Fairmont El San Juan Hotel - European Plan

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

1840 reviews

• 

  Extremely Disappointing

  To start I'm not a complainer, however this was not the way to have your vacation start. We arrived early rooms werent ready so we went to lunch.we were told to come back at 4, we did this every few hours. Finally around 8pm we got put in rooms, not ours they weren't ready yet?? We had to wait for the for Ocean Bungalows booked months in advance. (Which we never got our actual rooms because they flooded & they never told us for almost 2 days!!! ) Then we finally got into our permanent rooms( suites instead of Bungalows) to have them smell like overwhelming mold!!!!!! Finally on Monday these rooms were cleaned properly once management was there & someone listened (Alita who was in charge of handling our conference!!!! ) She was our angel. However rooms left alot to be desired. Don't go by the pictures on website. Missing furniture, no decor at all. Bathroom beautiful. It was obvious there was issues prior to us getting there. They should have put a bit more effort into getting different rooms prior to our arrival instead of jerking us around. They should have been HONEST!!! Extremely unsatisfied by the handling of entire mess up to the point Alita stepped in. The desk clerk was horrible & nasty older woman shouldn't be dealing with the public. The rest of the staff were outstanding & very helpful. 1 more thing, clean the mold from around air vent in lobby. Im aware of heat & humidity issues we do travel. Terribly disappointed!! We were the for my Birthday and my husband had his company's conference there & that added to stress if his people would treated as we were seeing he was paying for the event Im thinking he should have been treated better, as they requested pictures of us to show employees, not ours request, theirs. We haven't heard 1 thing from them!!!! Food & drinks Food limited to alot of sea food. I know its an island. Cana was fabulous!!!!The steak was unbelievably good & the chocolate creme brulee was to die for!!!! Then italian restaurant not very good . Drinks were great at all venues!! Noteworthy details The cafe in lobby the 3 girls there are just wonderful & sweet.🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 The waitstaff

  May 19, 2025
• 

  Beware of Them Taking More Money

  I would never stay here again. This is the second time that they charged me DOUBLE when booking with Expedia. The manager the first time went ahead and refunded me immediately, but now I have an $800 charge for a room that was meant to be $357.00. The first time I stayed and they did this, they refunded me double and then several days later I had unknown charges to my room. I have definitely been getting scammed by this place, the staff is rude, if you complain about the double charge although the “hold” is meant to be $150.00, they will threaten you. If you want to be threatened at a hotel and feel like you have zero consumer rights or to have your funds reimbursed for being overcharged, then come here where they will treat you like you don’t matter and you don’t deserve to keep your hard earned money. When I went to pay the deposit, they wouldn’t even tell me how much I was being charged at the front desk. Major problems. You can’t trust an establishment that won’t even tell you how much you’re being charged.

  May 14, 2025
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  Room condition is terrible - would not book again

  Stayed in the hotel for 4 nights and was disappointed at the room condition. Soiled furniture. The room especially the bathroom needs to be totally revamped. The staff was not friendly. They are probably used to hearing these complaints since these issues aren’t one off issues. The bathroom had multiple problems. Shower stall had wood chips falling apart. The floor got flooded every time one took a shower. On the third day the water flooded about 4-5 inches and drained after 30 minutes making the bathroom unusable. The wall next to the bathroom was clearly damaged and looked like a mold issue in the bathroom. Didn’t want to look at it too closely since I wanted to leave at this point. Security latch in the room was broken from day 1 . Reported to front desk twice and they did not fix the lock.

  May 09, 2025
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  The staff and location make this a MUST place to stay!

  Where to begin. From the moment I arrived it felt like I was a VIP, and I wasn't! The level of service I received throughout the hotel would have made a casual observer think I had been there many times before. Kenneth at the front desk did an amazing job making me feel welcome and gave me a room with a fantastic view. Angel, the Bellman, was kind and helpful with all the luggage I brought and I was very thankful for him! Orlando, at the breakfast restaurant, remembered my name when he saw me outside of the restaurant and I will never forget his smile and warmth. The Concierge, Natalia, was informative and helped me with a question about dinner providing timely updates and offering great alternatives. Francisca, at the Front Desk, checked me out and was absolutely delightful. And then there is Gloria, the Room Attendant, on the 8th floor. Gloria took such good care of me and my room - she made me feel like I was part of her family. I came to look forward to seeing her each morning on my way out to breakfast as she started my day with an unforgettable smile! If you are looking for a relaxing getaway at a resort with a great location for peace and quiet, yet close enough to Old San Juan or tourist destination, Fairmont El San Juan Hotel is the place to stay. I loved this hotel, cherished my stay, and look forward to crossing paths with all of these wonderful people in my future stays!

  May 08, 2025
• 

  Disappointing experience

  My husband and I had previously stayed here last year (June 2024) and had a really nice experience, so we had encouraged our group of friends to stay here again this past weekend for a group trip. What we experienced this time was completely different than before and it was very disappointing. While the hotel lobby is stunning, the woman who checked us in was not pleasant and seemed frustrated when asking questions. Aside from that, I had 2 king rooms guaranteed for my confirmations, and upon check in was told that was not possible. I can understand this if it were a certain type of rate and a disclaimer was provided, but nowhere in the confirmations received did it state that the room type was subject to change or similar. We could not get 2 rooms as confirmed because the hotel was sold out, so we obliged and got only one. The one king room we did have was very large and bed was comfortable, however, no one at the desk informed me that this room was going to be directly above the night club, open every night during the duration of our stay. We did not get more than 3 hours of sleep each night due to this- our entire room no exaggeration was vibrating from the music. The club did not close until 4am, and the first night we literally were up all night which ruined our next day and the festivities planned with our group, we felt exhausted all day. I called and made the front desk and operator aware multiple times, and once was hung up on, or the call never returned. I went to the front desk in my pajamas to address it because I had to since wasn't being handled via phone, and this was extremely uncomfortable for me in middle of the night. The front desk manager working was visibly irritated and curt, however the other woman working was very nice and trying her best (believe her name was Melani?). The front desk was unable to move us the first night since the hotel was sold out, but did the next which was appreciated....until we realized that they moved us to a higher floor but the same exact room/room number on that floor, which meant the vibration and noise could still be heard. It isn't strategic to have these rooms available with the noise disturbances- even the front desk told us this happens all the time. Extremely disappointing as we were only there a brief time (3 nights) so moving again would be a nuisance we had done that twice and it takes time. No one checked to ask how it was for us. To add to this, my husband got stuck in the elevator, which had already had someone else stuck in it I saw earlier that day. My husband was late to the event planned that evening and honestly uneasy the rest of the evening- it definitely put a damper on what was supposed to be a memorable occasion. No signs or security were posted to inform guests of this or to not use the elevator, and I am unsure as to why this matter wasn't addressed or it has been permanently fixed because if you search the reviews, this is mentioned multiple times. Security eventually got him out prying the doors open and he was stuck between floors. Security took down his name and our room number, but again no follow up to ask how he was doing or even a complimentary something to help make the situation better. While the property is mostly lovely, there are definitely some run down parts that clearly show it is not being kept up-to-date which you would expect from a noted 5 star hotel. We love Puerto Rico, and loved our experience last year, but this is definitely giving us pause to return to the Fairmont again.

  May 05, 2025