Hotel España — Hotel in Santiago

I rely on TripAdvisor for almost all aspects of traveling. However, I saw a cheap nonrefundable price for Hotel Espana online, had a brain fart and booked it without checking TA first. After booking, I checked TA and my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. My god, I made a terrible mistake, there was a reason why the rates were so low! I was actually so disturbed by the bad rating that when I was in Santiago for just one night (at a different hotel) before my trip to easter island, I made it to hotel Espana to check it out for my 3 days stay there after the easter island trip. I had determined to forfeit the prepaid rooms if Hotel Espana is indeed as horrible as everyone made it out to be.||When I went into the hotel and demanded to be shown a room, the receptionist, who spoke good english, was very accommodating. The room I saw appeared to be fine, so I was a little comforted, plus, the central location near Plaza Armas was really great. I decided to give the hotel a chance after my easter island trip.||I checked in at the hotel upon returning to Santiago and found to my surprise that the room I was given looked even better than the room I had seen. It was clean, spacious, comfortable and well serviced daily. I have very sensitive skin to less than clean linens so I always carry my silk sleep sack with me. Since my skin usually turns red shortly after coming in contact with unclean sheets,i had found myself breaking out my sleep sack even at some high end hotel properties. Surprisingly, Hotel Espana sheets did not irritate my skin at all and silk sleep sack stayed packed.||The location is two blocks from Plaza Armas and the metro station, very handy for sightseeing. The receptionists all spoke decent English and were very helpful; one had booked my somewhat complicated airport transfer with no problem. I have no complaints whatsoever.||The hotel is convenient, safe, clean and comfortable. It is not five stars of course, but it fitted my needs perfectly. For once, I was happy not to have consulted TA...

I don't know how this establishment can call itself a 3-star hotel. It probably qualifies for a 2-star hotel at best. I was fooled by the photographs. The building is actually quite cramped and decrepit. Upon arriving the receptionist tried to charge me USD$25 to check-in early despite telling me the room was vacant the night before so it didn't need to be cleaned. When I decided to go elsewhere he suddenly insisted that the $25 cash didn't matter and he removed this fee which he originally said could not be waived. He suggested that I leave a 'good' review. The wifi signal wasn't reaching my room on level 4 so I had to stand in the hallway my whole stay just to get a reliable connection. You often have to hold the cage door in the lift closed or it will stop between levels. The room was dark, mouldy and very poorly furnished. The bed sheets didn't fit on the double bed and the elastic would constantly fall off revealing long stray hairs on the mattress from previous guests. The only window faced into a concrete wall and someone else's room. Luckily there was air conditioning to help blow out the stale air. On two occasions during the day I couldn't have a shower because there was only cold water. Lukewarm at best. Other days hot water was okay. We also chose this place because it featured a bath tub but with no plugs to enjoy a bath. The overall feel of this place is depressing. Very disappointed and even though the location was excellent, next time I will spend less and have a better experience at a hostel. In the end the experience was so off-putting that we decided to check out 3 days early and go to a hotel with working wifi...

This was the last leg of our 3 city trip around South America. The previous two hotels seemed like the Ritz compared to Hotel Espana. ||||Reception was run down, the decor was tired and VERY dated! It's very dark too, they liked turning the lights off in dull corridors so you couldn't see a thing at night with no idea where the switches were. Worst experience during our stay was not having hot water for a day and a half. We kept on checking with reception about status but there were no help, they all spoke very little English between them all. ||||The rooms were very basic to say the least the only benefit was a good TV system. It was a very hollow place meaning there are echoes everywhere, meaning conversations on any floor of the hotel was heard throughout. Could not get a good nights sleep throughout our stay! ||||'Breakfast' is served in a cafe joined to the hotel. You have three choices:||||1. Toast||2. Cheese & Ham Toasty||3. Scrambled egg on toast||That's it... and you only get one choice!||||This is only 1 step away from a hostel, this place is not welcoming at all... really would avoid this place! Literally only good thing about it is that its 2 minute walk from Plaza de Armas but it wasn't the safest walk back during the night. Wifi was also VERY poor, kept dropping out when...