Awasi Mendoza — Hotel in Mendoza

I was incredibly excited for our visit to Cavas Wine Hotel at the tail end of a 10 day trip to Argentina. Overall, the setting is beautiful! So many great things about the hotel, you really can't beat the setting and we would likely return so take the complaints as constructive criticism. They were generous with wine and food. The Sommelier was amazing and a fantastic teacher and I highly recommend the hotel tasting if you are new to wine tasting. The Tango show was lovely and just the right length and the outdoor setting was beautiful, the food and drink was generous. The staff and the manager were present and very eager to please. ||There were a few things that did not quite hit the mark, particularly after our recent stay in the Belmond in Brazil at a similar price point (about $1000/night) which for Argentina is very expensive. The first night after a long day of travel our casita did not have hot water for the shower. I could not shower the day I arrived before the tango show/asado. I would consider that a pretty big deal for a hotel that is charging $1000 US/night. I was actually a little embarrassed showing up to dinner not having been able to refresh for over 24 hours when everyone else was dressed to the 9s. I received a half hearted apology but nothing else, no alternative plan. ||The rooms are great and spacious. A casita with a roof deck and fireplace (which we did not use). Small complaints: the outdoor pillows were all pretty dirty and could use a wash or refresh. No hot water the first night as above. The dipping pool is a great feature but would be over the top if it was heated (big ask I realize, but again just mentioning because it was pretty cold to get into even on an 80 degree day). Again, not a huge deal because we are early risers but make note that room 5/6 are right by the garden and the workers seem to be in the area early so it was a tiny bit noisy in the morning if you want to sleep in. ||The Asado was good but not great. Plenty of food but the steak was a bit overcooked. There is goat and pork on the menu for those who don't eat those particular meats... a heads up. Still a great value for the meal, and again setting was perfect. ||My biggest complaint was that planning activities prior to arrival was fairly difficult. Although they were able to make reservations for several vineyards, they made them all for the same day even though we were there for 2 days. I don't know what human could eat an entire tasting menu at Quimera for lunch and then Angelica for dinner, so there was a lot of back and forth to try to get a reasonable schedule for the vineyards. ||Also, the first night (the no hot water night) we were given 3 different times for the Tango show - our itinerary said 8pm but then the concierge at check in said 7:30pm, then he said 7pm on Whatsapp so we rushed over as to not miss the show and it didn't really start until closer to 8pm which was a bit annoying. ||I'd say my biggest pet peeve was the transportation costs which really border on outrageous. We took a city cab from the airport which was a completely fine trip and the driver was lovely at a cost of $23 US. The driver from the company CAVA contracts with (Safari wine tours) was lovely but the prices really are train robbery relative to the rest of the country. $60 for an airport transfer. We visited one vineyard for a tasting 15 minutes away for one hour and went to dinner at Angelica for 2 hours (also 15 minutes away) and the company charged $180. So about $45/hour. ||When I asked the concierge there were no alternatives offered and they actually made me feel badly when I inquired about taxi transfer (vs. private service) back to Mendoza. At check in they basically told me there were not alternatives, but it turns out they can call a taxi they just don't want to. I'm happy to spend money when there is a higher level of service but it is literally a car ride (not a tour) - I'm not sure why we would pay $60 over $26. As I walked away from the concierge desk I overhead her talking to the Safari Tours person about me in Spanish which was incredibly uncomfortable. ||The answer to why I shouldn't use a taxi driver was that they don't speak English. They also said they had bad experiences with cars breaking down. I don't really know if that is enough to justify triple the cost. It starts to feel like you are being forced to use way overpriced transportation services. Makes you start to feel kind of trapped there unless you have your own means of transportation. And I was made to feel a bit uncomfortable for even questioning it. ||Again, beautiful, beautiful setting but would benefit from some reasonably priced transportation alternatives, particularly if you are just getting a ride (not a tour), a car is a car. ||Despite those details, I'd likely return but do a bit more homework to find a way to make my own arrangements for my day activiites and...

I would NEVER RECOMMEND CAVAS! AND TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE THEY NEVER REFUNDED ME FOR MY RESERVATION AFTER THEY PUT ME IN A MAJOR SAFETY CONCERN. IN A SHORT EXPLANTATION THEY SENT A MAN TO PICK US UP TO DO A WINE TOUR ON WAY TO CHECK IN TO HOTEL THAT LOOKED LIKE WAS ON A DRUG BENDER THE NIGHT BEFORE AND SLURRING HIS WORDS. THE VEHICLE WAS A TINY LITTLE CAR WITH DENTS. WE DID NOT FEEL SAFE TRAVELING TO OR STAYING AT HOTEL. THEY REFUSE TO REFUND US. STILL WANTING A REFUND. I BOOKED THIS HOTEL THROUGH SWOOP WHO ALSO REFUSES TO GIVE A REFUND.

In summary we were traveling throughout South America for my 40th birthday. The last segment of our trip was suppose to be traveling into wine country in Mendoza to Cavas hotel. We were suppose to arrive at the hotel on Sunday February 10th and check out on Tuesday February 13th. This hotel is considered a luxury hotel at close to 2k per night. We also had pre paid travel expenses on way back. Due to an extreme safety concern and the hotel making us feel incredibly uncomfortable we cancelled our stay.

The night before arrival we were contacted at 10 pm by Cavas the hotel that Swoop booked for us and recommended. Cavas was suppose to pick us up and take us on a luxury wine tour the next morning at 8 am and then take us after to the hotel to check in. Cavas seemed to have zero idea of what was going on the next day, did not know what time we were checking in after they arranged this and also changed all the times of the wine tours (again 10pm night before). We thought it was incredibly strange and unorganized but just tried to make the best of it. The next day a dented up small little car shows up. Our luggage didn’t even fit in the car. We called the hotel to try to remedy this and they suggested to send a truck to take our luggage separate and to go with this driver. The driver looked like he was on a drug bender and didn’t sleep night before and was slurring his words. Normally for a wine tour at a hotel that is charging close to 2k per night you get a nice professional SUV or van and a professional driver. This was so absurd and we felt not comfortable and not safe. There was no way we were going to leave our luggage with some random truck in a foreign country and go with this driver. Additionally, the driver had no professional tag, clothing, ect. By the time all this had happened and we went back and forth with hotel we already lost half our day and more so our confidence in going to this hotel. We learned upon a google search while this was all happening that there were recent highway robberies in this area and this specific hotel was robbed by armed robbery several times a while back. Nevertheless, if a proper solution had been presented in a timely fashion would have gone to this hotel. Swoop had been extremely difficult to reach the entire trip and was difficult to reach that day as well. We were not going to risk driving with a drunk driver, or possibly set up to be robbed or kidnapped. We also would have spent the entire day of our only 2 days there figuring this out and missing the whole reason we went to Mendoza and the main point is after all of this we lost trust attending this hotel.

We had to incur further expenses of having to re-route our entire trip back, waste an entire day in the airport and my husband missed super bowl Sunday having to leave reluctantly early. It was a total disaster. This but a damper on our...

Martin and Team, Please do not mislead the public - We are very clear that it was Cecilia that said it was my pregnancy that caused me to be sensitive FIRST before my husband reacted and he DID NOT yell. Obviously he got upset that your wife brought up my pregnancy. It was a disrespect from your wife to me first therefore please get your facts right. Like you mentioned, there is a video to as evidence so please do not mislead the public here as it was your wife that disrespected me and my pregnancy in the first place and it is only right that we defended ourselves. If you really treat this as your home you would welcome feedback instead of bragging. Also I need to be clear that she did not mentioned about being blessed. She was coming from the angle that because she had 100,000 guests, our feedback doesn’t matter.

Initial post: I rarely post reviews but this time around, my husband and I were treated so horribly by the owners of Cavas Wine Lodge that I felt I needed everyone out there to know their true colours... It was our honeymoon and we were excited and looking forward to staying there. My husband had informed the hotel in advance that I do not eat beef and that I am pregnant, therefore I could only do the bike tour if the roads were flat. The hotel replied and said they would offer me something else for the tango night/bbq dinner that we booked. Then the following happened during our stay:- During the bbq dinner, there was no separate menu for me when the main courses were only beef. One would expect if you were paying USD135 for a dinner, your dietary restrictions would be adhered to but no. After bringing this up to Cecilia, she said they missed this out and she got her chef to make some dry chicken empanadas and salty salmon. The following day, we smelled smoke in our room. It was charcoal like and we were concerned due to my pregnancy as the smell was very strong. We then called the concierge and they changed rooms for us. That night while having dinner, Cecilia the owner came to speak with us. We gave her the above feedback and she took it very negatively. She told me that I could be SENSITIVE due to my PREGNANCY and that really made me angry. No pregnant woman should be told such thing, especially when you are a guest at a “five star” hotel. She also said she could not deal with our complains anymore and that we are not a right fit. She also asked us if we have ever ran a company (direct insult) and then she bragged about having 100,000 guests stayed there before. Please, if you are reading this, help to put a stop to their arrogance and discrimination!!! Virginia the concierge also misrepresented time and time again and told us that the bike tour we were booked on was flat but the route was in fact filled with many up slopes and down slopes, which did not make me feel comfortable doing the ride. We checked out after one night and demanded that the hotel returned our deposit but they refused to. Martin also said it will be our words vs his words. This is not how the hospitality business should be. Please do not allow Martin and Cecilia to continue their discrimination and arrogance towards their guests and give Mendoza’s tourism a bad...