Hostería Lago del Toro — Hotel in Torres del Paine

I booked here because we planned to stay a night inside the Torres del Paine park. I didn’t realize that the hotel is actually just OUTSIDE the park in the little community, Rio Serrano. The park ticket is good for 3 days, but it is about a 20-minute drive up a hill and back down again (on those crappy gravel roads) to get to and from the hotel. At the top of that hill; however, there is a sweeping view of Rio Serrano and the valley. If you don't have a car, this location could prove problematic as the buses do not run in the area. ||||There are no in-and-out privileges during the same day of your park visit; if you exit the park, that day’s ticket expires, and they stamp a new day whenever you re-enter, so we stayed in the park all day and did not return to the hotel until late at night. ||||*When re-entering the park, be sure to stop at the visitor’s center check-in and bring|| your park ticket and your passports. While I was inside, I saw an SUV breeze through the un-manned booth outside, and the park official behind the desk promptly radio ahead to have him stopped and escorted back.||||The hotel description claims it is a 47-minute drive from Puerto Natales. That is inaccurate. It’s actually 90 minutes. The roads are dirt and gravel / rocks for the first hour until you get to the Milodon Caves. Then about 10 minutes down the road, you will hit pavement for the remaining 20 minutes to Puerto Natales.||||||PROs:||||It is priced better than comparable lodging inside / near the park. The staff was kind and check-in and check-out was easy. They accept credit cards.||||We stayed around Christmas time and the lobby had a nice tree and decorations, a warm fire, and a smell of . . . cinnamon..? It was warm and cozy. Too warm, in fact. The lobby has some sofas facing the large window which looks out upon the valley. ||||They asked if we intended to eat dinner there, but we decided not to. They offer a set menu with an appetizer, main course, and dessert. We walked over to the swanky Rio Serrano Hotel to check out the options for dinner, drinks, and views. In retrospect, we wish we had eaten at Hosteria Lago. It looked like better food than what was offered across the street, and at half the price, of course. ||||The room was clean and the beds were ok. The shower water was hot and there was a window for ventilation. ||||The hallway had a door at the end that separated the rooms off the hall from the breakfast area / front desk, so it was quieter in the hallway.||||The breakfast was sufficient, and consisted of brewed coffee, dry cereal, yogurt, granola, bread/toast, turkey slices, cheese slices, and one type of fruit. It was a bit sparse, but good enough.||||There was plenty of parking in the grass area in front of the hotel. ||||||||CONs||||There was no WiFi in the room or lobby. It was just too weak to connect to. This is common in this area. ||||The room was very small and there were 3 single beds in it, so there was very little room to walk around or put a suitcase on the floor. We only needed 2 beds, so we put our suitcases on the third. There was no view from the room.||||The bathroom was a little small and there was only one slim glass shelf for toiletries. The shower and toilet water pressure could have been better. The towels were thin and rough.||||The door was actually opened with a metal skeleton key, which was really charming. But the key didn’t always catch the lock in the key hole, and then it would just turn round and round. The charm of it all quickly evaporated. ||||The room carpet was a bit old and looked a little dingy. The floorboards in the hall and the rooms creaked. ||||The window shades were light and did not block the early morning sun. This seemed to be the case everywhere we stayed in Chile. ||||The lobby was always playing loud 1980s musac. I like 80s music, but 80s musac is just annoying.||||This area is difficult to access if you don’t have a car. ||||I thought it would be insanely crowded at the end of December, so I didn’t want to risk not having advanced reservations somewhere. It turns out, there are many other hotels, hostels, and campgrounds in the area (that do not appear on-line). I don’t know if they were booked or not, but I think we might have stayed somewhere cheaper if we had known it was an option.||||Nevertheless, this is a nice cozy little place that is close to the park and convenient if you have a car. It is a better value than comparable lodging in the area (considering the inflated prices of everything near the Torres del Paine park)....

The vibe when we arrived to the Hosteria was very off, there was a lady (owner?) using the common dinning room to do her bookkeeping which was inappropriate since guests were there trying to eat/ relax. Secondly, we were communicated that the room in the exterior cabin that we booked had an issue with the heating system, therefore we could only stay in a smaller room inside of the main building for the same price. (In booking that twin room was way cheaper but they didn’t offer any discount and the condition of the room was untidy - there were pants hanging in the bathroom and toilet wasn’t clean). We didn’t accept the smaller room and said that if they couldn’t offer anything else, we would ask for a refund… Then miraculously, the staff lady asked the female, that was doing the bookkeeping, what to do in this case when she said that the heating system was now fixed in our room.

We went to the exterior cabin and it was freezing, the heating system was off prior our arrival but was turned on when they realised we were not staying in the cheap room at our own expense. No towels, shampoo, etc were already in the cabin for us. The staff said not to use chimney due to safety reasons and also not to use the kitchen appliances that were there available.

Everything was ok, despite the cabin looked like a haunted house, when we saw in the “information for guests” that the heating system would be turned off at midnight. Was a night with -3 degrees and they were leaving us in a freezing cabin when we paid 280 AUD for a “hotel room” with heating system.

I went to the front desk to find out if that was the case that night since we were just starting to heat up that cabin and they said yes, they would turn off the heating system at midnight and in fact, they did. The solution for us, after a long wait and discussions, was to use the chimney - that we were unable to use due to safety reasons in the first place (???)

Then the cherry on top of the cake: bugs in the food, we asked for an early breakfast since we were leaving and they had prepared the breakfast for us and there were insects in the cookies and cake!!!! I raised my concern to a staff member and she acknowledged that they had an issue, from a while ago, with these insects and the owners haven’t fumigated yet.

We don’t recommend this place at all. They are saving money at your expense, zero hospitality, simply terrible service and no comfort.

Photos for reference of our awful stay there on the...

The vibe when we arrived to the Hosteria was very off, there was a lady (owner?) using the common dinning room to do her bookkeeping which was inappropriate since guests were there trying to eat/ relax. Secondly, we were communicated that the room in the exterior cabin that we booked had an issue with the heating system, therefore we could only stay in a smaller room inside of the main building for the same price. (In booking that twin room was way cheaper but they didn’t offer any discount and the condition of the room was untidy - there were pants hanging in the bathroom and toilet wasn’t clean). We didn’t accept the smaller room and said that if they couldn’t offer anything else, we would ask for a refund… Then miraculously, the staff lady asked the female, that was doing the bookkeeping, what to do in this case when she said that the heating system was now fixed in our room.|We went to the exterior cabin and it was freezing, the heating system was off prior our arrival but was turned on when they realised we were not staying in the cheap room at our own expense. No towels, shampoo, etc were already in the cabin for us. The staff said not to use chimney due to safety reasons and also not to use the kitchen appliances that were there available.|Everything was ok, despite the cabin looked like a haunted house, when we saw in the “information for guests” that the heating system would be turned off at midnight. Was a night with -3 degrees and they were leaving us in a freezing cabin when we paid 280 AUD for a “hotel room” with heating system.|I went to the front desk to find out if that was the case that night since we were just starting to heat up that cabin and they said yes, they would turn off the heating system at midnight and in fact, they did. The solution for us, after a long wait and discussions, was to use the chimney - that we were unable to use due to safety reasons in the first place (???)|Then the cherry on top of the cake: bugs in the food, we asked for an early breakfast since we were leaving and they had prepared the breakfast for us and there were insects in the cookies and cake!!!! I raised my concern to a staff member and she acknowledged that they had an issue, from a while ago, with these insects and the owners haven’t fumigated yet.|We don’t recommend this place at all. They are saving money at your expense, zero hospitality, simply terrible service and no comfort.|Photos for reference of our awful stay there on the...