Fairmont El San Juan Hotel - European Plan

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

1832 reviews

• 

  Nice hotel with well maintained pool areas and decent beach. Close to the airport and Old San Juan.

  The Fairmont is nice. I would go back. The lobby and pool areas are the standouts. Rooms and restaurants were good. Lobby The lobby is wrapped in warm wood and has a relaxing vibe throughout the day and early evening. (I did not stay up very late or experience it on the weekend when more people may be at the bars, casino, and club.) Pools I think the hotel has well maintained pool areas. I never had to claim a pool or beach chair early in the morning or hunt for one later in the day. They had plenty. (I heard from others that the week before I was here was busier though.) The pool and beach staff provide you with a towel and walk you to a chair to help setup. Early in the morning, if there were towels on the chairs and clearly no one around, they would simply take the towel away - I like this system. No more early claiming of chairs by people not present! One improvement I would make is to have the outdoor staff walk around more often for food and drink orders. Otherwise, I think the service and maintenance staff do a great job outside. Beach The beach was good too. It's not the crystal clear type beach that you may experience at other parts of the island and the water can be rougher, but overall it was clear and fine to swim in on calmer days. Plenty of chairs and umbrellas on the beach. Food The food was decent. Nothing that blew me away but nothing to complain about. I ate at three of the hotel's restaurants. Be advised the Italian restaurant charges you for still water - tap isn't presented as an option. The morning cafe in the lobby was a good option for coffee and a light breakfast. Rooms The room was spacious. Bathroom on the smaller side. The room could have used a more thorough vacuuming and there are some spots were it is rough around the edges. If you look at some of the other traveler's photos you will see that there are good odds that you'll get a room with a view of the ugly lobby roof. I was on floor 7 and the view was better from up there since the height made the roof less noticeable. Overall I liked how close the hotel was to the airport and Old San Juan. If it's your first time visiting Puerto Rico I would stay here for a few days, do a walking tour of Old San Juan, and then hop over to Culebra or other parts of the island.

  Apr 27, 2025
• 

  Nothing to Write Home About…

  The main areas of the hotel have been renovated, but the rooms need some TLC. You are really paying for the upgrades in the lobby. Of the three elevators, at most two were working. Someone got stuck in the elevator last night - I witnessed it. Also, there are cats in the pool area and around the outdoor eating area. As someone with an allergy, this is a turnoff especially since the employees allow them to sit on the loungers. Decent drinks! Good gym.

  Apr 27, 2025
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  Disappointed in Paradise

  I was so disappointed with this hotel. It is historic and when I walked in, I felt like I was somewhere special. The room were ok size wise but dust literally everywhere and caked onto the outlets and selves. The bathroom is tiny. In the lobby, there is a love and beautiful chandelier and bar but every seat cushion is stained. Same by the pool. The pool was clean but missing tiles. It was easy to get seats and there was. Plenty of room. My 4 yr old has asked to go back to Puerto Rico every day since we left. The beach was one of the most beautiful beaches ever. The service was great. The food was expensive but good. The towels at the beach had some light stains. The towels in the hotel room smelled like fish or something. I actually could have overlooked everything other than the dust and the towel smell. For this price I was disappointed as fairmount is my fair brand. Location was great.

  Apr 23, 2025
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  Wonderful vacation

  Just returned from a wonderful vacation at the Fairmont El San Juan. Beautiful hotel on the ocean, clear warm water. Hard working staff that make sure you are having a good time. We enjoyed breakfast at Cana to start our day. Great coffee! I would like to give a shout out to Kenneth at the front desk - Orlando at Cana and Gladys at the Banyon Tree restaurant . Can't wait to go back!!

  Apr 21, 2025
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  Do not stay here!

  I was really excited for this trip and chose the Fairmont because of their reputation. Do not be fooled. This hotel gives the Fairmont brand a bad name. I will preface this with it was an extremely busy holiday week, but even still - the customer service was terrible. First - the hotel is run down. It needs a major facelift and update. Our room had a bathroom so small that when you entered, you had to stand on the toilet to then shut the door. Saying it was a poor layout is an understatement. I asked 3 times about shower gel (the container in the shower was empty and never refilled during our stay) but it was never taken care of, so we went out and bought some soap. The hotel does text you to check in and I did respond but no one ever responded to those texts. Since it was a busy week, the elevators were packed during peak hours - which can be expected. I would take the stairs for efficiency, as did a lot of people, and each time guests could complain about the dead cockroaches in the stairwell. It was disgusting. You do have to get up extremely early to have a chance of getting seats at the pool or beach. But don’t expect any food or beverages service while there. A few times someone would come by asking if anything was needed, but whatever we asked for was never brought. The bartender was super rude about a wrong drink order and just kept saying she made the drinks (wrong) already and we’d have to take them. We’d order a glass of wine and then be told that kind was sold out - even though there were 3 different types of it on their menu. It was a lot of this back and forth during our stay. I will say the guys out front are super nice and helpful. I spoke to a manager at one point when no one was getting back to me and she was very pleasant and offered to give me a small credit to use - but she didn’t really seem to care about all of these issues. Having housekeeping filling up empty shower gel containers seems like a very easy thing to get done, but it could not be figured out. I thought it was a very high price point for the level of hotel and service that was provided. We have friends who are switching their hotel options for upcoming trips based on this as we had dinner at some other hotels and the staff we encountered at those were kind, helpful and were looking to go out of the way to help enhance your experience. You can get this level of service and accommodation at a MUCH lower price point at many other hotels in Puerto Rico.

  Apr 19, 2025