Sheraton Santiago Hotel and Convention Center

The city views are great, and it's quiet, but getting there by public transport with luggage isn't easy. We wouldn't make a special trip to stay here again. It could work for a night or two if you need to be in this area, though tourists can find much better choices elsewhere in the city. And now, at 9:30pm, they're playing music so loudly we can't sleep. The bed and pillows were okay. Wi-Fi was generally good for the social media and website browsing we did, but the room wasn't very clean, and beyond the lobby the hotel looked dirty and poorly maintained. The bathroom water was only lukewarm, with no hot water, and the air conditioning didn't work. The TV also can't run Netflix or similar services. The cleaning lady came into our room after we asked her not to. My girlfriend was asleep naked, so that really left a bad feeling.

Providencia was a lovely, leafy area and easy to explore on foot. We felt safe, and I even did a five-mile loop jog alone and felt secure the whole time. We didn't need an Uber during our four days there. The large outdoor pool is a real plus, though the water was freezing. I just dipped in now and then to cool off between sunbathing and reading. The fitness room was decent for this kind of hotel, with plenty of free weights and machines, including leg press and treadmills, but no stair stepper. We didn't eat at the hotel since the food looked very overpriced and the restaurants weren't highly rated. Laundry was crazy expensive too, though we found other options.

The good parts were the breakfast, a lovely receptionist when we checked in early, and the location near parque metropolitano. That's about all that kept me from giving this badly run hotel a 1. We couldn't wait to leave. The cleanliness was awful. I had to ask several times for dirty dishes left by other guests to be removed from a table by the pool, and eventually we cleaned it ourselves. The pool and the carpet on our floor also didn't seem to get cleaned regularly. The restaurant next to the lobby served cold fries and an aubergine strudel that looked like nothing in particular and tasted unpleasant. At El Cid, staff kept pushing the most expensive menu items. The food was average, and the jazzy easy-listening music got grating. The concierge service was no help. I needed assistance chasing up a bus reservation, but they bluntly said they couldn't call the bus company because it was an “external company.” On Christmas Eve, they sent us to the city center for dinner even though all the restaurants had closed by 18:00. Any hostel in Santiago would have known that. What's the point of the concierge? There's clearly a serious management and training problem here.

Our room on the 14th floor had a lovely view over part of the city, and the hotel itself was beautiful. Breakfast was fine, but the queue was long and the choices felt pretty standard. Still, it was a good stay in Santiago.