Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt Buenos Aires — Hotel in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Pains me to write this since we were really looking forward to stay in the hotel.

I looked at the price the last week of 2023 and it was between 1300USD and 1500USD per night. I booked two rooms with Hyatt points but at this price point I expected a lot - the hotel missed the mark.

We arrived to the hotel with our suitcases in an uber and the hotel is beautiful. It looks like a palace and it had about a dozen steps to get to the entrance. Surprisingly there was nobody there to help with our suitcases so we had to carry them up to the top ourselves.

When we checked in, the room was clean but at this price point, nothing spectacular. Single vanity and barely any closet space so we lived out of our suitcases which did not have a clear place to sit. They ended up on the table and on the chair. I understand there is some room variation but the area to hang clothes was significantly larger in the second room I reserved for my brother than than the one I stayed in. You can see from uploaded pictures the variation. Mine has an area for the safe taking up hanging space while my brother's safe is in a different area altogether.

The water temperature was interesting. You are bathing and all of a sudden it drops to cold then gets scorching hot. Same thing happened when washing hands. At one point it felt like my hands would get burnt. I quickly learned that when I felt cold, move my hands for a few seconds from the faucet to let the temperature get hot and normalize once again.

I was also surprised that there was no outlet on one side of the bed. One side has an alarm clock with USB outlets so you can charge the phone. The other side has a lamp plugged in and no other outlets. This means you cannot have your phone charging near you overnight unless you bring a portable charger.

All of the above I would have let go but the next issue was a doozy. We like sleep at around 67F/19.5C. The air conditioner was set at 22 so we changed it to 18 to cool the room down. I wasn't sure if it needed extra time to cool or if it was broken. It was loud and it did not cool whether we set the fan to auto or to high. After the first night, I went down to let the front desk know. I received a nice message that the AC unit was fixed and no further action was required. I took them at their word. The next morning, I realized it was not fixed. After the second night, I went to the front desk to speak with the manager who said it would be taken care of. We got back to the room late that night and found that it was set to 16C/61F. That was their fix! Of course this did nothing and again the room was warm all night. After the third night, I spoke to the manager again. He assured me he would take care of it. Fast forward to the afternoon, I get a message that it cannot be fixed and they can offer to switch me to another room. Seeing as we could not sleep well for three nights, we took them up on it but half our nights were already spent not sleeping well.

The biggest issue I have with this is being led on and lied to about the repair. That day was very inconvenient for us to switch as we were between a tour and a dinner reservation where other members in our group would be waiting for us. Had they acknowledged it on day one, we had more time and could have enjoyed sleeping comfortably for the remainder of our trip.

The other room also had issues with their AC but not as bad.

At this price point, I think basic expectations are clean rooms, working air conditioners and quick problem resolution. The resolution time at the hotel left us...

After staying at Four Seasons Buenos Aires, I feel like I am able to make a very good comparison of the two properties! Upon arrival to the Park Hyatt, our friends were immediately told we were not able to drive into the driveway to be dropped off. The guards just assumed friends of ours were eating at one of their restaurants and turned us away without asking, they were extreme unfriendly, not a very good first impression!

Next, they allowed us to struggle to get our bags out of the cars, while they watched and waited for us to bring them to the front, unlike Four Seasons where we never touched our bags from the moment we pulled into the driveway. They never directed us where to go and so we had to ask where check in was, unlike Four Seasons where they had asked what time we were checking in and anticipated our arrival and then impressively welcomed us by name, including my children who were acknowledged and offered water and drinks during the check in process, all of which never happened at Park Hyatt. I am a Globalist and spend over 60 nights in Hyatt properties and I do have to recognize that we arrived at Park Hyatt around 9 am and they had 1 out of the 2 of our rooms ready which was very nice of them to accommodate us prior to the regular check in time. They did also put in a rollaway for my son which was a nice touch, but did not do much extra to ensure our stay was a great one. The location is great as they are located close to coffee shops, a small mall with a food court, and in a very nice, safe neighborhood.

We explored on our own, but the worst part of our experience was that I left my wallet in the safe and checked out and flew domestically somewhere else. The hotel NEVER called to alert me that my belongings may be in the safe and when I made arrangements with them to have a friend pick up the wallet and gave her permission via email with her DNI number as she is an Argentine citizen and surgeon there, they assured me my wallet was in the safe and they would have her go in with them to retrieve it. Upon arrival, she was told, head of security took out the wallet and locked it in another safe and walked away and after a full day in surgery and standing there arguing with them for an hour that they had promised her she would be able to get the wallet for me, they DENIED access and said she would have to return the next day which she was not able to do. Being such a top level hotel in the country, this is highly disappointing as getting someone to go fetch my items was difficult, especially since she lives an hour out of the city. They also charged me VAT of 21% which foreigners are exempt to and I had to be diligent, take matters into my own hands and make sure that I spoke to them to get it removed, lots of details missed, mistakes made, a totally different level of service, care and concern than Four Seasons, and they were the same price to stay at. They could definitely take a lot of pointers from the Four Seasons of the level of service they should be...

Truly disappointed with my stay here. First time at a Park Hyatt location hoping to discover more properties in the future but this experience turned me off to the brand. I had spent 125k points on a 5 day stay and severely regret it. This was furthest from a 5 star hotel experience.

Design: I thought I was going to stay in a palace, but the thing is half the hotel is a new addition. The photos online are of like three rooms in the main palace section. The room we stayed in was so stale, it lacked character. I loved the size and big bathtub, but the floors had scratches and the moulding was coming off (see pictures). There should be more seating. I hate non branded amenities in bathrooms and the bar soaps. The products which my sister used said they were terrible. I have stayed at cheaper hotels that offer large refillable brand name products (from body lotion to oils, to room sprays), this is just unacceptable. I also hate using bar soap as hand soap. The beds were comfortable but the showers would go from hot to cold for no reason. You can't adjust the AC temperature either, it's set to 19C but felt very warm. AC system was also very loud.

Service: Severely lacking. I informed them I'd be arriving early and no effort was made to have our room ready. Every day there was an event that would close down part of the hotel and the employees seemed more interested in setting those up than catering to guests. I once waited at reception to ask a question being ignored by two employees because a wealthy looking older couple was more important, I left after couple minutes standing there like an idiot. When checking out I had to carry my suitcase down the stairs... at the restaurants waiters barely spoke English and service was so slow. At the Duhau restaurant the waiter actually asked for a tip in cash (despite barely catering to us). Housekeeping was the only positive, they were amazing and so meticulous.

Food: We had breakfast that was ala carte which was very good but small portions. We also had lunch at Gioia (their vegan restaurant) which was very good to my surprise. We had lunch on day at the Piano bar and for $24 I got the most sad looking club sandwich I ever saw (attaching photos). I am not one to send food back but I should have. Finally we had dinner at Duhau their "Michelin guide" restaurant, terribly overpriced. I ordered prawns and creamy rice I got 3 sad looking prawns and fish (which was not in the description).

Pool and gym were nice (gym small but never busy) and the girls working there were very nice. There is a sauna (that seems to turn off randomly) and a hot tub. We spent most of our time here.

There are really no excuses for the lack of service at this establishment. The pricing ranges from $900-1k/night and that is just appalling. This hotel is more in line with $200-300/night service/quality. Very disappointed and will not recommend this hotel to anyone. Edited...