Hotel Brasilia

The room was very dirty, as the photos show, and looked nothing like the pictures on the hotel's website or Booking. It was really upsetting to stay there. We even asked to have the stained sheets changed, but the replacements still had stains. Breakfast was disappointing too. The morning after I arrived, I asked for an early breakfast because I had a tour. All they gave me was a sandwich, some juice, and an orange. The walls are thin, so you can hear everything from other rooms. I wouldn't recommend staying here if you want to rest. Being there for so many nights was a huge mistake for me, and I wanted to share my experience.

The location is good, right in the city center, and the air conditioning worked well. The TV was very good too. But the overall effort felt low. The receptionist was slow and didn't speak English, and nobody helped with our bags when we arrived. The rooms had mismatched bedside tables, and the shower curtain rail was dirty. The mini market wasn't open when its posted hours said it would be. At breakfast, the knives and forks were dirty and the food was average. There was no sign to tell housekeeping not to come, so we had to ask them to leave us alone because we were checking out that morning. They still came and knocked, which was pretty disappointing.

The rooms were spacious, comfortable, and clean, and they have air conditioning. I slept fine with the window open, which isn't bad in a city this big. Staff were nice if you can speak some Spanish, and breakfast was simple. There's also a small convenience store inside. The rooftop terrace was empty, but the night view over the city was nice. It was fairly cheap, too. Don't let the location put you off: the street is even dirtier than the average Santiago street, which is saying something. On the plus side, a metro station is very close, and it's just two stops from Plaza de Armas, the city's main square.

Housekeeping left us baffled. They took the bed throw we'd removed and put a dirty replacement on the bed, swapped two pillow protectors for children's cartoon pillowcases, threw away perfectly good toiletries, and removed the bathmat without replacing it. They also draped the hand towel over the toilet. There wasn't a do-not-disturb sign. The room bore little resemblance to the photos. It was much more dated, with a strange mix of furniture and old curtains. The bed and bedding were mostly clean except for a stain. The walls were thin, and the gym in the same building was noisy. The hotel itself was hard to describe, with a dingy back street outside and a huge, eerie lobby and breakfast room that felt like an abandoned government building. Breakfast was mediocre and slow to be replenished. The check-in was, without exaggeration, the worst I've had at any hotel anywhere. We arrived and were told to wait while the receptionist dealt with another guest who wasn't there. Ten minutes later, the guest returned, apparently after going out to get money. The payment process dragged on, with her leaving and coming back at least twice more. The receptionist never offered to check us in while she was gone. We waited 25 minutes before anyone dealt with us, and that was excruciatingly slow too. No seat, drink, or apology was offered.