Marsal Hotel — Hotel in Antofagasta

The Marsal Hotel itself is not bad, though it is expensive for what you get. A double in February 2012 was 42,000 Chilean Pesos per night. But that is not my issue with the hotel. They cheated us on our laundry. They charged us 40,000 Chilean Pesos ($84.00) for one load of laundry. (2 pairs light weight pants, 2 pairs shorts, 8 shirts, 15 socks and undies) We asked for laundry service and were told they had it available. When we asked for a price, they were vague and said it was by the piece. Unfortunately we did not press for a firm price. We were told we would have it back the next day at 12 noon. It did not arrive. We were leaving the following day, and told them we must have it by 10 the next morning. It did not arrive. It finally arrived after 11 and we were very rushed to make our bus. They knew we were in a hurry and showed us an itemized bill for 40,000 pesos. We questioned it, and they said that was the charge. Bottom line is they knew we were leaving and they intentionally pushed it to the last minute so we would not have time to figure out how to handle their obviously doctored bill for the laundry. Be warned...

We booked this hotel because of a positive review in one of the Chile guide books, which described the hotel rooms as clean, big and nicely decorated with bright colours. To our disgust it was one of the worst hotels that we have stayed at in all our travels over five continents, many countries during two years of travels. The beds were dirty, black hairs everywhere, the bathroom had not been cleaned, the cups had stains, the towels were dirty, the couch looked like it had just been delivered from a chicken farm, covered with feathers and dirt. The carpets were so bad we never took our shoes off. Breakfast selection was bread and jam and service was lackluster and poor. The hotel construction looked very poor, cracks, dirt and poor paint jobs throughout. The location was up the hill from the centre of town, about a 10 minute walk. The wireless internet could only be used in the lobby, and the hotel did not have a computer available...

Having read the previous reviews, I chose this hotel with some misgivings and only because a couple of my other choices were full. Maybe it has been refurbished since the last reviewers visited it; anyway I could see nothing wrong with it except it was a bit expensive for budget travellers. The service was courteous, the room was clean, comfortable and airy, and the breakfast was good. The only slight complaint was street noise, but those multi-tone car alarms are so widespread in Chile that you would have to go to the middle of the Salar de Atacama...