Arc Arenales Studios & Suites

The apartments are lovely and very reasonably priced, and the cleaning ladies were friendly and did great work, muchas gracias señoras. We had several problems with our door card not working, though. Apartment 3D was very loud, with TV noise keeping us awake until the early hours, and the toilet seat was broken or disconnected from the first day.

The location is good and the service was good, but I was very disappointed by this apart-hotel. There was no soundproofing, and it wasn't very clean. We were on the first floor and could hear guests walking in the hallway, moving chairs in their rooms, and even the hotel's loud laundry machine, which made sleeping difficult. The dishes in the cabinets were so dirty we had to wash them before using them, and the sponge provided was filthy. We even found a previous guest's pyjama in a drawer. I've never seen that in a place that seemed so reputable. I don't recommend it. UPDATE: The day I posted this review, the hotel apologized in a letter and moved us. That would've been a nice gesture, but the new room was a downgrade. We'd paid for a large room with a king-size bed and were moved to a small room with a queen-size bed. That's not a good way to handle guests' concerns.

The decor and furniture in the room look like four-star quality, and the staff could easily rate five stars. But the staff aren't there all the time, the room wasn't cleaned very well, and the kitchen items and cleaning products were dirty and needed more cleaning. The whole place is noisy: we could hear our next-door neighbors talking and the people above us. Every cart in the hallway seemed to have at least one wonky wheel banging, clacking, and dragging along. The blankets weren't warm enough even though it wasn't full-on winter, so we had to keep the heater running all night, and that was noisy too. For the price, you can find better options. I don't think the current rating meets international standards, even though the hotel looks like four stars.

The studio was nice, and it’s handy for the SUBTE, a grocery store, and plenty of nearby restaurants. The kitchen was the weak spot, though. It wasn’t stocked well, and there wasn’t even a big bowl for salad. Everything else was fine.