If you like small hotels, in central locations, with bags of character and history, an outdoor dining terrace and bar area overlooking the old town square then you will probably like El Convento. If you like big, modern with a casino then this isnt for you.

Maybe the hotel overplays the rooms with views and some reviewers have been disappointed - all I can say is that San Juan has mainly flat-roofed buildings with satellite dishes etc. From our room you could technically see the sea but the foreground is the quirky, characteristic roofs - charming in a San Juan way.

I loved El Convento for its pretty courtyard, old architecture, the wine and cheese hour on the terrace, a quiet late night drink over-looking the old town square and floodlit church, easy stroll to the water..

San Juan is interesting and the bars great fun ! and 2-3 nights about right if just doing the tourist stuff. (if you are a small quiet hotel-type person I would also recommend the Horned Dorset Hotel, Rincon vs the other large Puerto Rican hotels).

I booked El Convento as the first night in a 10-day stay in Puerto Rico. The hotel has such a great "feel" that it was a near-perfect beginning to our vacation. Its location is exceptional to tour Old San Juan and only took 15 minutes from the airport. We parked at valet parking ($20 charged to the room) and proceeded to run around Old San Juan. There were 13 of us so we booked 4 rooms (3 double doubles and one queen). I was a little nervous about paying so much money because I'd seen a couple of reviews where people complained about the room size or quality, but that was certainly not a problem. It was a thrill to stay in a hotel with such history and character. Several members of our group really enjoyed the complimentary 'wine and cheese/fruit' from 6-7pm although not all even attended because some were out touring the sites. No one in our group regularly pays out over $250/night but it was definitely worth it for our one-night stay in San Juan.

The one story I will share though is I left my wife in the room to go help others in the group get settled in their rooms and when I returned some 20-30 minutes later my wife was trapped inside the bathroom. I tried in vain to pull the bathroom door open from the outside and finally called the front desk. They had 2 guys up in about 2 minutes and had to take the doorknob off to release her. She thought it was a funny story so it didn't put a damper on our overall experience at the hotel, and no one else in our group was victimized by the El Convento ghosts so I imagine it was a not-so-common experience.

We followed their website and then called them directly for rates. I would recommend getting a price by phone (they spoke perfect English) and then also checking Internet rates because I got better rates over the phone although they promise Internet rates are cheaper. We would definitely stay there again, especially for any days wanted to visit Old San Juan, but there are better options for an extended stay outside of Old San Juan (Luquillo Playa Azul/Sandy Hills).

We chose to eat her based on some other reviews. It was during a food festival and things were busy. The traffic was terrible and parking cost us $27!

The food was ok at El Picoteo, certainly not cheap for what we got. It is tapas style but very expensive. Drinks were also expensive. We actually had a better experience across the street at Buren . We went here before dinner since the roads were so crowded and our reservation was not for another hour. The bartender Emmanuel was wonderful. He gave us great suggestions for sightseeing all around the island and made a mean batch of Sangria! The prices and food were more reasonable and better. We had just a few items at El Picoteo and then went back across the street for more food and drink!

We stayed here for 3 nights during our honeymoon. The hotel is in a great location and is a beautiful building. However they seem to rely on their "historic hotel" designation way too much, as the hotel is very expensive but the rooms and management leave a lot to be desired. The management was not very helpful when we encountered a problem with our room. Also, housekeeping does a subpar job - i don't think they clean the toilets very frequently.

We were in a queen deluxe room for $300 (plus tax), although that was the smallest queen bed i have ever seen and my husband and i couldn't fit in the bathroom together (and we are fairly slender people). The first room we were in, which I was told no less than 75 times was their "model room" (i still have no idea why), had this extremely annoying banging noise coming out of the AC duct that happened every 30 seconds or so (with the AC on or off). We complained that night, were told they had no rooms in our rate, so to check back tomorrow. The banging continued all night, so we complained again the next morning and were told they would send an "engineer" to look at it and if they couldn't fix it we could switch rooms. When we checked back at 5pm, we were told that the "engineer" sat in the room for 30 minutes and never heard it. The manager acted liked we were making it up, which is always a nice attitude. She told us that if we still heard it when we went back, she would switch our room. Of course, within 1 minute of being in the room, we heard it. After making the manager and their engineer come to the room with us, they also heard it within a minute or 2. Then the engineer said "Yeah, I have heard that before, just not today." And you didn't try to fix it last time? Excellent work ethic.

They did switch us to another room, which was very quiet. Upon checkout, when we saw that we were billed the full rate for the first night, we complained to the manager on duty (same one as before, lucky us). We didn't want the room for free, but considering the aggravation I felt a little customer coddling was in order. She was clearly annoyed that we were bothering her again and before I even completed my sentence she said she would give us 30% off the rate. That's all I wanted. Well, with a little less attitude.

Bottom line - its a very unique building with a gorgeous patio inside (excellent breakfast at their restaurant), and they have a complimentary wine/cheese thing which was lovely, but the management and housekeeping could use some serious work. It was certainly not terrible, but was far from stellar and its WAY too expensive considering the problems, no matter how much free cheese you give me.