Conturce Hostel — Hotel in San Juan

I didn't have a good time. When I arrived it took 30 min for someone to open the door and let us in. When someone arrived we were told to wait because our room wasn't ready, so we waited for a couple hours more to get out room. We were offered beer as an apology for the wait and it never arrived. We reserved a room that said it had a bathroom, yet the key for the bathroom didn't work, so we had to use the comunal bathroom which made me mad because I paid extra money expecting a private bathroom. At night, i was with my partner in the lobby alone and we heard someone mumbling. We noticed that it was a drunk person and once he saw us, he started to make us feel uncomfortable. He started cussing and getting aggresive. My partner tried to calm him down, and in the conversation this person said he wasn't even staying here. That he was in the Hilton hotel, which is near from the hostel. I wondered how the hell he entered because to enter the hostel you have to enter a code in the gate and climb the stairs. Like I said, there was NO ONE in the lobby. I knew that there were guest staying in the rooftop, but he kept blocking the staircase so we couldn't look for help. It occured to me to call the number and no one anserwerd. I DM'ed them through instagram and nothing happened. When someone finally came down from the stairs, that person handled the situation, but it looked like a guest. In the morning, which was the same day we left, I finally saw someone in the reception desk. The employee that I don't remember her name, but she was a puertorican with red hair. She scolded me and my partner because we parked our parking inside the lot when that was prohibited. It wasn't our intention to cause disturbance, but we asked the employees about the parking and they didn't answer us, there was no sign that said there is no parking inside the lot, there is one but it didn't say dont park here, there was nothing in social media nor their website... It's their fault for not giving their employees proper training or having a message clarifying the doubt. Talking to her, she seemed to know that there were problems with the staff. The owner should improve these things. She told us that those "employees" were voluntary gringos that in exhange of staying for free in the hostel, they had to work. When she told me that, it made so much sense that the person who basically kicked out the drunk person at night, technically worked there. I don't think there is nothing wrong with having voluntary people staying at a hostel, i mean it's a hostel, but they have to get proper training, or not let just anyone stay. My experience wasn't what i expected at all. If this rating had a negative, I...

I have stayed in many hostels around the world and this place is terrible, unsafe and should not be legal. This is also my first negative review of a place.

The place is so cheap for a reason...and not a good one. This is not a 2 star hotel, it’s an disaster waiting to happen.

Safety - they lie about having a 24h reception. During my stay the fire alarm went off. There was nobody from the hostel staff in the building. The fireman and police only came after 30 min when guests called several times and took them another hour to shut off the alarm. The alarm then went off again 2h later, but luckily the fireman thought one of the guests how to shut it off. Nobody from the hostel staff was around and there was no emergency number available. The police was not able to find them either at the time. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if an actual fire was on.

Cleanness - the bathrooms are clean, but is they run out of shower gel and shampoo you have to specifically request a refill. The beds look as if someone slept in them before. I also had to sleep without a pillow case and only realized I don’t have one when I went to bed...and guess what. No one at the reception to give me one.

Comfort - the A/C is on all night. If you sleep in the upper bed in room 1 your head will freeze. They do not offer a blanket when you check-in, but you can ask for o e. It’s just that although other reviews for this place mention the A/C problem, if you check-in at 3PM when it’s hot that’s the last thing you’ll be thinking about. This makes sense on very hot nights, but when it’s chilly and rainy being in a freezer all night is not the best idea.

Staff - when I arrived a girl opened the door in a hurry and then disappeared for about 20 min. When I wanted to do my check in the girl at the desk obv had a very poor english. The manager of the hostel came the next day after the fire alarm incident and was just rude. He did not apologize and tried to come up with weird excuses and explanations. 20 min later he informed he i’m getting a full refund for the night.

Location - this is I would say the best thing about the hostel. Really close to the beach and easy access to Old San Juan and the airport. But just because you have great real estate doesn’t mean the other aspects should be less important. The rooftop is really nice also and it’s a great place...

Disclaimer for posterity: I stayed here right as PR had relaxed travel restriction and had a huge influx of people but was still struggling with workforce shortages.

I stayed here for 10 days in the 8-bed's room. This was my first hostel experience. -Location: Close enough to Condado for all the fancier places but distant enough that you can find less expensive places to eat or hang out within walking distance. Super convenient access to multiple beach fronts. There's a supermarket, minimart and gas station nearby.

-Cost: Fair, no complaints.

-Cleanliness: Place gets cleaned every day. Cleaning is well done. Most other guests did their part in keeping the place clean.

-Comfort: Rooms AC was a bit on the cold side. The terrace has plenty of both sun, shade and breeze.

-Amenities: the website says fully equipped kitchen. Although you can find something to get things done I wouldn't call it fully equipped. If I were an owner/partner I would add an on-site filtered water fountain, a rice cooker and a new countertop burner (the one on site is rusted). It should help keep the guests hydrated and for those looking to stay long term save on dinners well fed.

-Staff: 5 star team. Jesmar and her crew (Paola, Kay, Daina) are all VERY hard working, super polite... you name it. Luxury hotel talent in a hostel! Message to the owners: The place definitely needs 2 staff members on site at a time. The had to run the front desk and servicing the rooms and guests requests and power outages and this and that... It's only a matter of time before they get burnt out.

Rating: Why 4 and not 5? We had two false fire alarms over night. Not actual danger but being woken up at 1am by a super loud fire alarm is not what you want to experience during your vacation. There was no staff for the night shift and I had to call the Fire Dpt and get some pointers on silencing the thing. The next morning we were given an emergency phone # but we didn't had one from the beginning.

Closing statements: -I would encourage anyone looking for a hostel experience to stay at Conturce. -I would stay at Conturce again. -Next time I travel, to PR or elsewhere, I will explore hostels as a place to stay. great way to interact with very interesting people for many...