Review: Hilton San Salvador

Hola! This was my first time going to El Salvador! I know it has had a bad reputation for being a dangerous country in the past, but things have really turned around in the past few years. This first visit to the country was safe and comfortable, which was great because this was a work trip! What made this stay pleasant was staying at a Hilton property in San Salvador. Check out my review of the Hilton San Salvador below!

Hotel Information

Dates Stayed:	October 6-9, 2025 (3 nights)
Location:	Hotel Hilton San Salvador, 89 Ave. Norte Y, 11 Calle Pte, San Salvador 1101, El Salvador
Room Number / Room Type	702 / 1 King Executive, Volcano View (upgraded)
Method / Cost	Paid / $0.00 (“$531.00”)
Loyalty Status	Hilton Honors Diamond

Summary

• 7th floor Executive Room was clean, spacious, well-equipped, but showed signs of wear and tear
• Great amenities made for a comfortable stay
• Breakfast spread is fantastic

Booking the Hilton San Salvador

This trip was a business trip. For this hotel stay at the Hilton San Salvador, it was a little bit of a weird situation. Normally, I would book using my company’s internal travel portal. I saw that the Hilton San Salvador had a pretty high rate (like $280/night) and hesitated on actually booking it. Instead, I reached out to my supplier’s company rep to see about getting a better rate, and she was able to secure a much better rate of about $150/night.

I think this ended up being something of a third-party booking. And because of that, I didn’t get credited points for the stay.

Weirdly, I also didn’t have to pay when I checked out. I’m assuming that this ended up being billed to the contract between my company and the supplier, and nothing came out of pocket for me. It felt like I stole $531.00 as that was the amount I didn’t pay out of pocket!

Yay?

So with all that said, my booking didn’t have my Hilton Honors number attached until…check-in.

Location of the Hilton San Salvador

The Hilton San Salvador sits at the foot of the mountains that surround the San Salvador Volcano in the western part of the city. Its address is 89 Ave. Norte Y, 11 Calle Pte, San Salvador 1101, El Salvador

I would say there wasn’t much around the hotel in terms of restaurants and shopping as it seemed like the surrounding blocks were neighborhoods where people lived. However, the World Trade Center San Salvador is just next door and is a good skyscraper landmark.

My coworkers and I did venture out twice from the hotel on foot to walk like 10-20 minutes to various restaurants found via Google. Otherwise we Uber’d around, which was totally fine as Ubers were super cheap. Like $5 USD to get from one side of the city to the other.

To get to the hotel from the airport, I utilized a shuttle van arranged by my supplier. The ride was about an hour long as the airport is near the coast whereas San Salvador is further inland and higher up, and there’s only one major road that is between the city and the airport.

Lobby and Check In at the Hilton San Salvador

The parking lot was wide but fairly narrow as any vehicles pulling up to the front needed to circle around it just to get to the front door. The front door of the hotel was covered, which was nice since it was raining the day I arrived.

After passing through the main sliding doors into the lobby, the front desk was on the left, meeting rooms and the onsite cafe were to the right, and straight ahead was the elevators to the room and hallways leading to the bar and restaurant.

The front desk was L-shaped, and it looked like two representatives work it at a time. This wasn’t a problem at the time I checked-in at about 2:30PM, but I would imagine that it could easily get backed up if there’s a rush.

Like I mentioned above, this was a weird booking so I couldn’t use my app to check in. When I got in line to talk to the front desk, the agent asked for my passport so that he could look up my reservation. Despite the weird booking, he was able to find my reservation. During the process, he actually asked for my Hilton Honors number so I gave it, and he was able to input it into my reservation. He thanked me for being a Diamond member and reiterated the MyWay benefits (1000 points for the stay). Then he also explained breakfast hours for both the restaurant and the Executive lounge. Breakfast was included with this stay.

When I booked this hotel with my supplier, apparently the rate was being able to stay in an Executive Room. And I’ll consider that I got a complimentary upgrade (from my Diamond status) to a better view as my hotel room’s reservation did indicate “volcano view”.

After he gave me my keycards, I waited for my coworkers to check in, and then we were on our way to our separate rooms.

Executive Room at the Hilton San Salvador

Room Number	702
Room Type	1 King Executive Volcano View

At the Hilton San Salvador, the Executive Floors are 6th and 7th–the top two floors of the hotel. I noted that the elevators of the hotel require a keycard swipe to access the guestrooms.

My room number was 702, which is at one end of the hallway on the 7th floor of the hotel. Like …the very end. This plays into my hotel room location preferences of being on high floors and as far from the elevators as possible.

Walking into the room, the closet was to the left, the bathroom to the right, and the room straight ahead. The room is decently spacious for just one person, and I’d say the size of it is comparable to most US hotels. 

The room had various features:

• Keycard slot to power the room
• Very large walk-in closet
• Full size mirror in room
• Built-in luggage rack/bench
• ~65” TV on stand that’s also dresser with lockbox
• Coffee machine and stuff, including ice bucket
• Large mini fridge
• Desk and chair
• Lounging chair in corner
• King size bed with side tables/drawers

Because this was a corner room, there were actually windows on two of the walls. However, large heavy curtains covered the wall behind the TV and desk, and I never desired to open those curtains. The windows on the far end of the room have great views of the backside of the property as well as the low mountain peak and nearby valleys. There was a very small balcony, but I never opened the sliding doors.

Amenities and Features of the Executive Room

Circling back, let’s talk about the various amenities and features of the room. Note that this was the kind of hotel room that requires a keycard in a slot on the wall by the door in order to turn on the power for the rest of the room.

But first…let’s start with the closet. My gosh! The closet was absurdly huge. And this normally wouldn’t be a problem as most hotel closets that are big tend to have more storage to fill the space. However, the closet had the typical hangar rod and shelf only, and the rest was just empty space. So empty that I could have probably fit two twin mattresses side-by-side within it! Put another way…it has room for activities! See the pic above to get a better view. Otherwise, the closet came with an ironing board, an iron, extra pillow, extra blanket, hangars, two robes, and the typical laundry service bag and form. I did use the hangars to hang up my work clothes.

Inside the room, immediately to the left is a built-in luggage rack. Or is it a bench? I dunno, but I used it like a luggage rack, and for that purpose, it was nice because of its width. It had cushions like a bench though I never used it as such. I think you could sit two people on it comfortably. Did I? No. But I did place my luggage here for easy ergonomic access when I unpacked and repacked. If you look at the picture below, you can see how darkly lit the room is and how this luggage rack doesn’t stand out. But it was there.

The dresser had two large and deep drawers with one shelf underneath (which had one pair of disposable slippers). It also had one cabinet that housed the lockbox and another shelf. The dressers contained nothing, and I found them to be clean with a nice wood smell. I did use one of the drawers for my underclothes.

On top of the dresser is a large, LG flatscreen TV that estimate it to be about 65”. I know in US hotels these days, usually the TV is on when you walk in with your name on the screen, but that was not the case here. I never turned on the TV during this stay, but the remote and channel guide were available in the room.

For coffee, the machine in the room was the typical Cuisinart brand seen at most Hilton hotels that can brew two cups at once. No disposable cups as mugs are provided. Along with the machine and mugs are the typical coffee pods, tea bags, sugar, creamer, etc. I felt tempted to use the coffee machine, but ultimately decided every time that I’d get coffee from breakfast or the Executive Lounge in the mornings.

Right next to the coffee machine was the ice bucket, two complimentary bottles of water, and two glasses. I didn’t use any of these either. 

Next to the dresser was the large mini-fridge. I say large because it was the same height as the dresser. On top of the fridge was the basket of mini-bar snacks as well as pamphlets to tell you how much everything cost. Inside the fridge were sodas, beers, and a candy bar. I never make use of mini-bar stuff since hotels tend to overprice the items. Also, I don’t think any of the mini-bar had sensors that could tell if I moved anything so that the front desk could charge me accordingly.

The desk was of decent width. As you can see below, on top of the desk were power ports, a table lamp, and room service menus–both during the day and during the night. The office chair to accompany the desk was comfortable enough for the short amount of time that I used it. 

In the far corner of the room was the lounging chair. I never sat in it, but it had a short ottoman, a side table, and a floor lamp behind it. Seemed like a nice place to sit and chill, but I didn’t really do that as the bed was far more superior lol.

Speaking of the bed… it was king size. The bed had four pillows–all had a firm squishiness but not in the way that I like. You know that squishiness that squishes then stays that way? Yeah, that described these pillows. The bed also had a comforter and sheet. No accent pillows or other accessory bedding. Beside each side of the bed were side tables with drawers. One side had the room phone with note pads, and the other had a fancy alarm clock that had USB-C and wireless charging for phones.

Decor inside the Executive Room

As far as aesthetics go, the Executive Room kind of gave a slightly moody feel. I think it was because of the dark brown furniture, gray carpet, and lighter colored walls. The lights in the room gave yellow glows.

For artwork, I didn’t really see any except for the one framed canvas print of a birds eye view photo of some geographical feature that I’m assuming is in El Salvador. I don’t know that I’ve seen photo canvas prints in a hotel room before as they tend to be forgettable and abstract unless the room tries to fit into some distinct overall hotel aesthetic. Either way, I thought it was weird and …cheap.

Cleanliness and Wear/Tear in the Executive Room

Inside the room, I found it to be pretty clean. I didn’t notice anything egregious, and I didn’t throw up in my mouth a little as I went about the room. Though I will say there was something weird about the pillows. Or…the headboard. Or the bed. Or something. Maybe it was the detergent and musk of the room that gave a noticeable weird smell like a fart. I could never trace where that smell was coming from, and I don’t think it was me! It was weird because… I couldn’t consistently smell it, but it was there every so often if I moved around at the back of the bed.

The bed had clean sheets and pillowcases, and I didn’t notice/feel any debris on the carpet.

Looking at the finer details of the room, I convinced myself that this was a converted hotel because the carpet looked like it was added after the fact. I saw carpet sections in the hallway that were not continuous with the rest of the room, and there was a wire running across that I could feel with my feet. Some Googling led me to learn that it was once a Crowne Plaza hotel, and became a Hilton in 2020. I know it’s been several years now, but it almost seems like the renovation work was a little shoddy. Not in a bad way. But noticeable in the details.

Noises in the Executive Room

Thankfully, the room itself wasn’t noisy. I did notice that the A/C makes a soft hum when it ran, but nothing like an A/C unit at an old and rickety Hampton Inn in a Houston, TX summer. 

I don’t think I had neighbors across the hall or next to me so I didn’t really hear other guests moving about their rooms. Then again, this was a corner room at the end of the hallway.

Now, the most struggle I had with noise in this room was the first night. Apparently the hotel hosted a fairly large tech conference, and they had some sort of mixer in the courtyard that my room overlooked. Loud music! Not great after a day of travel and grabbing dinner with coworkers and wanting to go to bed relatively early. Thankfully it stopped at about 10PM. Which was kind of surprising because…as Spain and other Hispanic countries/cultures taught me, parties can last well into the night!

Temperature in the Executive Room

El Salvador has a more tropical climate so humidity is more prevalent. I didn’t think this was an issue for the room as the air conditioner kept the room cool. I did think it to be a little warm and muggy when I first arrived so I turned it down like 1 deg to 20C. 

To help keep the room temperature stable, I left the second keycard given to me by the front desk in the power slot for the room so that the room and A/C never powered off.

At night, I felt like it got cold enough for me to sleep comfortably with the comforter. I probably should have looked at data on my smart ring for comparison, but alas I did not.

Overall Impression of the Executive Room

Because this was a business trip with coworkers, the goal for me using the room was just to sleep and get ready for the day. I didn’t really leisurely hang out in it for long periods of time as much of my time at the hotel was spent outside of the room whether at the bar or Executive Lounge (see below). 

Writing this review after the stay, the thing that’s still wild to me is the closet! It was unnecessarily huge, but nice to know that it offered plenty of storage space. 

While I had trouble sleeping the first night due to getting used to sleeping in a hotel again annnnnnd the loud music playing outside until 10PM, the second and third nights were better. However, I still had some trouble those nights probably because of late dinners and drinks.

Overall, I think the room provided more than adequate accommodations for my particular use case for this trip. It was a clean and decently comfortable stay in the room.

Bathroom in the Executive Room

The bathroom was at the front entrance of the room with a swinging door that swings into the bathroom. Inside, it was rectangular in shape. To the left was the sink, the middle had the toilet, and the right was the shower.

Amenities and Features in the Bathroom

For the sink, I noticed a few amenities. The hair dryer was on a shelf beneath the sink, there was a tissue box on top as well as travel sized mouthwash, a bar of soap, disposable scrub pad, and disposable shower cap. Persea branded lotion and hand wash were in refillable bottles on the wall. I didn’t use any of these except the bar of soap for washing my hands.

The toilet is pretty basic. Probably annoying are the flush buttons being in the center of the tank on top. This means you have to reach around a little further to flush 👀. I also found it amusing that the toilet paper brand they’re using is Kleenex. For flush power, the toilet wasn’t very powerful.

The shower is spacious as it fills the length of its wall. The showerhead is up high so I don’t think tall people would have issues with their head running into it. Temperature-wise, I didn’t have issues having to wait for the water to warm up. I did think the water pressure was on the lower side, but not frustratingly low. For amenities, the shower does come with Persea shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. I actually did use the conditioner, but it took me many pumps before I got any out of the bottle. The scent was some herb and lavender–smelled good. I just assume that Persea stuff is mostly botanical in scent.

Decor in the Bathroom

The decor in the bathroom is fairly minimal. I did notice that the sink area is the same dark brown/black wood in the room. And the artwork in the bathroom is another framed canvas print (see pic above). The tiles on the bathroom floor were a brown/gray, and the tiles in the shower were like gray/yellow. Very basic.

Cleanliness and Wear/Tear in the Bathroom

I thought the cleanliness of the bathroom was pretty clean. Nothing obvious. No weird stains anywhere.

For wear and tear, I thought it was similar to the room wherein there were small details that convinced me that the renovation job of this hotel was kind of meh. But other than that, nothing looked obviously terrible. No broken tiles or holes in the wall. Maybe some noticeable caulking that could use some repair.

Noises in the Bathroom

I didn’t notice any hums or exterior noise for the bathroom. The faucets didn’t make any annoying drip sounds. And I didn’t hear other hotel system sounds like the plumbing of other rooms and such.

Overall Impression of the Bathroom

I appreciated that there was some generous space within the bathroom. Sometimes I feel like all the major fixtures tend to get squished close together, but that wasn’t the case here. The two bits of frustration I had was that there was no hand towel rack at which to hang the hand towel for drying my hands after using the sink, and that the toilet’s flush power is low. Because of that low flush power, I had a bit of an embarrassing situation with the toilet that I won’t describe here… lol…

WiFi in Executive Room

When I checked into the hotel, they gave me the SSID and password in the keycard envelope. It didn’t cost anything to use the WiFi, and I didn’t see any distinction between normal and premium like hotels in the USA.

As far as speed goes, I thought it to be about average from what I’ve seen at other Hilton properties.

• 20.55 mbps download
• 19.11 mbps upload
• 4 ms ping

I just used the WiFi for my phone, and that was good enough. I didn’t experience any hiccups other than trying to get connected for the first time as the splash page didn’t load properly initially.

Amenities at the Hilton San Salvador

The Hilton San Salvador is a full-service hotel so it had a good handful of amenities typical of such properties.

Restaurants and Bars

At the Hilton San Salvador, you can find one restaurant, one bar, and a coffee lounge. Room service was also available in the room with selections from these establishments. 

El Mirador – restaurant

• Location: 1st floor, towards the outdoor courtyard, and adjacent to the Terra Bar
• Hours: 5:30AM-11:00PM

The restaurant featured plenty of indoor seating with elegant aesthetics without being gaudy. It also had an outdoor patio with views of the mountains behind the hotel–el mirador, “the viewpoint”, I suppose!

I only ate here once for breakfast (see below). Because of this, I am not quite sure what they offer on their menu.

My last night at the hotel, I noticed a big group seated in the middle eating dinner. And not really anyone else. I figured they were part of the tech conference group.

Essenza – coffee lounge/cafe

• Location: 1st floor, opposite of the front desk in the courtyard area
• Hours: 6:00AM-11:00PM

It was interesting to me to see a hotel coffee shop that wasn’t a fake Starbucks, haha. I only passed by but saw that it looked like your typical cafe that offers various coffee drinks and other drinks. You can also pick up sandwiches, salads, and other snacks.

I never bought anything from here during my stay, and I never saw it busy. Just a few individuals inside at any given time. Sorry, no pic!

Terra Bar – bar

• Location: 1st floor, towards the outdoor courtyard, closer to the elevators to the room
• Hours: 11:00AM-11:00PM

This bar had a lengthy counter, with about half of it that faced the bar and bartenders, and the other half faced a projector screen that usually had sports on. Also its dark colors give it a moody feel.

You can either order directly from the bar or the bartenders give you a QR code menu to see what’s available for both food and drink.

My coworkers and I had several drinks here. Service wasn’t fast, but it was friendly and attentive. On the first night, the bar was pretty busy as a big conference was staying at the hotel. On the last night, it was less busy in the bar area as more people were sitting in the lobby around the live band.

Speaking of the live band… a jazz combo (bass, guitar, piano) played classics on the last night of my stay towards the end of the bar and more in the lobby.

The latest information for El Mirador, Essenza, and Terra Bar can be found here.

Breakfast at El Mirador

The standard breakfast offered was at the El Mirador restaurant. It was buffet-style.

• Hours: 6:00AM-10:00AM 

At El Mirador’s host stand, you can leave your name and room number if you have breakfast included with your stay. As I mentioned in the Booking section above, breakfast was included with my stay though I am not sure if that was because of my being in an Executive Room or being a Diamond member. I know that Hilton hotels in the US have gone the way of food and beverage credit that can be used for breakfast, but I am glad that wasn’t the case here.

I was pretty impressed by the breakfast spread! While it doesn’t give the Conrad Tokyo nor Hilton Rome Airport hotels a run for their money, I thought that the offerings were pretty great.

The buffet included hot foods, cold foods, breads, pastries, a station for made-to-order eggs, and another station for pupusas (at the outdoor patio).

For hot foods in the buffet line, I saw things like:

• Scrambled eggs
• Beans
• Chilaquiles
• Other local specialities that I’m not sure of or remember their name

As for cold foods, I saw:

• Fruits served different ways
• Salads (still weird to me that salad is a breakfast item)
• Yogurt with toppings
• Cheeses
• Cold cuts

The bread and pastries selection forced me to make some tough choices as the selections were varied and delicious-looking. I mean, just look at it below!

Cereals, fresh juices, and such were also available.

As far as what I actually ended up with (apart from the pupusa pictured above), I had scrambled eggs, some sort of chicken, cheese bread, and chocolate bread. Ooh and coffee. All were pretty good! I didn’t want to overload myself because I had a big dinner the night before.

Like I said, I thought the spread was really great. And I only ate here once due to wanting to try the Executive Lounge breakfast (see below). I love that sitting outdoors was an option, and plenty of seating was available either inside or outside. 

I would recommend eating here for breakfast if you want a lot of variety or want to try various things and/or sit outside!

Executive Lounge

For guests staying in an Executive Room or who are Diamond members, the lounge is an option for breakfast and offers a happy hour in the evenings as well. 

• Location: 7th floor
• Breakfast Hours: 6:00AM-???? (I never confirmed when breakfast is done, but I assume 10:00AM)
• Happy Hours: 6:00PM-9:00PM

To access, you need to scan your keycard on the door of the lounge.

For the amount of space the Executive Lounge had, I was surprised at how many different seating options there were ranging from couches to normal dining to hightop dining, seating for one or two to a group, and more. I did appreciate that the couches were at the front of the TV as that made it conducive to watch North American sports with drinks with my coworker.

During breakfast and happy hour, a lounge attendant was available to take drink orders. I am not sure to what extent the drinks were available, but certainly canned and bottled drinks were.

Breakfast

The breakfast food in the Executive Lounge was interesting to me. It looked as though the menu changed every day, and everything looked like hors d’evores. I didn’t have a problem with that, but I recall wanting simplicity like scrambled eggs but…noooooOOOOooo…it had to be poached egg on toast. Or no egg at all. 

The lounge had a coffee/espresso machine and some juices available in the mornings. The attendant could also take other drink orders.

Most certainly the Executive Lounge felt pretty exclusive in the early mornings as both times I ate there, there was maybe like two to three others at most eating there at the same time I did.

But where I think the Executive Lounge really wowed me was the views in the morning. Because the windows face north-northeast, the sunrise and mountains made for a beautiful view to pair with my coffee and fingerfood breakfast.

If you value great views and quieter mornings, then the Executive Lounge is the way to go for breakfast!

Happy Hour

During happy hour, a standard spread of various hors d’evores and small plate type food are available. 

I ran into another coworker here on the first evening, and I’m pretty sure he had lite dinners here during his stay without going out and about in order to save money, haha. Honestly, at international Hiltons with a lounge, I’ve done this before!

The major lesson that my coworkers and I learned here at the Executive Lounge is that there was a two drink limit during happy hour. Not really an issue, but definitely something to be cognizant about. We didn’t know as there was no sign posted about this limit anywhere.

The Executive Lounge was a great place to enjoy some drinks and snacks before heading out for the night to grab a nicer dinner elsewhere, which is exactly what my coworkers and I did. Twice.

Gym

The Hilton San Salvador offers a decent gym for keeping fit while staying at the property.

• Location: 1st floor, across from pool, access is from outdoors
• Hours: 24/7

To access the gym, swipe your room keycard. I must say that the only way to access the gym is by going outdoors. The first morning I went, it was raining pretty hard so that made going into the gym a little bit of a wet challenge…

The gym was unattended. I know sometimes full-service Hilton hotels in foreign locations have full-fledged independent gyms attached to the hotel (like the Hilton Frankfurt or the Hilton Rome Airport), but that was not the case here.

The gym is of decent size. I feel like if more than 5 people are using it then it would likely feel crowded. The layout of the gym is divided by a weight area, and kind of an L-shaped area where the cardio machines are. 

As far as equipment goes, the following were available:

• Cardio (has TVs on each, no smartwatch sync):
  • 4x treadmills
  • 3x ellipticals
• Weights
  • Dumbbell set
  • Flat press
  • Leg press
  • Leg extension/curl
  • Cable machine
  • Medicine balls

For amenities that the gym offers:

• Water dispenser (like a Sparkletts)
• Towels
• Individual Restrooms (men’s and women’s)
• Scale
• Mats
• TV
• Spray bottle and towels for wiping down equipment

I visited the gym twice during my stay: early morning the second day and early morning the third day. On the second day, I went in around 4:20AM and there was only one other guest. As time went on, a few more showed up. I was able to do a full lower body workout while shifting around different equipment without getting in the way of the others. On the third day, I visited the gym at about 4:00AM, and there was one other guest. He left early, and I was able to take pics for this gym section of the review, haha. I didn’t stay long as I felt like I wanted to go back to bed, so I did.

Regarding the cleanliness of the gym, I thought it wasn’t gross or anything like that. Perhaps the floor was a little questionable as I saw a few bugs and some dust/debris. I didn’t see trash or dirty-looking gym equipment.

For wear and tear, I didn’t see gashes on bench pads, missing equipment, or chipped dumbbells. Overall the equipment looked decently maintained.

Overall, I thought the gym was more than adequate for me looking to get a decent workout in before getting the day started. I’m glad the hotel was equipped with more than just dumbbells for weights so I was able to do more of my normal strength training routine. I did think that the gym seemed a little muggy, but I think that is because it opens to the outdoors and El Salvador has a tropical climate.

Pool

The Hilton San Salvador has an outdoor pool with lounge chairs. The restaurant’s outdoor patio overlooks it.

• Location: 1st floor, outside in the courtyard
• Hours: 6:00AM-7:00PM

To access the pool, swipe your room keycard on the gates leading into the pool area.

I would say the pool was medium-sized. It was not as small as something you’d find at a Hampton or Hilton Garden Inn, but was not Olympic-sized that you’d be able to swim laps in either. 

Ironically, I didn’t use the pool though I did think about it as I did pack swim trunks. Honestly, I never saw anyone use the pool at all during my stay. 

As I mentioned above multiple times, the hotel was hosting a fairly large multi-day conference, and they had set up the main space of the courtyard right next to the pool with an outdoor tent with buffet tables and seating. I had to basically walk through this setup just to get to one of the entrance gates to the pool. This probably detracted people from using the pool. I mean…it also detracted me, haha.

Laundry

As is typical for many hotels, there was a laundry service bag in the closet with accompanying form. I never use this service at any hotel unless work pays for it on a long stay, so I am unsure how much it costed here at the Hilton San Salvador.

I also did not find any guest laundry area at the hotel.

Gift Shop “La Piskucha”

I did notice a small gift shop and market on the property called “La Piskucha.”

• Location: 1st floor, outside, between front desk and gym
• Hours: M-F 9:30AM-6:30PM, Sat 9:00AM-5:00PM, Sun closed

While walking past it, I noticed that the gift shop sells typical gift shop items. I didn’t go in, so I was not sure of what is really offered inside until I visited the website after the fact. La Piskucha sells artisan handmade goods that would make a great gift or keepsake from visiting El Salvador.

Parking

Apparently the hotel has a paid parking garage somewhere adjacent to the hotel. I found out because the app’s hotel guide mentioned it.

Regardless, I didn’t have a rental car as I utilized Ubers and the work shuttle van for transportation in/out of the hotel.

Meeting Rooms and Conference Center

According to their website, the Hilton San Salvador is the largest hotel convention center in the city. 

There was indeed a large tech conference happening during my stay, and it looked like they were utilizing every meeting room space at the hotel. I frequently saw people with conference badges and lanyards milling around the hotel.

Service at the Hilton San Salvador

My encounters with staff at the Hilton San Salvador were pretty much limited to the front desk, the bar, the restaurant, and the lounge. I think in all cases, everyone was friendly and attentive. I would say they were not necessarily expedient in their services (particularly at the restaurant and bar), but I was never waiting around for too long for anything.

In the rooms are two doortags: one for Do Not Disturb, and one for requesting housekeeping. I requested housekeeping once using the doortag, and they did indeed make up and clean the room. While walking through the hallway of my floor as I went to and came back from work, they would greet me.

Occupancy at the Hilton San Salvador

As mentioned above, there was some sort of large tech conference happening during my stay. I think most of the attendees were staying in non-Executive floors as I hardly saw them while up on my floor or in the lounge.

Because of the nature of my work, I also saw other aviation-related guests staying at the hotel (more than just my coworkers and colleagues! lol). 

Overall, I didn’t encounter disruptive guests. The conference attendees were well-behaved, haha.

Stories

I do have a few observations to share.

On the morning of my third day, I went to the gym at like 4:00AM. I had to pass through the lobby in order to get to the courtyard to enter the gym. In the lobby were three guests sitting in the lobby area in front of the bar. Surrounding them were cans and cans and cans of Suprema (one of El Salvador’s beers). I actually thought they were Sprite cans as Suprema cans are also green and white, and I thought it weird for them to be up all night drinking Sprite. But upon somewhat closer inspection, I saw the word “Suprema” on the cans. They weren’t being crazy–I think they were just up all night talking and drinking in the lobby.

There’s an aviation-related company in El Salvador that major airlines like to use, so it’s not surprising to run into Americans at the big hotel chains in San Salvador. I was able to strike up some small talk in the elevator and lobby with a gentleman from a rival company of mine. He made some comparisons between the Hilton San Salvador and the Sheraton Presidente, and he liked the Hilton more. Nice. Maybe I’ll get to try the Sheraton Presidente next time.

Lessons Learned

As a summary from this stay, I had a few lessons learned:

• The Executive Lounge had a two alcoholic drink limit
• Water pressure for the toilet in the room was low

Bottom Line

The Hilton San Salvador was a pretty nice hotel to for me to stay in while on the job. It had a clean and comfortable Executive Room, and had standard amenities to enjoy before and after work. Despite the large tech conference that the hotel hosted during my stay, I didn’t really run into problems other than a noisy first night. While I wish there were more food options near the hotel to walk to, taking an Uber was cheap and convenient, and the Executive Lounge and Terra Bar were great places to have an evening drink and appetizers.

I would totally stay here again on future work trips!

What do you think of the Hilton San Salvador? Would you stay here when you visit San Salvador?

I’m mostly a Hilton guy–check out these other Hilton hotel reviews!

• Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport
• The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
• Hilton Rome Airport