Review: Hotel Moreno Buenos Aires, San Telmo
Book the Hotel Moreno Buenos Aires, San Telmo here.
It's rather rare that I take the time to review a non-chain hotel. Most hotels are just not too special and you get a bed with a small room coupled with an even tnier bathroom.
I have stayed in this hotel twice now and it looks just fantastic - so I wanted to to really give those guys a great review. My first stay last year was marked by a great spacious room, helpful staff but slow internet.
I was going to try again this week.
The location is right in middle of San Telmo action on Defensa - it's still a bit corny this area but San Telmo is now officially a rejuvenated neighborhood. The specific location is easy to miss and Google Maps has it mapped a block away as well. There is no real sign. Once I found it was escorted to the first floor for check-in. It was super quick and friendly and I got to sit down in the well designed lobby.
A minute later I was in my room at the 5th floor. The room was easily the size of most Junior Suites at Starwood. It was enormous. There was a kitchenette, a large bathroom and a sofa. Loved the decoration with the painting - the faux(?) cow skin and the hardwood floors. Very stylish.
To my surprise they listened to their customers and improved the Internet which was now super fast - fastest I had in Buenos Aires, topping out at 10 Mbit!
So far so good and I thought - wow this place is a steal at $70 on Expedia.
When I came back at 10PM though the power had gone out. This happens anywhere - I expected it to be back sooner or later, but it wasn't to be. So I crawled up the 5 floors with my torch. The room was 110 degrees from a day in the sun and the 100+ degrees at night. However the worst was yet to come - once I sat down on the bed I noticed a lot of little animals crawling over me - indeed there were dozens of ants on the bed biting into my skin at chance. Note that it was pitch black and crazy hot. Not a good feeling!
I walked down 6 floors dripping with sweat and the front office manager was able to find a new room without ants for me. But there was no apology - I'm not even sure he believed me. However room No.2 really had no ants and at 2 AM I was finally able to sleep.
Well in the morning the power was still out and it was still crazy hot in room No.2. At least the hot water was still working. So I got to carry my bag 6 floors down and did not bother with the breakfast at the roof top terrace.
This hotel has all the ingredients for a great hotel. Great location, great design, great hardware, fantastic rooms. However this is the second time it disappoints. I understand that a power outage is nothing the hotel can change but no compensation or explanation was offered. Insufficient pest control in the rooms is however something a hotel can control and did not in my case.
Be careful with this one - the ingredients for a great hotel are there but your stays may be plagued by the current shortcomings so avoid!
Book the Hotel Moreno Buenos Aires, San Telmo here.