Radisson Hotel Santa Cruz — Hotel in Municipio Porongo (Ayacucho)

In an international hotel chain called Radisson, which is located all around the world, you would at the very least except a person at the reception with at least basic English language knowledge. Unfortunately, I must disappoint you - this hotel doesn’t provide such “luxury” as English-speaking personnel — you will be obliged to either explain yourself in Spanish or, if you’re lucky enough, through an intermediary - a waitress from the restaurant.

So, I have booked an executive king size room. With no other choice and no other options, I was given a standard room. I have booked a room for two - yet, the amenities and towels in the bathroom were for just one person, considering at the check-in desk there was a bit more than one of us. Also, regarding the checkin process — note to the staff, if you didn’t know this before — it is not at all normal when a person leaves with your only form of identification when you’re abroad - your passport.

Next up - the restaurant.

I have ordered their national dish duck legs, expecting to try it how they make it here in Bolivia. With an enormous surprise and with no warnings or notifications from anyone I was brought a boiled chicken dish with rice. I can’t believe that they would seriously consider that I wouldn’t notice the difference between chicken and duck 😐 but okay. Next dish - the only soup available in the menu, I think it was called the peanut soup. I can’t really describe the taste, but I guess that’s what boiled car tires with pasta taste like. Also, the meat in the soup wasn’t boiled or cooked in any way — I almost threw up. May I remind you, it is promoted and is shown as a 5 star hotel.

Swimming pool and the terrace at the 9th floor.

There’s no service available at all - no bar, no food service, no towels, etc. Very windy, the view lies on the yet unbuilt Bolivian skyscrapers. The place where there’s supposed to be a rooftop bar - there is only a sad looking security guy. The pool is a nice touch. If it’s 35°C outside like it was during my stay, expect around 16°C temperature of the water in the pool. And yes, picture #1 depicts the unmatched quality of sunbeds.

Internet connection.

In 2023, where there are many advanced solutions for slow internet speeds, like let’s say Starlink, which can be used and was personally used by me in many hotels across South America. But in a “5-star” hotel, there is only hope for the better. If you expect to get some work done - I have bad news for you. The only thing you could do is to send some emails, to my surprise I succeeded at that, but not a thing except for it. The WiFi here is strongly unreliable. My best Speedtest result was 6 mbps up and 4 mbps down. Again, in 2023, in a huge city filled with skyscrapers and with 5G providers.

The breakfast.

It can be seen in the attachment, picture #2. Only choice of proper meals is rather limited to just two: pancakes and scrambled eggs. Yes, in a 5-star hotel. Although I am having some doubts about that.

The rest is offered with an extra-pay, as seen on picture #3.

To sum up:

I do not recommend this hotel to anyone, except for truck drivers, who drive through this godforsaken location. Judging by the cost and quality factor it matches perfectly - to spend the night and forget about it like a simple nightmare, that’s how I would describe the stay at this hotel.

P.S. EVERYTHING said above was said directly to the staff at first. The only action taken about all the problems by the staff was the brought towels after about 2 hours after check in.

Please think twice (or more) before considering...

Stayed at the Radisson Hotel Santa Cruz for three weeks in december 2022 while visiting family. ||The hotel is situated in Urubo just outside Santa Cruz. A perfect location for us, as our family lives in Urubu, but if visiting Santa Cruz as a tourist, do note that the hotel is at the outskirts of the city. ||We stayed in a king bed room, which was pretty standard. Individually adjusted a/c, a small desk, big bathroom and wooden flooring. The TV had cable with many channels, and for most of them the language could be changed to English which was a plus for us. No smart TV, Chromcast or the like. The bed was nice and soft, which is nice as beds for some reason in Bolivia tends to be quite hard for my taste. ||The hotel is a pretty classic business hotel, and the rooftop pool is nice, and was not crowded during our stay.||The hotel however tends to have parties on the rooftop on 9th floor where the pool is located. When we were here, it seemed to be every weekend. The music from here will get loud, and as we were staying at the 8th floor it was impossible to sleep, even with earplugs. We contacted the reception, but the hotel was full, and only the day after we were able to move down to the 4th floor. On this floor, you can still hear the music, but it is tolerable. One of the most important things about a hotel stay is a good nights rest, and the hotel totally failed here for us.||The service is friendly but slow, and it seems they are understaffed. Many days the room service would remove our towels, but only leave one new (we were two staying in the room). Calling the reception to have another sent up took a long time, if it even arrived. Same experience at the pool, there were most days no pool towels, and it could take an hour form them to get some towels, having to ask over and over again.||The breakfast is very nice, I would say standard for this class of hotels in South America. Plenty of fresh fruit, pancakes, bread, cakes, cereals and yogurt, as well as an egg and omelet station, where the staff would prepare eggs or omelets to your liking. ||We used the gym in the morning, which was functioning well and equipped with most things you will need. It is not very bit, so it can quite quickly get crowded. Only one bike and one stepper, which both are quite popular. ||All in all a nice hotel, but the high music and slow service draws down. I could choose to stay here again, but that would mainly be because of the close location to my family, and the...

Stayed at the Radisson Hotel Santa Cruz for three weeks in december 2022 while visiting family.

The hotel is situated in Urubo just outside Santa Cruz. A perfect location for us, as our family lives in Urubu, but if visiting Santa Cruz as a tourist, do note that the hotel is at the outskirts of the city.

We stayed in a king bed room, which was pretty standard. Individually adjusted a/c, a small desk, big bathroom and wooden flooring. The TV had cable with many channels, and for most of them the language could be changed to English which was a plus for us. No smart TV, Chromcast or the like. The bed was nice and soft, which is nice as beds for some reason in Bolivia tends to be quite hard for my taste.

The hotel is a pretty classic business hotel, and the rooftop pool is nice, and was not crowded during our stay.

The hotel however tends to have parties on the rooftop on 9th floor where the pool is located. When we were here, it seemed to be every weekend. The music from here will get loud, and as we were staying at the 8th floor it was impossible to sleep, even with earplugs. We contacted the reception, but the hotel was full, and only the day after we were able to move down to the 4th floor. On this floor, you can still hear the music, but it is tolerable. One of the most important things about a hotel stay is a good nights rest, and the hotel totally failed here for us.

The service is friendly but slow, and it seems they are understaffed. Many days the room service would remove our towels, but only leave one new (we were two staying in the room). Calling the reception to have another sent up took a long time, if it even arrived. Same experience at the pool, there were most days no pool towels, and it could take an hour form them to get some towels, having to ask over and over again.

The breakfast is very nice, I would say standard for this class of hotels in South America. Plenty of fresh fruit, pancakes, bread, cakes, cereals and yogurt, as well as an egg and omelet station, where the staff would prepare eggs or omelets to your liking.

We used the gym in the morning, which was functioning well and equipped with most things you will need. It is not very bit, so it can quite quickly get crowded. Only one bike and one stepper, which both are quite popular.

All in all a nice hotel, but the high music and slow service draws down. I could choose to stay here again, but that would mainly be because of the close location to my family, and the...