Sep 11, 2016, 4:06 pm
Last edit by: MSPeconomist
Some practical information
The hotel consists of two buildings, separated be a beautiful outdoor garden and an interior basement passageway called Paseo Des Artistes which serves as an art gallery for rotating exhibits by contemporary Latin American artists, plus some sculpture that seems to be permanent. Hotel guests can request a guided tour by one of the hotel's art ambassadors. Taxis serve both buildings, each of which has a small carriage entrance and valet parking garage.
Be aware that taxi fares have increased significantly in the last year. In September 2016, rates were about 40-50 for a ride to Centro, including the port area, and about 100 to restaurants in Palermo (which are generally lcated up the hill, far from the water). A remise from the domestic AEP airport costs about 250-300, although a taxi should be around 100-150 with no traffic.
The tower building on Posadas is modern and contains the Gioia (Italian) restaurant. It's almost all day dining, with a large breakfast buffet, lunch buffet, current Italian aperitif hours, and dinner. The hotel concierges sit in the basement of the tower building, at the entrance to the business center (free computers and printing). Ask for their printouts of what to do and suggested restaurant lists.
The historic palace building on Alvear contains a beautiful indoor pool in the basement, the florist, the Argentinian fine dining restaurant Duhau with its cheese cellar and wine room, open for lunch and dinner, the Piano Noble cafe/lobby bar, and the oak room bar, where the latter allows smoking as do the outdoor eating and drinking areas on terraces and in the garden.
The street parallel to Alvear and Posadas, one block up the hill from Alvear, contains shops, including a small ma and pa grocery store that closes for lunch and a larger supermarket with red signage called something like Dash. Both are self service, sell wine, and are open to at least 9 pm. There's also a fancy specialty wine store about a block from the palace building, next to the French
Club restaurant.
Breakfast is available until 11am in Gioia (big cold buffet, plus you can order hot items, I believe for extra charges except for Diamonds) or continental plus a hot menu of things to order at Piano Noble, IIRC also until 11am, including on their outdoor balcony tables. Coffee and drinks, including champagne, are served there with small snacks such as cookies or nuts and olives. Room service breakfast is available until noon, with instructions to place the order form on your doorknob by 4am. In the past, I was instructed to take Diamond breakfast either in Gioia or Piano Noble, but this time I was told Gioia only while others were given the choice.
Restaurants within a couple blocks include Club Frances or French Club, Fervor on Posadas for vaguely Spanish fish/seafood and steak, Sotta Voce on Libertador for Italian food, including fish, and the restaurant inside the new Brick Hotel on Posadas. Sadly the all branch of La Dorita casual steak house has closed.
The hotel consists of two buildings, separated be a beautiful outdoor garden and an interior basement passageway called Paseo Des Artistes which serves as an art gallery for rotating exhibits by contemporary Latin American artists, plus some sculpture that seems to be permanent. Hotel guests can request a guided tour by one of the hotel's art ambassadors. Taxis serve both buildings, each of which has a small carriage entrance and valet parking garage.
Be aware that taxi fares have increased significantly in the last year. In September 2016, rates were about 40-50 for a ride to Centro, including the port area, and about 100 to restaurants in Palermo (which are generally lcated up the hill, far from the water). A remise from the domestic AEP airport costs about 250-300, although a taxi should be around 100-150 with no traffic.
The tower building on Posadas is modern and contains the Gioia (Italian) restaurant. It's almost all day dining, with a large breakfast buffet, lunch buffet, current Italian aperitif hours, and dinner. The hotel concierges sit in the basement of the tower building, at the entrance to the business center (free computers and printing). Ask for their printouts of what to do and suggested restaurant lists.
The historic palace building on Alvear contains a beautiful indoor pool in the basement, the florist, the Argentinian fine dining restaurant Duhau with its cheese cellar and wine room, open for lunch and dinner, the Piano Noble cafe/lobby bar, and the oak room bar, where the latter allows smoking as do the outdoor eating and drinking areas on terraces and in the garden.
The street parallel to Alvear and Posadas, one block up the hill from Alvear, contains shops, including a small ma and pa grocery store that closes for lunch and a larger supermarket with red signage called something like Dash. Both are self service, sell wine, and are open to at least 9 pm. There's also a fancy specialty wine store about a block from the palace building, next to the French
Club restaurant.
Breakfast is available until 11am in Gioia (big cold buffet, plus you can order hot items, I believe for extra charges except for Diamonds) or continental plus a hot menu of things to order at Piano Noble, IIRC also until 11am, including on their outdoor balcony tables. Coffee and drinks, including champagne, are served there with small snacks such as cookies or nuts and olives. Room service breakfast is available until noon, with instructions to place the order form on your doorknob by 4am. In the past, I was instructed to take Diamond breakfast either in Gioia or Piano Noble, but this time I was told Gioia only while others were given the choice.
Restaurants within a couple blocks include Club Frances or French Club, Fervor on Posadas for vaguely Spanish fish/seafood and steak, Sotta Voce on Libertador for Italian food, including fish, and the restaurant inside the new Brick Hotel on Posadas. Sadly the all branch of La Dorita casual steak house has closed.
Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt Buenos Aires REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
Aug 27, 2009, 1:12 pm
#61
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,531
I would actually send an email prior to your arrival and let them know of the special occasion. The management staff, in my opinion, are outstanding at this property. They may just take care of you without your Andrew Jackson! Felicidades.
Oct 8, 2009, 10:47 am
#63
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
Programs: AP*SE, SPG Plat, HH Diamond, FPC Plat, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 169
I don't recall paying any taxes whatsoever on a FFN (3 nts) stay there Jan this year. I loved the property, and was treated very well - can't wait to return.
Oct 9, 2009, 11:25 am
#64
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Argentina
Posts: 40,210
Slide show here
We had some stuff to do in Buenos Aires and rather than rush to get it all done in one day we decided to use one of our free nights and stay overnight in the Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt Buenos Aires. Getting availability for the day we wanted just over a week out was not a problem and the booking process was easily done online.
Three emails from them followed – one confirming our reservation another from concierge online and the third a few days after. The final one wasn’t an automated one and was more personal. It informed us that they were looking forward to welcoming us to the hotel and also asked if there was anything that we wished them to organise for our arrival.
Getting there.
If time allows we just take the bus for the 100 mile trip into Buenos Aires. There is a regular service every few hours run by Pullman General Belgrano. It’s a first class service and the seats are comparable in comfort and recline to a good airline business class seat. In order to keep costs down they have somewhat cut the onroad service to some degree over the last few years. Although coffee is still available it is now self service and the free snack has gone……..still for about £10 for a semi flex ticket one can’t complain – you also get seat assignments at time of booking.
We caught the 8am service and arrived safely in the capital three and half hours later. Yes, not the fastest of services it has to be said mainly due to stopping along the way to offload and pick up pax as well as the single carriageway road for the first half of the journey – get stuck behind a line of slow moving trucks and it takes an age to get past them. It is a pleasant and relaxing journey so the road time was not too much of a chore.
After doing the biz we had to do we caught a taxi to take us to Recoleta the high class area where all the top named shops are located. Also located there is Evita who probably attracts more admirers than those shops come to think of it although the conversation is rather one sided.
Check-in process was carried out immediately. In fact the hotel was very quiet indeed and we weren’t to see any more than two or three guests during our short overnight stay. Two of the staff who were carrying the check-in were very chatty and were asking us how we were enjoying our stay in the capital. All very natural it has to be said and not at all sounding as if it might have been the 1000th time they had done it.
Barbara the female duty manager came out of a side door and calling us by name introduced herself to us and a lovely girl she is as well.
She asked us if this was our first time in the Hyatt when I confirmed it was she went on to say how delighted she was having us stay there. I must say we were a bit taken aback by all this attention and could have done without it to be honest.
Anyway, they were all very pleasant and professional and I suppose that’s what you pay five star prices for.
We were shown by Mark another smartly dressed young man to our room on the tenth floor with a view to the Vatican Embassy next door. He then proceeded to spend the next ten minutes explaining all the functions of the room. The mood lighting, the air con, the DVD player, the automated black out blind, the mini bar……..eventually he left.
A gold envelope with a hand written message from the manager was on the table next to a small bunch of tasty black grapes. It was the usual welcome letter - nice to see he is human and can make the odd mistake.
Our room 107 as expected was just the standard room which after a search on Kayak for our date was available for the cheapest price of £246 including tax. It was smaller than expected I have to say – although the bathroom did take up a lot of space which pleased my wife. A large walk in shower as well as a bath, soft fluffy towels and robes, plenty of toiletries (name I’ve never heard of) good lighting and the toilet and bidet separated by a frosted glass sliding door. There was four bars of soap all in, one at the basin as well as in the shower, bath and beside the bidet. Decent slippers were also supplied along with a branded umbrella both found in the clothes space.
A look at the mini bar prices had JWB at £10, half bottle of red Argentine Malbec also at a tenner. I had seen enough and put the kettle on instead.
Although we were planning on eating out at Alto Palermo I inspected the room service menu out of nosiness. Prices for the usual club sandwich or hamburger was not bad at around twelve quid but rose pretty steeply for the likes of a main course as well as breakfast items.
There is a turn down service but we always leave the do not disturb sign outside our door when we are out in the evening so no idea if any goodies like a chocolate or two would have been left or not.
We both had a great sleep although it has to be said a day in Buenos Aires does take it out of you. I do think it was the result of having a very comfy bed with a constant pleasant room temperature. Lovely cotton sheet and duvet cover along with feather pillows – six in total all certainly helped. Our room looked on to gardens, so no traffic noise was heard at all. Neither did we suffer from noisy neighbours, hall or lift noise.
We were up at 7am thanks to a good old fashioned alarm clock supplied……..at last, an alarm clock that is simple to use and goes off at the time you want and not twelve hours later. A lovely shower with an easy to control temperature setting was a good refreshing start to the day. Check out could not have been faster or more pleasant and we left to do battle with the morning rush hour and breakfast at Café Martinez.
It is a classy hotel which reflects the area it is located in and is very tastefully decorated throughout. We didn’t sample any of the bars or restaurants in the hotel or any of the other many facilities they have.
Wandering about corridors down past the business centre, flower shop, spa and the hotels very own art gallery and not seeing any other guests made it feel very strange indeed - almost as if we had sneaked in before its official opening. Even the lobby area was quiet when we entered or departed…..although the area does lack seating which may account for this “deserted” feeling.
The staff are all young, confident and very pleasant and could not be faulted.
We had some stuff to do in Buenos Aires and rather than rush to get it all done in one day we decided to use one of our free nights and stay overnight in the Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt Buenos Aires. Getting availability for the day we wanted just over a week out was not a problem and the booking process was easily done online.
Three emails from them followed – one confirming our reservation another from concierge online and the third a few days after. The final one wasn’t an automated one and was more personal. It informed us that they were looking forward to welcoming us to the hotel and also asked if there was anything that we wished them to organise for our arrival.
Getting there.
If time allows we just take the bus for the 100 mile trip into Buenos Aires. There is a regular service every few hours run by Pullman General Belgrano. It’s a first class service and the seats are comparable in comfort and recline to a good airline business class seat. In order to keep costs down they have somewhat cut the onroad service to some degree over the last few years. Although coffee is still available it is now self service and the free snack has gone……..still for about £10 for a semi flex ticket one can’t complain – you also get seat assignments at time of booking.
We caught the 8am service and arrived safely in the capital three and half hours later. Yes, not the fastest of services it has to be said mainly due to stopping along the way to offload and pick up pax as well as the single carriageway road for the first half of the journey – get stuck behind a line of slow moving trucks and it takes an age to get past them. It is a pleasant and relaxing journey so the road time was not too much of a chore.
After doing the biz we had to do we caught a taxi to take us to Recoleta the high class area where all the top named shops are located. Also located there is Evita who probably attracts more admirers than those shops come to think of it although the conversation is rather one sided.
Check-in process was carried out immediately. In fact the hotel was very quiet indeed and we weren’t to see any more than two or three guests during our short overnight stay. Two of the staff who were carrying the check-in were very chatty and were asking us how we were enjoying our stay in the capital. All very natural it has to be said and not at all sounding as if it might have been the 1000th time they had done it.
Barbara the female duty manager came out of a side door and calling us by name introduced herself to us and a lovely girl she is as well.
She asked us if this was our first time in the Hyatt when I confirmed it was she went on to say how delighted she was having us stay there. I must say we were a bit taken aback by all this attention and could have done without it to be honest.
Anyway, they were all very pleasant and professional and I suppose that’s what you pay five star prices for.
We were shown by Mark another smartly dressed young man to our room on the tenth floor with a view to the Vatican Embassy next door. He then proceeded to spend the next ten minutes explaining all the functions of the room. The mood lighting, the air con, the DVD player, the automated black out blind, the mini bar……..eventually he left.
A gold envelope with a hand written message from the manager was on the table next to a small bunch of tasty black grapes. It was the usual welcome letter - nice to see he is human and can make the odd mistake.
Our room 107 as expected was just the standard room which after a search on Kayak for our date was available for the cheapest price of £246 including tax. It was smaller than expected I have to say – although the bathroom did take up a lot of space which pleased my wife. A large walk in shower as well as a bath, soft fluffy towels and robes, plenty of toiletries (name I’ve never heard of) good lighting and the toilet and bidet separated by a frosted glass sliding door. There was four bars of soap all in, one at the basin as well as in the shower, bath and beside the bidet. Decent slippers were also supplied along with a branded umbrella both found in the clothes space.
A look at the mini bar prices had JWB at £10, half bottle of red Argentine Malbec also at a tenner. I had seen enough and put the kettle on instead.
Although we were planning on eating out at Alto Palermo I inspected the room service menu out of nosiness. Prices for the usual club sandwich or hamburger was not bad at around twelve quid but rose pretty steeply for the likes of a main course as well as breakfast items.
There is a turn down service but we always leave the do not disturb sign outside our door when we are out in the evening so no idea if any goodies like a chocolate or two would have been left or not.
We both had a great sleep although it has to be said a day in Buenos Aires does take it out of you. I do think it was the result of having a very comfy bed with a constant pleasant room temperature. Lovely cotton sheet and duvet cover along with feather pillows – six in total all certainly helped. Our room looked on to gardens, so no traffic noise was heard at all. Neither did we suffer from noisy neighbours, hall or lift noise.
We were up at 7am thanks to a good old fashioned alarm clock supplied……..at last, an alarm clock that is simple to use and goes off at the time you want and not twelve hours later. A lovely shower with an easy to control temperature setting was a good refreshing start to the day. Check out could not have been faster or more pleasant and we left to do battle with the morning rush hour and breakfast at Café Martinez.
It is a classy hotel which reflects the area it is located in and is very tastefully decorated throughout. We didn’t sample any of the bars or restaurants in the hotel or any of the other many facilities they have.
Wandering about corridors down past the business centre, flower shop, spa and the hotels very own art gallery and not seeing any other guests made it feel very strange indeed - almost as if we had sneaked in before its official opening. Even the lobby area was quiet when we entered or departed…..although the area does lack seating which may account for this “deserted” feeling.
The staff are all young, confident and very pleasant and could not be faulted.
Dec 11, 2009, 10:07 pm
#66
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: PHX and LIH
Programs: AA: 2 MM
Posts: 85,552
Yes, we felt like rock stars ourselves because of all the people outside waiting to get a glimpse of somebody every time we emerged from the hotel last weekend. 
Must echo the recent comments of others about the staff at this hotel. Everyone was just great - efficient and very friendly.
Must echo the recent comments of others about the staff at this hotel. Everyone was just great - efficient and very friendly.
Dec 12, 2009, 5:17 pm
#68
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Argentina
Posts: 40,210
Dec 18, 2009, 9:20 am
#69
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Orange County, California, USA
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, United Platinum, Hyatt Globalist & Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 41
I stayed at this property in April of 2009. This was one of the best hotel experiences of my life. I traveled though BA on the way to Mendoza and stopped by the Park Hyatt to see if I could leave a large bag rather than check it on to Mendoza. The staff was very happy to accommodate and the bag was stored for me.
I arrived in the late evening and check-in was very quick. I asked about my bag and was told it was waiting for me inside my suite. I had booked a basic room and was upgraded to a Park Suite, which was in the new tower with a view of the palace. These are probably the better rooms as you don’t have any traffic noise. The suite, an open loft, was huge with a very large bathroom. The furnishings were classy contemporary and the bathroom products very high-end.
I enjoyed a few meals at the hotel, which were very good with outstanding service. The public/restaurant spaces in the palace are very well done. Have a cigar and a scotch in the palace bar – great oak paneling that’s a few hundred years old – just fits with the scotch.
Check-out was easy. I brought my bags down to the lobby and when the elevator doors opened the two door men ran over to me and took them away – a story I love telling!
To me this is the top hotel in BA. Friends of mine were staying in a palace suite at the nearby Four Seasons Hotel. The hotel and suite were a bit dated and nowhere near as nice as the Park Hyatt. I also had a cocktail at the Alvear Palace Hotel, which was also a little too 80’s-ish for my taste. All and all this is the place to be in BA.
I arrived in the late evening and check-in was very quick. I asked about my bag and was told it was waiting for me inside my suite. I had booked a basic room and was upgraded to a Park Suite, which was in the new tower with a view of the palace. These are probably the better rooms as you don’t have any traffic noise. The suite, an open loft, was huge with a very large bathroom. The furnishings were classy contemporary and the bathroom products very high-end.
I enjoyed a few meals at the hotel, which were very good with outstanding service. The public/restaurant spaces in the palace are very well done. Have a cigar and a scotch in the palace bar – great oak paneling that’s a few hundred years old – just fits with the scotch.
Check-out was easy. I brought my bags down to the lobby and when the elevator doors opened the two door men ran over to me and took them away – a story I love telling!
To me this is the top hotel in BA. Friends of mine were staying in a palace suite at the nearby Four Seasons Hotel. The hotel and suite were a bit dated and nowhere near as nice as the Park Hyatt. I also had a cocktail at the Alvear Palace Hotel, which was also a little too 80’s-ish for my taste. All and all this is the place to be in BA.
Dec 18, 2009, 9:25 am
#71
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: PHX and LIH
Programs: AA: 2 MM
Posts: 85,552
I stayed at this property in April of 2009. This was one of the best hotel experiences of my life. I traveled though BA on the way to Mendoza and stopped by the Park Hyatt to see if I could leave a large bag rather than check it on to Mendoza. The staff was very happy to accommodate and the bag was stored for me.
I arrived in the late evening and check-in was very quick. I asked about my bag and was told it was waiting for me inside my suite. I had booked a basic room and was upgraded to a Park Suite, which was in the new tower with a view of the palace. These are probably the better rooms as you don’t have any traffic noise. The suite, an open loft, was huge with a very large bathroom. The furnishings were classy contemporary and the bathroom products very high-end.
I arrived in the late evening and check-in was very quick. I asked about my bag and was told it was waiting for me inside my suite. I had booked a basic room and was upgraded to a Park Suite, which was in the new tower with a view of the palace. These are probably the better rooms as you don’t have any traffic noise. The suite, an open loft, was huge with a very large bathroom. The furnishings were classy contemporary and the bathroom products very high-end.
Dec 18, 2009, 9:26 am
#72
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Depends on the day!
Programs: Marriott/Lifetime Titanium Hyatt/Explorist, Hilton/Silver, IHG Spire,UA Gold
Posts: 17,832
Jan 10, 2010, 11:48 pm
#74
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Orange County, California, USA
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, United Platinum, Hyatt Globalist & Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 41
I'm heading back in February using seven free nights. I will update when I return. I'm sure this stay will be as good as the last.
Jan 11, 2010, 7:20 am
#75
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: RDU
Programs: Soon to be free agent...
Posts: 97
My wife and I recently returned from a 7 night stay over New Year's week at this property, using a combination of FFN and points. We had an absolutely wonderful stay; some specifics that stand out:
- we arrived ~12pm; our room wasn't ready so they invited us to have coffee and tea (gratis!) on the patio until it was; great start...
- a welcome bottle of wine was waiting for us in our room
- every evening we had complementary fruit and water left for us at turn down
- maid service was almost too good...my wife likes to spread out her items in the bathroom and every day we come back the maid has lined up everything in a small section of the counter, they put all the dirty clothes in a bag, they wrap up the iPhone cables and tie them neatly.
- the concierge desk went above and beyond for us on multiple occasions, whether it was show bookings, restaurant bookings, etc. I know they were ready for us to leave.
- The only (very very minor) negative was that the hot tubs in the spa were a little small and not that hot.
- As a Diamond the breakfast spread was free, both the buffet and the hot items if desired from the menu (eggs, waffles, etc). They even had freshly-squeezed carrot juice. The wait staff seemed a little overwhelmed at the busiest time of the morning so it took some time for a couple of items. But we were on vacation and in no rush...
- The pool area was relaxing but the spa was a little small
- After 7 nights our bill consisted of just one item, the car we hired for roundtrip service to EZE.
A great stay, and we would have no hesitation at all in returning.
- we arrived ~12pm; our room wasn't ready so they invited us to have coffee and tea (gratis!) on the patio until it was; great start...
- a welcome bottle of wine was waiting for us in our room
- every evening we had complementary fruit and water left for us at turn down
- maid service was almost too good...my wife likes to spread out her items in the bathroom and every day we come back the maid has lined up everything in a small section of the counter, they put all the dirty clothes in a bag, they wrap up the iPhone cables and tie them neatly.
- the concierge desk went above and beyond for us on multiple occasions, whether it was show bookings, restaurant bookings, etc. I know they were ready for us to leave.
- The only (very very minor) negative was that the hot tubs in the spa were a little small and not that hot.
- As a Diamond the breakfast spread was free, both the buffet and the hot items if desired from the menu (eggs, waffles, etc). They even had freshly-squeezed carrot juice. The wait staff seemed a little overwhelmed at the busiest time of the morning so it took some time for a couple of items. But we were on vacation and in no rush...
- The pool area was relaxing but the spa was a little small
- After 7 nights our bill consisted of just one item, the car we hired for roundtrip service to EZE.
A great stay, and we would have no hesitation at all in returning.