San Juan’s Condado Vanderbilt Gets New Lease on Life

In its heyday in the 1950s and '60s, San Juan's Condado district was one of the undoubted glamour spots of the Caribbean. It combined an exciting urban environment, shopping and restaurants with proximity to the sea.

Condado lost its swagger as a tourist destination in the 1990s, and several of its hotels were shuttered, including the Condado Vanderbilt, which was closed from 2002 to 2012. Enter billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, who bought the Vanderbilt and several other San Juan hotels last year for a total of $260 million.

Condado is now on a rebound of sorts, and as the area's original hotel, the Vanderbilt is in the middle of the revival.

The cream-colored, tile-roofed hotel dates to 1919 when, according to General Manager Nick Gold, it was built so that real estate promoters had some place to house off-island prospects seeking lots on Condado, which had been newly connected to Old San Juan by a bridge.

Built in a Renaissance Revival style by the architects of Frederick Vanderbilt's Grand Central Terminal in New York, it has more Old World ambience and a less tropical flavor than other luxury hotels in San Juan.

The earlier architecture has been meticulously restored. The first two stories house ballroom and meetings space that would be at home on Park Avenue, as well as three restaurants, a cigar room, an elegant bar/lounge and a lobby with a curved double staircase connecting the two levels.

A second-floor deck on the property's west end has an oval main pool and leads to an on-site spa. There are several infinity pools, an oceanside deck with lounge chairs and a small sand beach with a pleasantly private feel.

Location is one of the Vanderbilt's strong points. There's nothing but foam-washed breakers between the hotel and the ocean. With the blue Atlantic on one side and the placid Condado lagoon on the other, vistas from the upper floors are inspiring.

The original five-story structure was reopened three years ago, and a pair of modern 12-story towers opened in January, bringing the room count to 319, of which 107 are suites.

Beyond the views, suites in the new wing include 300-thread-count linens, two wide-screen Samsung TVs, a microwave and Sub Zero mini-fridge and butler service. Guests can make in-room coffee with a French press, an amenity I don't often see.

The restaurant lineup includes the casual Ola, which serves a breakfast buffet ($28) and poolside fare (margherita pizza, $18), and Veranda, which will soon yield to Tacos and Tequila, which Gold said will be the first restaurant branded by Patron.

Condado Vanderbilt's third restaurant, the gourmet 1919, is oft cited as the best restaurant in San Juan (entrees $36 to $48). For that matter, Condado Vanderbilt is rated No. 1 by Trip Advisor readers of 45 San Juan hotels.

Rates supplied by management include a range of $289 to $600 per night for standard rooms and $650 to $3,000 for suites. At the top end, a 12th-floor suite can be combined with two other rooms for a three-bedroom Vanderbilt suite with a rack rate of $4,470 per night, group sales manager Astrid Rivera said.

During my recent visit hosted by the property, it was busy with small groups during the week. Leisure guests tended to be in their 40s and 50s.

Gold said visitors tend to come from the Northeastern U.S., particularly New York, as well as Florida and, more recently, Texas.

Should the more formal look of the Vanderbilt not appeal to clients, another Paulson property, the midcentury modern LaConcha, has a bigger, more active pool, a breezy bar in its open-air lobby and a restaurant, Perla, that offers high-end cuisine in an extraordinary building shaped like an enormous clamshell.

Compared with the Vanderbilt, rates are about $80 to $100 lower at the La Concha, which carries Marriott's Renaissance affiliation.

Paulson's investment reach in Puerto Rico extends to a third property, the 58-room Hotel el Convento in Old San Juan, which began as a Carmelite convent 356 years ago and now hosts guests at rates beginning a little over $200 a night.

Source: Travel Weekly