Arelauquen Lodge, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel

With a rental car, getting here was easy. But you really need your own car to stay at this hotel. It's not in Bariloche town or somewhere easy to reach by taxi. An Uber may struggle to get through the security gate, where you need to have a hotel reservation already and register your face with the guards, which takes about five minutes. From there, it's another seven minutes on a gravel road inside the gated community. There was no room service, though the restaurant opens for dinner if you book ahead. I didn't. There's also a stovetop for two pots, which I didn't use. My room faced the golf court and had a beautiful mountain view in a safe, quiet setting. I'm not sure every room has that view. I was upgraded to one of the two rooms with balconies, and check-in and check-out were quick with very few questions. The room had two robes and slippers, excellent blackout curtains, a functional AC that cooled the room but didn't make it very cold, and it was generally clean. It was quiet when we went, though there was noise whenever someone walked in the hall, so we may have been lucky with the nearby guests. Still, in my view it wasn't worth more than $200 USD a night. There were no fitted sheets, and after each quiet night the covers looked rumpled. That leaves mattresses likely dirty, since practically every guest's skin rubs against them at some point, and the duvets may be dirtier than they should be for the same reason. In the third photo, the duvet cover had come half undone, exposing the duvet after an ordinary night's sleep. None of the doors in my room worked properly, including the front, balcony, and bathroom doors. You had to shake or manhandle them to get them shut. The furniture was weathered and worn, and parts of the floor were damaged. At $200 or more in rural Argentina, I expected better. Breakfast started oddly late at 7:45 AM, and the person taking egg and coffee orders didn't show up until 8. I wanted breakfast both mornings, but had to leave by 8, once for a tour and once for my flight, so I couldn't have it either day. There was no help carrying bags to or from the car. Service felt very poor for the price. At checkout on Christmas, the receptionist was rather surly. I said "feliz navidad" and they didn't say it back, ask how my stay was, wish me a good stay, or wish me well in any way. That would feel notably cold at any Bonvoy property, and especially strange at a small, intimate lodge at this price. It fit with the lack of help with bags and inattentive service at the very "meh" breakfast. The hotel is very small, which makes it petite and charming, but there aren't many rooms, and that likely contributes to their small size, which doesn't match the high price. The upgraded king-sized room I pictured was apparently one of only two with a balcony. The bathroom and sink area were also very small for the price, especially in a rural area.