Htl 9 de Julio BsAs

Buon hotel in buona posizione. Camera eccellente. Prenotato all’ultimo minuto ho ottenuto una camera con soppalco e balcone sulla 9de julio. Fantastico

We had a very mixed experience at this hotel. The positives: spacious rooms with lofts and bed space for 5 people, nice big towels, breakfast available in your room for an additional fee, and a very central location. Also, the staff provided a recommendation for a nearby pizza restaurant/sports bar (La Alameda) that had the tastiest food we experienced in Argentina. Negatives: Our first room had a broken/unusable toilet and a deeply cracked mirror and we had to move to a different room. It is unclear why the management didn't know the toilet was broken before assigning guests to that room. Did the staff not clean it? Our second room was better, but the building appears to be very old and the decor is pretty much all concrete/industrial in theme. There is no carpet, no pictures on the walls, and the fit and finish of materials in the room was very bad. They seemed to be following a "shabby chic" idea or maybe using all reclaimed materials - even the trash can was severely dented. The bathrooms in both rooms we saw were tiny. The in-room breakfast was very good the first day, but on the second day they had a problem with the elevator and everything was significantly delayed, to the point where we were worried we would not get breakfast before our tour that day. They also did not provide the omelette we had requested. Also, apparently we were supposed to wash all our breakfast dishes in the room each day, but no dish soap or towels were provided until I asked for them. There was no explanation about why. The location was noisy at times because it's right by the Avenue 9 de Julio, one of the biggest roads in Buenas Aires. When we paid for the breakfast, the hotel staff converted the amount we owed from pesos to dollars using the official rate and then charged it, instead of just charging us in pesos and letting the credit card convert it. The result was that we paid almost double what we were expecting, since our credit card usually converted pesos to dollars using a rate similar to the blue rate. The management refused to charge us in pesos, saying it's their policy to convert the rate themselves before charging it. That gives them more money, but it is a very bad deal for foreigners who are visiting their hotel. No other hotel or business in Argentina had this policy, so it was an unfortunate surprise for us. Foreigners should be aware of this policy.

Good: Location, it's very central and there are plenty of attractions in a walkable distance. Bad: 1. They will charge you in USD. The problem is that you won't get the favorable tourist rate from using your credit card because they change the bank rate which is about 3x the price you'd pay in pesos at the time I'm writing this. When you adress the issue at the reception they tell you all kinds of stories about how you'll pay 21% taxes if you pay in pesos (no you don't) and that if you have a foreign credit card you have to pay in dollars (no you don't). It stopped after I showed the guy an invoice from the Hilton hotel for another night that was in pesos and without tax, payed in full with my German MasterCard. I've had to ask to pay in pesos there as well but it was no problem and this way it was cheaper than this hotel. After seeing this the receptionist told me he will contact the headoffice about this and they will get back to me. All in all that cost me over 300 Euros extra for four days. I will update the review if they find a solution. 2. My room key somehow stopped working each and every day. While this is annoying I guess going to the reception isn't too much of a problem. But here comes the security issue I've mentioned in the title: Nobody checks your ID when giving out new keycards. They just take the card, ask you what's your room number snd give you a new key card. This happened four times with three different members of staff, even after I explained that this is a major security issue. I could just tell them a different number and clear out somebody's room - and so can anyone else who finds or steals a key card. This is the main reason for the low rating. 3. The hotel looks nicer in the pictures than it is. I even found somebody's booger on the wall next go the bed. I'll share some pictures, judge for yourself. Also there are three AC modules right outside my window. I slept but people with light sleep may have issues here.