Pampa Lodge- Refugio- Quincho y Caballos — Hotel in Torres del Paine

Not a hostel!! They are listed on Booking as a hostel and have multi-person rooms. However! They won’t let you use the kitchen so don’t bother bringing anything to cook. You’ll have to pay for the expensive food offered at the hotel’s restaurant, or others alike in the park. I booked a 4-person room but they put me in a queen room which I appreciate. I see comments from 4, 5 years ago about poor wifi connectivity and no electricity in the afternoon, plus the hotel is hard to find from the parking lot. I do think they’ve improved a lot since then. So an updated overview of the hotel: first off, there are signs that provide good directory to the hotel. When you get to the parking lot, there’s a gate and a long broad walk leading to the hotel. Not very friendly to roller suitcases! If you have the private room on the first floor, there’s no noise from people walking upstairs, but the soundproofing is pretty weak and you hear everything outside of the room. There was electricity when I turned on the lights in my room one afternoon, but I don’t know if that means electricity 24/7. They do normally have wifi now, however, the router or cable was drowned because of a storm just before my stay so they used an alternative device which was only available in the common area but I was able to send and receive messages, but nothing beyond that. The Rio Serreno hotel next door had great wifi and the front desk gave me the password - THANKS!! Almost all hotels have good wifi, just ask! I did the 3 hour horse ride at the hotel and it’s amazing! If you’re not a big horse rider, do the shorter ones so you don’t get sore for a week. There wasn’t much narratives during the ride but the views are amazing. No backpacks or cameras! They have two small bags on the side of the saddle so you can bring some water. The breakfast is good, they cook you eggs, fried, scrambled, or an omelette. There’s bread, pastries, and fruits. They also help you wrap your lunch in plastic, if you want to grab whatever’s left from breakfast buffet. I didn’t go to the hotel’s restaurant, instead, I went to several restaurants at other hotels around the park. Basically all hotels have their own restaurants, but Some only offer restaurant tables to people staying. Also, there’s no restaurant that opens all day, that is, you eat at their designated meal hours, or it’s gonna be heat up empanadas or pizzas. Overall, the hotel has amazing views of the torres, and I love the large glass windows which let in lots of light and great for looking outside. If I come back to the park, I’ll probably stay inside the park since they’re in the similar price range and greatly reduce the pain of driving on dirt roads...

This place is an absolute jewel. We often try to avoid crowds and stay in boutique hotels. The pictures online made this place seem almost to good to be true. After staying here I can promise that this is the place to stay!

The lodge is beautiful with all the rooms facing Torres Del Paine. When we arrived we were greeted with a welcome glass of wine and enjoyed it in the living/dining area (doubles as a place for breakfast in the morning). The staff were extremely professional and courteous.

Above all the view!!! That view is breathtaking! And to enjoy it in a place that is quite and less crowded made it even better.

Other cool things - They have horse stables on property. Unfortunately we weren’t able to ride with them (did at another location before we arrived) but we did get a chance to hang around the horses. Would recommend taking a tour with them based on that.

Arrival - when you arrive and park it can be hard to know where to go. We first walked to the empty dinner restaurant on the right. Just go through the gate to the left and follow the wooded boardwalk to the hotel.

Quirks - below I’ve outlined some quirks we found so you can come prepared. hot water/power - due to power being run by generators, during the day they turn them off. This means access to hot water etc is limited. This was not a problem for us as we were hiking but if you’re looking for a place to stay the entire day be aware of this. This is also very similar with most places to stay here. dinner - the option of dinner is only available at a building standing away from the main location. The food was good but not great. Having dined multiple places around the park looking for a place to blow your mind away with culinary genius won’t happen here. That being said you’re here to be outdoors and enjoy the park so who cares. Their restaurant has amazing views (like the rooms) of the mountains. creaking of floors - the entire building is made of wood. That means the floors creak a lot when walking on them. When we stayed there was a couple with younger kids and the kids were running up and down the hallway late at night. The parents seemed to this this was ok and made one night very un-enjoyable. That being said the staff handled it very professionally. It’s not their fault for poor parental oversight.

Verdict: Stay here! Yes it’s different then staying in a bigger hotel (aka like Rio Serrano) but this gives you the best experience of the place. The views can’t be beat and the staff...

Ridiculously disgusting hotel! Several points:

1. poor staff. Not much English or deliberately don't wanna speak English to avoid more work or more demands, including those from the restaurants

2. Overpriced. Simple, primitive and simple room charging people over US 300 which equals Sheraton or W-hotel in some countries only because there are not many hotels around? A total rip-off by the whoever-you -want-them-to-be authority;

3. Lack of courtesy . Receptionists don't say 'thank you' or 'hello' (even in Spanish) and they don't give a XXXX if you need anything. From 11pm on, they disappear and several guests went to the counter trying to ask for something, but in return, nobody came out even they shouted for a pretty long time.

4)Rip-off policies. Stupid enough , the hotel and the restaurant are with different account and guests need to pay immediately after their dinner, unlike in other "normal" hotels. However, very sadly, the receptionist never mentions this and guests have to walk a long way back to the hotel room to get money or credit card to settle the bill. Also, there's a counter with lots of tea bags and hot water, but no sign of charging anything. However, at the end, they will charge you 40,000 for just a tea bag without any notification. Seems they wanna rip off Asian tourists who are very stupid as they like tea more than coffee (wondering if they charge you coffee too or they are just being racist.)

5. Again, exaggeratingly overpriced.

It's a stupid room without TV and stuff. A comfortable (without character) room costing you 5 times than a cozy , special and warm-hearted small hotel in Scotland or even Greece. Donno what is in the mind of the government of Chile but this crazy little hotel is way way way too expensive with this kind of poor service and anything, honestly.

Please, train you staff and redo your SOP. Nothing except the ambience and views are nice enough to mention. Of course, if your team answers my criticism by saying 'it's the price of the location and the views, so don't expect anything else with this US300 above price!'. Then, I will shut up and wish you all the best.

Also good luck to the Chile tourism too. That's...