InterContinental Buenos Aires by IHG — Hotel in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Intercontinental Buenos Aires looked at first attractive and exciting.  Gradually, however, the minuses started to add up:

The location is not terrible, but not good either.  It is in the middle of a pretty dead area (low end unused commercial buildings).  One needs to walk quite a few blocks or take taxi to get to more interesting areas.

The lobby is very nice, the room is average.- The service is quite uneven and we had a sufficient number of pretty bad experiences that decreased our excitement with the hotel and actually ruined a portion of our stay in Buenos Aires.

       We flew all night and at 10:30 am Nicolas, who checked us in, promised a room "soon" and told that he would let us know when room is available. Nicolas never came.  My wife waited in a terribly air-conditioned area for 3 hours, which resulted in her being very sick for 2 days (to a degree of not being able to go anywhere) and moderately sick for many more days.

         Even though both of us are Diamond members, we know that upgrades are random.  We received, however, an email (before arrival) that we were upgraded, but surprisingly we were put in the absolutely smallest room on the floor, while being told that it was an upgrade.  It was not the end of bad news.

      The bed sheets looked "unappealing:" they were washed, but had blood stains.  We were too exhausted to complain.

      Also, after the first night, we realized that the bed had a huge dip in the middle, causing difficulty sleeping.  Next day, after we complained about the mattress, it was quickly replaced.  The replacement was a used mattress -- that is expected (we tried not to see how stained it was).  However, after the second night we realized that we again could not sleep: the replaced mattress was even worse: very high in the middle and lower on both sides and both of us were falling to the outside of the bed (opposite sides). Another night that left us tired.

   Since my wife got sick while waiting for the room, the first evening we tried to eat in the hotel restaurant, "Chez Bertrand."  We were happy that they had a number of soups.  We double-checked in advance that indeed the soups were offered.  10+ minutes after placing an order we learned that they cannot cook any soups that evening.  We, therefore, ordered pizza and salmon.  Both were saturated in oil and butter.  It was impossible to digest them and I ended up with stomach aches after this fat extravaganza (while falling off from the uneven mattress).

When later we moved to another hotel in Montevideo and then to Park Tower Buenos Aires, we eventually could sleep well and start recovering.

The only positive was the inside swimming pool: heated, reasonable length.

Maybe others have a better luck, but it was not a good experience for us and we would not stay in this hotel again.  By the way: do not trust whatever Nicolas in the front...

I do not recommend this hotel. This hotel has not been a five star hotel in a long time. The outside of the building is good. The lobby area is grand and old fashion palace style. The bar is adequate. The service is overall polite and professional. The wifi works fine. The hotel and the rooms are clean and cleaned regularly. The beds are comfortable and the amenities are standard BUT do not expect much more. If you need 4 or 5 stars reception and service, do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else. First we had emailed a month in advance to enquiry about an early check in as we were arriving from NYC. The email clearly stayed that it should be no problem and they would do their best. Upon arriving, Mrs. V. , assistant manager on duty simply ignore it, indicated she had no information and it was not her problem. Showing her the email didn’t help. She made 0 effort and just became combative. She would not even call us if a room would become available… She has been the least helpful and unfriendly person we have met in Argentina. We are in low season with low occupancy. This is just wrong. We got the room at 3.50pm… 10 min before check in time. Now the room: you could not see through half the window due to bad old windows. The bathroom dated before 1970. Rust was everywhere! The shower head must not have been replaced since the origine. It was molded and kept on breaking in piece more and more through our stay giving a very strange water ballet. The bath tub didn’t have the necessary equipment to be closed and take a bath. There was only one bathrobe. There was an ironing board but no iron. I’m platinum and ambassador with IHG. We were only notified at check out we had a 20$ credit to be used. No acknowledgment at check in. We were 2 guests and we were offered just 1 drink total as “welcome bonus”. Our tv was not setup (not even the time and date). The channels were extremely limited and were not matching the guide on the nightstand. None of these issues were resolved or attempted to be resolved during our stay. UPDATE: At the light of the quality of beds, pillows, the air dryer and infrastructure we have encountered in small hotels in the northwest, this hotel is...

My husband and I stayed at the Intercontinental Buenos Aires on November 30, 2024. I hold IHG Silver Elite status. Here's a summary of our experience there, which was completely unacceptable:

Upon check-in we were told a room would not be ready until approximately 5pm; therefore, we had to wait until that time to check-in. Note: This hotel's listed check-in time is 4pm. The hotel offered to take our luggage for us and secure it while we waited for a room.

At approximately 5pm, we again requested check-in and were told a room would not be ready until approximately 6pm so we could not check in at that time. The hotel set up snacks in a separate room, ostensibly to keep us occupied and remove us from the front desk area.

At approximately 6pm, we were told a room was still not ready and we should check back at approximately 7pm. The hotel set up a Flamingo Dance demonstration and lesson in the separate room that contained the snacks, again ostensibly to keep us occupied and removed from the front desk area.

At approximately 9:30pm when we went to retrieve our luggage, we found it pushed against a wall in a back hallway with no hotel personnel securing our luggage. We were fortunate our luggage wasn't stolen or tampered with. Shame on Intercontinental Buenos Aires for assuring us they would secure our luggage as we waited hours after posted check-in before we received a room and then leaving our bags unattended in a back hallway. Absolutely horrible and unacceptable experience!

We understand from others in our group that the reason our rooms were not ready when they were supposed to be is that the hotel allowed a professional soccer team to overstay and not check out of their rooms until late in the day, even though the hotel booked those rooms for other guests that the hotel knew were arriving on November 30th. Absolutely unacceptable and...