A recap of our stay at the RC in Santiago. We had 2 rooms on pointsavers for 5 nights for a total of 240K. One king, and one double for our teenagers.
Arrival/Departure- 10 am on Sunday morning. Very warm reception at the front desk, where platinum status was acknowledged. We were informed that we were getting adjoining rooms on the 14th floor (the highest with rooms) which is the club level, but no access to the lounge. Lounge access was ~80/day per room and the clerk suggested to us that if we planned to be out most days it probably wasn't worth 160/day but that if we had one or two days we were going to be around the hotel we could purchase just one day at a time. (We did not end up doing that) We were told the king room was ready, but that the adjoining double room was still occupied and should be ready by 3 pm. We all went to the king room and showered and headed out to do some sightseeing. We returned to the hotel at 4 pm where the clerk apologized profusely and explained that our neighbors had overstayed their welcome and had only just departed, so the double room was not ready. We went up to the room and about 15 minutes later the clerk delivered the keys to our second room with more apologies.
Departure- We requested late checkout on the king room and were granted 4 pm with no haggling. This allowed us to leave our bags and change for our long journey home after a short day of final sightseeing.
The rooms- classic RC style- no real local flavor, but very comfortable. While the outlets are dual voltage they are SA style outlets so you will need an adapter. They are a bit scarce, 2 by the desk and one behind the bedside table which was a bit hard to access, and one in the bathroom. We had a view of the mountains from our window. Bathroom has separate tub and shower with usual RC amenities. Wifi was strong and after signing in once did not ask for a signin all week. 5 devices per room were free for elites.
Location- Excellent! Many restaurants and cafes within walking distance. A bit of a business area, so not all cafes are open on the weekends. The newest/nicest mall in Santiago is about a 15 minutes walk with many shopping and eating choices there as well. The subway stop is directly outside the front entrance and a ride in to the center of town for most of the museums and other attractions is about 95 cents and 15 minutes. The area is extremely clean and safe- I ran alone in the neighborhood nearly every morning with no concerns.
Service- Very good! We utilized the concierge more than we normally do at hotels- for reservations for dinner at Osaka which can be hard to get and for a couple of other meals, as well as for general information. We also used the hotel's car service for airport pickup and drop off and had no issues. Turndown was offered every night. The second night we were there both rooms had 3 fresh chocolate truffles on a plate and our room had a decent bottle of wine as well. Another night we received little dulce de leche whoopie pies.
Onsite Dining- We had breakfast at Ritual which is their "Starbucks" type cafe in the lobby several times. It ran about 5 dollars a person for a coffee and a yogurt or other small item. Buffet in the restaurant was 28/person, we did not go for that. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant Estro on Thanksgiving. 2 of us ordered off the menu, 2 ordered the Thanksgiving special of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes. This was good but very pricey, the other entrees ran around 15-20 dollars US but the special was 60! (Noone thought to ask the price before ordering) In general in that area the hotel restaurants can be quite as good and priced on par with non-hotel restaurants, so I would not hesitate to eat there again.
Pool- The pool is small but pretty fabulous, being on the roof with a glass dome cover. There is a sun deck with a view of the Andes, or you can lounge inside. The gym is also in the domed area and is small with 3 treadmills and a limited selection of other equipment.
In regards to comparisons to the Marriott and Ren. I ran over to that neighborhood and back one morning- if you plan to sightsee downtown, there's no beating the Ritz in my opinion. There's no subway stop in that neighborhood and traffic can get quite bad making busses and taxi a less preferred option. If you are not relying on public transit, they should be fine.