Hotel La Princesa — Hotel in Lima Metropolitan Area

I shared my review about this hotel about a year ago. I have stayed here again in March 2013 and it's been terribly disappointing. Only due to it's location did I stay, but I will look elsewhere next time. Here's my complete synopsis of my experience in March 2013:||||1. Emailed hotel to book rooms via their online booking and direct email about 4 times. No response back.||||2. Got the room w/ the Air Conditioning, what they call the "Matrimonial Room"||||3. Street noise is terrible if you leave your window open||||4. The Air Conditioner noise is unbearably noisy during use. Very difficult to get the temperature correct so you feel comfortable at night/||||5. The bed is extremely uncomfortable. Terrible padding. How is this matrimonial in any shape or form? ||||6. The walls have patches and not the cleanest.||||7. The girls who work the front desk are not friendly or have good manners. Speak little English. Find it difficult to smile or even to great you. Basic manners are missing. Is this Peruvian or just them? In their defense it may be culturable, because I did visit other hotels, and they all seem to be lacking in the hospitability dept. Regardless of "culture", hospitability training is essential in any hotel job.||||8. The shower pressure is terrible. You get approx 1/3 the water pressure expected||||9. Spotty internet and wonky sign in system. Everything you have that's wifi will need a separate account un/pw request from the front desk. And on top of that, you'll have to sign in for EVERY SESSION!! This is painfully tiring and redundant. What genius thought of this should work for the government.||||10. Cleanliness is an issue overall that needs addressing.||||11. Breakfast. The food is disappointing, but more than that is the service. When there's a crowd of people, they don't bring out more food, unless you ask. Other times, they'll bring out tons of food, and there's nobody in the dining area. Or, they'll suddenly clear out the buffett table 20min before breakfast is scheduled to be over. It's weird and disorganized.||||12. English. Not a second language here. Besides 1 doorman, everyone else only speaks Spanish.||||13. The original room I was checked into had only 10% shower pressure and the bathroom door was broken. I had to request a new room.||||14. I had a colleague check into this hotel based on my recommendation, and they gave him the keys to a room that was still in complete need of a cleaning from the prior guest. So he had to wait another 2 hrs after reporting that the room wasn't fit yet.||||15. I addressed my concerns to Mr. Lee (manager) and he "pretended" to be interested. Admitted to these issues, but cited nothing but excuses as to why. Lack of training, my staff is very busy, I have many new employees, It's difficult to find good workers, our hotel is still better than others, etc.. etc.. Even said he'd personally answer my emails next time I booked a room, and I knew that was a complete farse. The man was too busy trying to explain why I still had it good, instead of apologizing for the situation.||||16. They charge you 10% extra if you pay with credit card. In their defense, most Peruvian hotels have this abhorrent policy. Completely unacceptable by international standards.||||17. When making payment by cash, be sure to get a detailed receipt, or you may have to pay again. Paid in cash, but twice, the hotel front desk argued that I hadn't paid yet. Completely unacceptable! I had to show them my receipt to prove I paid. Their record keeping was terrible. They delayed my checkout until the matter was cleared.||||18. The only silver lining in their operations is a few good employees, and most of the door man staff. ||||19. I stayed here for a week, and what made it bearable was that I requested extra blankets to use as bed padding and a room fan to help regulate the temperature. So kudos to them for at least, providing me w/ these 2 things.||||I said earlier that maybe being "cold" or unfriendly may be a Peruvian thing, but the door men, I found helpful and courteous. ||||In general Peru isn't a "friendly", "warm" or "hospitable" culture. The people don't go out of their way to smile and say hello. -- another...

I would like to emphasize that my booking was made a week in advance, specifically requesting an airport-to-hotel ride, a service prominently advertised. Attempts to confirm this arrangement were futile, as none of the provided contact numbers yielded responses. Consequently, we resorted to a taxi upon arrival. Despite our midnight arrival after an exhaustive day of travel, the receptionist exhibited a lack of warmth and inefficiency. The payment process, extending over 20 minutes, involved unnecessary delays due to confusion about currency, which clearly indicates a lack of staff training.

Upon reaching our room, an unpleasant odor emanated from the bathroom, and the inoperative air conditioning was an unwelcome surprise. Despite notifying reception, the issue persisted despite attempts to address it. The promised resolution for the following day did not materialize, leading to discomfort and disturbances during our stay.

At checkout, our request for a business-appropriate payment statement was assuredly accepted but, regrettably, remains unfulfilled even after nine hours. This overall experience falls short of expectations and does not justify the expenditures. Definitely more of a...

Overall, I'd recommend this hotel. Just remember that they have rooms with and w/o Air Conditioning. The lower priced ones are w/o AC. They also have a massage service. Convenient.||||Im not sure if they have a pool or fitness room. Didn't inquire.||||Their only downside is the breakfast. The dining room looks tattered and worn, and their buffet was underwelming. ||||I think it's difficult to find "good value" hotels in Lima, so this was better than average given it's central location in San Ysidro.||||The location is also very good. Walking distance to almost anything. Local restaurants, McDonalds, movie theatres (no starbucks walking distance).||||Clean rooms. ...