Crystal Palace Hotel — Hotel in Montevideo

I am a U.S. citizen who, from March 9th to 10th, took a Business-class round trip between Buenos Aires and Montevideo with hotel stay included. Unfortunately, I had a horrible experience at the Crystal Palace Hotel in Montevideo for the following reasons:

1/ Poor conditions in the room and at the breakfast counter; 2/ Overcharging, without prior notification, for water left on the table in the room; and 3/ The extreme discourtesy of the hotel manager.

To begin with, I found, when I wished to use the safety deposit box in the room (505) on March 9th, that there were no instructions, but worse, when I looked at it, I realized it was missing one of its two screws at the back, meaning the box could easily be removed from the wall! This meant I did not have the option of leaving my valuables there.

Later, as there was water on the desk in front of me and no notification of any charges, I opened the bottles of water available and ate a Snickers bar.

The next morning, when I went for breakfast around 9.30am, I was disappointed by the conditons. First, there were many flies on the food, and the food had not been covered to prevent this, and when I went to get scrambled eggs from a covered container, it was empty.

But the worst experience was at checkout. I was shocked to be charged U$ 10 for the water and a Snickers bar. I complained about this. Not only are the prices very elevated, but I was not informed of them beforehand. There was no notification on the table where the water and snacks were available. Nor have I ever been charged for water before in any other hotel in any other country!

I asked to speak to the manager. Some 15 minutes later, a scruffy man appeared. I tried to explain the situation to him, in Spanish because he could not speak English. In the process, he continued to interrupt me, made no allowances for my Spanish level after I asked him to speak more slowly, and then walked away while I was trying to communicate with him! Absurdly, he tried to convey that the price of water included service for putting it in the fridge! Well, it wasn't in the fridge, as I explained to him, but sitting on the table! He wasn't interested and, as I said, simply walked away while I was talking. I then asked for information about the hotel owners, but the hotel staff refused to give it.

Worse, when I wrote a complaint to the hotel itself, the same manager answered it and claimed I should be apologizing to him! All in all, it was a horrible experience, and creates a very negative impression among foreigners not just of the hotel and Buquebus, but of Uruguay. I was warned that people in the region could be "tricky" about money, but I did not expect it...

Stayed one night only, thank heavens.!||The foyer on entry is quite nice, very clean. Presents well.||Terribly rude uninterested man on reception.||Check out, another rude man. Seems to be a common thing in Uruguay.||They don't like anyone who doesn't speak Spanish.||There have been few reviews on Hotel Crystal Palace in recent times. Unsure why.||Room 401 smelt like an old salami when we opened the door. Had to rush to the window and open the room up for a couple of hours. The smell did eventually dissipate and the air conditioning chilled the room to further remove the odour.. The toilet whilst claiming to be sanitised, looked like it had been used.||Room was generally ok, pretty average. English speaking stations ( Bloomberg, movies ) on the TV which was a bonus. We have rarely had an English speaking station in five weeks in South America.||Breakfast was nicely presented with a lot of pastries, limited hot food and the usual fruit, coffee, juice etc.||There was no wifi in the room despite advertised as such. Wifi was available twenty metres down the corridor, if you were prepared to stand there, otherwise it was down to the foyer.||We had two gin and tonics before heading out to dinner. Charged 544 pesos whereas we were charged 220 pesos for a litre of white wine at the restaurant. Think we ripped off.||Location seems to be good, in the city centre.||We wouldn't come back, but don't think it would take much to...

Stayed one night only, thank heavens.!||The foyer on entry is quite nice, very clean. Presents well.||Terribly rude uninterested man on reception.||Check out, another rude man. Seems to be a common thing in Uruguay.||They don't like anyone who doesn't speak Spanish.||There have been few reviews on Hotel Crystal Palace in recent times. Unsure why.||Room 401 smelt like an old salami when we opened the door. Had to rush to the window and open the room up for a couple of hours. The smell did eventually dissipate and the air conditioning chilled the room to further remove the odour.. The toilet whilst claiming to be sanitised, looked like it had been used.||Room was generally ok, pretty average. English speaking stations ( Bloomberg, movies ) on the TV which was a bonus. We have rarely had an English speaking station in five weeks in South America.||Breakfast was nicely presented with a lot of pastries, limited hot food and the usual fruit, coffee, juice etc.||There was no wifi in the room despite advertised as such. Wifi was available twenty metres down the corridor, if you were prepared to stand there, otherwise it was down to the foyer.||We had two gin and tonics before heading out to dinner. Charged 544 pesos whereas we were charged 220 pesos for a litre of white wine at the restaurant. Think we ripped off.||Location seems to be good, in the city centre.||We wouldn't come back, but don't think it would take much to...