This is a review of RadissonAmbassador hotel in Condado, San Juan in the island of Puerto Rico. I have just visited this beautiful island on a short vacation - I was there for 5 days. The flight from New York was about 4 hours.
The First Impression: When I first arrived in Condado which is a hotel area of the city of San Juan on the north part of the coast, I was a little dissapointed. The neighbourhood of the hotel looked a bit dingy and run down. I took a short walk to the beach which is a block away and the street was dirty, old rusty cars parked on the street - you get the picture. The beach turned out to be tiny, nothing to shout about. The hotel however, I was impressed with. It was clean and looked well taken care of.
Fortunately, my first impression was erased once I found out there is a much bigger beach a short walk
away right next to the Mariott hotel - both the hotel are very nice and the beach was also more of a real beach. I also found there are several friendly restaurants in the area including Starbucks which was a nice to get an iced coffee after being at the beach for some time. When I had a little walk around the neighbourhood I saw that the particular street near my hotel was a bit dirty but there were nice houses and shops and restaurants in the area.
The Hotel: When we were given our passes to the room, I was excited as my holiday has started. I was previously aware the hotel has a casino and although I am not much of a serious gambler, I enjoy spending some dollars on the slot machine so I was looking forward to some innocent gambling. You never know... Oh, and speaking of which, American dollar is the currency of Puerto Rico.
Our room turned out to be very nice and clean. We had a little balcony which was not facing the ocean but a street however, it was still cool to have a place to sit outside. I must mention that Condado is a neighborhood with many residential towers and some hotels. There are some areas where new construction is going on. Our hotel had good sound proof windows though and we did not hear that much when the balcony door was closed. But during the day, there is a constant hammering and cranes in the area.
Our room had the usual amenities in modern hotels such as ironing board and iron, coffee maker and hair dryer. Which is really nice. I especially appreciate the coffee.
The room was done in a typical hotel decor, nothing too modern. I did entertain an idea of staying in a more recently updated hotel near the airport which had water falls, chill out music in the lobby and white bedrooms but I read that there is a club above some rooms and it's hard to sleep. I chose my plain but more reliable hotel and I did not regret it.
The hotel has a restaurant but I can't tell you if they serve breakfast as I never had one there. The restaurant is not on the ground floor as usual but you have to take an elevator up to some floor ( can't remember as I went there once ). The hotel gives you a complimentary voucher for one drink (per person). I definitely went to the casino every night and put $20 in the slot machines. The casino was full of either the locals or people from other parts of the island as mainly I heard Spanish language. I visited the casino in the Marriot hotel and it was bigger with lesser crowds so I recommend that too. There was another casino on the street in a hotel but it was a little dingy and kind of felt sleazy. Ours was pretty decent.
The hotel also features a swimming pool on the roof top, gym and a "business center" where you can check emails etc. for free. Funnily enough, the same floor as the pool has business conference rooms so while I was swimming or sitting on the lounger, people in suits would walk past. There is also some kind of a bar on that floor but someone told me it's for "special people" whoever they may be. Maybe the business crowd.
There were no kids in the hotel that I could see. I think this hotel attracts older people. The hotel has a little area where you can books trips to places like the Rain Forest or Bacardi factory but I was told that our hotel guests mainly come for the casino and don't go anywhere. My mom went to the Rain Forest - I didn't end up going ( long story) but I did see Old San Juan and one of the Forts which are a tourist attraction.
I am not going to write a description of San Juan itself as this review is about the hotel really. Overall, I was pleased with the room and service. We did have a leak from the bathrom above but when I reported it twice, someone came within minutes to check it out. They claimed they fixed the source each time but unfortunately, the water kept dripping on the bathroom floor so I gave up. Let the next guest deal with it... :)
Like I mentioned, there is food on the same street which is Ashford Avenue. There is a nice place called I think La Patisserie where you can get a good meal - more lunch type place. There is a Mexican and Italian restaurant too. Some nice stores with clothes and home decor. Good place to have breakfast is Danny's which is about two blocks from the hotel on the right. There is a deli and a pharmacy/cosmetics store near too so you have everything you need. Oh, and of course Burger King and Subway or something like that across the street. If you prefer to eat cheap. Not that food was expensive but eating in restaurants 3 times a day takes it's toll on the purse. You could spend that money gambling...
When you book the trip on Expedia or any other site, don't choose a shuttle to the hotel for $50 per person as the taxi costs $13-17 one way. The trip to Old San Juan in a taxi will cost you also around $12-15 however, there is a bus # B21 running to Old San Juan which drops you off by the bus terminal in the port area. The bus costs 75 cents. The bus goes supposedly every 20 mis but you can wait up to an hour if you're not lucky.
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