Hotel Santino — Hotel in Viña del Mar

Our two-day stay in the Hotel Santino was an unending string of disappointments. The photos on the internet were taken several years ago by the previous owner and do not represent it current slovenly state. ||We arrived an hour before check-in time only to find that one of the two rooms reserved for us and another couple had been already given to someone else. As we examined the rooms, we found the best rooms in front were decorated with the fancy molding on the high ceiling and walls indicative of the Victorian era in which it was built. The narrow room had a clearance of only eighteen inches on either side of the bed. The small refrigerator did not work after being plugged in and turned on and there was no soap, shampoo, or conditioner, in the bathroom except for a very small bottle of liquid hand soap. This room had no air conditioning and its window opened to a busy street with five other noisy outside bars, besides the hotel's own outside bar. The Santino hotel has two large speakers directly below the windows that blared hard rock music until after 3 AM. ||The other room in the back to which we were assigned was a little quieter but in poorer condition, It contained a dilapidated wardrobe with loose handles containing only one hanger. The TV had no remote available. A tiny bathroom had been added to this antique room as an afterthought in an unprofessional manner. When water was spilled on the floor of this bathroom and wiped up with a towel, the towel came up black. ||The off-street parking consisted of a narrow alley beside the hotel in which a maximum of 6 cars could be parked in a single file, requiring the leaving of our car keys at the front desk to allow them to shuffle the cars as needed, usually three or four times a night. Several times we found the gate to the alley and unguarded.||This hotel also has a several other rooms that are only slightly larger than a double bed, and lack any kind of bathroom so that occupants must use the public bath down the hall. ||Breakfast consisted of a roll, a slice of cheese, together with juice, warm mild, coffee, or tea.||The hotel might still have rated two stars, if the staff had kept any of their promises to us, but that never happen. At one point they even lied about shuffling the cars that morning, when I had personally watched it happen from the window of our room. This was absolutely the worst hotel I have been in out of twelve countries in four continents that I...

The hotel is in a good location in that you can walk to the beach, restaurants, town centre, and flower clock. However the actual immediate location of the hotel itself is in a slightly poor area with graffiti etc. Also, there are several bars opposite and next to the hotel, I was glad we stayed a Sunday night rather than Friday or Saturday. ||||The triple room, at 49,000 I think, was a double plus two singles so right for the 4 of us, me, wife, 2 kids. However the room was quite small with the beds almost touching each other, little in the way of bedside tables. However one large cupboard with enough storage space. Not much decoration. Shower stall was very cramped.||||Breakfast we got jelly first and then they served us cheese/ham/bread. In general the service of the hotel was OK, and cleanliness good to my eyes, but perhaps not so good in that of my wife's.||||The wi-fi worked poorly in our room but OK in other areas of the hotel.||||We parked inside the hotel. The parking is a tight alley to the side of the hotel and only has spaces for 2 cars. You could fit in 4 or 5 by blocking people in. It is a bit tricky to reverse the car around to get out. If you arrive after dark or tired, leave this for the morning. At one point I looked and saw my car had been blocked in by another but by the time we left it was OK again. When I called to book over the phone (which they let me do without credit card) and asked about parking, they didn't mentioned an extra cost. When I arrived they said 7,000 for parking. I stayed silent for a few seconds until they said they could give me a 5,000 rate. In the end, I think they let us off completely or forgot to charge us this. I don't think we paid it.||||I thought the hotel was OK for the price, and my 3-year old son enjoyed it, but my wife and 9-year old daughter would have preferred someone better. However, for Vina del Mar in summer, it was probably...

I live in Downtown Chicago. So when I saw the hotel I was wondering what I was getting into. The people that work there were amazing. They addressed every need I had and literally made me feel like I was staying in a close relative's home. Good things were: the people working there, the location and the price. You are literally 3-4 blocks from a beach 3-4 blocks away from the San Martin area. Just up the street at the corner (Von Schroerder) you can walk 1 KM to evem more beautiful beaches. The only negative I have is that the water pressure was low and I water temperature was inconsistent (too hot or not hot water). I almost forgot to mention, they have security cameras trained on all sides of the building with a person watching them at all time. So I felt safe leaving my laptop, passport and...