This hotel is in a prime location as it provides easy access to the beach, buses, restaurants and shopping.

However, the rooms were smelly/musty and very cold (for a Caribbean location). We turned the a/c off and the place was still too cold. The place seemed to be understaffed as well because the guy who took care of the breakfast was also the porter (on duty). This guy's attitude sucked! Although there was a language difference, there is nothing wrong with a smile and a pleasant outlook (this translates in any language).

Check out is also horrible (we were in a large group (26) persons and we were asked to bring luggage to the lobby by 11:30 am our flight was 5:50 pm) Imagine 26 persons by maybe 3 pieces each in a small lobby with no seating arrangement or storage facility. It was horrible. The attitude of some of the staff members was totally disgusting.

I would not recommend this hotel to any of my friends. There are nicer, friendlier places to stay in PR. (Because our group was big we did not have much of a choice - we were told).

I've stayed in hotels throughout the world and when your on the road, you can't expect much. When traveling through Mexico by car, I stayed in $10 per night hotels that were clean, with running water, and had a shower that drained. El Portal is a $100 per night Roach Motel! I made a reservation to stay at El Portal because I thought there was nothing else, but several friends of mine were able to get far better hotels for a much better price. Warning: Do not stay here, even if there is nowhere else to stay. Camp out if necessary. There are hundreds of hotels that are far better and cheaper. The staff was nice, but the hotel is a dump! The shower had no water pressure and the temperature changed from cold to superhot wihtout any warning. The shower did not drain and no amount of complaints can correct that, i'ts a plumbing issue. It was a complete nightmare. Be warned.

DON'T STAY HERE! The rooms are sooo tiny and the whole entire hotel has a funny, mold like smell. The continental breakfast includes bread, and cereal with powdered milk. To top it all of THERE IS NO HOT WATER!

And they had a drainage problem, it took hours for the shower to drain after one person used it, so if you go with another person wake up early unless you want to shower standing in their dirty bath water.

There are so many better hotels in San Juan for around the same price.

i stayed there in april 11-14 2006 and it was nice. there is a strange smell indeed but it's bareble the staff in lovely. the breakfast needs some help a little cheese maybe, but above all i enjoyed my stay i will go back there