In case you’re wondering, the house is not this dark during the day! 🙂 Photo by: Evan Berman

Buenos Aires is a massive city both in terms of population and land. The neighborhood of Palermo is where much of the nightlife is as well as great restaurants. I mentioned before that the Dollar Blue is a great way to save money in Argentina. However, I was not willing to take a chance on booking a hotel room upon arrival, so I found us an inexpensive option to stay in Palermo.

The recap of this homestay is part of the larger South American Adventure. For more information on this trip, follow these links:

Intro

24 Hours in New York, NY

Flight: CHS-JFK in Delta Comfort+

New York Hotel

Flight: JFK-SCL in LATAM Economy+

W Santiago Hotel

Hyatt Place Santiago/Vitacura

3 Days in Santiago, Chile

Osaka Santiago, Chile Restaurant Review

Flight: SCL-AEP in Aerolíneas Argentinas Economy

Flight: AEP-FTE in Aerolíneas Argentinas Economy

Trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentine Patagonia

El Calafate Hotel

36 Hours in El Calafate, Argentina

Restaurants in El Calafate

Flight: FTE-USH in Aerolíneas Argentinas Economy

Flight: USH-AEP in Aerolíneas Argentinas Economy

2 Hours in Ushuaia, Argentina

Buenos Aires Homestay (This Article)

2 Days in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Flight: AEP-SCL in Aerolíneas Argentinas Economy

Flight: SCL-MIA in LATAM Business Class

Hyatt Place Ft. Lauderdale/Plantation

Flight: FLL-CHS in Silver Airways Economy Class

Conclusion

Booking:

I booked two nights at a homestay through booking.com using my Chase Sapphire Reserve Card (or so I thought! Check out this article for the full story of the craziness of this stay). The official name of the property we stayed at was Habitacíon en Grand Maison en Alto Palermo.

The price on booking.com was based on how many people were staying in the room. We opted for the smallest room available (2 twin beds and a queen) and I selected 2 people since my friend Austin and I were both staying there. The price was $183.79 (or roughly 30,325 Argentine pesos) for 2 nights. Note that booking.com will not charge your card until you arrive, no matter how you book your stay. This would work out in my favor! 🙂

I used the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card to get 3x on this (travel) purchase. While I could have earned 5x by using the Citi Custom Cash Card, I had no merchant offers and valued the ability to add to my Ultimate Rewards Points balance that had been depleted somewhat through the other Hyatt bookings.

Well, actually, that’s not true! As I recount in the first edition of travel tales, I ended up spending only $100 and 1,000 pesos or $103.51 for 2 nights!

Price: $103.51

Points Earned: None earned. We ended up paying in cash and saved $80 by doing so– I was happy with that exchange! 😉

Review:

Even with the craziness of Sergio and his tour, I enjoyed this stay. The location was great and the décor was quite impressive. The bed was not the most comfortable that I’ve ever slept in, but was more than enough for our stay.

View:

We stayed in the heart of the city. As such, the view was not as breathtaking as some others on this trip. However, the street outside was relatively calm. That being said, there is no air conditioning in the house so we kept our windows open. If you are a light sleeper, you may have difficulty here on the weekends– the merrymakers at the bar were fairly loud, especially Saturday night after the big Argentina soccer win.

7/10, Good.

Service:

As described at length, Sergio was… strange. Other than the unresponsiveness when we arrived, we did not require service. Being that he has a room in the house, it should be no surprise that he was around frequently and made sure to ask us if we needed anything. While we did get to stay in our room, I have to take major points off for the delayed response and overall strangeness.

4/10, Poor.

Location:

As usual, my disclaimer applies: this is highly subjective. On the one hand, you cannot get closer to the nightlife and restaurants than this location in Palermo, especially with the convenient (and terrific) bar located across the street. That being said, if you are not a heavy sleeper, you may not enjoy being this close to a lively bar that has many people outside until the wee hours. Personally, I did not mind this as I sleep easily, so my rating does not take away for this.

9/10, Great.

Bathroom:

The bathroom is shared with the other people on the second floor. In addition, everyone has access to the first floor half bathroom. The bathroom on our second floor was in good condition. The shower was small and certainly nothing fancy, but it did its job. I had no issues with the temperature nor water pressure.

There are two sinks, as shown above and plenty of room for storage of toiletries to the left. The water took a minute to warm up, but seeing as it was 80º outside, this was not a big deal.

The entire bathroom was kept in good condition. Once again, there were no face towels, truly a strange occurrence in South America.

9/10, Great. While the bathroom was shared, it had everything once could ask for, from space to functioning appliances. Had this been the room’s bathroom (it would have been smaller 🙂 ), I would give a 10/10.

Furnishings:

As mentioned above, we had 2 twin beds and 1 queen bed. I would usually have opted for the queen, but it was not made. I did not complain; however, as the twin bed was surprisingly comfortable. There were no other pieces of furniture in the room.

9/10, Great.

Electronics:

There were no TV’s in the entire house (at least that I saw). That being said, if you’re in Buenos Aires and need a TV, I’d advise you to reconsider your perspective.

Wifi was efficient and did have a password. We were not there for much time so I did not get a chance to test out the speeds often.

8/10, Very Nice, obviously if you need to have a TV, this is not the place for you.

Housekeeping:

We stayed for 2 nights, checking in at 9:30pm on Friday night and checking out at 6am on Sunday morning, so we did not use the room much. That being said, we did not have housekeeping. I’m not sure if that could change based on asking for it.

N/A

Food and Drink:

We did not have any meals at the house. This should not be surprising– this is a homestay, not a hotel or B&B. That being said, there was a large kitchen that guests could use (including pots and pans, cutlery, and plates), if you like to cook during your vacation.

N/A

Overall:

8/10, Very Nice. Yes, we had an interesting experience with Sergio, but this house was a perfect place to stay. For those who do not enjoy the idea of a hostel, this is a great alternative. We met some fun-loving people who were visiting from nearby Brazil. Don’t book this if you want a romantic getaway, but if you’re looking for a cheap place to stay near the heart of the Palermo neighborhood, this can be a great option. Oh, and make sure you check out the beer and spirits at the bar across the street!