow the “underground” rules and you won’t have a problem. The rules are no phones, cameras, videos, or pictures AT ALLLLLLLL. Also, do not buy or take anything from anybody on the streets. If you follow that you will have an amazing time partying all night. We didn’t get in until 4am and the party was still going on when we left from the La Perla area. La Perla area is full of “ungerground” bars and clubs but no food lol. Hubby and I ended up the CVS at 4am eating from the freezers 😂😂😂. We had such a good time and def coming back but choosing a...