El Conquistador Resort

We stayed at El Conquistador expecting four-diamond service, but unfortunately our experience did not fully meet that expectation. For background, we are a family of four traveling with an autistic 7-year-old who requires gluten-free meals, and a 4-year-old.

Pros:
• Unparalleled natural beauty
• Impeccably clean resort and rooms
• Stunning views and landscaping
• Multiple pools, waterpark, and private island amenity
• Many dining options and water refill stations throughout the resort

Cons:
• Inconsistent ferry access to the private island
• Limited and unreliable gluten-free food options
• Guest Services difficult to reach
• Balcony pests (wasps, ants, mosquitoes) not resolved after calling Guest Services

Resort & Rooms:
The resort itself is breathtaking, very large, and fun to explore. The funicular tram connecting the upper resort to the marina/waterpark is convenient. Room areas vary:
• Las Brisas
• Las Vistas (near pools and restaurants)
• La Marina (closer to waterpark/ferry but limited dining)

Palomino Island:
The island is beautiful, but access is poorly managed. Ferry service runs on the hour starting at 9am, with the last ferry to the island at 3pm and returns until 5pm. Around 2pm, service was inconsistent due to staff lunch breaks. Sometimes a smaller boat is used instead of the larger ferry, resulting in guests being turned away. We waited about 25 minutes in line only to be turned away, which was especially difficulty for our autistic child. There is no system to count guests or inform families ahead of time that they won’t make the cutoff. We were also given conflicting explanations about why the larger ferry wasn’t running from it was broken to they just don’t use it during the week.

Dining:
Dining was a recurring issue.
• Ventanas: Over an hour wait for food, missing items, forgotten drinks, inattentive service, and still charged full price for incomplete meals. Our son’s gluten-free muffin arrived undercooked and much later than everyone else’s food. We were told they were very busy and that the oven was broken. (The coconut French toast was delicious.)
• OATs: Great açaí bowls and smoothies
• Cafe Bella Vista: Just okay; outdoor setting with guests walking through
• Okinawa: Excellent sushi and service
• La Ezkina: Very good and consistent poolside Mexican food
• El Cafecito & Palettamerica: Great grab-and-go options

In-Room Dining:
In-room dining is only available via QR code. Ours did not work, requiring staff to physically walk the QR code to us. Items ordered were unavailable at one location and sourced from another, resulting in different charges without notification. Charges were removed, then reapplied incorrectly. If staying in La Marina, food arrives cold due to distance.

El Coquí Water Park:
Great waterpark with slides, lazy river, infinity pool, and kiddie area. Strict 48-inch height requirement for larger slides. Some staff at the rental station were unhelpful.
A standout was Waldy at Oasis Bar & Grill, who went above and beyond to help accommodate our son with a gluten-free grilled cheese despite ongoing equipment issues. Unfortunately, the oven remained broken our entire stay, limiting safe food options.

Bottom line:
El Conquistador is undeniably beautiful, with great amenities but service, communication, and disability accommodations need improvement. Families traveling with special-needs children or dietary restrictions should be aware of these challenges before booking.

Stayed 1/18–1/20/26. First time at El Conquistador. Check-in was extremely disorganized. I booked and paid for two ocean-view rooms for a party of four. Rooms were not ready at 4 PM (standard check-in) and were still not ready at 4:45 PM. Staff refused to offer a reasonable late check-out or waive the resort fee despite the delay. At 5:15 PM the same representative claimed I only had one ocean-view room and said the hotel was overbooked. Only after showing proof and pushing back did they waive the resort fee and provide a 2 PM check-out.

Room conditions were poor. Brisas wing, 2nd floor had a strong musty/moldy smell in the hallway and room. Carpet powder was used to mask the odor, making it worse. Bathroom was very outdated—rust around the faucet, slippery sunken tub, and a malfunctioning shower that caused standing water. Sheets were thin and pilling.

The only positives were the balcony ocean view, facilities, and restaurants. Based on the room quality and customer service, I would not stay here again.

Our trip at this resort was absolutely amazing, everything was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time, but the highlight of our trip was definitely the Coqui waterpark. Specifically, lifeguards Yakira and Yashira were so wonderful to us and our children. We will certainly return!

We enjoyed the food and service at Ballyhoo restaurant at the El Conquistador very much. Gilberto was our server. He was friendly, offered menu suggestions, and was a pleasure to talk to. The food was flavorful and delicious. Highly recommend.

This is a review for the High Tide Bar at the El Conquistador Resort. There are lots of great options at the resort and I was grateful to discover this hidden gem our first night there. With a week-long stay, I visited often. Tucked away in an upper level it has a great bar, pool table, small selection of cigars and outdoor seating with an amazing view of the ocean and overlooks the resort. The best part of High Tide though was Madeline and Mylee, the bartenders. They are an efficient pair and were able to manage big groups with ease. The service was incredible. Pleasant and prompt without being pushy. Very well made cocktails. They set me up with a custom drink my first night there and remembered it without me even having to ask. Really good folks. The next time I'm in the area, I will definitely be back.

Amazing experience super clean hotel great food great drinks great vibes. I left my son’s favorite swim shirt on the island and yajaira helped me get in contact with security and we got it back within a few hours. She’s loves her job and you can tell she goes above and beyond as well as the valet Parker’s and front desk. I love this place and will visit over and over again

Great time! Yajaira at the waterpark was very nice and friendly. Everything is beautiful here.

Gilberto was amazing! Remembered us from our last trip! The best food!! Could not have asked for better service!! The food was great! Always giving us the best suggestions!

From the clean rooms to the picturesque island.. The incredible service from Osbel at the Bono restaurant and Raquel's wonderful poolside services, this place is 10 out of 10 across the board. I would highly recommend to anyone and already looking forward to visiting again!

This was a wonderful experience and a fantastic resort from the food, the pools, the beach and the island across the way and the people were so friendly.

A special shout out to Gilberto, Alexis and Bolivar at the Bally Hoo restaurant who are absolutely awesome. Give them a raise.! :)

Martha Bateman

Bolivar and Gilbbarto are the sweetest men that exist. We love you! Delicious dinner and much fun had by all……………,,……..

I've been coming here the past few months. Love the vibes and the professionalism radiating from the staff. The service is top notch, couldn't ask for more. Wish they could be more sarcastic and give nick a hard time more often. I should emphasize Madeline should be in charge, she obviously runs the show. Please add a step stool for Mylee. But in all honesty, They're great people, and do their job with an exceptional quality few bartenders can match. 13/10 would highly recommend. It'll be a sad day indeed when I have to fly back home.

This is a beautiful resort that offers many amenities for all to enjoy. It truly depends on what you are looking for on vacation. The staff was very personable and although not as knowledgeable they always tried to listen and help. One of the front desk attendants was very helpful when we had an issue. Not sure I have the correct spelling of her name. But think started with a “N.”
Hard to explain the pros and cons of the resort: Pro-if you want large expansive resort with lots to do. Con- nothing is close. Not even the beach. You must take a ferry to their beach area because not a beach front property. There is a funicular that you ride down to access other parts of the property. The views were awesome, but this gives you an idea of how big the property is.
If you are looking for quiet, couples type of atmosphere then not here. It is a family resort that caters to young children too.
Food was good average prices to pricey. They have options of pizza through Mexican with ice cream shops and a coffee shop.
Rooms were very clean and designed nicely for a comfortable stay.

Regardless being in Puerto Rico the pool water was cold near the condo where we stayed. The ocean view from my balcony looking out to Palomino Island was beautiful and peaceful. I didn't like that I needed to wait for the ferry to go to the beach I would prefer to be able to walk to one from the resort. The staff was friendly however a resort that size and the amount we paid, did not have enough people to help deliver luggage to the room. They kept the resort very clean including the pools and trash can never overflowing. The water park is overrated and not really geared toward your children.

The food was overpriced and adequate.
The local public beach was my favorite to visit.

it's a very large resort at the end of the day my smart watch calculated an average of 20,000 steps a day.

Loved the resort, amazing layout, with a beautiful low key beach and a lazy river/waterslide on another side of the resort, but the food was overpriced and not good, especially the dinner food. The breakfast and lunch food was good though, especially the acai bowls.

We had an amazing trip. The hotel is beautiful. From the minute you arrive the views are amazing. The room was clean and cleaned everyday. All of the food we ate on the resort was great. We traveled during the holidays so making reservations was recommended for some of the restaurants but we never really had to wait for a table without a reservation. Every employee that we dealt with went above and beyond. A few employees that we dealt with stand out - Robert at the Splash bar at the main pool, Jason and Kevin at Las Ventanas Restaurant and Raquel at La Eskina Restaurant.

The hotel has access to a private beach a short boat ride from the resort. The beach was great. Their pools were also amazing. We went to the water park one day and had a great time.

The resort is a short walk into las Croabas, which had a bunch of decent restaurants as well. I would head back tomorrow.

Hmm—where to start? I’d summarize this as a place with an identity crisis.

Check in was a bizarre experience when they tried a bait and switch and send us down the cliff side to the marina section when we booked ocean view up top. We had no warning or heads up that our original building was ‘closed’—wasn’t until the bellman had us going down a funicular that we were like “hold up…” Thankfully we got a equal substitute to what we booked but did they really think we’d take something half the cost and deal with the funicular several times a day?

Others had glowing reviews on the water park. “Meh” is a polite verdict from our family. Our 7 year old was an inch short to do anything but a baby slide and there was NO budge on that rule. I wouldn’t ever suggest something unsafe or I didn’t think my kids couldn’t handle but we’ve been to many other water parks and there were many more options for her age. If the resort ever thinks of charging extra or separate for this amenity they are out of their mind. They might as well have played Pink Floyd’s The Wall as vibe music behind all the lifeguard whistles.

If you like running or staying in shape on your vacations—good luck! The main fitness center is nowhere near appropriate size for a resort with this capacity. Two treadmills. Two. They were taken all hours of the day I observed between 6:30AM and 9PM. Other options are running loops onsite up and down a small mountain (hill training anyone?) with no path. Or you can brave the trek to Seven Seas beach where I became a Strava Local Legend doing so many loops. I learned on the 3rd day there is a gym in the spa with more treadmills—9-5 PM only. No one mentioned this at the resort orientation we didn’t actually have. Anyway, not everyone is a psychopath like me and likes running before starting their family time but I offer this as my advice to management (and warning to fellow psychopaths)—a larger gym or longer spa gym hours would be a good investment.

Palomino is cool but is a long wait for a boat (both ways). Which gave me a chance to write this review on our last day when one of their boats was inoperable! The restaurants were respectable, but I’m not a foodie (all that running means everything tastes good!).

It’s a beautiful (and big) resort too. They have a big conference center so if I ever worked somewhere that paid my room here, would I come back? Heck yeah! But would I pay for it again on my own. Now that I know more of the resort layout and hacks—maybe, but likely not my first choice here in P.R. Scenery and close proximity to many activities like El Yunque nudged this from a 2 star to 3 star experience.

Also make sure you get your parking ticket validated if you rent a car before trying to rush to a bio bay tour.

We had a wonderful stay over Christmas. The resort has been renovated in the last few years, and continues to improve. The Casitas are wonderful. Our restaurant experiences were great.

My 4th time here over a 25 year period. They did an amazing job cleaning up after Hurricane Maria. Place looks great. Room was amazing. Island beach facilities top notch as I remembered them.
Service was great with a few exceptions.
1. Wait at check-in and checkout was 10-15 minutes in queue. Staff was great just understaffed for the number of guests.
2. Self parking very frustrating. Once you validated your parking ticket there are pedestals at the entrances and exits that have a camera to show you have validated the ticket. Well the cameras don't work - at least 3 or 4 were broken. So you have to call to the valet parking to have them raise the gate. Time consuming and frustrating.
There has got to be a better way.
3. Pool bars have menus with out of date prices. What you pay can be way more than the listed price. "Sorry, we haven't updated the menus yet." was the best I could get in was of consideration. For example a glass of Prosecco was charged at 167% of the menu price.
Really? You don't care that you can't seem to update your menus BEFORE raising prices.
I think this was my last trip here. Other resorts available with better service.

I can’t say enough great things about the entire team at Coquí Water Park at the El Conquistador Hotel. Every single time I brought my family and kids down to the pool, the lifeguards and support staff were absolutely amazing. Their professionalism goes far beyond five stars—attentive, friendly, and always fully engaged in keeping everyone safe while still making the experience fun.

We stayed for 11 days, and by the second day the lifeguard staff already remembered my room number, which truly shows the level of care, attention, and pride they take in their work. It made us feel welcomed, valued, and completely at ease as parents.

The lifeguards were consistently alert, approachable, and great with kids, and the support staff kept everything running smoothly and efficiently. Because of them, Coquí Water Park became one of the highlights of our entire trip. Huge thank-you to all the staff for creating such a safe, professional, and enjoyable environment for families. We can’t wait to come back!