Natalino Hotel Patagonia

“We loved it, great location…but needs improvement in some areas”

Overall we loved this place and highly recommend it… but there were some issues that need improvement….the Wifi, one of the front desk people, and the breakfast buffet. We had one of their suites…which had a good sized living room with a couch and large desk/working area with shelves. Bedroo… more

Overall we loved this place and highly recommend it… but there were some issues that need improvement….the Wifi, one of the front desk people, and the breakfast buffet. We had one of their suites…which had a good sized living room with a couch and large desk/working area with shelves. Bedroom was good size and the bed was VERY comfortable. Wifi however was not great. Only got decent service in the living room, and practically nothing in the bedroom (bummer at night when you want to read in bed on your iPad. The Wifi would also go in and out (lose the connection) every so often…sometimes every 15 min or so. The hotel is in a great location as its with a block of the main street, restaurants and shops all over the place . Probably is the best choice in town. Breakfast buffet was decent (lots of cold meats, cheeses…if they had refilled the trays but only one hot item…scrambled eggs and not a very big assortment of pastries (basically chocolate chip cookie…if there were any left). Biggest issue was the buffet was not replenished quickly . One morning we got there at 9 and almost everything was gone ( 7 or 8 trays of meats and cheeses were empty, and 15 min later , when we were done and leaving, they finally refilled them). And one morning we got there around 6:30, only one other couple was there, and same thing. Most items were empty or not put out yet. And some items were still not refilled (or put out) 15 min later when we left. Another issue had to do with one of the front desk staff..Nico…where we had…issues with the check in and poor instructions and directions to find the hotel parking lot wasting 40 minutes of our time searching for the lot. Most of the staff was very helpful (one in particular who was there most of the time but I cannot recall her name), but Nico, who was handling the front desk when we arrived (actually he was not at the front desk, and there is no bell… and after several minutes someone happened by and yelled for him), was a disaster and incompetent. Nico did not speak good English or understand much English. Which for someone at the front desk of a tourist hotel is a problem. The problems had to do with check-in, and the parking lot. First, I had booked two reservations. One for 1 night and one for the next 4 nights, both through Booking. I had added the first night later when I decided to stay longer in Puerto Natalas, and Booking would not let me add the one night to the 4 nights because Booking treats it as a new reservation and the hotel was booked up some of the nights we already had booked. I contacted reservations about combining the two reservations, so there was no issues with someone making us check out and check back in. They told me no problem, but to just leave it, or we could lose our reservations if we tried to cancel and rebook via Booking (which I have had happen before in other places), and they would put a note in the file about the two reservations being a combined 5 night stay in the same room. Nico did not really understand that we were there for 5 nights; the first reservation being for 1 night and a second for 4 nights…. for the same room. Nico kept saying we were there for 1 night. Then I had him look up the second reservation for the 4 nights. He said we would have to check out and check back in for the 4 nights. I explained about the two bookings and reservations saying it would be treated as a 5 night stay. He argued with me about this and he also said there was no note in the file about the two reservations being tied together. Only after I pulled up the chat conversation with reservations did he finally relent …although I don’t think he ever understood. And I figured I would sort it out in the morning with someone else. And then there was Nico’s poor instructions about the parking lot, which made us waste about 40 minutes trying to find due to Nico. Nico said the lot was “over there”. Was not sure if he meant it was on the same street as the hotel or the street behind the hotel. I kept asking, you mean down the street or on the street behind, and do you have an address. Did not have one. Just kept saying go around the block. He also showed us what appeared to be a google maps satellite image of the parking lot and shops around it…which I took a picture of (but this was no help). We went around the block, looking for parking lots on the street behind the hotel and then the street the hotel was on. One lot clearly was not right… dirt lot with a bus in it… and another with a no parking sign that looked like it was a private lot for the building next door. We went round the block a few more times but could not figure it out. And the satellite photo, the store we could see in the image we found , but no parking lot next to it. Old satellite photo. We went back to the hotel for directions again from Nico. No help. Eventually , after about 40 minutes of searching, we decided the only lot it could be is the one with the no parking sign…and once we drove into the lot …we saw signs for parking spaces for the hotel. Turned out that there is a sign on the outside fence with the name of the hotel…BUT it was covered by the gate that opens and closes. Apparently, the gate is supposed to be closed all the time…and the front desk is supposed to give you a remote control (which Nico never gave us…and we found out the next morning when we walked the two blocks to the lot and the gate was closed and we had to go back to the hotel…where they gave us the remote). Heck if I had that remote I would have been clicking it to find the lot! I suggest that the hotel create a printed piece of paper to give to guest that has clear instructions where the lot is , how to get there, AND have a color picture of the outside of the lot so they can see what it looks like ….and tell them there is a sign for the hotel, but I will be blocked if the gate is open…AND that the guest is given the remote to open and close the gate (and the instructions mention this so the guest knows they are supposed to get a remote). Also ,every day but the last day, our key cards would reset. So we would go to our room, the door then have to turn around and go back down to get them reset. The website photos are a good representation of the hotel. Overall, I would highly recommend staying there as the rooms are good, bed comfy and it has a great location. They just need to fix a few things with the staff, buffet and WiFi NOTE: Torres del Paine is about a 1.5 hour drive, each way, and much of it on dirt roads I wanted to stay in town as I like having a choice of many restaurants, shops, walk around etc. There are places to stay in or close to the park, but they are all very expensive (aside from the camps) and nothing else is around. You are essentially captive to your hotel. That said, I should have stayed at least one night in the park to avoid at least 1 day of 3 hours of driving and give us time to sleep later and spend more time in the park.

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“Good but not great”

Antares Patagonia booked us here before and after our O Circuit trek. Styling is decidedly modern but reminiscent of a college dormitory. Rooms were clean but small. Breakfast was good but there was a logjam at the coffee machine tucked into the corner of the buffet table. The heated drying rack … more

Antares Patagonia booked us here before and after our O Circuit trek. Styling is decidedly modern but reminiscent of a college dormitory. Rooms were clean but small. Breakfast was good but there was a logjam at the coffee machine tucked into the corner of the buffet table. The heated drying rack in the bathroom was a plus after a day of hiking in the rain.

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