Fairmont El San Juan Hotel — Hotel in Carolina

My husband and I booked a last-minute babymoon at the Fairmont El San Juan Hotel. I had just stayed at a Fairmont in Scottsdale two weeks prior and was impressed, so I was looking forward to this getaway. Unfortunately, this property is a disgrace to Fairmont’s “luxury” reputation.||Admittedly, I didn’t read many reviews before booking because of the trip’s short notice and because my previous Fairmont stay was top notch. I’ve stayed in many hotels, but this is the first time I’ve ever felt compelled to write a review.||We arrived early Saturday and were told check-in was at 4p. We arrived back at that time to check on the status of our room, but the front desk told us we had to wait for a text message. It ended up taking another 20 minutes to get access to the room. ||The problems began the moment we stepped off the elevator to our room on the third floor. A musty odor hit us immediately. The hallway carpet was worn and stained, the walls were scuffed and in need of paint, and the small entryway into the room resembled a jail corridor. The air conditioning barely worked—even on the highest setting. The furniture and carpet were stained and torn. The bathroom was tiny. The in-room menu booklet had greasy fingerprints from a prior guest. The ceiling vent was warped from moisture, the windows were filthy, and the areas near the light switches were sticky. The entire space felt dirty and neglected. ||I immediately felt uneasy about staying the night, but didn’t ask to switch rooms, as I’d overheard another guest being told the hotel was at full capacity. I dreaded going back to the room later that night.||Upon returning to the room for the night, we discovered the shower pressure was terrible, the bedding was paper-thin and scratchy, and the AC couldn’t cool the room during an 85-degree Caribbean night. I barely slept—and the musty smell still lingered.||The next morning, I texted with my mother, who had arranged a fruit platter to be delivered to the room in honor of our babymoon. I hadn’t received anything. Honestly, the thought of eating anything in that room was revolting given the damp, moldy atmosphere. I told her the room was unacceptable, and she encouraged me to speak with management.||Shortly after, a manager called to apologize and offered to move us to an Ocean Villa—available at 4p. She promised to text when it was ready. We spent the day at the beach and pool, anxiously waiting. When 4p came and went, we gave it some grace—but after an hour, still with no update, we went to the front desk and were finally given the keys.||Back in the original room to pack, the musty smell was even worse—and ironically, that’s when the long-delayed fruit platter that my mom sent finally arrived. It had been left in the hot, musty room, on a dirty surface. ||The Ocean Villa was a noticeable upgrade—but still had serious cleanliness issues. The sheets were stained, there was sand on the floor, hair on the bed, and visible damage inside the closet. We immediately reported this to Ruthie, the villa manager, who sent housekeeping to vacuum and change the linens at our request.||Later that evening, after being told the room was cleaned, we returned to get ready for dinner and were told we’d receive a $350 food and beverage credit for the inconvenience. While unpacking, I opened a drawer and found a half-eaten box of pizza shoved inside. I was nauseated and disgusted. I considered cutting the trip short, but our flights were non-refundable and change fees were steep.||We informed Ruthie, and she added another $100 in food and beverage credit. Though the villa room still wasn’t spotless, it was finally tolerable. The fruit plate from my mother, however, was never redelivered.||We slept better in the villa, but other issues persisted throughout our stay: a hairball behind the curtain, dusty surfaces, stained towels, and unreliable plumbing. The housekeeping team clearly needs better training on how to properly turn over and maintain rooms.||As far as the resort itself, do not be fooled by the hotel’s social media or website imagery. This is not a quiet or relaxing escape. On weekends, club-style music blasts from 2p–7p at the pool. Guests also bring personal speakers to the pool and beach, playing loud music all day. One couple even left their speaker blasting while they walked away for lunch. I wanted a peaceful beach vacation—reading and relaxing—not a pool party atmosphere.||Staff are friendly and polite, but they lack attentiveness and professionalism. There’s little to no enforcement of basic standards. One afternoon, a server was delivering full meals—including chicken wings and fries—into the pool, along with glass beverage bottles. This is both a health and safety violation and against the posted pool rules. We later saw French fries floating in the pool. ||One time when we placed a food order, I asked for BBQ wings but received buffalo. After asking for a correction, the second order still had buffalo wings mixed in. The server apologized and offered a complimentary drink, which I appreciated. The staff also do not clear garbage in a timely manner - empty cups and dishes pile up near the pool area overnight and the smells linger. One afternoon, our toilet clogged. Maintenance came but left filthy footprints on the bathroom floor.||The lobby, beach, and pool look appealing at first glance, but aren’t well maintained. On our final night, I overheard another guest at the front desk voicing concerns about the cleanliness of her room. Clearly, these issues persist in other rooms at the hotel.||Had any one of these problems occurred in isolation, we might’ve overlooked them. But combined, they soured our entire 4-night stay. I am grateful to Ruthie and the management team for trying to make things right. She was able to convert the $450 Food & Beverage credit to a resort credit, which was greatly appreciated. Overall, the experience left a lot to be desired.||Before this, I trusted Fairmont to represent a high standard of hospitality. Sadly, after this stay, I doubt I’ll ever book with...

My family and I stayed at this property for a week. We had a pool-side villa with balcony, as part of their Signature Experience at the hotel. I rate this a 3.5/5 property. In my opinion, their signature experience did not add any value above and beyond our usual expectations. They reached out to ask about arrival time, special celebrations, etc. and to expedite check-in. I had told them we were celebrating a milestone birthday plus two kid graduations in our family trip but nothing special or unique was done to address these. Room Quality - room was a decent size. Generally clean upon arrival. Soundproofing is terrible though. We could always here other guests banging doors and especially the sliding toilet doors. The A/C unit in our room was extremely noisy and woke me up every time it started. Bathroom was a decent size. Some loose fixtures. There was no body lotion provided. Spaces - wish there were more shaded, outdoors lounging areas. Most of their lounging areas outside were near the restaurants. The ones near their pools are not shaded. Pool-side gazebos were closed off as they need to be reserved/paid for. There is no splash-pad/water play area for younger kids, although their pools are not deep (less than 4ft). Their lobby area is nicely lit and has several seating spaces. There is also a pool table. Looks inviting and sophisticated in the evenings/night. The hotel has a nicely sized fitness center with equipment available for use on 2 of the 3 floors. Cats do roam the property. Parking was very ridiculous and our biggest frustration. A self-parking lot is available, but this lot was often blocked off for event parking, forcing us to find a different parking spot or do valet parking which is more expensive. If you are a hotel guest planning to rent a car, please understand that you are not guaranteed parking availability in their self-parking lot. Once, after retuning from our excursion, we were forced to go through valet parking, only to find out that their self-parking lot which was supposedly full, was mostly empty and had several parking spots available. In addition, yet another frustrating factor related to parking is that you have to get your ticket validated every time you want to leave the parking lot. This often took an additional 15-20 mins depending on if someone was present at the window. Parking is grossly mismanaged at this property mostly because there is no mechanism to ensure that hotel guests have priority access to their lots as opposed to event attendees. Why not have event attendees find their own parking or go through valet parking? Service and staff - generally, this is where we felt the property was lacking. When we arrived, there was no orientation to the property/map etc. The reception/parking/pool bar staff was generally courteous and dressed well; however I felt the warmth and hospitality in their attitude was lacking. The pool-side towel kiosk, room service/housekeeping, and fitness center staff was much better however. Pool-side bar/food service did take some time. Dining - we were not impressed here. Only a couple of vegetarian-friendly options and very expensive. I would only recommend dining at their restaurants if it was a last-ditch effort at the end of the day. Otherwise, there are many restaurants within walking distance from the hotel that offer more options at reasonable cost. We had called their Il Sole pizzeria and made a large-group reservation; only to be told they did not have any reservations. Thankfully they still accommodated our large group. Service at the restaurant was good. There is a Starbucks at the hotel which can also get quite busy. For some reason could not order using the Starbucks app here. The most positive factor about this hotel was its location and accessibility. Located very close to airport and was a very quick ride by taxi and Uber. The hotel is also very close to a large supermarket. And located right on Isla Verde beach which is supposed to be one of, if not the best, beach in the...

Typically don’t write reviews, but felt like I needed to give props where they were due, and feedback where things could be better. We recently traveled to this hotel as it was one of the best values we could locate without having to sacrifice staying in a beach side property. A lot of the reviews on here are extremely accurate in terms of beautiful facilities, great beach access, and wonderful employees. The casino was nice, and the restaurants were pretty good although a bit pricey.

First, we ran into an issue which I believe to be a major factor when choosing this property. When we booked the reservation online, the room rate was a little staggering at nearly $900 for the first night and an average of $600 for the remaining nights each. After reading the reviews and people stating a resort fee appeared to be a hidden fee, We called the hotel prior and they confirmed the resort fee was included in the room rate. We found that to be absolutely false as upon checking out, we were charged the full room rate, along with a hefty resort fee and a resort fee tax (in addition to a room tax of 11%, which we expected.) We were told twice, once over the phone and once upon check-in that the resort fee was part of Our stay. We incurred over $500 in charges over three days just in the resort fee and resort fee taxes. So this was clearly not part of the room rate as we were told. We have an email to the hotel that has not been responded to yet.

Our room left quite a bit to be desired. While it was spacious and the bed was comfortable, We had a lovely view of a mold/mildew covered rooftop, which we believed was the entrance of the property and the chandelier bar when you walk in. The room had absolutely zero decor outside of furniture, not a single picture or painting on the walls. This was fine however, as we didn’t plan to spend much time in the room anyways. One other note, if you are easily affected by noise, maybe choose a different location as you will regularly hear the engines of the airplanes from the nearby airport from your room.

The beach area For the property was covered in seaweed and was not maintained or raked to remove during our stay. Walking down the beach you realize that this was only an issue at our property which we found odd.

We decided to move to the pool and spoke with the cabana staff who misrepresented the pricing of a daybed. We were told the bed was $150 but you had to spend $200 total. We were under the impression and asked that we were responsible to pay an additional $50 in food or beverage and the nice lady confirmed that was the case. However, upon closing out our check we were told we still had not hit our full $200 in food/beverage. The issue was resolved after we spoke to the staff, but the waiter did seem frustrated. He came up and asked us if we were OK around 5pm which we said yes, But then when we saw him again and attempted to put in an order of food, he said the kitchen is only open for 45 more minutes. “That’s why I asked if you were good.” We were not told we needed to put in our order at that time or we wouldn’t be able to. We were brought our food “to go” in a brown carry out bag. They did make the miscommunication right so can’t complain too much other than recommend you are clear with the staff on what the day bed actually costs.

Overall, I would say this was a nice trip however, we found the hidden fees and miscommunication to be frustrating. If you book at this property, be sure to communicate as clearly as possible. And if the beach front area is covered in seaweed, simply walk 50 feet to the left of the property and the beaches are clear...