Alvear Art Hotel

“10/10 for amazing staff, large spotless rooms, and great location”

We had originally booked an Airbnb for our five nights in Buenos Aires, but after one terrible sleepless night in the AirBnb we were up at 5 o’clock in the morning, desperately calling hotels to try to find 2 rooms available immediately for our family of 4. The person who saved us was the wonderful… more

We had originally booked an Airbnb for our five nights in Buenos Aires, but after one terrible sleepless night in the AirBnb we were up at 5 o’clock in the morning, desperately calling hotels to try to find 2 rooms available immediately for our family of 4. The person who saved us was the wonderful Carolina at the front desk of the beautiful Alvear Art Hotel. For the entirety of our stay, including that desperate early morning phone call, our sudden arrival at the hotel with a pile of suitcases and tired children, and the 4 nights we stayed at this amazing hotel, Carolina was so friendly and patient and wonderful and helpful. Also Carlés (sp?) who helped us as well. Every staff member we encountered at Alvear Art Hotel was equally friendly, wonderful, helpful, and patient (and spoke excellent English). The front desk even gave my kids paper, markers and tape, so my kids could make a sign for the concert we were attending. My kids were thrilled. Overall we had a lot of personalized attention from the staff: A+ !!! All four of us loved this hotel. An especially big shout-out and thank you to the breakfast buffet staff, who had to deal with us showing up every morning at 10:54 AM for a breakfast that closed at 11:00 AM. Once again, they were all helpful, friendly, kind, and patient with us. The breakfasts were delicious and plentiful with a wonderful selection of fresh fruit, baked goods, hot items, and of course great coffee and hot chocolate for the kids, complete with cool designs in the foam. They gave us side by side Studio rooms at the end of a corridor, so we felt it was very private even though the rooms were not connecting. The rooms themselves felt large, up-to-date, very well lit, with a full length mirror in the cupboard, and lovely slippers, and all of the amenities that we had not found in any of the other hotels we stayed at during our trip to Argentina. The bathrooms were large and modern with a separate door for the toilet area, a full bathtub separate from a large shower, etc., really nice large clean bathrooms. The bed was huge and comfortable. We were on the 5th floor and heard one or two car honks but that’s nothing, and we slept very well, especially with the excellent blackout blinds in the room (controlled by a switch so you don’t need to touch the blinds). Everything was spotlessly clean. We were so busy in the city that we didn’t have time to try the Alvear Art Hotel swimming pool or anything else, although it looked just gorgeous with beautiful views from a high floor. We will try it next time for sure! We felt extremely safe inside this hotel, which had staff standing at the doors and entrances 24/7. The lobby is big and elegant with lots of helpful staff. Even the kids felt very safe and felt very at home! The location is excellent. Pretty close to the Obelisco area of Av 9 de Julio. Just 2 blocks from the famous Rapanui chocolate and ice cream shop and the beautiful and peaceful Plaza San Martin park. All the architecture around here is beautiful. You can walk to Galerias Pacificos mall. On the corner near the hotel is a “25 hrs” kiosk and a Havana coffee shop for the best alfajores (but note, if you want to buy a lot, perhaps as gifts, do it at the Havana inside the Galerias Pacificos mall - they will give you the special receipt you need to get your taxes back at airport). It’s on the corner of Av Santa Fe which has every store you might need. It was approx $14,000 ARS to get to Palermo SoHo by Uber, even at rush hour. Very convenient location for the AEP airport as well. Very easy to get to EZE airport. Really a great location for walking around, easy for taking Ubers, convenient for getting picked up by tour operators. I wish we had more time to walk around the area but we were extremely busy with all of our tours and plans…. Next time I would just keep a few hours available each day to walk around the area of the Alvear Art Hotel. Also, I asked the front desk if the Alvear hotels have any loyalty or “points” program, but they don’t …. regardless, they’ve got my loyalty! I’d love to be a member if they ever did have a loyalty program. We loved our experience at this hotel and we would return again without hesitation. I wouldn’t even bother researching any other hotels - I would just go right back to the Alvear Art Hotel the next time I am lucky enough to visit Buenos Aires. Side note: The one small criticism I have: when we finally arrived at the hotel after getting out of the AirBnb, which was around noon, we were told that at least one of the 2 rooms was totally ready for us - having been prepared by the excellent team especially for us after our early AM phone call, in case we would arrive right away - but we weren’t allowed to access it unless we paid the extra (approx) $150 USD per room for early check in… which we didn’t really feel was necessary since we were heading out for a day of touring anyhow. So we didn’t pay it, and we just went out for the day. But it seemed a strange thing for the hotel to insist on, considering the circumstances - we were already there, and the room was already ready, so why not just waive the early check-in fee at that point? Anyhow when we got back from our touring, our luggage was all waiting for us in the room, without us having to ask! So overall, we had excellent service from this hotel, but maybe management can consider being a bit more flexible with the early check-in rules. Anyways, I understand that’s their policy, and of course they don’t need to break the rules just for me! But anyhow that’s the only thing about the experience at the hotel that wasn’t totally perfect. I believe they did give us a late check out though, with no extra charge. Anyhow, overall I would give this hotel a 10/10 !! Although it was just fortuitous happenstance that we ended up at this hotel, I think it was fate… after we got home, I was looking at some of the hotel’s website photos and I realized that in one of their suite photos, they have a Hermès coffee table book - the exact same book that I have right here in my house in Canada! Clearly, it was meant to be that we ended up at the Alvear Art Hotel. Hope to be back soon!!!

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