Our party of 5 rented El Escape in Hatillo for 12 days during the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays. The house is located in a spectacular location. It was at the end of a private road with incredible water views on 3 sides. It was also very well furnished inside. I won't go further into details on what was available and included; just know that every kitchen appliance/utensil was available, as well as coolers and beach towels and a whole bunch more. The published description of the property is pretty spot on. There are a few caveats, though. Be aware that the 3rd bathroom is located downstairs in the pool and recreation level. It is only accessible by using either the front or back stairs that are both located outside of the house. So while the bathroom is fully functioning, using it is not entirely convenient if you're upstairs enjoying family time. On a related note, it would've been nice to have indoor stairs, but it's not a big deal. Another it-would-have-been-nice note is for the house to have screened windows and doors. The beauty of staying in a beach house is being able to open windows and doors to enjoy the breezes and the sound of the waves. This is not advisable at El Escape at night because the bugs are relentless and drawn to the lights inside the house. Also, the pool water was cold during our stay. I'm not sure if that was because there is no heater or if the heat was purposely left off, so we didn't enjoy the pool as much as we could have. In the pictures, you'll see a smaller pool attached to the main pool. The inference that I made was that that would be a hot tub. It's not. Again, no big deal, but just be aware of it and adjust your expectations. The one thing that the photos don't noticeably show is that the neighboring house is a mere 10 feet away. It's also a rental so you can lose your peaceful, relaxing vacation if you end up with noisy neighbors. During our time at the house, we had 2 sets of rental neighbors: the first large (at least 10 people) group was quite rowdy and noisy, and the 2nd group was much quieter. Fortunately, the noisy group only stayed for 2 nights. If that's all I had to say, I would have given El Escape a 4-star rating. But I'm not done yet. For 6 non-continuous days during our 12-day rental period we had no water. No water to do dishes, or wash our hands, or shower, or flush the toilets. Each time, it was a different excuse from the homeowner and/or property manager. Once we were told that there was a water main break and that 2 counties had no water. We rushed to Walmart to buys gallons of water only to find out we were the only ones hoarding water because everyone else in Arecibo and Hatillo had no problems. Another time, when questioned about how the house that was 10 feet away had water and we did not, we were told that our house was on a higher elevation so the low water pressure was experiencing difficulties getting to our house. Huh? That house couldn't have been a foot lower. Another time, the Puerto Rico infrastructure was blamed. We were told that whenever it rains, the water company turns the water pressure down so that they can treat the rainwater. We were told this is a normal occurence. If this is a normal occurrence, shouldn't there be some kind of warning somewhere, so that renters can know to expect it? If true, the homeowner should really make provisions for that, if she wants to keep using this house as a vacation rental. Truthfully, one of the worst things about this situation is stepping in the shower and feeling apprehensive about shampooing your hair or lathering up your body because you never know if there will be water to rinse off. And again, no one else seemed to be having the same problem. For no water during half our stay and all those fantastic excuses, I have to take off another star in my rating. El Escape is now down to 3 stars. Finally, I'm going to have to take another star off because we did not have cable and Internet for 9 days during our 12-day stay. When I searched for vacation rentals, I specifically filtered my search for (1) a house, (2) at least 3 bedrooms, (3) with pool, (4) A/C, and (5) wi-fi. I wouldn't have considered renting this house if I'd have known about the lack of Internet. In the interest of full disclosure, I will share that the homeowner refunded 20% of our rental. Considering we had no water for 50% and no cable/Internet for 75% of our stay, in my opinion, a 20% refund is insufficient. Regardless, my final rating is 2 stars. I can't recommend El Escape to others unless the homeowner invests in upgrades so that other vacationers do not have the same experience as we did. And for the run-around that we received with the dubious excuses for the water situation, I am never returning. read more

El Escape Vacation Home - Vacation Rentals Near Me - Hatillo, Puerto Rico

I want to preface this with I am displeasured in so many ways with this rental I can not begin to put it in all in writing. But I am going to try and give my most honest account of the ordeal. (Our trip was booked from the 22nd of December thru the 3rd of January.) The HOME: The home is set on a beautiful WALKING beach (Swim out there and you will get killed on the rocks) on the north shore of Puerto Rico with an AMAZING view. Truly 270 degrees at the end of a one way street. It was furnished very well with plenty of space for our party of five, billiards, three bathrooms, plunge pool and modern appliances. And decorated with a very nice Caribbean motif, lots of lounging areas, and balconies on all corners to catch the view and breeze. The VACATION: Between the 5 of us, having traveled the WORLD, literally; from renting ISLANDS, villas, homes, etc., this was by far and large the most disappointing of them all. I arrived the morning of the 22 very early (12AM) and requested to go to the home since I knew no one had booked the night of the 21st. The owner said it was fine and her Property Manager would meet me the next day. Upon arrival @ 4 hours later from San Juan International (YES! 4 hours to find the place. It is impossible to find a taxi that will go to Hatillo or Aceribo, so I rented a car service and the directions were less then expected. Basically, go down the highway and look for the mall, and turn down the road where the Quizno's is...(more about this later)). I let myself in and, again, beautiful décor. The next day everything was fine until the water stopped. I met the 'Property Manager' and she explained it was an issue when it rained that the Water Company needed to "CLOROX" the water and it happened all the time. Meanwhile I filled up the bathtubs with what water was available and used that to flush and simply bathed in the ocean with some liquid soap. I called the Property owner and explained the situation and she told me that their was a water main break and it would be fixed. But that her handyman would come by and resolve the issue the next day. He did arrive and contrary to the conversation I had with the owner that he did indeed speak English, he made some assorted gestures, played with some pipes and WHALLA! the water came back. I spoke with him as best as was possible and showed him the toilet lid was broken, in detail showing how all it needed was some Gorilla Glue and it would be un-noticeable. His response was, "Bueno, Bueno." SO now I have three different things going on: Property Owner says it is water company and pipe break(so why the need for the Handyman to come by?) Manager says it is water company BUT due to needing to "CLOROX" water. Property Handyman doesn't say anything but BUENO and the water is back. The rest of my party arrives. Now bear in mind, this trip was planned over six months in advance. Even still airfare from California for 4, and one from Manchester England was very, very expensive. The expectation from the listing was this was a nice area, the amenities would include power, water, sewage, garbage, TV, and Internet service. And this was Xmas AND New Years. This is where it all goes HINKY. Xmas Eve the water AND the cable and internet go out. Imagine if you will, no way to wash, yourself, dishes, clothes, also, this was XMAS and New Years....the cheapest place I could find (Using my iPhone, since internet was out), was 7800 dollars for the remainder of our stay. I explained that was not feasible and I needed resolution, to wit I was told that the handyman would arrive that day with a cistern. And I was told it was simply unavoidable since it was Puerto Rico. (I have rented places literally in the middle of NO WHERE, where they had cisterns, generators, turbines, propane solar panels, and this 'vacation home' is supposed to be in a suburban area; literally across the street from a ROOMS TO GO at the Mall). From the 24th until we left we went 6 days without water, (5 for my party and one for me and a total of 9 days without cable or internet). During this time I personally wasted 3 days either on the phone or waiting for the cable guy, property manager or handyman, of which never happened other then the property manager telling me she had to go to a family party and to allow us to shower in the adjoining house. The Quizno's up the street had water, as did the abandoned house two doors down where the girls in my party eventually bathed in cold water. Also, imagine if you will, having to haul up water from the plunge pool to fill the toilets to go to the bathroom. AND having to buy water. I was given a 20% refund which to me was insulting and wouldn't recommend this to anyone. read more