Hotel José Nogueira — Hotel in Punta Arenas

I usually prefer to stay in hotel chains because of the generous elite benefits (suite upgrades, breakfast, late check-out, etc.) but on occasion in some destinations without hotel chains then booking at an independent hotel cannot be avoided. In such situations I usually feel the sting of not having benefits and the value for the money is often noticeably inferior. Since our stay in Punta Arenas was part of a package involving a trip to Antarctica I could not choose which hotel we stayed at, and anyway there are no hotel chains in the city. Based on our stay at Hotel Jose Nogueira there was nothing to change my opinion about independent hotels, they are often inferior to hotel chains in many ways.||||Our stay was not overwhelmingly bad, in fact there were a number of positives. For starters of course I did not expect a suite upgrade but our room almost looked like a suite nonetheless because there was a living room separated from the bedroom. The downside is that both sections were quite small and the layout of other rooms which I saw felt more spacious when it was just one open room. Another positive was the lack of carpet which was not the case in all rooms, and also the bathroom had heated floors which was suitable for the local climate, and also a towel heater which was very useful. The bathroom toiletries were not some local unbranded stuff, in fact it was Pharmacopia which is often used in various Hyatt Regency hotels around the world. ||||The main problem was that the curtains were not great so for a stay during the summer which has long day light hours, our daughter woke up too early every day. Having good blackout in a hotel far north or far south is a must but Hotel Jose Nogueira failed in that regard. At least the pillows were thick so we could sleep well before sunrise. The bathroom was also a sore spot, it was exceedingly small and quite dated especially the shower in the bathtub.||||The rest of the room was quite bare bones. There was no coffee kettle and even when I asked at reception they told me they only had one so they could not lend it to me. Since we needed boiled water to make milk for the baby I had to go to the bar regularly to ask for refills which was not as convenient as what we normally do in any other hotels. There was also no bathrobe which is a miss for a cold climate.||||The overall lack of amenities was also noticeable at the bar. While the venue itself was attractive, one day I asked for a Negroni but I was told they did not have Campari anymore. So I ordered an Amaretto Sour. The next day I ordered an Amaretto Sour again and I was told they did not have Amaretto anymore, but that they had Campari! ||||Breakfast was quite weak, so weak in fact that we voluntarily decided to skip it two out of four mornings during our stay which we almost never do in any kind of hotel. They had eggs made to order and the rest at the buffet was standard stuff and nothing that stood out: cheese, cereals, fruits, bread, etc.||||Wifi was fine when it worked, I clocked good speed up to 45 Mbps. The problem was that speed was often much lower; many times in the room or in the restaurant it did not work at all so I had to use data from my own local sim card.||||Overall our stay was pretty mediocre and if we ever had to pick a hotel ourselves in this city I might try somewhere else even though the location of Jose Nogueira...

It’s not often that I give a harsh, poor rating, but I’d be doing a disservice to all readers if I didn’t warn you. |First, my wife and I are retired and fortunate enough to be able to travel 7 months out of each year. Most of the time we stay in International level hotels like Hilton, Marriott etc, if they exist in the cities we visit. I’ve gotten almost 250,000 readers of my reviews to date on Trip Advisor. ||So, as with any hotel, I don’t mind paying top dollar as long as we get decent value for the money. There lies the problem.|We paid $215+ (US) per night for a 3 day stay. ||Let’s just do the positives and the negatives.|The positives:|- A historic and majestic building with an interesting history near the central square.|- Clean rooms and linens with heat radiators.|- Hot water.||Now the negatives:|- The rooms are tiny and barely 20 square meters if that. (Probably closer to 15.)|- At 9:15pm, we asked for some hangers. We were told that we’d have to ask in the morning when the housekeeping staff were in.|- Radiators in the room and hall are very loud when on. I believe they are the old style that heat using water or steam. Effective but very loud.|- Breakfast is mediocre at best. All the juices are mainly water and sugar with no naturally squeezed juices. Jams are mainly corn syrup. To their credit there were some fruits. Some ripe and some not.|- I ordered an egg white omelette to be without meat but with veggies, well cooked and very little oil. The first 2 days the veggies were swimming in oil. The 3rd day they had NO vegetables at all. Said they would have them for lunch and dinner.|- Service was almost non-existent at dinner. After 10 minutes, I had to go to the cashier at the bar just to pay the bill.|- The waiter and waitresses hardly made eye contact with patrons. It was actually comedy to watch the level of unprofessionalism displayed. Dinner is not cheap either. Average price in dollars is about $23 - $26 just for the entry!|- There is a profound lack of attentiveness and enthusiasm among the morning and evening waitstaff. This is totally managements fault. They need to learn from experienced managers how to smile, to remove plates, to greet patrons etc.|- Lastly, on the day of checkout, I called downstairs and asked politely if we could get an extra 30 minutes to checkout. (Noon is checkout time). The clerk said that is not possible and was quite rigid. That’s just icing on the cake I suppose. ||In summary, if the hotel was $75-$100/ night, then they can be forgiven for the lack of services and poor value as well as poor treatment during dinner. |One would get better value at a “Motel 6” in the states!! (A cheap hotel chain).||If we ever return to Punta Arenas, they would have to pay ME to stay in their micro-hotel rooms. A hostel will get you better value than this hotel!|$215+ (U.S.) is ridiculous.||At least Housekeeping did a good job in the rooms. But, if you need slippers or a toothbrush or razor, you’ll have to go outside to a pharmacy and purchase whatever you want/need. They supply nothing. |P.S. - if you want a bottle or two of water in the room, they’ll charge you $2.60 for each bottle! |P.P.S. - upon leaving, I checked some other rooms. They do have larger ones (suites). I can only imagine how many more hundreds those would...

We had a two-night stopover en route to Puerto Natales, and when I looked at the available options, Hotel Jose Nogueira was the only place that looked appealing due to its history and architecture, newly renovated spacious rooms, and a well-reviewed on-site bar and restaurant.||I had several email exchanges with them in advance of our arrival. Our flight wasn’t landing until 3:00AM, so I wanted to make sure that our room would be held for us (I booked the arrival for the day before), and that a driver would be at the airport to bring us to the hotel. They always responded promptly and professionally, which left me reassured that everything would go smoothly.||The taxi driver met us at Arrivals with a sign with my name on it, and we zipped along the darkened empty streets to the hotel (about a 20 minute ride). Someone was at the front desk to greet us and get us quickly registered, and very shortly we were getting settled in the Estancia Pecket Harbour Suite (311).||To call it a “suite” is a bit of a stretch. Yes, there are two rooms separated by French doors, but the entry room or “living room” is so small and narrow that it just fits a sofa and a small desk. The window there overlooks an interior courtyard.||The bedroom area is a decent size with king sized bed, bench, dresser, bedside tables, and a mini refrigerator. There was lots of room in the large closet to store our things, and we appreciated having bathrobes available as well. The bedroom has one small window overlooking the rear of the building and staff parking area.||The big surprise was the very modern bathroom. It is spacious and has one of the largest showers I’ve seen anywhere, with a rainfall shower head in the centre and a pair of adjustable spray nozzles on opposite sides. ||We slept fairly well, but in the morning we could hear staff in the kitchen below getting ready for breakfast. It was a very small buffet with some bread, a couple of fruit and juice options, some cereals and yogurts, meats and cheese, desserts/pastries, and the option to order eggs. There are no espresso based beverages. It was fine for one morning, but the second morning we decided to have breakfast at a cafe down the street instead.||We chose to have our only dinner in the city at the hotel’s bar. The mixed drinks were excellent and fairly priced, and the salads were crisp and fresh, but my seafood wok entree did not have any crab or oysters as described, and it was drowning in soy sauce. I cannot remember the last time I sent a dish back, but that was not at all what I wanted. The waitress was gracious about removing it from the bill and even comped my sparkling wine, which was a nice gesture.||After touring the downtown area, I didn’t see anywhere else where I would have rather stayed. It’s a beautiful old building, and the attached museum is free for hotel guests and worth a visit. The architecture and furnishings are ornate and beautifully preserved. There are a couple of other options on the water if a view of the straits of Magellan is important, and there’s one much larger, more modern hotel with an attached casino, but if you appreciate historic boutique hotels with attentive service, Jose Nogueira is the best option in Punta Arenas. If I were to stay again, however, I would request a...