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Embassy Suites by Hilton Caracas {VEN} (no longer Honors)

Embassy Suites by Hilton Caracas {VEN} (no longer Honors)

Old Sep 16, 2005, 9:40 pm
  #1  
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Embassy Suites by Hilton Caracas {VEN} (no longer Honors)

Anyone stay at Embassy Suites Caracas in 2005? How was your stay?
FlysTooMuch is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2005, 8:58 am
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Stay Report

Originally Posted by FlysTooMuch
Anyone stay at Embassy Suites Caracas in 2005? How was your stay?
In case you are wondering, it is a nice property.

1. Great breakfast like any other Embassy suites.

2. The website said a Microwave and Refrigirator in every room, but I did not have either in my room. Did not need them so I did not complain.

3. Free "Highspeed" internet is more like a fast 56K connection, and it worked most of the time.

4. Manager's reception in the evening was minimal. It was a couple of hot items (mostly beef) and chips. Free local beers and liqors.

5.Good location, lots of restaurants and malls closeby. Sambil, the biggest mall here, is about 5 blocks. Lido, a small mall, is across the street.
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Old Sep 9, 2010, 9:17 am
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Anyone recently stay here? Potential trip to Caracas (business) and might or might not be able to get the JW Marriott. Would like to stick to either Hilton or Marriott properties. Would most definitely appreciate any feedback/reviews - anything special here for a Hilton Diamond?
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Old Feb 24, 2011, 10:22 pm
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Quick review of the: Embassy Suites Hotels Caracas

Geography: Great location for downtown Caracas. Across the street from a mall and places to eat. In general Caracas isn't a place you go wondering around (safety issues) They have an on-site taxi stand. It's 200BsF to the CCS airport, which is pretty good as it may take an hour +.

Hotel & Rooms: Pretty standard rooms with decent size. The hotel could use some updates, but as Hugo could nationalize it any day, most things in Venezuela don't see a lot of reinvestment. Evidently some rooms on the top floor have a sundeck.

Hotel Staff: Some were competent, some were not, all spoke good English

Breakfast: No Comment (I didn't make breakfast)

Managers Reception: Pretty skimpy food wise, chips and overcooked Tequenos. Drink wise it was pretty good - Cerveza/Beer & Ron/Rum were gratis
MyTravels is offline  
Old Feb 17, 2012, 5:47 pm
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Two questions about the ES Caracas:
  1. Do they offer a pickup service from the airport?
  2. Is there some way to contact the hotel by e-mail?
fptxenemit is offline  
Old Feb 22, 2012, 7:36 pm
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Originally Posted by fptxenemit
Two questions about the ES Caracas:
  1. Do they offer a pickup service from the airport?
  2. Is there some way to contact the hotel by e-mail?
ES is one of the better choices here. I would call it a safe choice but not the best. There's a newer boutique hotel (The VIP) that opened in a safer/more upscale location than the ES and it is similarly priced.

I'm a Venezuelan local and went with my boyfriend to have lunch on their restaurant. Food is ok, but i enjoyed the furnishings. Very minimalist,modern and nice looking. Haven't been on the rooms, but if i picked one hotel to stay probably would go that way: The Vip or the Pestana. I'm very picky and these hotels seem better than the overpriced Marriott in El Rosal. When my bf asked in January '12.

The Vip: Starting at 1.400BsF
Pestana: Starting at 1.700BsF

The first hotel i think they have their site down... it doesn't open.

Every major chain offers airport pickup here i believe. I mean any reputable hotel should. Personally i've never been to the ES. They should, but i don't believe it's complimentary. I can find you an email or the ES phones if you have already not asked them. Yes, there should be a way to contact the Embassy by email.... but here in Ven.... people don't reply to emails... we are stuck in a more basic fashion... calls... and you are lucky if the reception guy follows your English.
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Old May 21, 2012, 2:43 pm
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Originally Posted by fptxenemit
Two questions about the ES Caracas:
  1. Do they offer a pickup service from the airport?
  2. Is there some way to contact the hotel by e-mail?
To answer my own question: they offer airport pickup at 400 VEF. Their e-mail address is [email protected]. In order to arrange the pickup, you need to send the flight details by e-mail.

Last edited by fptxenemit; Jun 3, 2012 at 8:32 am
fptxenemit is offline  
Old Jun 3, 2012, 8:48 am
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Stay report

Originally Posted by fptxenemit
To answer my own question: they offer airport pickup at 400 VEF. Their e-mail address is [email protected]. In order to arrange the pickup, you need to send the flight details by e-mail.
I just completed my stay at the ES Caracas, and it was very nice.

Airport transfer. As mentioned in the earlier message, you can arrange an airport pickup for 400 VEF. Airport drop-off is 240 VEF. The pickup was easy: a taxi-driver with "Embassy Suites" sign was waiting and the transfer took about 35-40 minutes (mid-day). Drop-off didn't have to be prebooked: I mentioned it at check-out, the amount was added to the bill and I got a voucher for the taxi driver.

Staff. Rather minimal. At most times, only one person at the reception. Give that one of them apparently didn't speak a word of English, this was a bit of a problem. On the other hand, the ones who spoke English were excellent: Juan Pablo helped me a lot with recommendations and guidance.

Breakfast & other food. I loved the breakfast: excellent fresh fruit (mango, papaya, melon), an omelette station, some local hot food (corn patties, plantains, black beans). I also had a late lunch at the cafe on my day of arrival (vegetable sandwich) which was also very good.

Location. After having read so much about the dangers of Caracas, I was a bit surprised that you can just walk from the ES to the Plaza de Altamira; actually, a rather pleasant walk.

Elite benefits & award stay. This was an award stay, and I was asked whether I had any certificate from Hilton. Of course, I didn't, and this created some issues and confusion. In the end, they asked me to sign an invoice from the hotel to Hilton to cover the award stay. There was no recognition of my Gold status whatsoever, and I didn't get the published benefits (the MyWay preferences are switched to two bottles of water and pretzels).

The hotel was rather empty. I saw exactly two other people at breakfast and saw a handful of guests in the lobby area and two in the business centre. This created a slightly eerie feeling, but maybe this says more about Caracas as a travel destination than about this hotel. All in all, I liked my stay very much and can recommend the hotel.
fptxenemit is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2014, 1:52 pm
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Embassy Suites, caracas

Looking to book a room here, rates are US$944 per night (yes, really) or Advance Purchase US$155.

Anyone got any idea whats going on ?
tezzer is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2014, 9:51 pm
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Is it priced in dollars or bolivares? I believe there is a drastic difference between the official rate and black market rate. None of my business, but I imagine you have a very good reason to be going to CCS. It's one of the most dangerous cities in the world at present, and shortages of basic goods are an ongoing problem. Good food though.
ibdsux is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2014, 9:54 pm
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Priced in US$.

And yes, I have good reason to go.
tezzer is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2014, 10:05 pm
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I checked and see what you are talking about. I imagine the hotel is pricing refundable rooms so outlandishly high because they want to push people to the advance purchase rate & get their non-refundable money now. With the desperate situation in the country I suppose this makes sense in a perverse sort of way. Foreign companies are pulling out of VZ at an accelerating pace and that is no doubt affecting the hotel trade.
ibdsux is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2014, 10:07 pm
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Bit of a con then.
tezzer is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2014, 10:09 pm
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Originally Posted by ibdsux
I checked and see what you are talking about. I imagine the hotel is pricing refundable rooms so outlandishly high because they want to push people to the advance purchase rate & get their non-refundable money now. With the desperate situation in the country I suppose this makes sense in a perverse sort of way. Foreign companies are pulling out of VZ at an accelerating pace and that is no doubt affecting the hotel trade.
The refundable rate is charged in the local currency using the official exchange rate that is off by 90%. The hotel most likely processes the prepaid USD transactions outside of Venezuela.
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Old Oct 8, 2014, 10:05 am
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Originally Posted by tezzer
Bit of a con then.
I wouldn't call it that at all. Venezuela has been restricting exchanges of bolivars at the official rate by companies like airlines (probably hotels too). Venezuela has introduced an additional rate that is much much less than the official rate for these businesses. Advance purchase and payment is apparently a way to avoid these restrictions. But if you want to pay in country there is considerably more risk (and cost) which leads to the difference in rates. See, for example, these articles:
http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...venezuela.aspx
http://loyaltylobby.com/2014/06/10/b...-in-venezuela/
jerry a. laska is offline  

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