Caribe Hilton — Hotel in San Juan

My reviews are always fair and this will be much of the same for me. The good and the bad. There is no ugly so that's a relief!||PR in December is amazing to say the least. We arrived at 2 pm in the afternoon and booked a Wave Wing room- it was ready and we were able to check in immediately. They use wrist bands which is an interesting concept but does make it easy if you want to charge things to your room or gain access to the amenities so you don't have to carry a key- for me this was nice as I tend to forget my key or leave it somewhere. The only downfall is if you lost your band it's connected to your credit card and if someone gets a hold of it, well you never know. BUT that didn't happen and all was good.||Lobby and exterior are wonderful. Views are to die for. Grounds are exquisite. Decorated beautifully for Christmas. Open, airy and very inviting. Check in process was flawless. Wave wing is at the entrance of the hotel past the valet/concierge area which isn't a big deal, just more of a heads up if you don't like to walk. Separate entrance to building, 2 elevators, which were surprisingly faster than expected. We had a room on the 18th floor (to start)- facing the ocean which was amazing. Room was fine. Nothing fancy, nothing crappy. A place to lay your head, watch tv, shower and have a great view if you want to hang on the balcony. Is it dated, yes. Is it old, no. Could it be nicer, sure. BUT for us it was perfect. We might spend and hour at the most in the room either changing or just sleeping at night. LOL. The only issue we had was resolved in less than 2 hours as we had non pressure in the shower head and the toilet didn't fill or flush after we got back from dinner the first evening. We were moved to the 19th floor and everything after that was perfect. They even gave us a resort credit for the inconvenience which I thought was above and beyond what they needed to do.||GREAT location. Uber rides are quick if you don't like to walk which is what we did and got our steps in. About 1 1/2 to Old San Juan and less than 1 mile to Condado. BOTH are gorgeous walks with great views and interesting sights! I highly recommend. Uber picks up at the end of the hotel at the WW entrance so it's important to know that as well. We never had a problem walking anywhere, even past midnight or getting/taking an Uber from the hotel to whatever location we went to (we were there for my daughter's college bball tournament).||We are avid runners and used the paths suggested to us by David at the hotel bar who is super helpful, gave us restaurant suggestions, which all rocked and told us the best routes to run. The gym is a bit a ways from the hotel but around the tennis courts and just lovely. All the equipment worked well and they had plenty of free weights which was awesome. It's colder than cold in there but it is PR and it was hot out. LOL. The pool is fantastic. Swim up bar is fun. Here are my 2 "bads"- it gets busy early to the point that I would put our stuff down after running at 7 am just so we could get a chair. I believe it opened up at 8 am BUT I would put a book and bag down to "save" our chairs-we preferred not being near the kiddie pool which also got busy quickly. SO- be territorial....if you want a good seat. LOL. Drink prices are crazy ridiculous. I know, it's a resort...but 16-18 for a drink- non beer or wine related is kind of out of hand. So needless to say I went to the bodega next door and got my own Titos to use with the club soda I bought. SAVED us $$$$$$. I will say, I am not going to complain about the cost of the food at the swim up bar or lobby bar b/c it was good and there was a lot of it. NO skimping there. The turkey wrap could feed 3 people. Service was excellent as well. Roberto was super fast and funny. As I mentioned earlier, David, at the hotel lobby bar was friendly, engaging and gave us a lot of great spots/hints.||The swimming in the lagoon (man made) is awesome. There's a dive dock and on the weekends they put out a slide for the kiddos. You can't really swim in the ocean here as the rocks and waves and rip current are pretty wild and this lagoon allows you the opportunity to enjoy the salty sea air and water. Lots of lounge chairs and even a hut to order food from or get more towels if you need it.||There is a Starbucks in the lobby however we are Diamond members and took the complimentary buffet (continental) not hot, breakfast. It's kind of expensive for an additional $20 if you want eggs, bacon or potatoes. No thanks. There's plenty on the cold bar with fruit, bagels, salad spreads, oatmeal, pastries, etc. The papaya juice was great and the fruit was fantastic. If you do want SB you can't order on your app and if you get there at certain hours the line is LONG. Service there is s l o w.|Hotel shoppes are cute, pricey but have some great finds. Not that you can't get them out anywhere else but if you need a last minute "I've been to PR" gift before you head out to the airport or if you forgot your bathing suit I would stop in. DO NOT get snacks there. Nuts were $9/bag...a small bag. lol||The bodega next door Cafe Tropical is a good place for a bite, if you are in a hurry you might not want to stop here but the food is good and there's a store inside to get stuff to take back to your room. Pringles are about $3.25 a container but there's plenty of options to choose from. Thankfully I speak Spanish...just an fyi.||ALL IN ALL it was a great stay. I read plenty of reviews on various hotels and resorts. I can say I am so glad we chose Caribe Hilton and if we ever come back to PR would stay here again. Staff is friendly, hotel is clean and inviting, guests seem nice and everyone looked to be enjoying themselves. No matter where you go there is always room for improvement, but they are doing things right and taking care of their guests. THANKS for a great stay in...

I traveled with 2 other companions, all above 60 years old (one uses cane). Traveled first week of June 2025. Stayed in Wave wing. We selected this hotel because of the beach. This hotel has a very quiet, clean beach, no waves at all. After reading recent reviews, I told my companions to approach this trip with good humor and low expectations. As long as we had the beach we would not get upset by much. I must say that my experience was completely different than the ones had by most reviewers. I am not saying their experience was a lie. I am saying that my in many areas was excellent. First: the checking was a breeze. Stood on line for maybe 7 minutes. I mentioned to the receptionist how surprised I was at the quick check in after the scary reviews I had read. During check in, receptionist Yoryina was extremely pleasant and provided useful hotel information, such as the schedule of weekly events. She provided free bottled water and said to come back anytime we needed more free water. Yoryina also explained that the hotel charges ||$50 for use of resort per day. I liked this because I hate to be surprised during check out. The hotel no longer provides keys. Instead, they give you a bracelet with a chip which opens your room door, is used on elevator for security and allows you to make any charges to your room. Lobby area was spotless and cool. Room: I expected to find a dated, old, mold smelling room. Not at all!! spotless room, 2 double beds. Hotel did not have a sofa bed. Balcony with table and 2 chairs overlooking the entry of the hotel as well as the beach. TV with several channels, easy to navigate. Coffee machine, mini fridge (empty), safe, all in perfect working condition. Bathroom spotless, super clean, modern, great lighting, clean towels (no holes!). Hot and cold water available at all times of day. Clean linen. Walls in perfect shape. We did not go looking under the mattress but all seemed in perfect condition. The AC worked perfectly! The beach is just heaven. My mother is afraid of water and she has able to enjoy the beach. You can do snorkling anytime of day and will always find beautiful fish. During our stay there was a global issue with algae covering the shores. The hotel beach was affected, nothing serious, but hotel staff was constantly cleaning up manually to get rid of algae accumulated on shore. Staff was always helpful, courteous, and they worked so hard to let us enjoy the beach. The beach is private because from what I have read, it was built by the hotel. Pool area was always packed. Not one single chair available. It would be great if someone came up with a system that allows to identify if a chair is available or not. Many guests use the chairs, leave their wet hotel towels on them and leave. This makes if difficult to guess which chairs have been abandoned vs the ones that are still being used. The pool looked super clean. Breakfast: we had room service once, a bit pricey, but was in awe at the quality of the dishes. Particular mention to the fruit bowl. Huge, with all fruits tasty and sweet. Food ordered via room service was always perfect. So good. We had breakfast at a little private restaurant next to the hotel, which was very good as well and much better price. We had breakfast once at the hotel restaurant. We were expecting the long lines we saw on pictures online. However, we were seated right away. While we were seated enjoying excellent buffet breakfast we noticed that a line was starting to form by the door. We could not figure out why since there were many tables available.|On the third day of our 4 day stay, I asked my companions what rating they would give the hotel. They said 9. But then they said they do not dare to give a 10 because there is always something that could be improved. I agree. I now remember one area of the hotel that did not impress us at all: the bell boys, the guys standing at a desk right by the entrance where cars drop you off to enter the hotel. There were always at least 3 men at that station, they always talked with each other, laughing. When we first arrived, they did not open the door to the car even though they did not look busy. When I passed by them I said good afternoon, I had to repeat myself louder because they had completely ignored me. During our entire stay we took several cabs and when we arrived in the hotel, these guys always ignored us. If we passed by them, they would look a me and not even greet me, just looked elsewhere. Definitely an area to improve. Speaking of taxis, there is an issue with Uber, and maybe other taxi apps. I first called my Uber and was waiting for it at the lobby. When my taxi showed as arrived on the app and I did not see it at the lobby, I asked the front desk where would my cab be. They explained that for pick up, I had to walk all the way to the other end of the property, right on san geronimo street, go down a few steps and wait for the taxi on a sidewalk with no awnings or protection from sun or rain. Being that my mother is disabled, this was a huge problem. If we are paying guests at the hotel, I could not understand why I would have to go to a different area, an inconvenient area of the hotel to catch my cab. However, the Puerto Rican cabs were allowed in with no problem. Uber can drop you off at the lobby when you return, but not when you first take it. Aside from this, we had a wonderful stay. Great hotel with first class accomodations. Can't...

I honestly expected a lot more from this hotel experience. I’ll start with a positive note. We arrived early and expected to just drop our bags and find a beach, but was directed by the Bellman to go to check-in. I was surprised they were able to check us in very early, which was definitely a plus. This enabled us to go to our room and change and start using the pool immediately.||The problem I had with check-in was that there is a diamond line for diamond members, but you might be better off standing in the regular line because they don’t take the diamond members at the two desks directly in front of the diamond line prior to taking guests from the other line. I also paid for a two queen room in the ocean wing with an ocean view and asked for an upgrade. The desk clerk said she would upgrade us as it was a milestone birthday for me, but we did not get an upgrade. We got the room I paid for, two queen beds ocean view. Maybe she thought moving me up a couple floors was the upgrade? The room wasn’t any bigger or had any special feature different than the original room I booked.||We quickly changed and went down to the pool. They had water aerobics which I participated in. It was fun, but the class went a little too long for the three of us that were participating. I think 30 to 40 minutes is appropriate for a resort class an hour is just much too long . But that’s my personal preference and was the preference of the other two women who were participating in the class. My daughter participated in the Pilates class during our stay and said the class was great.||We had chairs facing the waterfall in the pool. There was trash under the chairs that we realized must’ve been from the night before because there was a used condom under the chair. My daughter was sitting on. Two days later, the trash was still there. The cleanliness of the pool area left a lot to be desired.||There was a beach area, but we did not use it because it was full of seaweed. I understand seaweed is part of what happens when you go to the beach. But any other place I’ve stayed, there are people raking and putting seaweed into garbage bags in the mornings to keep the beach looking clean and inviting. ||On a positive note, the bathroom products are Crabtree and Evelyn. Unfortunately, there was no conditioner in the container that was hanging in the shower of our bathroom. When I went out to ask the housekeeper for conditioner, I found them sitting in a room texting so I just helped myself off the cart. Probably the biggest positive for us during our stay was the soft water. Our hair never felt so good.||Several times During our stay, we would walk by and see the housekeepers in the rooms doing what seemed like nothing. Perhaps they are just very slow. There was trash in the hallway near our room and I purposely left it to see how long it would take somebody to pick it up. It stayed there overnight, even though there were several carts in the hallway that entire day.||The wristbands they give you function as your key. Unfortunately, ours kept stopping working. So again back downstairs to have a new key made so we can get in the room. And again standing in the diamond line just meant I had to wait longer than people who were standing in the other line. I’m not sure what that was about. It was very strange and frustrating that I had to wait for three guests to complete check in just to get a new key made so I could go upstairs and change out of my wet clothes. ||As a diamond member, you usually get a daily credit to use for food and beverages at the hotel. This hotel does not have their policy. You get a continental breakfast, which kind of brings the hotel down to a Holiday Inn level. If you want anything hot, it’s an additional $20. The girl that brought us to our seats did not explain very clearly what was going on and after the second day, we realized she probably really didn’t know what was going on. We should have been asked if we would like a menu to order from the à la carte menu or if we would like the buffet. So we paid $20 each for two fried eggs that were fried crispy not over easy and they were the cheap eggs. They were definitely not pasture raised. The yolks were very light yellow and they tasted awful. Maybe if we understood how expensive their breakfast was, we would’ve been those people that helped our self too the little jars of jelly and pockets and purses, full of fruits and peanut butters to make lunch. That would have maybe justified the expense. So if you choose the buffet, I highly recommend making sure you also get enough food for your family‘s lunch. ||We also had lunch poolside after we did the piña colada tasting. The piña colada at the tasting was delicious. The piña colada we got with our lunch did not taste like the one that we experienced at the tasting. Completely different. I felt duped. We ordered the ceviche. It was just OK. It could have used some jalapeño maybe chopped onion or tomato. Maybe I was spoiled from my recent trips to Mexico and eating delicious ceviche every day.||There were a couple other minor issues, but not even worth bringing up. I hope this helps you make a sound decision about...