HotelChatter

Location:
Right in San Juan and ten minutes from the airport this hotel has beach access to a medium sized, walkable beach with some sick undertow right off shoree. The waves are small, but decent enough that boogie boarders and body surfers were having a go at them.

Neighborhood:
El Condado is an upper-class, oceanfront, tree-lined, chalk full o' pedestrian area in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Shopping included Gucci, Christian Dior, Cartier and other high-end types of shops. The beach side park a couple blocks up offered Spanish music and dancing while we were in town. Oh, and there is a Starbucks right across the street for you addicted types -- yes PR has plenty of U.S. chains.

Casino:
Small in-house casino has black jack, craps, three card poker, $5 minimums and its very own noodle bar. Oh, and the casino is smoke free! Every casino and indoor space in Puerto Rico is now smoke free.

Pool:
Not extremely crowded, sizeable area, perfect for kids. Plenty of shallows and a slide/water structure area. To get the most out of your time in the sun before the hotel structure snuffs it out head for the back edges of the pool, furthest from the hotel.

What are they reading poolside?
The Bulger Brothers

What is the crowd like?
Cruisers (hint: the fact that they have like seven bags each gives them away) spending a night in San Juan before shipping off to ports unknown. Marriott Rewards pros -- this is where those business travelers come when they are ready to redeem some major pointage. Leisure travelers.

Rooms:
The rooms were recently torn apart and redone and now they are all about beds and shower heads. The aforementioned make you not want to leave the shower and bed, respectively. The television is a flat screen, there are plenty of outlets, and "Florida" style balcony.

Internet:
The hotel rolls the WiFi fee into the resort fee which is 10 percent of the room rate. (It also includes a multitude of other services like one bottled water in the room, $5 matchplay casino coupons and a one-hour bicycle rental.)

We had some trouble maintaining a strong wireless connection in-room but our computer might have wanted some vacation time.

Bottom Line:
This Marriott is not some sprawling ocean side resort, but nor is it just a stripped down beach hotel. It's a good place for travelers who want a quick warm-weather getaway to a known quantity with up-to-date amenities without having to short sell their home to cover the rack rate. Rooms start at $200 a night.

Be sure to check out our growing hotel video tours channel and all our hotel video reviews.

Our room was gratis, compliments of the San Juan Marriott, who wanted us to take a look at their $38 million room renovation.