El Conquistador Resort Hotel Review in Fajardo Puerto Rico

 

I booked the El Conquistador Resort Hotel for 13,500 American Airlines miles. The hotel was going for $199+ taxes and a resort fee which is 16% of your room rate. A $199 rate can easily turn into a $270+ rate. I decided to use miles because I was getting more than 2 cents worth with no added resort fee. I rented a car from Sixt and took the non-toll roads on HWY 3 to the El Conquistador Resort which is a Waldorf Astoria property in the Hilton hotels portfolio. The entire journey took me an hour and ten minutes from SJU Airport to Fajardo.

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Self-parking is $15 and a free shuttle arrives to pick you up from the parking lot to the hotel. You can also walk to the resort from the parking lot, but why would you?

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There was a long wait to check-in at 4pm and no one was staffed at the Hilton HHonors desk, so I waited in line. 30 minutes went by and I voiced my displeasure to the front desk agent about the long line and how there was no one in the Elite desk. I asked the front desk agent if there were any better rooms available. He told me yes and he would make it up to me for the long wait. Initially I was reserved a garden view room, but was upgraded to a partial ocean view before arrival due to my Hilton Gold status (I added it before checking it). I was surprised he upgraded me to a Las Brisas Full Ocean View Balcony room in the newer Las Brisas wing.

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As a Gold member, I was given a voucher two free welcome drinks and two complimentary bottles of water.

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I took a look at the amazing pools around the property before going to my room.

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The Las Brisas room was spacious and contained a King sized bed, work desk, and an L-shaped couch.

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The bathroom was fairly large and was fully stocked with washcloths, hand towels, and towels. There was also a mini fridge in the restroom along with a coffee maker.

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The best part about the room was the sweeping balcony views of the ocean.

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I would highly recommend this hotel if you’re looking to stay on the property. The resort has a Marina village with a water park and also free ferry rides to Palomino Island. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to try out Palomino Island because the last ferry is at 3pm (I checked in at 4pm). The earliest ferry to Palomino Island leaves at 9am (I had a flight at 1pm) and didn’t work with my schedule. The funicular runs 24 hours from the resort to the Marina village where there are shops and restaurants. The hotel does not have a casino anymore and was replaced by a game room which features air hockey, arcade games, and foosball.

 

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4 Comments on "El Conquistador Resort Hotel Review in Fajardo Puerto Rico"

  1. “I would highly recommend this hotel if you’re looking to stay on the property.” I don’t understand. What other options are there?? And did you really drive all the way out there to check in at 4pm and leave at 10am? Why not stay closer in town? That room upgrade you got matches what I received last year.

    If you want to be out on the east coast and have access to the private island beach I suppose the property is OK. But I was thoroughly unimpressed overall with it otherwise when visiting last April. The Marina Market was overpriced, tourity schlock; the water park overpriced. The private island was OK, but not all that great of beaches and the need to commute to get to/from the beach is a negative to me.

    We found the dining options off-property in Fajardo to be much better and much more reasonably priced, even if not incredibly easy to get to.

    Unless you really want the Hilton points is there any reason to stay there?

    • “I would highly recommend this hotel if you’re looking to stay on the property.”

      I meant to say if you’re looking to stay on the property for a long extended period of time. Hotelscombined shows about 22 different hotels/b&B in the Fajardo area. Yes, I drove all the way out there to check in at 4pm and leave at 10am! I wanted to try out the property and seemed like the best option.

  2. Looks nice enough, but not especially luxurious or upscale. I don’t understand why this property is brander Waldorf Astoria rather than Hilton or DoubleTree.

    • i didn’t feel like I got the W/A service at this property. Nothing is really luxurious about this hotel except for the pool and view. I agree that it should be deflagged into a Hilton or Doubletree

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