You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Gray weather doesn't help this particularly gray anti-view from the Lyon Hotel in Buenos Aires. A huge mess of power lines doesn't help either, and unless you can really focus on that tiny strip where you can see something like an old church, there's really nothing pretty to look at at all. Having said that, the photographer was extremely fair :
All said and done, a decent hotel. The view is typical of the central part of the city.
Yep, a very fair opinion. At least the rates aren't too exorbitant--$85 for a double or $100 a night for a triple suite also seems fair, given the views are nothing to write home about.
We like Argentine hotels enough to pay for our own stays, but maybe you need some more convincing? Upscale resort guide Luxury Latin America would be happy to put you up for free for six nights--as long as you enter their contest.
All you've gotta do is fill out a simple form, and you're entered to win stays at MY ba in Buenos Aires, pictured, Hotel del Casco in San Isidro, Villa Julia in Tigre and Patio de Moreno in San Antonio de Areco. (All the properties are run by N | A Town & Country Hotels.)
Of course, if you're willing to actually pay money for a swanky hotel stay in Buenos Aires, we have plenty of opinions on the best.
Last year, Buenos Aires gadabout Matt Chesterton filled us in on the boutique hotel scene in the city. And wouldn't you know, we needed a place to crash after our long trip to Uruguay. (Our flight was out of Ezeiza airport in BsAs.)
So we looked up La Cayetana, after reading Matt's dead-on description:
Here's a boutique where the designers (Estela Fitere and Silvina Tarrio) have devoted more than 10 minutes and a few phone calls to their scheme. A perfect blend of restored original features (the mosaic floors, the high bare-brick ceilings, the free-standing tubs) and modern conveniences (Wi-Fi, etc).
We really enjoyed our one-night stay, and our full review, complete with another video tour is after the jump.
We've just been sent one promoter's opinion of the top ten spa treatments in hotels across the world. We're not inclined to believe everything we read, but some of these spa treatments do sound like just what we need. Right now, please.
Picking the most expensive treatment on the list--on a per-minute basis, that is--would bring us to the Alvear Palace in Buenos Aires. They've just opened a new spa and fitness center and have a special on an "exclusive cellular radiant treatment" facial, guaranteed to make you look younger (of course), at a cost of $205 for just one hour.
Better value can be had at the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin in Thailand, with day packages starting from just $250. Their Barai Spa has light therapy, massage and even "sensual water experiences". If you're after something a bit more physical, the Chuan Spa at the Langham Melbourne offers "a blizzard of therapeutic leg-centric techniques", which almost sounds frightening.
But for proper relaxation, our vote goes for The Tides Zihuatenajo in Mexico which combines a Swedish-style massage with the use of heated tiger clam shells, gently massaging your whole body. $150 for an hour isn't the cheapest on the list by far, but it sounds the most gentle option.
The Faena Hotel + Universe in Buenos Aires has unveiled some new "over the top" suites to its hotel rooms--the F Suite, Tower Suite, and Imperial Suite.
Pictured above is the F Suite which is a 1,291-sq.ft residence located on the 6th floor of hotel. It has two bedrooms, three bathrooms, living and dining rooms, a kitchen, a library and panoramic views of the Faena Art District, embankment and city center of Buenos Aires.
One of the bathrooms sports a rain forest shower and Jacuzzi and the hotel continues to hold onto its geek status by outfitting the room with three 42-inch plasma screens.
[Ed. Note: We have gotten a few questions about finding a hotel in Buenos Aires that are not-so-noisy, so naturally we hit up our resident Argentina hotel expert, Matt Chesterton, for his suggestions. Enjoy.]
BA stands for Buenos Aires. It could equally well stand for Bad Acoustics. This is one of the world's noisiest cities. Several street intersections make the global top 20 of eardrum-shattering junctions. On a recent trip to London we were stunned by how quiet the city centre was. That's how loud BA is.
Several readers have asked us to recommend some 'quiet hotels' in BA. It's a good question to ask and a tricky one to answer. For one thing, you can't assume that a hotel in a quiet neighborhood is a quiet hotel. The Hotel Panamericano, for example, overlooks the world's widest boulevard, Avenida 9 de Julio. But their rooms are so well soundproofed you can hear a pin drop in them. (If you want to test this out, go ahead; just be sure to pick the pin up afterwards or you're bound to tread on it.)
Award-winning Home Hotel, on the other hand, is in a peaceful neighborhood of cobblestoned streets and one-story housing, far away from major traffic arteries. But they have a lively bar and cocktail garden (over which the rooms are tightly clustered) and party-oriented guests. A group of LA advertising execs in full braying mode is, in the noise pollution stakes, a match for any number of low-flying fighter jets. And way more annoying.
There are good reasons why business people stay in 'business hotels'. They tend to be quieter, regardless of the location. They tend to have more rooms than boutique hotels, so you can easily ask for a room change if you want one. Larger three-star establishments are rarely double glazed or soundproofed but usually have quiet rooms (often the ones with a view of the parking lot).
Golden rule: If a hotel describes itself as having a 'chilled atmosphere' or anything along those lines, you can guarantee it's about as quiet as a recently kicked beehive.
Here's a theory for which we have no evidence. The rise in expensively tricked-out design hotels is in direct correlation to the disinclination of contemporary rock stars to smash, trash, and throw entertainment systems through the windows of said hotels.
In the early 1970s hotels had to insure themselves against fire, flood and Acts of Keith Moon. That's all gone now, along with kaftans with metallic trim and Minimoogs. A pity.
But wait! Perhaps all is not lost. We have received exclusive reports of hair-raising, hellraising behaviour by Coldplay during their recent stay at Buenos Aires' Faena Hotel + Universe (they played three gigs in BA two weeks ago). The information comes from Florencia Vrljicak, the Faena's lovely PR manager:
The Cold Play stayed at the Faena for a whole week. They left Alan [Señor Faena, the eponymous owner] a guitar!!! Signed by all the members of the band and an incredible letter saying (amongst other things) they did not want to leave. They really had a good time and enjoyed the hotel very much. After the shows, we usually prepared barbecue in the Mercado's patio. They enjoyed that place particularly. They were supposed to leave on Friday for Brazil, but extended the stay for two nights. There is so much I can tell... One day Chris asked to use the piano we have at EL TEATRO to compose. And he played alone all night until 1 am. The guitar is incredible! And the letter is so nice I am keeping it in my cork board!
And that's not all. Sources from lower down the hotel's food chain have muttered darkly to us about 'generous tipping', 'a complete lack of arrogance' and, most disturbing of all, 'normal human being-like behaviour'.
Someone needs to get these boys into rehab, and quick.
For the past two weeks, we've been spotlighting some of the best hotels Buenos Aires has to offer courtesy of Matt Chesterton. Like all good things, the mini-Buenos Aires guide had come to an end. But this morning we found a little present in our inbox---a reader's own hotel review.
In last week's "Thinkers' Guide to Buenos Aires", Matt profiled the "glamorous, rude, fading and grand" Castelar Hotel, and more specifically his wedding night there where the helpful staff did not discriminate against him for projectile vomiting on the suite's walnut paneling.
He is not alone--in his high regard for the hotel that is. As for the vomiting on wedding night, we won't go there. Anyways, one reader sent us his own take on the Castelar which he titled "Tattered, not torn" in reference to the hotel's wear and tear but which did not seem to bother him.
A few years ago right after the economy crashed we booked a small apt for a week. The apt turned out to smaller than small and dirtier than dirt. The city was vibrating with protest marches and rooms were hard to find. The Castelar was less than a block away and had a junior suite. All the Argentine charm we wished for and a staff that new how to spell service.
We asked for help booking tickets to a Tango show. The tickets were booked and transportation arranged. We were told to be back at the hotel at a certain time and a car would pick us up. The time did not meet with our other plans and we suggested if we could have the tickets now we would take a taxi from another location. The concierge insisted we return to the hotel and take the car he had arranged. If we did not he would cancel the tickets. The reason: his transportation was the only form that could be trusted.
When we got to the show we were delighted he had insisted. We might have gotten there with another cab but I doubt we would have gotten back to the hotel with all our belongings! At the Castelar you are really treated as family.
So there you have it. Sometimes the best hotel service isn't always found in a shiny and new building.
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by amandak
