Sandy Beach Hotel — Restaurant in San Juan

*Please Read Until The End!!! Where do I actually start??? Upon arrival the receptionist (I think his name was Rafael, or I forgot his name on purpose), who seemed to have an anxiety issue because he was cursing and swearing at the computer and it took almost 45 minites just to check us in. Continued asking for my Credit Card because the "computer system was very slow" (I checked for any fraudulant activity, and will continue to check or ask Visa to cancel this card). Finally got checked in and our card/keys were given. We entered the elevator (which resembled an old, rusted factory elevator that fits no more than 4 ppl, tightly). When we arrived at our room, the entry door was also rusted and corroded. When we entered our room, we noticed that the inside of the door's lock was busted, had an old "security chain" and was wobbly. I kind of fixed the "wobbly lock" by tightening it with my bare hands, but as you'll notice in the photo I had to use my own cane to tightly secure the door from the inside. It also seemed like the room was not cleaned properly because the floor was so filled with sand that it seemed like no one bothered sweeping it correctly. The curtains had holes in it (so that was kind of weird). The shower head "trickled" your shower experience so I needed to be patient because I don't like "trickled showering or bathing". When we asked the receptionist (same one) about extra toilet tissue and possibly an extra towel, he answered back...with an attitude... "We have no extra towels, toilet tissue, shampoo, soap or pillows". After he left his shift (thank God), we asked the second shift female receptionist and one of the housekeepers for an extra roll of TP, just in case. Now, thank God we don't suffer from Irritable Bowel Movements or anything of the sort because though they promised to bring it up, no one ever came!!! Thank Goodness we got these items from the night time receptionist who accomodated our needs (even though if needed we'd go to the local Walgreens for whatever we needed). They give you absolutely no info regarding "Ice" so we ended up buying a bag of ice at the local Pharmacy. When I came back to the hotel the lady asked "Oh, but why did you buy ice... we have an Ice Machin in the back lower floor. Didn't anyone tell you?" I looked at her, looked at my bag of ice...looked at her again and told her: "What do you think?" And the halls were extremely noisy at 2-3AM... AND THIS IS MOSTLY COMING FROM THE ACTUAL STAFF!!! I told my wife "We basically stepped into what felt like rundown hotel in the worse area of The Bronx, except it's Carribean Style"!!! LOLOLOL!!!! But I love my Puerto Rico!!! Had it not been for the beach, this mini vacation stay would have been a COMPLETE waste of money. The only good thing about this place is the location...30 steps and you're at the beach and the always buzzing Ashford and Magdalena Ave’s, and fine restaurants. We definitely took our personal belongings with us everytime we went out (jewelry, wallet, etc) because that door security was too "State of the art" for us. Oh, and by the way.. there is no "Pool" or "Free Breakfast" as advertised. The restaurants on the Avenue are great, the scenerey and the beach were great, the excursions were awesome... BUT THIS HOTEL SUCKS OUT LOUD FOLKS!!!! We will DEFINITELY NOT return to this place!!! Be aware and...

I don’t want to sound dramatic but honestly this is the worst experience I have ever had at a hotel. I stayed here for four days, and honestly I didn’t book the trip. My friend booked the hotel for a bachelor party, and I didn’t want to get involved in the planning and logistics of the trip so I just agreed. I am not a person who expects a lot, and I don’t mind roughing it at a hotel. I tend to spend very little time in the hotel so why splurge on something expensive when all I need is a bed and a bathroom. But the continuous incompetence of Sandy Beach Hotel has bothered me to the point where I am spending time to explain my trip.

The pros:

It is extremely close to the beach, so if you are really into the beach this could work for you, but I am not that into the beach since I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The cost. We paid about $114 a night as during Spring Break which is cheap, but the Holiday Inn Express (which is further away from the beach but only like a ten minute walk) was about $150. In hindsight that would have been a better choice, but you live and you learn.

The cons: This part will be long

They lost our reservation and it took an entire hour to check in. Luckily they did ultimately have the rooms, but we have to work with a very kind receptionist who had to work very hard to coordinate with his boss to sort out the mess and get us our rooms. It really took an entire hour! I mean this is just incompetence.

The elevator. Me and my friends stepped out of the elevator with our bags and it immediately jumped due to the lack of weight. This was so concerning that I never used the elevator again. Only stairs me for me. The entire hotel is very old and they don’t maintain it, so why risk your safety on a questionable elevator.

The shower. The water pressure was low, and worst of all we had no control over the hot and cold setting. We just had to turn it on and hope for the best. At this point I lost all faith in the management to fix anything so I just lived with the situation. Since it was spring break the odds of getting an affordable new room was slim to none, so why even bother.

Just able every metal component in the room was rusted. The chain on the door was broken and rusted. The foldable metal stand that you put luggage on was the same.

The bed is very firm, but that could work for some people

The hotel is noisy. You will hear sounds from police cars and people hanging out outside. They put zero investment into noise cancellation.

One of the towels had a stain on it. It is what it is. Had to check all towels before using.

The check-in hold fee. When you check in they put a pending charge on your credit card for $75. They are supposed to remove this when you check out. It has been four days and the charge is still there, I called them twice but they were no help, once again incompetence is a theme there.

In conclusion, I only have myself to blame because I didn’t want to get involved in the planning of the trip. I would not recommend this to anyone, and don’t be fooled by the nice pictures on their website. It was all staged, and the room isn’t that nice, and it’s pretty small but manageable in size. I would not recommend staying here to anyone unless they are on a very tight budget and they are in love with going...

First of all, this place should be listed as a motel and NOT a hotel. The entrance has a weird ramp you have to go up to enter the lobby. Upon arrival, the man working the front desk commented on the size of our group, which was 4 people. We booked for 4 people, so I am not sure why that was a surprise. He then went on to tell us not to smoke in the room because he has a way of knowing what rooms are being smoked in and he will come to our room. No one in our group smokes and he could have just simply stated that the rooms are non-smoking.||The next day, my sister requested 2 more towels for our room because there were only 2 towels for 4 of us. A different man than the one working the front desk when we arrived proceeds to yell at her and tells her that we have to return dirty towels to receive clean ones. I went to the room to retrieve the unused towels and bath mat and showed him that we only had 2 towels for 4 people and told him it was unnecessary to yell at my sister for requesting 2 more towels. He interjected before I finished my statement and he proceeded to yell at me. He points out the owner who is walking past. I start to tell the owner what happened and he just waved his hand and walked away. He did end up giving us 4 towels but not without a hassle. I did inform him that I would be leaving a review about the poor customer service and he said he did not care. As we got on the elevator, he continued to yell at me. ||We checked out the next morning and he was civil at that time, but the damage was already done. Between the poor customer service during our stay and the musty, moldy, filthy curtains, we will not return. The shower head was also very low. I am 5’ 6” and had to duck my head down to wash my hair. Also, we had to purchase toilet paper because we only had a partially used roll upon arrival and after the towel fiasco, we were not about to ask for toilet paper. I do not recommend this hotel. I would give it zero...