Hotel Noi Blend Colchagua — Hotel in Palmilla

We had an okay stay at Noi Blend. The location is nice, close to good vineyards, but the hotel and service were terrible, especially for the price. The hotel itself felt dirty -- when we arrived, there were flies covering our bathroom and shower, the grounds constantly looked to be in disarray. The food was fine (at best) -- dinner was hit or miss and breakfast was standard, with terrible coffee from a machine, and we often had to flag a random staff member down in the hallway to even be served. Furthermore, there were multiple things broken in the rooms. When I inquired about the safe not working in the room, they said they'd forgotten to replace the batteries and then proceeded to unlock it with a key -- so not only did it not work, but they would have access even if it did. On another safety related note, you can see directly into the shower from the common areas of the hotel, as there is only one flimsy curtain half covering the bathroom window. Lastly, the wifi was spotty and often not working (they say this is because of the area, but over 2.5 weeks in the area I didn't have this issue anywhere else). Most irritatingly, you cannot drink the tap water there, and yet there was no water for guests anywhere in the hotel. This was extremely frustrating, particularly with no stores within walking distance to buy some. This is an easy fix that should be an obvious solution for hotel management. Would not recommend staying here in any situation (friends, couples,...

We spent three nights at the NOI Blend Colchagua at the end of a two-week trip to Chile in August 2024. Long story short: beautiful setting, friendly staff, bad restaurant... still very much a work in progress. Details follow.

The hotel is outside of Palmilla, a few kilometers northwest of Santa Cruz. The setting is bucolic, with citrus trees in the courtyards and views of working vineyards and farms just over the boundaries of the property, which itself seems to be a converted farm. The staff are friendly and eager to be helpful.

The rooms were clean and thoughtfully decorated. If you're visiting Chile in austral winter you probably already know that hotels may not be kept as warm as in the US or Europe: dress accordingly. The only disappointment in the rooms was the shower, which was fussy and dribbly as opposed to hot and drenching.

Breakfast was reliable, with a wide range of pastries, fruit, yogurt, eggs and cold cuts. Dinner was sadly another story. One evening our child's braised lamb shank was served, Baked Alaska-like, with a warm exterior and a fully frozen interior. And then there was the unfortunate matter of the beef tarare, which gave me the worst bout of food poisoning in my life. Four days, a doctor's visit and some serious antibiotics later all was cured, but the poorly handled beef definitely ruined the end of our vacation.

So go for the lovely setting, but perhaps...

The location is great. There are some amazing vineyards around and a few remarkable restaurants. The room was clean, very well lit, and had a little patio with live white roses on it. The bed was comfortable and the wifi was strong. I’m not sure if the time of my visit was not right, but it felt like the staff “checked out” before I did. The menu in the restaurant was very limited. And the dishes that were available were pretty average. One of two mornings we were there, the breakfast pretty much wasn’t served. They tried to cook us some eggs, but they burnt it twice, and then ultimately said it wasn’t available. Despite all of that, the package service that included spa services was a great value. The massages were amazing and the little details, like chocolate truffles and some wine, were quite romantic. All in all, a nice experience, but for food, you better...