Hacienda del Mar

Has anyone been to the resort since the Dorado Beach Hotel and the casino closed? What's it like?

Have we been there since the casino closed? Yes, Nov 23-Dec 1 and wish we hadn't. In our opinion "welcome to HYATT JAILHOUSE VACATION CLUB". Stay away!

Hyatt took away everything, ie restaurants, stores, trolley, Casino, Dorado Hotel - closed. Can't buy breakfast anywhere on the premises, nor snacks after dark. You are left with 4 walls and a very large fence.

The following statement may sound far-fetched - remember the ENRON scandal? This may be known as the HYATT scandal!

To all potential Hyatt Vacation Club timeshare purchasers worldwide beware, beware, beware

scotth46 wrote:

Has anyone been to the resort since the Dorado Beach Hotel and the casino closed? What's it like?

What are Hyatt's plans for this resort? Does anyone know?

Made my reservations for week 24 Have there been any changes made there yet?

After reading the message regarding the Hyatt Jailhouse, I am really upset. I am an owner who has not been back since the Cerromar closed but there was still a casino, the Dorado Beach hotel, a shuttle and the restaurants such as the sushi place and the pool bar.

One can take a positive spin and think of the resort as a private condo where you shop for you food, go to local restuarant and enjoy the R&R. People do need an escape so this resort will hopefully appeal to them. The resort property is lush and beautiful. The Hyatt Vacation Club owes the maintenance of the property to the owners and for their image.

So truthfully is the resort still well maintained with a clean beach, inviting pool and clean facilities. I would to hear about that positive parts

I was at the Hyatt Hacienda del Mar in Oct. and am going again in April. I have been going there for 15 years. Whats different? Its much less crowded, no fighting for a bench, there are 3 restaurants open, golf and all the pools. The gym has all new equipment and the spa services are better than ever. The local restaurants are fabulous and only 5 min. away as well as two stocked modern food stores. The beautiful beach, perfect weather and private cove have not changed at all nor the wonderful friendly people who work there. The old hotel is being converted into very expensive 3 bedroom timeshares over the next few year. As I read in another comment, this is like a wonderful private condo for now.

danitao3 wrote:

I was at the Hyatt Hacienda del Mar in Oct. and am going again in April. I have been going there for 15 years. Whats different? Its much less crowded, no fighting for a bench, there are 3 restaurants open, golf and all the pools. The gym has all new equipment and the spa services are better than ever. The local restaurants are fabulous and only 5 min. away as well as two stocked modern food stores. The beautiful beach, perfect weather and private cove have not changed at all nor the wonderful friendly people who work there. The old hotel is being converted into very expensive 3 bedroom timeshares over the next few year. As I read in another comment, this is like a wonderful private condo for now.

I think someone may be working for the hotel?????!!!!!???

Clearly danitao3 works for the Hyatt!

I was there in February and it is even worse now. The food mart has less supplies than in November. There is no way to get to the former Hyatt Dorado Beach except by car. There is no place at Hacienda del Mar to have breakfast. If you have a rental car, you can eat in the town of Dorado and shop for food there. On the premises at the timeshare you can eat lunch at the bar by the timeshare pool and dinner at the Zen Garden in the former Cerromar. The Hacienda del Mar sponsors 1 free trip a week to the Marriott casino in San Juan. There is no casino any closer than San Juan so you must take a car service or drive there in a car rental. The river pool is managed by Dorado Beach Properties, not Hyatt so we are at their mercy whether they will keep it operating. The empty Cerromar may be sold to another hotel company but nothing has been announced yet. No more camp Hyatt either.

We just came back from a wonderful week (week 11). We do not work for the hotel. We brought two guests who loved the beauty and the quiet of the beach and the availability of the lounges, chairs etc. Everything was very clean and well maintained. The service was excellent and friendly. You can request eggs/bacon at the outdoor grill which opens at 11:00AM. You do need a car or a car service. A wonderful bakery opened up about 4 minutes away which serves breakfast, lunch and light dinners. New restaurants are opening up in Dorado. The Dorado Hotel although closed, except for 36 golf units, does still offer a restaurant (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and a poolside/beachside bar and lunch service on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Hacienda del Mar is a place to relax, enjoy the scenery, play tennis, ride bikes, golf, snorkel and read. We look forward to our next visit. Right now the word is that The Blackstone Group plans to acquire the Cerromar and renovate it as a hotel. Blackstone also manges the El Conquistator and the Old San Juan Hotel.

scotth46 wrote:

Has anyone been to the resort since the Dorado Beach Hotel and the casino closed? What's it like?

Hi My fiance and I stayed this past Nov. in a timeshare in Isla Verde. It had a public beach which meant the beach access entrances closed at 6 PM. It was very crowded on the beach during the day with a cost of $4 per day for a beach chair if you could find a pleasant place to place it. The scenery from our rented timeshare looked over 2 other hotels before you could even see water. We visited Hyatt at Dorado beach during our stay and bought a timeshare there without any hesitation! We also got to enjoy the tranquility and privacy of this resort since we purchased the timeshare. Believe me there is much to be offered at Hacienda Del Mar no matter what. Like as others supporting this beautiful area have said...less crowds and privacy. We can't wait till we return next Dec.

nc15 wrote:

scotth46 wrote:

Has anyone been to the resort since the Dorado Beach Hotel and the casino closed? What's it like?

What are Hyatt's plans for this resort? Does anyone know?

I kept going since Dorado closed. The pools, beach, resort are very well maintained. Some of the stores are still open and also the SPA and gym. There is no casino.

Has there been any further information about what will happen.We will not be using our upcoming week in August. OUr older kids don't want to go with nothing there

scotth46 wrote:

Has anyone been to the resort since the Dorado Beach Hotel and the casino closed? What's it like?

Just got back and I loved for the lack of crowds,you can still get a great meal at the Zen Garden and the Beach Bohio. You can take a short cheap trip for 3 - 4 dollars per person to some great restaurants nearby and not have to worry about a DWI. The pools were clean and the staff was very good .

scotth46 wrote:

Has anyone been to the resort since the Dorado Beach Hotel and the casino closed? What's it like?

We just came back from Puerto Rico, stayed there from March 22-29, 2008. This property is located in the small town of Dorado, about 30 minutes from San Juan with some traffic. When you first see the property, I can certainly appreciate how nice this property must have been when the Hyatt Cerromar was still open. Now, there is a fence surrounding the perimeter of the closed hotel, the large river pool has been drained, and the hotel building itself is totally unoccupied (dark at night). The Hyatt Hacienda del Mar is still a very nice property, with the remaining amenities: the beach is nice although there were a lot of waves when we were there, the tennis courts, the miniature golf, golf. However, it does lack the usual services i.e. casinos, restaurants, concierge. The only restaurant available is the Bohio Grill, which serves the usual meals, good for a nice lunch on the beach. There are other nice restaurants in the main town of Dorado (La Terraza, Morena, Chop house). The food is Puerto Rico is rather expensive, as expected, as with any Carribean restaurants. My recommendations: 1. Rent a car and bring along a GPS system. This will allow you to get around, i.e. to go to the food store and restaurants. 2. Go to San Juan and see the Forts, and have dinner in some very nice restaurants in the city (loved a dish called “mofongo”). 3. Explore the island. We felt secluded in Dorado, so we went to the eastern side of the island in Fajardo and stayed overnight at the El Conquistador hotel (beautiful property with its own private island with free ferry, water park, tram) on a cliff. You can also go west and visit Arecibo (large telescope), Rincon (large surfing community), Camuy (caves) etc. 4. Visit Luquillo beach, one of Puerto Rico’s most beautiful beach, near Fajardo (east) and sample the local foods at the food stalls along the highway. 5. Enjoy. You are in a beautiful island. You will still have temperature in the 80s and a lot of sunshine. But beware, driving in Puerto Rico roads is rather challenging, just be patient. Also expect a lot of traffic especially during rush hour going to and coming back from San Juan. There is talk of the Ritz Carlton possibly purchasing the property next door to Hacienda Del Mar, so owners, hang in there and see what happens.

FYI

A developer called Caribbean Properties bought old Cerromar Hotel facilities. Rumors in the streets says old building will be destroyed and move more inner land to avoid erossion in years to come. How far from beach will it be? When new facilities will be open? Only God and Caribbean Properties know. Hope someone from developer's office read this and write an answer. Don't know about new facilities. Properties (timeshares)prices should go up when New Cerromar opens (logic says). Like the last person wrote: "hang in there and see what happens."

Hi Everybody, I'm a ticked off owner of a unit at the Hyatt Hacienda Del Mar. If you own there as well, you'll know that they just raised the maintenance fees almost 40%! I've started a blog about my adventures with this property. Please take a moment to view it and register with it. Spread the word to other owners as well. The site is located at: http://www.hyatthaciendadelmar.info thanks for your time, Roland

Hi, I feel the same way you do and would like to find out more inf about a posible Class Action Suit. We have been mislead and cheated. I tried to log into your blog but did not receive the password. Thank you, Mildred

If you are one of the owners you should attended a meeting they have every Mon. morning about what's happening at Hacienda del Mar. It was conveyed to us that Fairmount Hotels took over the Cerromar property. They are tearing down the old building (probably somewhere around June so we understand, depending on all the permits needed) They expect a 6 month period for the complete demolition since they cannot use any implodding devices since we are next door! The new plan is for 2 swimming areas. It hopefully will include another river pool arrangement. The new hotel will be 1/3 the size of the Cerromar and pushed back further from the beach area. It was suggested at our meeting that an email or a web site would be available for further information. Change can be very frustrating especially in uncertain economic times. I feel especially sad for the staff at Hacienda del Mar. If no one goes there for their timeshare periods more of the staff will be let go. But no matter what my husband and I truly enjoy our stay and make the most of it!

Hi Gaylem14, I'm very happy that you still enjoy your visits to the Hacienda Del Mar, and when I visited I did attend the meetings. One of the reasons we purchased there is because it was such a family friendly resort. That's not been the case in recent years. Perhaps they will turn the property around, but I'm not sure. I just got sick and tired of feeling like I was being lied to. I don't believe the management was intentionally deceiving the owners, but that they themselves were also being deceived.

I have a blog that details my (mis)adventures there. Please take a moment to check it out. http://www.hyatthaciendadelmar.info