El Conquistador Resort

We’ve been coming to El Conquistador long before there was a TripAdvisor. It was “our Paradise”, and we would have rated 5 stars for each of our first three visits.

Sadly, this is our fourth (and final) stay at El Conquistador.

We believed that booking directly (no 3rd party commission) with plenty of time was a formula for best results…wrong.

We thought we booked three rooms directly with the property, and requested to be near each other. We were told the request was not guaranteed but would be put into guest notes. Upon arrival there were no notes and we were placed on different floors with awful views.

Continuing our frustration, when we booked we were told the daily rate included the resort fee. When we arrived, we were told the resort fees were not included.

Our final frustration….we thought we booked directly with the hotel but the front desk manager told us that the hotel’s own reservation line is a “third party”, and we should have spoken to and booked through the front desk directly for better room availability…..really??

The property is still beautiful, but the lack of coordination and customer service can de summarized in one word….disappointing.

Next time we’ll be looking elsewhere for “our Paradise”.

After several months of cold and boring weather we arrived to this gorgeous place. Our experience so far is 10 out of 10. We felt so welcome from day one. The place is out of this world and the staff are so friendly, and professional.
One person that stands out is Yjaira at the entrance of the water park. She was so welcoming, helpful, kind and friendly. She went out of her way to show us what this resort has to offer. Not just that but provided us information about the restaurant waiting the resort as well of the amazing food we should try there. She definitely is an asset to this resort. Thank you Yajaira for your help and for being the way you are.
Another person was Luis while taking us to the room Luis was also super kind and helpful informing us not just the amazing things this resort has to offer but around the area.
So far the experience is unforgettable!

Beautiful Hotel!! It has everything your family needs.

We loved our trip to El Conauistador! On our son’s 13th birthday we celebrated at the Coqui water park. We had a cabana and our server, Hector, was absolutely wonderful! He was so attentive and super sweet. He helped make the day extra special for us and our birthday boy!

We had the best family trip. The view are STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Breathing each and every time I stepped out side. Special special shout to Yajaira at the coqui water park desk. She was the friendliest staff member. We loved visiting her. Her hospitality was far beyond anything we could as for. We will definitely be coming back.

Avoid room 1235
- next to marina pool / water park (kids, music bass, 7a gardening equipment)
- 15 min from main lobby (funicular + elevators + walk)
- no hot water for shower (sink has hot water though; shower valve is broken), gave up asking for fix after being gaslighted for 2 days

Front desk is ill-equipped to deal with large volumes of customers (spring break + conference), fixes, accommodations (basically regular hotel-type requests)

On-site restaurant food is mediocre. Probably the best one is the Mexican restaurant by main lobby pool. In general, the serving staff is nice, the only bright spot of our stay.

Ferries to Palomino Island are too infrequent (once every 60 min. Music bass at Palomino Island is too loud. There is a nearby beach outside the resort which is much lovelier & larger.

We love Puerto Rico, but not this particular stay. We hope El Conquistador improves.

I am so disappointed about what has been done to the El Conquistador I could cry! My family started coming to the El Conquistador in the 90s. Back then it was Caribbean, it was Spanish tile and wood, it was LUXARY! People dressed up for dinner at REAL fine dining restaurants. This trip was my first return since 2013. Deeply saddened for the resort and the people of PR when hurricane Maria devastated the island. We didn’t know if it would reopen, and then Covid.. When we heard it was reopening we said, ‘we will return!’ Big mistake! The once 5 diamond award luxury brand is no longer. Seeing other reviews of people reminiscing of the ‘good old days’ validates my dissatisfaction. The decor is horrendous as another reviewer wrote, the ikea style ‘contemporary’ furniture and the black and white everywhere? Yuck. Looks like your local Hilton garden inn. Another red flag on our first night we went to cigar bar, locked. Walked to the front desk and was told ‘they opened at 7pm and nobody came in so they closed’. What?! On a Friday night at 8pm after dinner we can’t smoke a cigar? Absolutely ridiculous. From what we understand from the front desk everything is now 3rd party vendors and only open and operate when they want to, not what’s advertised. All the literature on TVs, pamphlets, website, it’s all contradictory. Nobody seems to know what’s going on. Fine dining? That’s a wild claim. As we wait to be seated and see the placard on the wall that says ‘pants and collard shirts’ as they walk in people in jeans and athletic wear. The food has been absolutely terrible. The hallway lined with local vendors looks like a flea market. The hallways used to be lined with exotic birds, so far I have only seen one and never out of its cage. Service has not been great either, not what I expected from the El Conquistador. So sad. The services are a sliver of what they used to be. They used to have Alto Grande in the rooms. Now it’s a cheaper PR coffee. But you can BUY Alto Grande if you want that. Palomino island used to have steel drums and Sala music playing. Today was some day club pop remixes, Madonna, Beyoncé and Luke Bryan. Really? Where am? I had to find the DJ and request something that at least sounded like I was in PR and not Miami. If you want luxury, choose a known brand like the Ritz or the Four Seasons, at least there is a standard, not whatever this is anymore. The new owners of this property don’t deserve to use its name.

Yajaira at the water park was fantastic. Her service and welcoming spirit was amazing. She was a great host and made our stay enjoyable.

The El Conquistador ("El Con") is an iconic historic brand and resort. We've been there since the early 90's when most of these Karens from the NE USA weren't born. The logo has been and always should be aquamarine blue. Get rid of the black and white sign. The furnishings always have been and should be wood, not white, Bahama style furnishings. The lobby area was full of treasured wood and should be today, not painted over white. The colors were always a warm cream and blue, with wood and terra cotta, not white and black. Just look at the beautiful tile floors and the entire place had the same look. The funiculars were always gold inside, not cheap chrome. When you go to the Greenbriar, or stay in Europe or any iconic historic world brand resort, you become part of the history, no "updating" is required. Unfortunately, too many Karens and foolish 20 something marketing firms from NYC thought modernization to current decorating trends is the only way to "update". In short, they ruined the El Con. brand by "updating" instead of just "refreshing". Look at what the NYC corporate updaters did to the Caribe Hilton's once iconic, timeless and treasured Breezes bar. Now it is unrecognizable but "updated" modern and the entire vibe is lost. You go to the El Con to travel to that brand, that place that is unique in all of the world. A fresh coat of paint of the same color does not require loss of character and brand. Who decided to paint over all the incredible wood trim with white? They should be banned from ever stepping foot on the El Con. There was never a need to "update" because the El Con was never and could never be "outdated". Adding flat panel tv's and usb ports did not require removing all of the rooms character with white ultra modern IKEA furniture. The look was always classic timeless Tommy Bahama, and that is gone by some "modern" NYC corporate hotel marketing genius. That's not "updated" it is a complete loss of character, brand, and history. The El Con itself deserves to return to the full glory of its history, where you were transported to a magic place that did not look like every other hotel room because it wasn't ever just an "updated" nameless Marriott hotel room, it was the El Con. with a history and pedigree unlike any other. For the Karens, complaining about "updating" there was a shuttle service to/from the airport, you were greeted with the aquamarine blue logo, welcomed to your adventure, with rum in the back. When you arrived, the birds were in the lobby, the casino sounds going, several shops and the wooden library style cigar bar upstairs (not painted white), with 3-4 really decent restaurants, and people dressed up to eat there like they knew they were in a special place. There was a night club, and no one cared if you smoked a cigar outside. The poolside bar wasn't packed with screaming kids, and there was a huge workout center in the basement area. All of that is gone, and with it the icon and history that should be there replaced by a 20something marketing whiz kid to make it "updated" while losing all of the history, charm, and glory. The loyal customer base is gone, because they kept coming over and over again, and then experienced the 20something marketing kids version and it wasn't the same El Con - and stopped coming and starting going somewhere else.
Is isn't too late to return to the glory days of the El Con. Stop listening to the nonsense from Karens on "outdated" and keep the historic colors and decorating, all the El Con ever needed was "refreshing" to the same prestigious look and sense of place. The customer base didn't want to come to something "new" they wanted the El Con they always experienced, "refreshed", not changed by complete renovation that lost all its character and iconic brand. The El Con was a place that when you left, you were already planning your return.

Some of the prettiest grounds in the Caribbean. It’s perched on a hill overlooking the Atlantic and Caribbean. Beautiful turquoise and cornflower waters. Facility is clean and gorgeous.
However, the service was quite poor. Food was delicious but clearly prepared ahead of time. Sometimes it came out in 60 seconds, other times 25 min. My mahi was raw in the middle…I told the waitress and she did nothing but disappear after saying something unintelligible. Never saw a manager…restaurant/bar/pool/front desk. This place could be great w just a bit of good mgmt. Staff always looked put out…almost all of them.

This is my second time staying at the resort. It is still a beautiful destination, private beach, comfortable pool chairs, and the food choices are plentiful at the resort. Communication with the hotel is impossible. No one picks up the phone and the concierge isn’t sitting at the desk most days. I had to physically walk to each restaurant to make our reservations for dinner. Email was the only way to communicate before we arrived. Our family had a nice week as we were there for a conference.

We had dinner at Bono Restaurant and it was a wonderful experience. The food was delicious and thoughtfully prepared, and everything we tried was satisfying.

A special shoutout to our waiter, Wacho, who provided excellent service, attentive, friendly, and professional throughout the evening. He really helped make our visit even more enjoyable.

This resort came highly recommended by some good traveling friends. We were able to meet some other good traveling friends here as well. This Resort is absolutely stunning and amazing. It is full of family friendly activities and fun things to do. We loved the waterpark, pool and hot tubs and several restaurant with majestic views, ferry and Palamino Island was awesome. We had an absolute blast and will definitely come here again. Highly recommend!

Dreadful communication, we tried on multiple occasions to contact the property via e mail and phone in order to rearrange arrival date. On the day of arrival we are sitting in reception awaiting room details, it has been 2 hours since we arrived and although they offer you can use facilities, I am imagining how u comfortable i would be if I had gone to pool!!!. Reception is understaffed and each time we are in line it takes > 10 minutes to talk to someone. Book here at your peril

Wonderful first visit to El Conquistador! We stayed in a Marina room that was lovely. Food at Ventanas was delicious. Francheska and Jean at Coqui Waterpark were amazing when one of my kids had a scraped knee. They made sure he was safe and enjoyed the rest of his time on the slides. My kids also loved the scavenger hunt from the front desk. Thank you!

I stayed at the resort March 9th-11th. The resort is on a beautiful piece of property which is why it has a few stars to this rating. I’ve highlighted below my takeaways for others to consider before booking.

Palomino Island - 4/5
The island itself is beautiful so had to rate separately, but the ferry ride to and from the island I would give a negative 5 on that.

Ferry to Palomino Island - 0/5
Recommend having more ferry boats over to the island and back. One was running at the time and we wasted three hours in total waiting for the ferry. Not something I recommend. Beach is beautiful, but the ferry schedule needs major work.

There also was some group that got off a bus that got to go before guests on the ferry which caused an uproar rightfully so since some guests didn’t make the ferry due to those individuals cutting the line. It was all around not a good experience. There are plenty of beautiful beaches in Puerto Rico with a lot less headache to see. I recommend you go see the other beaches and not spend half your day wasted on waiting around for a ferry.

Coqui water park - 4/5
Water park features a small lazy river which was the best part in my opinion, but be prepared to bump into everyone along the lazy river. Water slides were also fun and you have three options. Was a beautiful spot to spend the day at the pool. Can see this being a major win with families due to variety and plenty of pool space as well.

Cutz Steakhouse - 5/5
Meal was amazing and drinks were spot on. Atmosphere is what you’d be expecting for this type of resort. Highly recommend.

Sicilia - 4/5
Meal was great and drinks were okay. More of a family spot which was fine, but the atmosphere needs some updating. Seemed off to me from the moment I sat down.

Brapanta Bar - 3/5
We ended up stumbling upon this bar which ended up being good drinks, but odd service. Wait staff didn’t come around so I went up to order and when I did they said they’d be over to the table. After they eventually came over it was a better experience, but wouldn’t be my first go to.

BallyHoo - 5/5
The second night we stopped here for a drink as our end cap which was great drinks and a beautiful spot. We were happy we found this spot the second day when sitting for our long ferry ride.

Hotel rooms - 3/5
My hotel room was updated and we had a beautiful view. I will say we had so much noise outside our room at all hours of the night. I actually sent an email that night complaining to ensure future guests get told this room is very loud. I am a light sleeper so the 12am screaming from fellow quests was a little much. I get having a good time out, but when everyone is walking by your room being towards the start of the building you hear it all. Would recommend staff have selections for individuals who are light sleepers from someone who was up two nights in a row to constant loud talking and screaming.

I also would recommend looking at the Las Casitas Village as we didn’t look at that as an option and regret not picking a more secluded area.

Casablanca - 1/5
I’m sure it’s a beautiful bar, but opening at 9pm is a little late for someone who likes to go to bed at a decent hour. I was very disappointed in the late hour opening and was hoping at least 7pm to enjoy a drink at this establishment. I never got to enjoy a drink there which was sad because it was on my top things to do at the resort. My recommendation is changing the hours of the bar.

The first night we stayed we found ourselves not able to enjoy a drink anywhere. The outdoor bar was full and no bartender was to be found at the bar upstairs.

When you are staying at a “luxury” hotel you expect more than what was presented during our trip. I had thought about staying here for my upcoming honeymoon and I’m glad we visited before making that decision. I wouldn’t run back here, but I hope with some more years of work I will visit to a different and improved El Conquistador.

Yahaira really stood out. Our stay at the Conquistador was pleasant. Yahaira was welcoming, and knowledgeable. The Coqui Water Park was an awesome time for the entire family! Thank you Conquistador Resort and thank you Yahaira for putting forth your best effort at every encounter. We loved it!

Facility is massive. For as big and expensive it is the service is so deathly slow and expensive you should just get a small hotel in the village where the food is affordable and the service is good.

Francisco was amazing. Best service we have received.

This is strictly a review of our experience at Bono restaurant. Our overall rating for the resort would be 3.5/5 stars, but our experience at Bono with our server, Osbel, was truly exceptional. It was my 40th birthday, and we were looking forward to dining at one of the nicer restaurants on the resort property.
He made great recommendations, timed out food nicely, and sang happy birthday to me. It was an unforgettable dining experience. He is warm, professional, and truly a lovely human being who made us feel so special and well-cared-for. The food was overall delicious. But Osbel was truly the star. I would rate the overall rating lower due to the situation I will describe below, but I do not want to take away from the 5 star service he provided.

I do want to note one unfortunate part of our evening. We called concierge for over an hour trying to make a reservation. Turns out we did not need one, but I do wish I had the option to call the restaurant directly. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was empty, and there was a hostess and a very bald server standing at the front. I told the hostess we tried to make a reservation but were not able to. The other server spoke in Spanish to the hostess, and she asked if we want to see a menu. I told her that was not necessary, we would like to dine there. The very bald server said something to her again and then cut himself off and said to us "it is very expensive." We assured him we still would like to dine there. But we were shocked at his forthrightness. Thankfully, he was not our server, and we had a wonderful meal with Osbel. But it was a shame this other staff member tried to deter us based on price.