The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago — Hotel in Las Condes

We traveled to Chile as part of our Antarctic trip with Silversea . The hotel of choice recommended by the Cruise company for pre cruise accommodation was the Ritz Carlton Hotel. ||We spent 3 nights Feb 19 -21 . ||Our flight into Santiago was uneventful , but the trip from the Airport to Hotel was a nightmare . Our reservation for Private transport was cancelled whilst in the air, by Getyour guide for reasons we never understood , and despite our payment been secured . ( they did reimburse us) |we only became aware our Private transport had been cancelled upon arrival . |Not speaking Spanish , we were trying to find alternative chauffeur-driven transport . when a friendly , English speaking gent with a sign round his neck , offered to help and in minutes had secured a chauffeured BMW at an agreed price . |after 30 minutes travel , the driver suddenly stopped in a rough looking part of town, dropped the passenger window and a gruff personality with a covid type mask , took over demanding credit cards and Pins which he then disappeared with . |We were obviously vulnerable and helpless to do anything . The masked character returned , threw the cards back and the driver drove off and thankfully , took us to the hotel outskirts. |Not surprisingly , by this time our cards had been maxed out . ||Booking in to the hotel , under much emotional distress , we shared our experience with the front desk, the conscierge as well as the bell boys .|| we expected that the manager would contact us , provide assistance with police, validating our experience , assist us with acquiring much needed money , and address our ragged emotions. | |We heard nothing throughout the next 3 days, as we contacted our banks,visited disinterested police , cancelled cards etc |I phoned the front desk on a number of occasions to talk to the Hotel Manager , visited the desk in person with a similar request , but he was always "too busy" and would call back . |Nothing happened . | Finally, with one night to go, I again spoke to the conscierge who was familiar with our experience , and he promised us he would ensure the manager contacted us . |Nothing. Not a message , no phone call , no visit . | when we checked out , and again requested an audience with him , once again he couldn't be located . . | It was impossible for him not to be aware of our experience . Not once did he show the courtesy of engaging - as a Chilean citizen ,or as manager of the Hotel we were staying in . ||Silversea had a totally different approach and went out of their way to engage , assist and generally demonstrate professionalism and empathy above expectations.||A fellow passenger had experienced a similar one to ours, so I conclude this is extortion and kidnapping is common in Santiago .| |One would imagine a Hotel of this standing should be hugely sensitive to these risks to their guests and any reports like this would be urgently relayed to senior management ??|I can only question whether this manger's attitude represents Ritz Carlton style . We suffered financial losses, and emotional stress , but it could so easily have had far more severe outcomes, as we were held hostage as they emptied our accounts. ||It was a desperate and unhappy 3 days . I hope Silversea is seriously questioning its business relationship with the...

Terrible service from about 1/4 of their staff. Don’t get me wrong, our check-in staff, breakfast waiter (on the first morning - not the second), and spa staff were excellent. But a number of staff members are so unprofessional that you will not feel welcome.

To provide one of many examples, at the pool we ordered a glass of wine and, after we told the staff member that the glass was very dirty, he brought another glass and poured the wine from the filthy (it had food stuck inside it) glass directly into the new glass, rather than just give us a new glass of wine. When I told him we wanted a new glass without wine from the dirty glass he was offended.

Another example is from breakfast–every day we were told our breakfast was included, but when we checked out of the hotel we learned for the first time that we had been charged because the reservation was only for one person. I understand the mistake, and have no problem paying for breakfast, but it is wrong to tell me that the breakfast is included each time we go to breakfast and only spring the bill on me days later. They clearly realized the mistake before we ate breakfast because one morning we arrived for breakfast and treated us with extreme suspicion when we told them we were two people from room 608.

Yet another of many examples is our checkout process. At 0945 our last day, a staff member came to our room as we were packing, demanded to know if we had taken anything from the minibar, and then told us we had to check out that day. Again, at checkout, after the staff sprung on us the unexpected breakfast charge (which they knew we were not expecting because they only brought the breakfast charge to our attention and not our many other charges), they again asked us if we took anything from the minibar. Then, two days later, they sent me an email with a $5 charge for a snack from the minibar. We never took anything from the minibar and would have no problem paying five bucks if we had. Worse though was the suspicion and lack of professionalism they treated us with. Rude!

I have stayed at many Ritz Carlton hotels as well as many other luxury brands such as Peninsula, Belmond, Cheval Blanc, and more. This was the most unprofessional treatment I have received at a luxury hotel. Let me be clear, there were many great things about this place - I had an incredible massage, loved the indoor pool area, it was a pleasant walk to the San Cristobal cable car, our concierge and the person who brought our bags were so friendly and helpful, and many other staff were also really professional. But when 1/4 of the staff experiences are rude, treat you with contempt, and nickel-and-dime you over stupid charges, you walk out feeling unwelcome. It’s definitely not a cultural thing and not a matter of recruiting staff from cheaper establishments – we stayed at a number of other Chilean hotels on our trip, many of which were not luxury hotels, and the service at all of them was far superior than the treatment we received here. The management needs to get their act together and focus on training. I hope they do, because this hotel has a...

“One of the finest hotels in Santiago”, they said…that is, until you get there.

Although it did have its charms, the negatives outweighed the positives by far. Very surprised that the Ritz Carlton would give its name to this location, because by no means, is it up to the Ritz Carlton standard/experience.

Let me just start off by saying that the hotel itself, is a very charming old building—that while it definitely needs some updating, for what it is, is still very well maintained. Room was a bit small but decent, and the bed was very comfortable. They have a pretty nice restaurant in it, as well as a rooftop indoor pool, gym, and hot tub with nice city views. (Unfortunately, the hot tub wasn’t working during our stay. It was under maintenance for several days). They have a steam room and a sauna as well as a room where you can get massages at, also known as their spa. The sauna was fine, but the steam room is definitely in need of renovation. It had a certain mildew smell that just made the experience not pleasant. This hotel is found at Las Condes, which is a very nice area, pretty central to many restaurants that are just walking distance, but more importantly, very safe. Staff is out front at all times to make sure no loitering takes place. (In fact, we experienced this first hand when the concierge asked us if we were guests at the hotel, because otherwise we couldn’t be in the lobby taking pictures—even though, he’s the one that took our bags into our room the night before).

Upon arrival, the front desk staff hardly spoke any English, which is understandable for a foreign country, but makes it hard to communicate for guests. The water pressure in the shower isn’t that great and the room where the toilet is was very tiny. The toilet paper quality was very bad—it feels weird to even have to mention this in a review, but let’s just say, it was chaffing. (Had to go get our own). But by far, the most disappointing part of our stay was the service. The staff, it seemed, didn’t really care about providing excellent service, or any a service at all. They seemed almost indifferent about everything we happened to need assistance with. The lobby bar was nice, but we had to practically hunt down someone to help us. The shuttle service charged us over 20k Chilean Pesos to take us a few blocks down the road, when the Uber back only charged us 3k. And lastly, tried for about and hour to find anyone in the building that could make change for us to tip the staff, but nonetheless, unsuccessful.

The level of service should not be associated with the Ritz Carlton name. It almost felt like when we did receive any type of service, it was forced and uncomfortable, for both the guests and the staff. Will not be...