Any reviews should be based on the price you paid.
I think holiday inn express provide a good place for people who are looking for something around USD 130 per day(this is pretty low price in san juan).It has good location, one block from beach. Also it is near the old san juan. Guest room provides almost everthing for a modern 3 star hotel except that the room is little bit smaller. Parking is not easy but that is common in this region except you want to pay for that.
Any way I think it is better than those local hotels like el caria by the lagoon or coral princess inn.

Overall, the hotel was clean & most all areas of the hotel are on the smaller side. The elevators are absolutely tiny; so if you have a lot of luggage, plan on a few trips. We took the stair more then once from the 3rd floor....got sick of waiting for the elevators to have enough room for us. The bathroom was on the small side...ok so maybe it is the smallest I have ever seen. Great location, but if you are going to be in this area for longer then a few days, I would try to find a place with more room. There were 4 of us in the room and it did feel a little cramped. Great for a one nite stay, but not longer. There are better places to stay for a few nites. We stayed 4 nites just a few blocks down and got a 2bed 2bath appartment, with full kitchen for just 50 more a nite.

My husband and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express one night on our honeymoon. We boarded a cruise ship the next day. The rooms are so tiny! We could barely get our two middle sized suitcases in the door. The bathroom was even smaller. If you are taller than 6'1--beware! My husband is exact 6' and he struggled to fit in the bathroom. The toliet is positioned very close to the wall. There is also a disco next door and it starts hopping around midnight--the time we were trying to go to bed. There was a coffee maker in the room but no outlet. There was also no bathroom vent. It was clean and centrally located. The staff was nice and helpful. They directed us to two great restaurants--all in walking distance. Also, taxis are always outside--which is nice. The hotel stored our luggage for no charge while we toured the city. Our cruise ship did not leave until 10pm so we had all day to tour. The hotel staff gave us directions to the Old City and travel tips. Overall--I would not stay there again because of the room size, price and the disco noise. We paid almost $200 for one night--we booked online. It was not worth it! While we were checking in, other travelers were being charged $99 a night. So--call and book direct, do not book over the internet.

There were 10 of us booked at the Holiday Inn pre-cruise on 2/8/08. The two of us arrived three hours prior to check-in time & were able to get in our room then. Overall, the hotel was clean & most all areas of the hotel are on the smaller side. The elevators are absolutely tiny; so if you have a lot of luggage, plan on a few trips. The location is very good, lots of semi-expensive places to eat, convenience stores, Subway, Baskin Robbins, Walgreens etc - all in a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel. Breakfast (in a room too small for the volume of people) was nothing more than a snack if you are looking for a real meal. Overall, the night of Feb 8th was fine. Now, to our post-cruise night there on Feb 16th - we arrived early (9:30am) after our cruise, let the front desk know we were there, had them hold our luggage, ask when a room would be ready & were told a couple of hours. We took off to tour El Morro (really cool) & San Cristobal (there's a free trolley between the two forts too); returned to the hotel about 1:30pm. We were told no rooms were ready yet, but as soon as a room was available we could check-in; so we hung around & waited. At the same time, we watched person after person (whose luggage was also being held for them) get checked into their rooms. At just about 4pm (official check-in time) we were told our room was ready. Personally, we feel they kept us waiting until 4pm on purpose. We were polite the entire time we waited and have no idea why we were made to wait like we did as others got into their rooms; but this did not make us happy at all. As a side note, the Comfort Inn is right door - might try that next time as it's a little cheaper too.