After a grueling taxi ride from the airport, enhanced slightly by the backseat singalong to “My Sharona” on the radio, we made it to the Park Hyatt before 10AM.
We were dropped off on the historic side of the hotel, which looks almost like The White House. Once inside we were welcomed by the friendly bellman and pointed to the check-in desks, where we were immediately helped. Despite our early arrival our rooms were ready. I had booked a Park King room for 18,000 Gold Passport points per night, as this is a category five property. Paid rates were over $500USD per night, so that’s a great use of points in my book.
I was informed I had been upgraded to a Park Deluxe King, and made familiar with all the Diamond benefits, including complimentary breakfast, internet, late check-out, etc.
Historic wing lobby
Historic wing lobby
Historic wing lobby
Historic wing lobby
The hotel consists of a historic wing and a contemporary wing. The historic wing has only about two dozens rooms (mostly specialty suites), while the contemporary wing has the remaining ~150 rooms.
The contemporary wing can be accessed either by walking through the courtyard or through an underground walkway.
The weather was stunning for the two days we were in Buenos Aires, so we almost always chose to access our rooms through the courtyard.
Courtyard view
Courtyard view
The underground tunnel was more like an art expo.
Underground tunnel
Underground tunnel
There was even a flower shop in the hallway.
Flower shop
In the contemporary building was yet another lobby, where we realized after the fact we could have checked in as well.
Contemporary wing lobby
Contemporary wing lobby
Anyway, I took the elevator up to the 13th floor, where my room was located.
13th floor elevators
13th floor hallway
Room 1306
The room wasn’t huge, though it was immaculately designed and furnished. It featured an entryway with direct access to both the bathroom and the rest of the room.
Entryway
Art at entryway
The room featured a comfortable king size bed, a chair with a side table, and a desk with two chairs.
King bed
TV and desk
Chair
The views from the room weren’t amazing, though did face plenty of greenery.
View from the room
Towards the bathroom was the minibar, coffee machine, and complimentary bottled water.
Minibar
Minibar
There was also a closet.
Closet
Then there was the bathroom, which featured a sink, soaking tub, walk-in shower, bidet, and toilet.
Sink
Soaking tub
Walk-in shower
Walk-in shower
The bathroom and shower were stocked with Celedonio amenities.
Toiletries
Bidet
The only flaw in the room was that the blackout curtains were a bit off their track at one end of the room, so there was always a bit of light in the room.
Curtains off track
The afternoon of our arrival the Diamond welcome amenity was delivered, consisting of a bowl of oranges, bottle of red wine, some vanilla “balls,” and a welcome note.
Diamond welcome amenity
In terms of the hotel’s facilities, there was a beautiful indoor lap pool in the spa complex.
Indoor pool
Indoor pool
There was also a well equipped gym with every type of equipment you could possibly want… at least for a hotel.
Gym
Gym
Gym
Diamond breakfast could be had either at Gioia, the main restaurant in the contemporary wing of the hotel, which had a breakfast buffet, or at Los Salones del Piano Nobile, which offered an a la carte menu and featured outdoor seating overlooking the courtyard. We decided to have breakfast on the terrace both mornings given the beautiful weather.
Terrace
View from terrace
Inside of restaurant
The restaurant’s menu read as follows:
Since there were several of us, I think I managed to capture a picture of just about everyone’s meal over the two days.
Pastry basket
Fruit salad and yogurt
“Healthy” breakfast (though I have my doubts)
Scrambled eggs
Eggs benedict
Cheese and avocado
French toast
Waffles
Physically this property was simply stunning. And the location is great as well.
But that really isn’t even what set this hotel apart. The service was amazing. And I have to say that if there’s one thing I took away from Buenos Aires, it’s that it’s not a city with much of a service culture. But without exception every employee we interacted with at the Park Hyatt was phenomenal. I really feel like I’m preaching here, but seriously, from the front desk to the servers in the restaurant to housekeeping, every single person we interacted with was top notch.
The icing on the cake is that the last day we asked about the possibility of checking out late, given that our flight was only late at night. I fully expected they’d want to charge us extra for staying beyond 4PM, though they had no issue letting us stay in our rooms till 7PM at no extra charge. That’s damn generous.
This is easily one of my favorite Park Hyatts, and it’s not even a category six Gold Passport property. At 18,000 points per night it’s a steal, and I’d return in a heartbeat.
Totally different from our experience. We stayed there in 2010 for 3 nights over the Christmas period, from the 24th to the 27th. Maybe the staff were on holiday mode and would rather be spending the Christmas holidays at home than working (can't blame them for that I guess), because we weren't impressed at all with the service. Favourite BA hotel is still Alvear Palace. Stayed there 3 times and it was always good.
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http://refer.xoom.com/a/clk/GPs7M
Lucky, I wish!
I do love that hotel, but you're kind of stranded in rich, blue-blood territory. Next time, we probably will do a short term serviced apartment closer to Palermo.
@ Benjamin Perley -- Do they accept Gold Passport points as well? ;)
@ Rich A -- Stupidly the official rate. Didn't realize the black market rate till after I exchanged cash.
By comparison, two nights at the PH-PD would pay for two months of apartment rent in Recoleta.
They take good care of Diamonds there, although the prices are shockingly high considering how otherwise cheap Argentina is. We should have changed money at the blue rate and paid in cash. We didn't really know any better, and most of the bill was covered by Hyatt certs denominated in USD anyway. (Thanks Capitol One!)
@Lucky - Did you get pesos at the official rate or the "blue" rate?
We just spent a week there in one of the suites in the modern building. I agree that the service was uncannily superb. Every single encounter with staff was exceptional. Unlike you however, they did want to charge us 50% of our daily rate if we wanted to check out at 5pm instead of 3pm (which is the late checkout they offered me as a Platinum member). We declined that, left our bags with them,...
We just spent a week there in one of the suites in the modern building. I agree that the service was uncannily superb. Every single encounter with staff was exceptional. Unlike you however, they did want to charge us 50% of our daily rate if we wanted to check out at 5pm instead of 3pm (which is the late checkout they offered me as a Platinum member). We declined that, left our bags with them, and just went out for a few hours. We also used their car service to and from the airport. It cost about twice as much as a cab would have, but it was worth it. Very relaxing and comfortable.
@Lucky - Thank you for the info. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I wouldn't be staying at these hotels unless I had read about your travels and staying at them, so it should be a great time in nice hotels. Will be staying at The Strings Intercontinental in Shinagawa for 3 nights as well as a Plat Amb, so we'll see if they upgrade me after horking up $$ for a "superior" room as they...
@Lucky - Thank you for the info. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I wouldn't be staying at these hotels unless I had read about your travels and staying at them, so it should be a great time in nice hotels. Will be staying at The Strings Intercontinental in Shinagawa for 3 nights as well as a Plat Amb, so we'll see if they upgrade me after horking up $$ for a "superior" room as they call it. I stayed in a King Exec Club corner room I think it was called last time and it was gorgeous.
@Duncan - LOL...want me to send you a postcard? I didn't mention about the five F flights on points I'm taking for this trip (one in biz on LX I have to suffer through...) !!
@sparkyinCA in a polite word "jealous".
@ SparkyinCA -- As a Platinum member you may get a room upgrade, though it's not a published benefit per se. You're absolutely free to switch rooms with someone else if you do get an upgrade, though both rooms will still stay under the original names.
I'll put this on my list of Hyatt hotels to try (just gotta find a better airline than LAN to get there!).
I'm getting excited after just booking paid nights in November at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto and Park Hyatt Tokyo as a Platinum. Not sure if being a Plat will earn me an upgrade or not with a Deluxe King room in Kyoto and a Park King Deluxe in Tokyo? No way I'll...
I'll put this on my list of Hyatt hotels to try (just gotta find a better airline than LAN to get there!).
I'm getting excited after just booking paid nights in November at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto and Park Hyatt Tokyo as a Platinum. Not sure if being a Plat will earn me an upgrade or not with a Deluxe King room in Kyoto and a Park King Deluxe in Tokyo? No way I'll ever become a Diamond, so hoping for some sort of perks besides free internet! I'm traveling with a younger couple and may give them my upgraded rooms since they don't have status (they are getting married soon, so kind of a nice little surprise for them if it works out on our trip together). I'm wondering if the hotels even allow that?
Park Hyatt Buenos Aires is absolutely stunning. If you make it to their VIP list, you can stay in one of the Palace rooms. Those rooms together with the impeccable service are an experience not be missed for any Hyatt aficionado.
@ JeffISU @ Tiara -- It's priced in Argentinian Pesos...
@ Tiara -- As a Hyatt Platinum member you do get free internet though not free breakfast. Generally I'd try to use those certificates at a category six property given the cost on points would be higher, though if you do happen to go to Buenos Aires I think the Park Hyatt is also a phenomenal use of those nights.
@JeffISU - Where did you see $34? I saw $110 for Argentinian breakfast. Regardless, I am with you. What about coffee $38.00 It's absolutely insane...
Could it be 38 Argentina Peso instead of $38.00?
Lucky,
Part of Chase Hyatt CC, we got 2 Hyatt certs to use before end of October 2013. Do you think it's worth to use it here or save it for somewhere let say Park Hyatt Tokyo. We plan to go there around Labour Day weekend. Will Hyatt Platinum get free breakfast or internet as we stay mostly within SPG chain hotels and know very little about Hyatt programs.
Thanks
We had a lovely stay there last month, and we didn't want to leave! We were in one of the garden view suites, which was an enormous room and we went to the spa everyday.
US$34 for continental breakfast? No thanks...
Absolutely agree with the service there. We just got back from 6 nights at Park Hyatt Paris Vendome and they could learn a few things from the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires. Staff in PH Paris was fine, but PH BA was amazing.
I think we were there at the same time and I agree. Service was AMAZING. Everything about it was top notch.
I couldn't agree more! The doorman, the concierge and front desk people knew our names even though I only met them once.