Monastery Art Suites — Hotel in San Juan

My husband and I stayed in this hotel on February 2nd 2019 just for one night before the cruise.||||And unfortunately we had a lot of things which went wrong during this stay.||||I booked the “Panoramic Suite, 1 Bedroom, Bay View, Oceanfront - 1 king and 2 single beds” through AMEX Travel back in September 2018, and my credit card was charged by American Express right away. The room was bigger than we actually needed, but I wanted to have the bay view. So I decided to pay this type of money as it was a romantic trip (at least was supposed to be before we got to Monastery Art Suites) and we were going to be in San Juan for only one night.||||When we came to the hotel – first it took us some time to figure out how to get inside, the door was locked and you needed to call so the door would be unlocked for you. But it didn’t bother us too much as this was small supposedly “boutique” hotel. Finally we got in and were met by the nice lady at the front desk (Shannon). At the check in she asked me for the credit card, and I provided one as you usually do in the hotel. But I was a little surprised because I had in mind that I did pay for the room in advance. I figured I would check later if I indeed did pay for the room. ||||But what I remembered very well, that the room I booked was not the one which Shannon took us to. I informed her of this right away but she didn’t seem to believe me. So I pulled out my reservation and showed it to her. After that she told me that the information she had about my reservation was different from what I had on my end. She also told me that they didn’t have any information that my reservation was prepaid.||||After that I called AMEX Travel as Shannon was blaming them for misinforming the hotel. AMEX Travel confirmed that the room I thought I booked was the room they had reserved for me and there should not be any misunderstanding about that. They also confirmed that I indeed paid for the room back in September 2018. So the hotel should not be charging me anything. I took the phone to Shannon so she could speak directly to AMEX Travel. ||||The room Shannon gave to us was not the one I personally would ever have booked and definitely I would have never paid the price for the room we got. The room was beautifully designed, but it had a view on the old chipped wall of the building across the street – instead of the beautiful bay view I paid for. Shannon told me and AMEX Travel that they didn’t have any other room available in the hotel. She also offered to move us to a different hotel. I didn’t want to move as it was already around 4pm and I didn’t want to waste any more time. I wanted to enjoy at least some of our one evening in San Juan. Shannon also offered me free champagne, but I told her that I didn’t need any champagne – I would rather get the room with a view I booked, or if it would have to be a room without a view – I would rather have a much less expensive room than the one she provided to us.||||As Shannon didn’t seem to have a satisfactory solution for the problem, I finally suggested she should give me a discount on the room we were already in. As I didn’t book the room to begin with, and I would have never paid the price the hotel was planning to charge us for that room. Shannon told me she can only give us $100 discount, which I agreed on. And I was going to ask the AMEX Travel for the refund, as we never got the room I paid for.||||My husband and I went out to eat and to walk around a bit. When we got back to the hotel and tried to turn the TV on, it appeared that none of the outlets in the bedroom (including the one the TV was plugged into) were working and all the outlets on the wall between the bedroom and living room weren’t working either. So we could not use the TV and we had to charge our devices in the bathroom – in a room which had a $500+ price tag on it. I called Shannon and left the voicemail for her. But nobody ever called me back. Also no attempt was made to fix the electrical issue. I even went to the front door to get the other phone numbers for the hotel. But both numbers I called just went to Shannon’s voice mail. When I asked her in the morning about the voicemail I left for her, she looked like she was completely surprised and was not aware of it (?).||||There was a big bottle of IVORY shower gel in the bathroom. You don't normally see stuff like this in the hotels who charge $500+ dollars for the room. The bathroom looked clean enough. But I was wondering if it was really cleaned and the shower gel was left from previous guests? There was dust on the door, cigarette butts on the balcony. There was cheapest Lipton tea and instant coffee as amenities in the room. Normally I don't pay much attention to the stuff like this. But when I pay $500+ dollars per a night - it's quite a different story.||||I asked Shannon if we can get additional discount for the room as a compensation for the electrical issues and for no attempts to fix them. Shannon told me that she would not be able to give me any further discount. Instead she suggested she would give me 50% discount on my future stay (!). How one could expect me to come back to the hotel if we weren’t able to satisfactory fix the issues I was having with my current stay?..||||After we came home I contacted the manager of the hotel Ms Drifa Landmark via an e-mail, but got no response. Then I filed the case with Amex Travel. They attempted to get in contact with the hotel about the situation, but with no success. And finally Amex Travel is providing me with the full refund for my stay.||||I guess I would never find out who did mess up our reservation – the hotel or the Amex Travel. But so far I have only positive experience with Amex Travel, and only negative experience with the hotel. So I can make my own judgement.||||The resume of my review – I would never recommend this hotel to anybody. For us it was complete rip-off on the hotel side – if not for Amex Travel and...

Let me start by saying this is a great little hotel in an unbelievable location. Dead center to everything and we couldn't have enjoyed it more. ||||What was a little odd was checking in, and a strange lack of staffing. We came early, which they did not expect, so that's not their fault. But there was no obvious way to get in and no one around. We were finally buzzed in, but then wandered around in a strange, small foyer (with no signs welcoming us or telling us where to go. Serious recommendation there!). We wandered around and then finally went up the stairs and found a nice lady who helped us. I'm not sure if she was part of housekeeping or what, but she said she was not the one who could check us in. No problem, we were early! She was very kind though, and said they would call us when the room was ready. Which they did. Very sweet! Strangely however, we came back when they told us to, around 2:30-3:00 p.m. and there was still no one around. The same lovely lady wound up giving us keys and showing us to our room, but am still sure that was not her job. We didn't see her again for our whole 4 day trip. Nor did we see anyone else. We got some lovely texts from what I assume was the manager about drinks and/or yoga on the roof,and offers for in-room massage, but we never actually saw another guest or staff member in 4 days of coming and going. Just a little odd. I say Charlie's angels because it reminds me of how someone managed so well without ever actually being there.||||As for housekeeping, walls were a little dusty high up, (staff needs ladders) and our shower needed scrubbing from hard water stains, but overall clean, and that's coming from a person who cleans villas for a living. Overall, this was a great experience. Fun, funky and we would definitely stay there again. That being said, keep in mind that if you book the city view (which we did), you will be looking over several restaurants and Pigeon Park. We did it on purpose and loved it, but if you like to nap in the afternoons, or are a light sleeper, be sure to talk to...

"When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom..." and I'm pretty sure she said to head to the Monastery! Well, it was either her or my hotel app. Either way, I'm so glad I ended up at the Monastery Art Suites. ||My day started at a hotel much less than acceptable and a last-minute search was on. Not the easiest search on a Saturday evening in San Juan, yet the housing angels were overseeing the mission and lo and behold, unto us a fabulous ocean view suite was awaiting.||A perfectly located hotel that is within walking distance of about everything you'll want to see or do. It also is quite convenient to the cruise shop docks and is perfect for the before or after night from a cruise. ||Upon entering the building, which does not have a big sign out front, you know it's not your ordinary place. Upon reaching the second story reception area, you begin to see the art and eclecticism combined with the historic architecture and you know this place will be one that lingers in your memories long after your travels are over. It's funky, it's cool, yet still quintessentially Old San Juan. ||Our suite was fabulous; tall,tall ceilings with a long front black and white marble tiled hallway leading to a large dining area overlooking the large living room. The sofas double as beds. In front of the balcony double doors hangs a hammock. Quite lovely to sway as you watch the ships pass by.There is a microwave, small fridge and coffee maker outside the nicely updated bathroom. The master bedroom was a pretty cool place and had tons of closet space. ||One of the nicest "features" @ the hotel is the lovely manager. Drifa was so kind and showed such true hospitality that it made my travel challenges (airline lost my suitcase,flight was delayed for hours and that 1st bad hotel) much easier to bear.||All-in-all,the Monastery Art Suites is a...