Fauna Hotel

I did not actually stay at this hotel as we needed to cancel the reservation. It took 3 weeks to get a refund and they couldn't provide it via credit card. I needed to open a Western Union account and had to email every week for 3 weeks to find out when the refund would happen as each week I was told it would be the following week. Eventually, I called and spoke with the manager and received the refund. Based on this lack of basic administrative procedure, I would not consider staying at this hotel when I return to Chile.

Though the location is really great, globally we have been very disappointed. We had booked a superior room for 2 days : the room is extra small, no storage space or drawers or hangers or anything for your stuff. One window supposedly overlooking the city but we couldn’t see a thing. Bathroom ridiculously small with, again, just nothing where you can put your stuff, not even a toothbrush. On top of that, it was very cold and the heating wasn’t working. They tried to fix it but couldn’t. Brought us a portable heater that was totally inefficient.

Not worthy money, the view is great, room was small but comfortable. The site says it has WiFi - it doesn’t- never works. Staff are not friendly, reception staff do not even acknowledge you when you pass. Breakfast is very average, coffee takes an age to come, very basic, not even yogurt on the second morning. It’s the same at night at the restaurant, we popped in for a glass of wine, waited an age for it, such a simple thing to do.

Very cool eco hotel with the best views in the city. Definitely worth spending a bit more for a room with an ocean view. The hotel Room itself is small but comfortable. The entire hotel has a very cool vibe. Well located is a safe historical neighbourhood, and next to one of the main funiculars. The staff is very helpful and friendly. They were great at suggesting things to see and do in town. The hotel restaurant is incredible, with amazing seafood and live music. The breakfasts are the only thing I would suggest could be improved. The breakfasts are completely adequate, but nothing to write home about.

UNESCO has designated Valparaíso’s steep hillside residential fabric a World Heritage site, and Hotel Fauna exquisitely embodies that heritage. Occupying a two-century-old building constructed against the mountainside, Fauna offers three floors of guest rooms facing the ravine that goes down to the port and business district. It is only accessed at the upper level, which has a door facing a narrow pedestrian walkway. A taxi can drop you off where the walkway meets a (very steep) street, maybe 100 meters from the hotel. In the other direction, in some 25 meters, there is the upper terminal of a funicular that connects to the downtown for 100 pesos (11¢). Take it! My room had the basic necessities: a small table on which one could write or open one’s laptop; a hat-rack rather than a closet, on which I could hang the shirts and pants I had on hangers; hot running water and shower; a comfortable bed; excellent Wi-Fi; and a spectacular view across the cleft hillside to the downtown and the sparkling blue sea. Gratifyingly, it had no television screen. The rooftop restaurant is excellent, drawing a happening crowd both nights I was there. It’s also where hotel guests take their breakfast, drinking in the view of dawn’s early light over the ocean and city. (It was late winter when I was there, but the change had already kicked in to summer “daylight saving” time, so sunrise was close to 8 a.m.) The staff at the front desk was briskly efficient. And the price -- US$105 per night -- was reasonable, given the investment the hotel has made in daringly original interior design and quality materials. When I arrived in Valparaíso’s bus terminal and asked the woman in the information booth how to get to the Hotel Fauna (the answer, BTW, was: taxi), she exclaimed: “In my view, it’s the best hotel in all Valparaíso!” When she did her training in tourism and hospitality, she explained, her class was taken to visit several of the city’s hotels — and none seized her imagination like Fauna. “Auténtico,” she said — it’s the most authentic. The visitor here actually gets to LIVE Valparaíso. After two days there, I think she was right.

I loved our three night stay at Hotel Fauna. The deck and the overall design are breath-taking. High quality furnishings and decor throughout just add to the already intoxicating offer. Great location and delicious restaurant. Top, top, top!