Emperador Hotel Buenos Aires — Hotel in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Location

Not the best , not the worst. Except for the location next to a very busy avenue, but more about that below.

Room

The rooms have had a soft renovation and they look appealing. They are rather large, including the bathroom with adequate lighting.

Not the cleanest room though, as the pictures of the greasy marks on the desk and the footprints of the previous guests on the floor show. So I wiped everything down. Probably the hotel will reply I could have called for that, but no, the room should be clean before the guests arrive.

Be aware, as some other guests have written in their review, that every edible or drinkable item that you encounter in this room, will be charged. Yes, even that bag of tea or powder coffee. Except on one bottle of water, this is not advertised. So I decided not to switch on the TV because before you know it, they could have charged me for that too?

The biggest issue with the room is however the incessant street noise. Even on the 7th floor, you can count every single car, moped, truck or bus that drives by while trying to rest or sleep on your bed. Day and night. My room was at the front of the hotel, right above that busy avenue. There are also rooms facing the garden at the back where you won’t face a restless stay, but there is about a 50% chance you’ll get a room at the front. Thinking you’ll simply request a room at the back? Continue reading…

Service

I have stayed several times at this hotel as my employer puts me up here (I would never stay here on a leisure base), so I was aware of the noise problem and sent an email days before arriving, requesting a room at the back of the hotel. I received a reply they would accommodate my request based on availability. Fine. However, upon arrival my colleague checked in before me and I witnessed him changing his assigned room in the front to the back, for the same obvious reason. When it was then my turn to check in, I received a room in the front and changing it to one in the back turned out to be impossible: they were out of them now. So how should we interpret this: unprofessional, incompetent, negligent, simply don’t care? It had been perfectly possible to honour my request, but it did not happen. Oh, and do not expect apologies for this obvious mess up, no no, not even getting close to admitting something went wrong here. Actually, the supervisor (I could read her job title on her name tag) simply stood next to the clerk, shuffling her papers, and pretended not to notice the entire discussion.

Breakfast

In case you would decide to go for breakfast here, expect a mediocre buffet with the exact same items every single day.

However, the biggest plus of the breakfast is the staff working there: they are the only workers in the entire hotel that actually smile, and that is in big contrast to the arrogance that seems to ooze out of every pore behind the reception. But then again, if you are working in such an incompetent environment, arrogance may have to become your shield.

Fitness

A rather warm space two floors down in the basement of the hotel. Equipment is outdated to say the least, even rusty and damaged. The pool which it looks over seems to be nice and big enough for people who like to swim their laps.

Overall

There are many better options in this beautiful city, so check those out first. The rates of the Emperador do not match the level of service or a...

I have stayed at 5* hotels around the world over many decades. Some have felt special and I’ve loved them. Others have been very good and fitting for a 5. Sadly, the Emperador Buenos Aires simply does not meet the standard of a 5 hotel. My husband and I are here for one night as required by Hurtigruten (HX) for an Antartica Expedition Cruise which leaves in the early hours of the morning. Having seen previous reviews, I booked a different hotel for our previous two nights in Buenos Aires. ||So what of the Emperador? The building, room (including cleanliness, linen and towels) are 5. The staff are warm and professional. The problems lie in the details. Allocating rooms was chaotic and late. Check in time is 3pm. We arrived at 12.30 and asked if it might be possible to have a room early. We were told they would mark it as priority and hoped it might be ready by maybe 2pm. In the event, we were told by a WhatsApp message that it was ready at 3pm. Fair enough. However, at the reception desk, they couldn’t allocate me a room. It was clear that the reception staff were doing their best in a problematic situation caused by poor management. I told the receptionist helping me that, although I could see that it was not her fault, I had never encountered such chaotic nonsense having a room allocated at any other hotel. She apologised (again, it was not her fault) and explained that Hurtigruten had a large number of guests booking in. First of all there were very few actually booking in at that time (there were just us and one other couple at the desk). Secondly, even if busy, since this is a very regular event for them and has been for years, hotel management should have smoothed out the logistics by now! I was given a room at 3.15pm. I realise that was only 15 minutes late, but the chaos behind the desk was palpable and I wonder how long I would have waited, had I not expressed (politely) my displeasure. I was told the delay was due to housekeeping releasing the rooms. Again, this has to be a management problem. If rooms can’t be made available in good time for regular block bookings, they need to employ more staff.||Then the room, it overlooked the motorway and the traffic noise was loud, surely some extra glazing is to be expected in a 5 hotel. There were no bathrobes in the room. Apparently, guests have to call down for them. When I did so, the lovely staff had them delivered immediately. There were no tissues provided in the room and weirdly, although a kettle and cups are present in the room, no coffee, tea etc is provided! The only contents of the mini bar are 4 bottles of plain water and there is no complimentary water at all in the room. Is all of this simply penny pinching?||We have not used the restaurant, but we had planned to for dinner. Again, weirdly, in my opinion, it is only open for breakfast and lunch, but not for dinner. I was told that the bar serves exactly the same food as the restaurant and that is open in the evening. I find this odd for a 5* hotel.||Its a real shame that there is not better management here. As things stand, I would not recommend this hotel as an...

Our experience at this 'five-star' hotel was deeply disappointing and far below the standards expected. The main issue stemmed from a serious miscommunication regarding the need to purchase a wedding package to allow guests into our room or even the hotel. This information was never shared with us during the booking process. In fact, we called the hotel two days prior to confirm that we would be bringing guests and were assured over the phone that it would be no problem. The staff even kept us on hold to confirm this, so we trusted their word. On the day, however, we were informed this wasn’t allowed, leaving our guests—who had traveled long distances—unable to join us. Had we been told in advance, we would have gladly purchased the required package.

The manner in which my wife was treated during this situation was unprofessional and cold. The staff showed no empathy or willingness to accommodate despite her genuine efforts to comply with the hotel's policy and purchase another package being told 'it can't be changed'. Instead, she was subjected to an unnecessary amount of paperwork, signing the same document multiple times with different staff members. Their attitude was dismissive—avoiding eye contact, sighing, and making it clear through their body language that they were uninterested in resolving the issue.

Adding to the disappointment, my mother-in-law, who is from a province in Argentina, was treated as though she didn’t belong. She was given looks that made her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, to the point where she wanted to leave. This behavior was utterly unacceptable and discriminatory. The stark contrast in treatment when I, a British citizen, arrived was appalling. No guest should be treated differently based on their nationality or background, and it is shocking that such behavior occurred in a hotel of this caliber.

When my wife raised her concerns earlier in the day, nothing was recorded or taken seriously. It was only when I addressed the issue later in the evening with a new staff member on duty that the complaint was finally noted. This highlights a complete lack of professionalism and disregard for customer concerns by the staff who initially handled the situation.

This experience was extremely disappointing. A five-star hotel should prioritize clear communication, professionalism, and respect for all guests. Unfortunately, this hotel failed on all fronts. I hope management takes this feedback seriously and implements changes to ensure no other guest has to endure such a frustrating and upsetting experience.

p.s. The room they gave us had a view of the slums where I'm sure they received their training for treatment...