Hotel Alborada — Hotel in Concepcion

Alborada is a small hotel in the heart of the city. The location is perfect, right on Barros Arana which is the city's main commercial street, only one block away from Plaza de Armas, and just minutes walk from the main attractions of the city such as Universidad de Concepcion, Barrio Civico and Parque Ecuador. We were able to walk everywhere! ||We stayed during a weekend and half the following week. Saturday mornings are very busy with lots of people shopping, eating out and enjoying brunch at the different cafes. Sundays are extremely quiet, almost depressing. Monday to Wednesday -the days we stayed- the city was buzzling with people. A very active downtown. ||At first we were afraid of what type of product we would encounter for such a low price when booking. We were surprised. The rooms are decent sized, well equipped, clean, bright, comfortable and quiet. The staff is friendly, attentive and with good enough English. The housekeeping lady that took care of our room during our stay always had a smile on her face. They even left tasty chocolates everyday after the daily service.||Breakfast was included in our booking. There was a good assortment of different kinds of bread (Chile is huge in bread, only second in the world after Turkey), pies and kuchens (thanks to the big German influence in southern Chile), and the typical deli products like ham and cheese. Also the basics such as butter and jam, water (we didn't know if it was tap or bottled since it was in a jar, so we didn't risk it), tea and (instant, not grain) coffee Orange juice (from concentrate) was also provided. Milk was UHT, Chile doesn't offer fresh milk at supermarkets or anywhere else. ||We had a room on the top floor (level 4). We specified in the booking that we wanted a quiet room, and we got it. Room design and decor is simple but of good taste. Way more spacious than the room we stayed in the Ibis last time we visited the city, and for less money. Just don't expect a view, Concepcion is beautiful from street level, not from a high floor. Apparently people just don't care about their aging rusty roofs. ||Wifi was good, fast and reliable. We never had a connection problem or any data limit. Basic free to air TV, no English. ||This is the place to stay if you want to experience the city....

The positives outweigh the negatives for this nice hotel in the heart of Concepcion. Although the external appearance of the hotel on a commercial street corner was unimpressive, the interior was very attractive. Our room was modern and comfortable for our group of three adults. The included breakfast was satisfying and was served in a pleasant dining area next to the elevator on the first floor. The breakfast area was connected to the main lobby by a very attractive floor-to-ceiling hedge-lined corridor.||||The location was convenient to stores, a large shopping center with food court and cinemas, and restaurants. It was a great base for us to explore the city.||||The main negative was the underground parking garage. The entrance ramp was the steepest I have ever seen (probably at least a 60 degree angle). It was fairly terrifying to descend and almost impossible to ascend. To have the power and traction to make the climb, it was necessary to back all the way up to the facing wall, floor the accelerator to begin the climb, and then slam on the brakes in front of the slowly opening door. Before we could even make that attempt, we had to endure an irritating 30 minute wait as the hotel staff struggled to locate the keys of the vehicle parked behind us that blocked us in. As it became apparent that keys could not be immediately found, the garage attendant began pushing a series of cars out of the way to minimally clear a path for me to turn my car around. The whole parking experience was bizarre and lowered my rating from Excellent to Very Good.||||I would return to the Alborada Hotel because our stay overall was very good and because the price ($74 USD) was so very reasonable. If you plan to park a car in the garage, be prepared for the unique ramp experience and be firm in expressing the need to keep your car accessible. Note that almost no one at the hotel...

Nice hotel, excellent breakfast buffet. The wifi is not reliable, and should be simplified and upgraded - they have many different routers, and the signal is not reliable, although the staff were helpful when we mentioned it. The card keys are unreliable, and we had to change our cards about 4 times during the week to get into our room. Most of the receptionists were very friendly and helpful, with two exceptions. My wife asked one if there was any gluten-free bread available for breakfast (she's gluten intolerant), and the lady claimed not to know what "gluten-free" meant, and was unhelpful. Later, another receptionist arranged for us to have gluten-free bread the following morning, which was super nice. Other receptionists were very helpful and friendly, with an exception just after midnight on Thursday 25 January. I asked for a mini bottle of espumante from the fridge by reception, and the guy on duty (wearing a hoodie) barely deigned to look up from his laptop, where he seemed to be watching a very interesting video, and grunted that I had to pay first. No smile, no friendly attitude, he immediately turned back to his laptop. This guy's attitude doesn't reflect well on the generally positive feeling we had about the Alborado! Bonito hotel, excelente desayuno buffet. El wifi no es confiable y debería simplificarse y actualizarse: tienen muchos enrutadores diferentes y la señal no es confiable, aunque el personal fue útil cuando lo mencionamos. Las llaves de las tarjetas no son confiables y tuvimos que cambiar nuestras tarjetas aproximadamente 4 veces durante la semana para poder ingresar a nuestra habitación. La mayoría de los recepcionistas fueron muy amables y serviciales, con dos excepciones. Mi esposa le preguntó a uno si había pan sin gluten disponible para el desayuno (es intolerante al gluten), y la señora afirmó no saber qué significaba "sin gluten" y no fue de ayuda. Más tarde, otra recepcionista nos organizó pan sin gluten a la mañana siguiente, lo cual fue súper agradable. Otros recepcionistas fueron muy serviciales y amables, con la excepción poco después de la medianoche del jueves 25 de enero. Pedí una mini botella de espumante de la nevera en recepción, y el chico de turno (con sudadera con capucha) apenas se dignó levantar la vista de su portátil, donde parecía estar viendo un vídeo muy interesante, y gruñó que tenía que paga primero. Sin sonrisa, sin actitud amistosa, inmediatamente volvió a su computadora portátil. ¡La actitud de este tipo no refleja bien el sentimiento generalmente positivo que teníamos sobre...