Quality Inn El Portal

I am staying here and it is an alright hotel since we didn’t come to Puerto Rico to stay in the hotel but visit Puerto Rico. The room was clean but old, rust on the window and bathroom mirror.etc. the bed and pillows were very comfortable and the staff was very pleasant. There is not much parking regularly on the street but they have some for the people who stay there if not in front of the hotel, down the street in a secured fenced area that they give u a garage key to get to. If u are looking for an affordable place to stay while u visit Puerto Rico this is the place if u are looking for something fancy this is not the place.

My fiancé and I stayed at this hotel during our trip to PR. The location was fabulous. A 15 minute trip to the airport and minutes from the beach. The hotel is also located within walking distance to Ashford Street with shopping, delicious food and parks are located. You can also walk 5 minutes to Ashford and take a bus to Old San Juan for only 75 cents rather than take an expensive cab ride.
The hotel is older and outdated but it is clean and the staff is very nice. Domingo at the front desk was a doll. He was very helpful and told us places to eat and how to get around. Brenda, the manager was quick to solve any problems you had. Our mini fridge broke and it was quickly replaced by the time we returned from the beach a few hours later. The housekeeping staff leaves at 5 so be sure to get anything you need from them before then.
I would not recommend the free breakfast. We tried it on the first day and while the food was decent the birds walking on the tables where the food was served and consumed was a turn off. The hotel offers fruit, cereal, croissants, danishes a waffle maker, eggs and sausage links. The food is covered under plastic servingware. The serving utensils, plates, cups, etc are not. When I saw a pigeon trying to find a way inside the breakfast sausage while trampling over the serving utensils I called it quits. The staff quickly washed the utensils but all I could think about was that they saw it… that time.
All in all I would recommend this hotel if you are looking for a moderately priced hotel in the trendy town of Condado. But be advised… the hotel needs some work and pass on the breakfast.

Just got back from our pr vacation. We tend to stay at quality inns in the states and expected a bit more of a cleaner, renovated room. I’m not picky about the hotel I stay in, because honestly, unless I’m staying at an all inclusive resort I’m never at the hotel anyways. All in all room was decent but a renovation is in order. We only did the breakfast one day as there were pigeons all around us while we were eating (go to pinkys for breakfast instead). We were happy with the convenient location, quiet neighbors and super friendly front desk staff. I just hope they renovate soon as everything looked and felt a bit dingy and dated.

I picked this hotel for my last minute trip to PR because I just wanted a place to stay in a decent location for cheap. Plus the reviews about the breakfast were good on trip advisor. The lobby is nice, the room was nice and updated, but the hallway was obviously not renovated along with the room. Overall, the room was ok, was tolerable, and served its purpose. However the much anticipated breakfast was a letdown, much in part to the hoards of bees that were trying to get a free meal along side us. They kept hogging the syrup. I stood their impatiently tapping my foot waiting for them to finish, but they never did.

This hotel was super meh.
It gets 2 stars because of the coffee maker on the 1^st floor that has some good mocha. But even that, removing the cup of coffee from the machine includes the risk of 1^st degree burns.
The shower was too small and the head faced toward the corner at the curtain. I don’t understand.
But hotel has everything you need to survive the night. Tv, dresser, bed, safe, fridge, desk. Also, if you need parking and the 3 spots in front are taken, ask the concierge for the gate opener, if there’s space left in the parking lot, and you can park around the corner.
And, we had a corner room at the end of the floor, and internet was nonexistant. Please fix that next time, el portal.
Essentially, you get what you pay for. Its a nice low price, but its a place to stay. We were here to experience PR, not to experience the hotels/​resorts.

NO PROBLEMS WITH THE STAY — MODERATELY PRICED.
Good location, and moderately priced compared to most other hotels around. San Juan is expensive for everything, but we were looking for something reasonable for one night (6−26−12). Purchased on Hotwire for a discount for about $ 80 all told.
Free breakfast, free parking, free internet (yay). Thankfully missed out on the add-​ons the hotels here love to do. Pure skill and experience I call it. Thats how you can get around while others stay home and complain that its too expensive to travel. Some people are gonna die with a long bucket list and an empty bucket. This secret should be no secret — you have to work hard at planning a vacation — otherwise you will pay dearly in money and inconvenience. Sometimes your best bet is an average place for an average rate.
Our room was small, but was clean and appeared renovated. You wouldn’t want to spend too much time in this small room, but we didn’t. Breakfast was adequate.
About the parking: the actual parking lot is down the street and they give you a remote to open the gate. However, we lucked out bc the day clerk was ending his shift when we arrived and he gave us his parking spot directly in front of the hotel. Once we secured that spot, we didn’t move the car and instead took a tourist van to Old San Juan for about $ 8.00 for the two of us. We took the bus back to the hotel for about 50 cents each.
No problems with noise from other guests or from the street. The two busy streets in and out of Old San Juan are one block north and one block south, so the traffic noise level in this location was low.

This hotel was suggested by the travel agent. The area was great, just a few short blocks to the beach and lots of restaurants within walking distance. We chose not to rent a car since there was no parking at the hotel. The rooms are very dated and Wi-​Fi worked in the first room but not the second. The continental breakfast was on the Sky Terrace, which was cool with a nice view of San Juan. The lobby is not an indication of the room décor.

Stayed here on my very last night in Puerto Rico back in June 2012 — only because it was the cheapest place to stay in San Juan in the Condado district. The cheap price was the only ‘pro’ about the place, and perhaps the free breakfast in the morning which was pretty decent. Everything else was pretty poor and lacking. Rooms were small, dirty, and dated. The curtain windows were moldy (beware if you have an allergy to mold!), furnishings were old and beat up, and the carpet and walls were stained and worn. From my understanding, the hotel was recently bought out by the current owners who had revamped the place. I’ll admit, the lobby looks pretty nice, but the rooms don’t match the renovations that supposedly took place here. Now, if the owners did renovate these rooms — then they must have been REALLY been in an appalling state long ago! I don’t want to imagine what that might have been like…
What you pay for is what you get. Cheapness comes at a price (no pun intended) — cheap quality! There are much better places to stay, and are only just a tad bit more in price. Save your money and go to those places because they’ll be of better QUALITY than what you’ll get at the Quality Inn El Portal Hotel.

This could be pretty decent hotel, except for the fact that they have NO parking. On the web they advertise that parking is included — don’t believe it. There are around 45 rooms and only 4 parking spots. They’ll give you the «clicker» for the parking lot that is a block away, but if the 4 parking spots are full, you’re out of luck. And if the valet parking attendants for the restaurant have parked a large vehicle badly, there are only 3 spots. Good luck.
Coming in around 9:30 PM, we had to park 4 blocks away in a skeezy neighborhood and walk. Hopefully our car wont be broken into or stolen. The front desk lady told us, «if the lot is full you’re welcome to park in front of the hotel all night long.» We never once saw a spot open in front of the hotel.
Add to the fact that this is a particularly hard neighborhood to drive through. Three roads come together in a roundabout right before a freeway onramp, and the traffic light takes about 5 minutes to cycle. The hotel is right on the roundabout. It will take you 4 – 5 traffic light cycles to get the last 2 blocks to the hotel. Then you have to find a spot to stop the car while someone runs in to get the «clicker» from the front desk. Then you go around 2 blocks, drive to the «clicker» lot, and then there isn’t any parking in the lot. This happened to us 66% of the time.
Overnight we discovered the walls were paper thin, and the people on either side of us were up drinking and making loud noises from 11 PM to 4 AM. There were also cars honking in the roundabout all night long, and random people yelling on the street.
I’ve stayed in my share of third-​world hotels — my expectations aren’t unreasonable. But PR isn’t a thrid-​world country, and there are much better options in San Juan. Don’t stay here.

There are better places to stay in the Condado area. Seriously. Do not stay here!
One thing that I loved about Puerto Rico was the friendly people at all of the local spots, and the excellent service at all of the American resorts. Quality Inn is located right on the edge of the Condado district, known for its luxurious hotels, restaurants and boutiques. I was really disappointed in the Quality Inn. There was really nothing quality about it, except for the complimentary breakfast on their Sky Terrace.
The first room we got assigned to had mold on the curtains, rust on the mini fridge door, and also two mysterious hairs on the bed inside the covers. Although they moved us to the room across the hall that seemed to be in better shape, it was still a little off putting. I also felt the guy at the front desk looking at us suspiciously the entire time we were there. He’d ask questions like «how many people in your room?» and «are you staying here?» when we came back to the building.
If you’re visiting Puerto Rico, treat yourself to a nice hotel. Don’t try to save money by staying at a place like this.

When I first stayed at this hotel, the hotel was privately owned and it was one of the worst hotel stays I ever had. The rooms were outdated and downtrodden, although the hotel’s location was ideal for me as it was walking distance to the beach and many stores and attractions in San Juan’s Condado district. Since that visit (2004), the hotel was purchased by Quality Inn and the new owners totally revamped the building into what a hotel should be. Interiors were redone, furniture was replaced and the hotel now has an airier more friendlier feel to it than before. Although the hotel’s façade is extremely outdated (constructed during the art deco boom that swept the Condado during the 1940’s and 1950’s), the hotel is a viable option for those looking for an affordable hotel stay in one of San Juan’s most popular neighborhoods.