A Room with a View: Review of Hostería Koi Aiken in El Calafate, Argentina
I spent much of the time that I was in my room looking out at the beautiful scenery such as this. Photo by: Evan Berman
El Calafate, Argentina is a great town for many reasons. First and foremost, it is located in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and offers easy access to much of Patagonia. It also has an airport. 😉 There are no chain hotels in the city. I knew I would be spending 36 hours here, most of which would be spent exploring the beauty surrounding the area. As such, I opted for a hotel off of the main strip downtown in order to experience more peace and tranquility in my hotel room.
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36 Hours in El Calafate, Argentina
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Booking:
I booked two nights at Hostería Koi Aiken through Hotels.com using my Citi Custom Cash Card and a hotels.com gift card. The normal price is $95 per night, but I used multiple offers to get this down further.
I used the Custom Cash Card as I had Travel as my 5x/5% category. Additionally, I had a Citi Merchant Offer for 10% off a minimum of $100, with a maximum of $15 back on Hotels.com. Another reason I opted for Hotels.com over Booking.com was I could combine that offer with a SimplyMiles offer of 4x AAdvantage miles per $1 spent. Finally, at that time, I got an AmEx offer on my Platinum card for $10 back on a purchase of $50 of more on hotels.com gift cards. I quickly purchased a $50 gift card and received the AmEx statement credit within 2 days.
Price: $171.36 ($149.22 after Citi Merchant and AmEx offers).
Points Earned: 50 AmEx Membership Rewards Points (from purchase of gift card), 485 AAdvantage Miles, and 606.8 Citi ThankYou points ($6.07)
Review:
While the hotel is more than a mile outside of downtown El Calafate, I was extremely happy with the hotel. The hotel is small, with only 10 rooms per floor. I was asked what type of room I preferred and responded that I did not care greatly as long as I got a nice view.
View:
I think my request was met! Room 108 had two windows that afforded a slight view of the water as well as the beautiful plants and trees immediately outside of the window. Whenever in the room, I kept a window open for the strong breeze. While the room itself was small, the view is the most important factor to me.
10/10, Exceptional
Service:
The front desk attendant during the afternoon and evening was a lovely lady who provided exceptional recommendations and assistance. It also helped that she spoke excellent English.
When I asked for recommendations of places to eat, she asked what I was looking for. I responded, “an authentic meal” and she called a friend, David, who runs a shuttle from various hotels in the city to Don Pichon. She got me a reservation at the restaurant and arranged for me to be picked up and dropped off at the hotel before and after the meal. Talk about helpful!
Next, I asked for an ATM, thinking that I would need to wait to get to Buenos Aires to use the Blue Dollar conversion. She told me they would exchange dollars for 285 pesos. While I found other places that were willing to exchange for as much as 315 pesos per dollar, I accepted and ended up exchanging $300 for 85,500 pesos which was worth a slight haircut for the convenience and security that was offered.
Finally, she and the other attendants were more than happy to call for taxis and offer suggestions on where to get souvenirs.
10/10, Exceptional.
Location:
This one is highly subjective. I personally view the serenity that comes from being away from the city center as much more valuable than the convenience of being able to walk everywhere. There were several restaurants nearby, including one that had high reviews for food quality. Outside of that, it was a taxi ride away and for less than $3.50 each way, I find that more than reasonable.
If you cannot fathom a stay outside of a city center, the rating is much lower. I would call it an ok location, based on the convenience of several nearby restaurants and bars.
Rating: 10/10, Exceptional.
Alternate Rating: 7/10, Good. Again, I personally value the serenity over convenience, but you may not.
Bathroom:
I noticed that the floors were heated. While the weather was not terrible (at least inside, with protection from the wind 🙂 ), I could see how this would be much appreciated for some.
The bathroom was relatively small, which I do not mind but if the room were shared by a couple, they would likely be cramped.
There were plenty of body and hand towels as well as two bath mats. Unfortunately, there were no face towels. This was also the case in the W Santiago, so I wonder if it is simply not as common to have face towels in southern South America?
The sink works well, as do the toilets.
Unfortunately, the shower was less than perfect. When turning on the hot water, if I turned the hot water faucet more than the minimum amount, the water was so hot, I burned myself (even with the cold faucet on). Once I figured out that I needed to turn the hot water down, not the cold water up, the water was then cold. Finally, like Goldilocks, I got the temperature just right. This is a minor critique as it can be resolved, yet I know it could prove inconvenient for some.
However, a redeeming feature was that there was a small window that could be opened, letting in a nice cool breeze that proved the perfect complement to the hot water.
8/10, Very Nice. While the water temperature was a bit finicky and there were no face towels, the rest of the bathroom was pleasant. However, as I mentioned, couples might find the sink small for their liking.
Furnishings:
While I have certainly had more comfortable beds, I appreciated the bedding and linens that were provided. There was a single sheet under a quilt which, with the window open to allow for a nice breeze proved the perfect temperature.
Additionally, a chair in the corner of the room had padding and was a nice place to sit and catch up on emails.
9/10, Great
Electronics:
There was a small TV above the chair, but I did not examine it at all. Who wants to watch TV in Patagonia?
The WiFi did not have a password and was fast and reliable. I cannot imagine issues with this; however, if you are concerned about the lack of password, I suppose that could be an issue.
9/10, Great, though if you are hung up on the size of the TV or require a WiFi password to be comfortable using it, you might rate this aspect lower.
Housekeeping:
I have not stayed in a boutique hotel in quite some time, and it shows. Normally, housekeeping in chain hotels is not offered or if it is, you should decline. Why it seems to be impossible to find people who care about keeping rooms clean and can do so in an efficient and effective manner, I do not know.
However, I was blown away when I returned from a long day at Perito Moreno and saw my room had been cleaned. The sheets were changed, bed was made, curtains were drawn, and bathroom was cleaned! They even replaced the toilet paper (which I found a little strange, but nonetheless another sign that care was taken). I wish that I had tidied up my personal belongings before the cleaning crew arrived, but I had assumed that housekeeping would not be provided.
10/10, Exceptional. I wish more hotels could learn from this service.
Food and Drink:
The rate that I booked included a free breakfast. While I hurriedly scarfed down as much as I could find in preparation for the long day on the glacier and did not partake the other day, I found it to be quality.
There were eggs, plenty of bread products, both sweet and savory, orange juice, coffee, and water. Additionally, cereal and toast were also available. I was pleased with the taste and quality.
Dinner was also offered at the hotel, though I did not partake. There appeared to be meat and vegetarian dishes and a wine accompaniment.
Additionally, a Happy Hour was offered from 5-7pm daily, though I did not participate in this either.
9/10, Great. I do not value food at hotels highly, but this was much better than most offerings. If you like the convenience of not having to leave the hotel (again, over a mile from downtown) for breakfast, happy hour, or dinner, you should rate this as a 10/10.
Overall:
9/10, Great. I loved my stay here, especially the service, location, and view. The only minor detractors were the shower and linen situation. I would highly recommend staying here!
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