Casa Ciana — Hotel in San Juan

TLDR - There were deficiencies in the room and the management kept us from accessing our passports until paying the bill in the middle of our stay.||||Unfortunately, Raul and Jorge made an otherwise pleasant visit to San Juan stressful and traumatizing.||||We booked in June (6 months ago) it looked like the rooms were nice and the reviews were excellent. Our impression was that this was a boutique hotel with 25 rooms. The website even states that there is "Housekeeping staff is responsible for ensuring guest areas...guest rooms...are trim, sanitized, and spruce". The website also states "Check-in Gift - ...complimentary gifts to our beloved guests". Spoiler: there was no housekeeping service while we were there and there was no check-in gift.||||All this gave the impression that we were staying in something well-established and organized. Our impressions began to change when we received check-in instructions with a different address than what was advertised (first red flag). Check the street before booking ( 1050 Calle Del Carmen ); it is very narrow so Uber drivers do not stop on that street as it blocks traffic. Even a taxi driver wasn't able to find it without specific directions. To add, frankly, the area was dirty (we even had to step around dog poop on Casa Ciana's welcome mat when we checked out).||All this to say that this was not the hotel experience we were looking for but we were okay so far; it's not like we never stayed in an Airbnb before.||||There were some deficiencies in the room. The bed creaked, the hot water was intermittent, and the tap for the shower was "sticky" in that it would require two hands to operate comfortably. Once again, all of these things were unfortunate but manageable given that this was essentially an Airbnb with 5 rooms (not 25) and no staff on site (check-in was through a door code).||||Now we get to the more serious things and my reasons for taking the time to write such a lengthy review.||||I have stayed at hundreds of hotels and dozens of Airbnbs. The procedure at every one of them has been to pay in full before/at arrival or to pay in full/a final balance at the end. Never have I been asked to pay anything in the middle of my stay. Now, that in and of itself is not necessarily a problem; there are different cultures and practices all over the world. My problem is:||||1) This expectations was not set nor communicated in advance.||||2) The hotel management took the extreme step of locking us out of the building, and away from our passports and prescription medications, about 24 hours after requesting the final payment and with our check-out scheduled for the following morning.||||Let me be clear on exactly what happened here.||||We paid for the reservation in June (about 6 months ago). About 6 months later, we started getting texts from the operations manager Jorge; it was unusual (given that all previous communication was by email) but pleasant. He gave us check-in instructions and asked what time we would be arriving. He also sent us places to eat and things to do (unsolicited but welcome). Unfortunately, I was not able to respond to any of his messages while we were in San Juan as I do not have an international calling/texting plan. Nevertheless, I read all his messages and appreciated them.||||On Friday around 3:30PM, I got a message from him asking for the final payment. I thought that was odd as we had already paid. Perhaps other people may have ignored the message but I did not. I got a screenshot of my PayPal invoice showing a balance of $0 and sent it to the e-mail listed on the invoice. In that e-mail, I explained that I could not call or text but was reachable by e-mail. I thought "That settles that" and continued on with my vacation.||||They started calling me the following afternoon. I was finally able to get a hold of the owner on What's App. They explained that only a deposit was paid in June. Less than two hours after that, they locked us out of our room and would not let us collect our belongings (including prescription medications and passports until we paid). We were forced to pay...

EDIT: no mix-up, we stayed there.

TLDR - There were deficiencies in the room and the management kept us from accessing our passports until paying the bill in the middle of our stay.

Unfortunately, Raul and Jorge made an otherwise pleasant visit to San Juan stressful and traumatizing.

We booked in June (6 months ago) it looked like the rooms were nice and the reviews were excellent. Our impression was that this was a boutique hotel with 25 rooms. The website even states that there is "Housekeeping staff is responsible for ensuring guest areas...guest rooms...are trim, sanitized, and spruce". The website also states "Check-in Gift - ...complimentary gifts to our beloved guests". Spoiler: there was no housekeeping service while we were there and there was no check-in gift.

All this gave the impression that we were staying in something well-established and organized. Our impressions began to change when we received check-in instructions with a different address than what was advertised (first red flag). Check the street before booking ( 1050 Calle Del Carmen ); it is very narrow so Uber drivers do not stop on that street as it blocks traffic. Even a taxi driver wasn't able to find it without specific directions. To add, frankly, the area was dirty (we even had to step around dog poop on Casa Ciana's welcome mat when we checked out). All this to say that this was not the hotel experience we were looking for but we were okay so far; it's not like we never stayed in an Airbnb before.

There were some deficiencies in the room. The bed creaked, the hot water was intermittent, and the tap for the shower was "sticky" in that it would require two hands to operate comfortably. Once again, all of these things were unfortunate but manageable given that this was essentially an Airbnb with 5 rooms (not 25) and no staff on site (check-in was through a door code).

Now we get to the more serious things and my reasons for taking the time to write such a lengthy review.

I have stayed at hundreds of hotels and dozens of Airbnbs. The procedure at every one of them has been to pay in full before/at arrival or to pay in full/a final balance at the end. Never have I been asked to pay anything in the middle of my stay. Now, that in and of itself is not necessarily a problem; there are different cultures and practices all over the world. My problem is:

1. This expectations was not set nor communicated in advance.

2. The hotel management took the extreme step of locking us out of the building, and away from our passports and prescription medications, about 24 hours after requesting the final payment and with our check-out scheduled for the following morning.

We paid for the reservation in June (about 6 months ago). About 6 months later, we started getting texts from the operations manager Jorge; it was unusual (given that all previous communication was by email) but pleasant. He gave us check-in instructions and asked what time we would be arriving. He also sent us places to eat and things to do (unsolicited but welcome). Unfortunately, I was not able to respond to any of his messages while we were in San Juan as I do not have an international calling/texting plan. Nevertheless, I read all his messages and appreciated them.

On Friday around 3:30PM, I got a message from him asking for the final payment. I thought that was odd as we had already paid. Perhaps other people may have ignored the message but I did not. I got a screenshot of my PayPal invoice showing a balance of $0 and sent it to the e-mail listed on the invoice. In that e-mail, I explained that I could not call or text but was reachable by e-mail. I thought "That settles that" and continued on with my vacation.

They started calling me the following afternoon. I was finally able to get a hold of the owner on What's App. They explained that only a deposit was paid in June. Less than two hours after that, they locked us out of our room and would not let us collect our belongings (including prescription medications and passports until we paid). We were forced to pay...

Casa Ciana has exceeded my expectations way more than expected. The type of hospitality and communication of the hosts is beyond of words. They go out of their way to make sure all of your needs are met and they do whatever they can to make sure you’re comfortable!

Long story short my trip to Puerto Rico was broken to different areas of the island. The beginning was with Ciana, which again was perfect. Towards the end of the trip I returned again to the San Juan area to be near the airport for my flight, I had booked an alternate airbnb (just to try a different area, mind you I did this before I came to PR). That airbnb was a NIGHTMARE, so I messaged both Jorge and Raul at 10pm just to check if Casa Ciana was available, AGAIN they were responsive and helped me out by letting me book last minute. THANK GOD IT WAS AVAILABLE because I wanted to cry where I was.

I am a bit of a prude when it comes to cleanliness (Hispanic OCD parents, lol). Casa Ciana is impeccable. Moving on to the ladies that take care of the housekeeping duties, they were so nice and attentive, like I said SUPER CLEAN! I had left my prescription eyeglasses, which are designer. I messaged the hosts and quickly the housekeeping ladies grabbed them for me and set them to the side so that I could pick them up. SUPER HONEST! They would come by and check if we needed anything, even offering ideas and recommendations for nearby areas. As a female I asked about the area simply because of safety reasons. I am from Puerto Rico but not the metro area, everyone made sure I was feeling comfortable. The area is quiet enough for me (be mindful you are in a large metro area so the hustle and bustle of the city is quite normal). The free parking is an added bonus as most places in San Juan is difficult to find parking. There’s a ton of great restaurants and coffee places nearby.

I know I wrote a book and probably added much unnecessary information, but I just wanted to express the sincere gratitude and appreciation for Casa Ciana.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it, from the staff, to location, communication, hospitality, cleanliness, and anything else I may have missed.

Big shout out to the staff...