We highly recommend The Water and Beach Club to anyone wanting to stay at a beach hotel that is clean and the staff is helpful and upbeat. We loved visiting San Juan on our 10 day Honeymoon and the Water and Beach Club made us feel right at home.
The Valet William helped us plan and find places in Puerto Rico that we would have never found on our own and was like part of our family.

The San Juan Water and Beach Club may have been a cool place to stay back in the late 1990's when black lights and techno music was in. Unfortunately in 2008, the hotel has obviously seen it's day come and go.

The general look and feel of the hotel is one that is meant to overload the senses (once again, this may be cool if your on E). Most of the lighting throughout the hotel is by blue or black lights; in all of the rooms, hallways, elevators and common area's. There is a recurring soundtrack of waves crashing that is played ever so loudly in the hallways. That is layered on top of loud, cheesy techno music. So much so that you can hear it while you lay in your bed. The elevators and the ends of the hallways have waterfalls inside of them. The first time you ride in a elevator with a clear ceiling, a waterfall on the back wall, filled with blue lights, and blaring techno music you might think that it is cool(if your a raver-monkey).

The WORST part of our stay at the hotel came at night. There was a planned rooftop party with 5 different DJ's that started at 11 and went until 5AM. The techno music was loud enough to keep even the soundest sleepers (such as myself) awake. But it was the drunken people in the hallways screaming that really put me over the top. I remember looking at my cool bedside IPod clock stereo when I heard the last yelling at 4:56AM. We were offered bottles of water in return for the worst nights sleep the next morning.

The hotels restaurant "Tangerine" had an appetizing menu, and promised an award winning chef; however the food was nothing special. My sister had a $20 caprese salad, which consisted of 2 slices of tomato and one slice of mozzarella. I had a small $30 dish of linguine with 4 shrimp on it, with the most unflavorful cream sauce. My wife had $36 ribs that tasted great but were colder than room temperature.

Our room had a very dirty floor. Sand had not been swept up since the last guests. Over near the window where the air conditioner was, the pergo flooring was all bubbled and peeling from previous water damage. In the bathroom, as you can read from many other guests reviews, there is a pane of glass that is far to small to block the spray of the shower head. Water will go all over the floor. Hot water lasted approximately 3 minutes before turning cold. As other reviewers have said, we had no safe in our room when we showed up. They did put one in shortly after, but it was not bolted down. Which leads me to believe that the hotel has a short supply of these and rotates them around, not securing them when they do. The supposed flat screen TV was a 19" ancient Zenith TV with a mismatched remote that had electrical tape holding it together.

I would be remiss if I did not point out some of the hotels good qualities. The location is on a dead end culd-de-sac right across from the beach. The location provides easy access to many of the nearby attractions and the airport. The rooftop has a fantastic view of the beach and surrounding areas. The rooftop pool is pretty cool with J Lo like white lounge couches surrounding it. (However, some had large tears in them and were obviously dirty). The free little hotel soap and shampoo was some designer stuff that was actually really nice. The IPod clock radio was another nice little touch.

I have hardly ever in my life complained about a restaurant or a hotel. But I feel the need to warn those who are drawn into this hotels cool boutique feeling and inviting photographs. It is not what it appears to be.

While the photos look great and I can appreciate what this hotel was once trying to do, it is no longer the amazing Conde Nast praised destination it once was.

The design of this hotel is great. The roof top bar and lounge area is great during the day. It has an amazing view and I was able to spend a good chunk of time in the sun there.

Beware of the LOUD experience... on many levels. When entering the hotel you'll be greeted with the sound of rushing water... not only are there many fountains all over the building, they pump in (loudly) the sound of running water and crashing waves. While I appreciate what they're trying to do, the water sounds pumped into every level, on every floor in every nook and cranny, are way too loud and way over done.

The upsetting part of the stay was the horiffic sounds at NIGHT. And I'm not talking 10 p.m. 11 p.m. or even 12 p.m... A roof top DJ party raged well it 6 a.m. While I was staying on the 8th floor (and the roof top is the 11th), I was kept awake by blaring techo music and crazy people screaming drunk in the hall ways all night long. I am a very heavy sleeper, and it was the first time I can remember being kept awake.

I was not notified that this party was taking place (by expedia, or the hotel). Upon calling the front desk at 4 a.m. 5 a.m. etc, no one even answered so that I could complain about the rediculous noise and bed base shaking boom boom techo going on. (Please note that I am 22 and not a 60 year old... I like to party as much as the next guy... and I didn't even get to bed until 1 a.m. that night anyway)

In the morning the "manager" of the hotel promised to comp money for the horrible time, however this never happened and I've been sent on a wild goose chase to try and get some type of compensation for my almost 300$ night laying awake listening to screaming drunks and techno.

The only up-side to the loud techo late-night/early-morning techo party was that it music was beyond loud enough to drown out the annoyingly loud water crashing waves music that may have otherwise kept me awake as well.

The area surrounding the hotel is unsafe. Speaking with the bell boys, I was able to find out the area was previously very over-run with drugs etc, and that police were constantly patroling the area to try and keep an eye on the safety of the tourists. While this might appear to be comforting, be aware too that you can take a short walk around the corner to one of the worlds biggest cock-fighting arrenas. Its a stange area to stay in. While its a pretty location and the decor in the hotel is great... beware of the LOUD music and water noises. Ask in advance if there will be an all night techo party before booking a stay at the San Juan Water and Beach Club Hotel.

This place is certainly for younger people, as it is a boutique with a loud rooftop bar at night and small rooms. The rooftop was relaxing during the day, but hosts private parties at night. If you plan on getting sleep do not stay here!!!! The hallways are loud and the rooftop is loud at night. The worst part however was the gang of kids hanging out in front of the hotel late night until the early morning, playing loud rap music (that literally reverberated in our 4th floor room) and screaming and yelling. My girlfriend and I called management 3 times to have the gang removed, but nothing could be done (it was on the street in front of the hotel which management said was public property, even though the street is a cul de sac with no other properties on it but the hotel). Neither of us slept that night.

Adding to the unsafe feeling, my girlfriend and I were in our room during the day when someone barged into our room. When we asked who it was, the intruder paused and said he was looking for a jacket. I never saw this person and have no idea how this person got a key to our room.

Generally the room was dirty, and at one point during the night the air conditioner spewed out an awful smell, similar to that of burning hair.

When we approached the manager at 10 am about leaving and cancelling our remaining 2 nights he said I would have to pay for the next night but he would waive the third night. We should have been refunded for the first night in reality, but I figured I would let that slide, but never would I imagine that after such a horrible experience would they also charge me for the next night when I would not even be there.