Residence Inn by Marriott San Juan Isla Verde — Hotel in Carolina

I would caution anyone who considers booking this hotel based on positive reviews. The strange smell that is describe in other reviews is black mold. photos uploaded

We had to change rooms three times due to the presence of black mold in the first room, and painted over mold in the second room, along with broken items. Our room was initially downgraded after complaining of mold, and we were only given a suitable room after insisting on switching hotels. The mold was so invasive that it ruined our three-day stay, causing respiratory issues and skin reactions, and we had to walk to the store twice to pick up medicine.

The mold was seemingly caused by all of the hotel windows being welded shut, and prolonged periods of still air. It appeared that during periods without guests, the air conditioners were shut off resulting in still air and black mold growth. All three rooms we checked into had broken or closed bathroom vents, which contributed to the mold issue. I also see it as a serious safety concern that windows were locked shut.

Furthermore, the resort fee for this hotel seems excessive, as the only resort-style amenity offered is the small water playground for younger children. The hotel amenities were in line with any other normal hotel, and the location was not resort worthy. The pool area is not even in the sun for the vast majority of the day due to tall buildings and parking garages surrounding the perimeter. I would expect a much nicer environment for a Marriot with an associated resort fee.

Guests reserved pool chairs by leaving their towels on the chair for the entire day, despite leaving the pool for hours at a time. Staff should do something to ensure this does not happen as it ruins the pool experience for other guests when all of the chairs are taken by people who are not present. They seem to be low on pool towels, as they ran out a couple of times during my stay.

Thermostats in the rooms are not able to be controlled individually, and most of the time, the actual temperature was 65 degrees despite being set to 70 for the duration of our time there. Other guests also commented on how they could not control the thermostat, along with how cold the room was.

The staff's treatment was also disappointing. When I went downstairs to retrieve a cup of coffee and a croissant from the free breakfast for my sick partner, I was told I was not allowed to bring food up to my room, which seemed extremely ironic given the full kitchen in my room. The soap bottles in our shower were empty during our three-day stay, and the "resort fee food credit" was not honored by staff. Specifically, one staff member refused to sell us bottles of water, and told us there were none left. We watched the same staff member bring another guest a bottle of water within minutes of insisting she had none left. We also noted dozens of the same water bottles for sale at the market next to the front desk, approximately 30 feet from the bar.

Finally, on nights when we ordered food from the restaurant, it took excessively long for the food to come out, taking almost an hour for one hamburger and one appetizer to be made.

As someone who travels for work and stays at hotels about 15 days each month, I have stayed in San Juan several times in all different types of accommodations and am very familiar with the humid climate. I was shocked at how poor the stay was, because I specifically booked this hotel after reading it was a brand new, clean hotel. I still get itchy thinking about this hotel stay. If you're on the fence, go...

This is a new hotel, and I was excited to book a 9-day vacation. There are a lot of things I liked, but there are quite a few disappointments as well. This is a pet-friendly hotel, so I really liked that. We took our pup with us and it worked out very well. Although, of you allow pets, I'd recommend putting a big doggy bowl with fresh water by the pool and in the lobby. A little touch that pet owners would greatly appreciate.

I am a Platinum Bonvoy member. I travel a lot and every Marriott I've ever been to has a few complimentary bottles of water in the room. As we arrived past 1 am, I asked if there was water upstairs. The front desk said "no", which was surprising to me. They offered 4 bottles but made a point to tell me they were doing me a favor, which was completely unnecessary.

Pool and outdoor area are very nice, but I did not like that the kid pool and splash area was colder than the regular pool. My kids wanted to play, but they kept complaining it was chilly.

Lobby is beautiful with modern decor and comfortable furniture, but felt really cold at all times.

Rooms are clean and modern, but a few things drove me crazy! Horrible, asolutely horrible shampoo and conditioner. Yes, I know, sounds picky, but for a beach hotel where people are at the pool or beach every day, a decent shower is very important. Most hotels these days try to provide good hair products. It costs little (especially in the econo-bottles) but makes a big difference. The bathroom sink was awful! It has an aerator to save water but when you turn on the water it sprays everywhere. The faucet is so finicky, you can easily get soaked. Now in the shower, that same pressure is pretty awesome. Another crazy thing in the bathroom is the lack of a bathroom fan. When you take a shower, all that moisture ends up in the room and if things get a bit stinky in there, you'd deal with it for awhile as there is no ventilation of any type. Brand new hotel!!! WHY?????

Hair dryer - super weak... Again, beach hotel - this is basic.

Breakfast ends too early, it's as cheap and blah as it gets. Coffee was pretty good and I really appreciated the non-dairy milk options. What I would recommend is having coffee available in the lobby throughout the whole day. Again, cheap investment that goes a very long way!

Parking is available onsite which is very convenient, but in-and-out procedures are confusing. Validating ticket every time you go out is kind of annoying and inefficient. Waiting to check out to see my total bill is also not great. Why not make it simple - pay a fixed fee per day, go in and out as you wish? Done!

Overall there are pluses and minuses pretty much everywhere, but for a brand new hotel, I didn't expect these...

(Note: We stayed at this hotel twice in two weeks. Once on our way to the BVI and once on the way out.)||Where do I start? ||I’ll start with the good; it’s a much shorter list.||The location is fabulous if you travel through SJU because the hotel is right off the end of runway 8. The good news is that you really cannot hear the airplane noise from the inside of your room. The pool area is another matter—it's pretty noisy.||Another “good” is that the restaurant you really have to eat at if you want to recoup your $40 (now $45—it went up between our visits! Now you get $40 at the restaurant and $5 for the marketplace. More on that later.) resort fee isn’t nearly as bad as some of the reviews make it out to be. The first time, I avoided the chicken wings because of previous reviews and ordered the burger. It was okay—prepared as ordered. The second time, I went with the wings, and they were much better, IMO. The “free” breakfast buffet was gawd-awful too. Stick with a bagel or toast. The hot foods were pretty, pretty, pretty bad.||Now for the bad.||Mold. Smelly mold. Allergy-inducing mold. You'll smell it from the moment you step out of the elevator. (This was on two different floors during the two different stays.) It gets worse when you go into your room. For me, it was immediate sneezing, then itchy eyes. During the first stay, I felt festive and used an SNA certificate to upgrade my room. That was a mistake because the second stay had an ocean-view room. The first room also had an inop HVAC unit. When we arrived, the room was warm, so we pushed the buttons on the thermostat to lower the temperature. It did nothing. Turns out the circuit was turned off on the electrical panel in the room. We clicked it on and found out why it was off. It would not stop cooling. I had to dig out my Connecticut flannel jammies that night to keep from freezing! ||So, back to the $45 resort fee. The additional $5 is supposed to be used in the marketplace. Okay, so we checked what was there. Nothing we wanted at the prices they were charging. After dinner, the allergies (from the mold in the room) got the best of me, and I chose a $2 packet of Benadryl from the marketplace. I showed that gal at the desk, and she said “You’re good.” I hoped it meant I wouldn’t be charged, but lo and behold, there was the $2 on my final bill. I guess the $5 only applies to things you don’t need. And it’s not that $2 is a lot; it’s the fact that you need it to breathe! At least I did.||One more issue: The reception staff really need to learn how to receive people. On both check-ins, despite being the only person in line, I was asked to “hold on” while they did other things. I felt as if I were intruding...