It is tied to Embassy Suites, but only somewhat affiliated. Best I can tell, it was a building of condos (the Aquarius Vacation Club) that are run by a management company (http://www.wetravelpr.com/dorado). After a nice long drive through a golf course, you come to the end of the road, which means you drive through the Embassy Suites circle drive. The sign in front of you says to turn right to get into the Golden Sands.
Summary: Though the facilities are quite nice, Golden Sands is very poorly managed. To avoid the stresses the mismanagement caused, I wish I would have sprung the extra few hundred dollars for the Embassy Suites next door. It would have been worthwhile. Still, it was fun and it had a number of physical facilities that we appreciated, especially the nearly-full kitchen and in-room laundry.
Golden Sands Layout
A "one bedroom" on travelocity means a spacious king bed in its own room (with Jacuzzi) from a fairly full kitchen/dining area/living room with pull out couch. It is not a one bedroom suite, it is a one bedroom condo. The difference is that you have a good clothes washer and dryer, dishwasher, full-size refrigerator/freezer and a modest stovetop (no oven). It also has a microwave, toaster, blender, and can opener.
Looking in on the living room/kitchen from the balcony (room 2255, which we left due to AC issues):
This video walkthrough of our room (2364, where we stayed for 6 nights) shows you everything:
Here is a comparison of Golden Sands to the Embassy Suites (which is next door).
Equal: -They share the same pool area and beach. -They are in the same location--right next door to one another. -The Embassy Suites happy hour (5:30-7:30) has free popcorn and chips/salsa in the lobby (free alcohol for ES guests only). -Both make you wear a dorky wristband to show that you are a guest. There is no difference in privileges between them.
How Golden Sands is better:
-GS rooms are better equipped. It's not a mini-fridge/microwave. You have a full kitchen.
-Cheaper
-Parking was decent and $10.70 a night (it's nominally more at ES)
How Embassy Suites is better:
-Embassy Suites has an included breakfast that was huge and included everything you could possibly want.
-Embassy Suites has an included happy hour (5:30-7:30) that serves not-strong drinks and makes you wait in line for them.
-ES is a professional organization with good management and service.
The opposite, why GS was mismanaged, is below.
Why service at Golden Sands was horrible:
1) The big one: The room temperature was 58, according to the thermostat. It felt even colder. We were exhausted when we got in and I ended up going to the front desk at midnight after being unable to sleep due to the cold (combined with the fact that they did not provide us with blankets or comforters, and after requesting, the one small raggedy one they provided was not even close to sufficient). I was told that the A/C is appropriate for the more intense summer heat, but is too cold the rest of the year. Bottom line: They really don't know how their systems work and they don't care to tell you either. We moved from the first room we were in (2255) which had a broken thermostat and was always on maximum cooling. The second room (2364) appeared to have a functioning thermostat, though it also helped that we simply turned it off when we were in the room.
2) We asked for things and they forgot at least as much as they remembered. Pillows were in short supply and cases in even shorter supply. Hand towels were non-existent (we used face towels for dishes but they even ran out of those). You WILL ask for things 3 times and they will still come to your room without them and then claim that they don't have them (until someone leaves their room and the employees plunder that room for requested materials). The management looked like they were in a cash crunch and cannot afford basics like towels, pillows, blankets, and even clocks. Yes, we really had to request a clock.
3) It was not very clean and definitely poorly maintained. The fold-out mattresses were ragged, flat, and worn through. In our first room, it was horrible. In our second room, it was passable, but minimally so. On a third request for a pillow, got a pillowcase with a dried bodily fluid on it. The blankets we were given were threadbare, ripped, and worn. I don't know the last time they saw a proper laundering.
4) Maintenance was poor. Areas around vents were filthy. The curtains were off track. Vinyl coverings were cracked and falling off of corners and doors. Switches did not work properly (to the jacuzzi, the manual shut off switch did not work, which was not optimal with curious kids who liked pressing the tub button).
5) We only had room turn-down service done once. They took all our towels and did not replace them. They also took the sheet on the couch bed and did not replace it. We had to call for these items. I have no idea what their service was thinking in doing this, but is was hard to believe how incompetent and unprofessional it seemed.
6) Could we have... Pillows? No, out--same with blankets. Handtowels? No, maybe tomorrow. WiFi? No, only in lobby. Tea? No, only coffee.
Unless you have low standards for maintenance and service, look elsewhere. We are exceptionally lenient about such things (hostel-level cleanliness is ok) and found it minimally passable.
Picture of dried fluid on pillowcase:
Ratty/torn blanket and worn-out couch mattress:
Thermostat that never worked (in our first room):
Tips for the Golden Sands:
-Request an even-numbered room. Facing the pool/beach (odd numbers) was awesome. Facing the parking lot (odd-numbers) was quite the opposite. The balconies are nice and you will appreciate having the view.
-Your thermostat has two settings in bad rooms, and three in good rooms. 1) Off is totally off. Heat and Cool do the same thing (there are no heaters in Puerto Rico), so you have your choice of 2) On/Fan (thermostat on a chilly temp) and 3)Off/Fan (temperature on a hot temperature). We ran the fan when not there and turned off the fan when we were there, keeping it on at night. NEVER did we have it in the On/Fan setting--the fan was PLENTY and must have been tied to some system somewhere because it was cold.
-If you have kids, take some plastic cups. They have only glass cups and you are eating on a tile floor.
-When you request something, check it and offer to follow the person who comes to your room to get it. This is the only way you will get even a basic item. If they tell you they don't have the item, request it again in another few hours.
-If you need more coffee/detergents/etc you can ask for them--they will provide them.
Tips for Dorado:
-Rent a car. It is almost the same price as not doing so and nothing is walkable from ES/GS.
-Eat at Nolos in downtown Dorado.
-Buy food at SuperMax. Note that their marked prices are often wrong.
-I saw no fruit stands in Dorado, though we hit some near Vega Baja.
-I saw no real artisan coffee anywhere. I was surprised, because they produce good beans on the island!
-Eat the fried or grilled food you can buy on the roadsides or in small stands at crossroads. It's good.
-Don't bother with El Yunque. San Juan traffic is awful. There are other forests. We went to Cambalache and Laguna Tortuguero.
-Park at Cataño and take the water taxi to get to Old San Juan and El Morro. You will pass the Bacardi distillery to get there. It has a simple, free, and worthwhile tour (albeit very commercialized). You don't want to try to drive to Old San Juan.
