SometimesFlyer

Pretty much. Late checkout is never truly "guaranteed" even for Plats and above. You'll find lots of accounts here on the boards about being denied late checkouts or a partial to 1pm, 2pm, etc.

trustful88

I will check with the hotel prior to going. I'm Platinum, and would like to get late checkout as I will be pooped post-hike.

That's interesting - the JW Marriott price isn't bad. I'm using 10K points per night instead. Any thoughts on using 10K pts instead of paying $203?

bj23r

I've been following this thread for a while, and just wanted to provide a brief report of our stay at Palacio del Inka - we checked out yesterday (and are now at Paracas).

We received a nice Platinum upgrade to a full suite. They were clearly trying very hard to offer all the Plat benefits, though they were (understandably) not yet entirely familiar with them. (They originally told us that only one of us was entitled to the included breakfast buffet, but after we politely told them it should be for two, they graciously said that they would check on it, and then called back and offered it for all four of us [including our two kids]). The buffet was excellent - almost identical to TDI's. They also offered us 50 minutes of complimentary oxygen - not sure if that's a benefit, or what the regular cost is.

We arrived in Cusco after a 4-night stay in TDI, which we absolutely loved, and was much more our style - (bright, open, modern). Palacio del Inka, however, has beautiful, interesting common area spaces, and the service was very good (and Plat benefits great) - we were very happy with our stay overall.

Thunderroad

Thanks for this quick review, bj23r. And welcome to FT!

ariyo15

I'm headed to Cuzco next year, for mrs. ariyo15's bday, and am starting to look into options. How would you rate each of these two LC properties (either individually or comparatively speaking) on the following categories:

-PLT treatment (overall)
-Upgrade (are they stingy, do they just do the minimum or will they go all out - above what is 'necessary')
-Special Occasions (do they do anything?)
-Free breakfast (buffet, continental, fee to 'upgrade')
-Quality of food at restaurants (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
-Service (overall, butlers, etc...)
-Concierge (competency, attitude, etc...)
-Communication (in advance, hoping to set up some surprises for the mrs)

Anyone who's stayed at one or both... I'd love your feedback!

trustful88

Wow - really good tips. I am going in 5 weeks as platinum. Did you get 2 double beds?

I hope they also give us the 4 buffets! That would be huge!! Thanks for the details

Astrophsx

http://latin-america.starwoodoffers....HOTELOP_LAD_EN


Now a 1,000 point bonus per stay until November 30th.

iahphx

I'll have a night in Cusco next year and am interested in trying this hotel. A little put off by it being Cat. 4, though, and the published rates don't make any sense to me in a cheap country like Peru. Especially as a Gold, where I won't even get breakfast. Has anyone stayed in a small inn in town that they liked and would recommend -- at, assume, a small fraction of the cost of staying at the Palacio?

Thunderroad

Afraid I can't help, but you might check Tripadvisor.com for reviews of hotels and B&Bs in Cuzco.

SometimesFlyer

You might like to try the TIerra Viva group. I have had good experiences with them. They have 2 "small inns" in town. Once of the nicer local hotel chains but not sure if it meets your "small fraction" rule. Certainly less than PdI.

http://tierravivahoteles.com/

Cheers,
SF

ShipByPlane

I stayed here on points earlier this year and it is certainly true that there are much cheaper places to stay in Cusco. In my case, I chose this hotel for the experience and the service. If those are not important to you then the Luxury Collection may not be the best choice....

I stayed a few nights before at the Tambo del Inka and they were even able to transfer one of my bags from the Tambo to the Palacio and hold it for a few nights. I was only SPG Gold at the time but received excellent treatment.

It was really nice to have a luxury hotel to stay in after hiking for a few days around Machu Picchu and staying in hostels.

The hotel itself is very interesting and certainly worth a wander around the property. Great proximity to Qorikancha for sightseeing also.

A multiple night stay here might be too much because there is not much else in the immediate area but certainly worth the splurge on points to check out.

I spent the next night at the JW Marriott which is closer to the city center but probably also not worth staying multiple nights at.

platbrownguy

Stayed here for one night last Friday. A few points:

+

We came in to Cusco from Lima at 6:50 a.m., to catch the 8:20 a.m. Vistadome to Machu Picchu. One email to the general Palacio del Inka email address arranged transportation to pick us up from the airport, take us immediately to Poroy station, and then bring our bags back to the hotel (cost = $34 but worth it for the security of the baggage transport). On our ride to the station, I negotiated with the driver to have him pick us up later that evening when we came back from Machu Picchu, cost was just 30 soles (~$11) paying him directly.

Upgraded to full suite on arrival (1.5 baths, very useful). All needs quickly met (electric converter, shoe shine, etc.).

Received full breakfast buffet for 2 as platinum benefit, also received the points (maybe accidentally). Breakfast was good but not outstanding. Personally I thought the club lounge breakfast at the Sheraton Lima was better (read: Lomo Saltado and Pollo al Ajillo with eggs, delicious). Service was outstanding both places.

Beautiful building/interior spaces. Maybe not much to do for more than a day or two, but a great place to spend the night and explore a little.


-

Spa didn't open until 2 p.m. on Saturday. We were flying out at 3:50 so couldn't get massages as we'd hoped. Concierge was very informative and called other area hotels, but wasn't able to get what we were looking for at a workable time.

Checkout was an ordeal. I wanted to pay cash (they were offering a favorable rate of 2.9 soles per US$ to pay the folio; not sure why, when they were selling soles at 2.68/US$ over the counter), so I stopped by the desk to do it. Took them over 30 minutes to allocate the money to 2 different receipts (one for the hotel, one for the transportation).

Some of the staff's English wasn't the greatest, although most appeared to speak very well. I speak fluent Spanish so it was not a problem; I had wanted to have a couple of conversations in English (including the spa one) so that my wife, who does not speak Spanish, could understand as well, but it ended up being infinitely more productive to just speak Spanish. This is a minor quibble though -- I would not ordinarily fault a property for something like this, except that this property is charging high rates and should probably be expected to have English-speaking staff.

Key stopped working after 9 a.m. Nothing about checkout time was mentioned when we checked in. I assumed 4 p.m. checkout time as a plat. When I went to the front desk and said my key wasn't working, she promptly made a new one, no questions asked, still no comment about the checkout time. We left around 2 and the key worked until then. Only a minor annoyance, but I don't see why this property wouldn't give late checkout for gold/plats. It's a normal hotel in the middle of a large touristy town.



Conclusions:
-Overall great place to stay, would highly recommend for a night or two.
-Comfortable bed
-Excellent service
-Side note: we took the Hiram Bingham back and loved every minute of it. PeruRail had a special ($300 roundtrip for Vistadome one way and Hiram Bingham one way, including high tea at the Sanctuary Lodge and the return bus transfer from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes) -- check the PeruRail website for periodic deals like this, we never would have paid full price for the Hiram Bingham but are very glad we took advantage of this offer.

Thunderroad

My wife and I had a very nice three-night stay at the Palacio del Inka in September. (We also stayed at the Starwood properties Tambo del Inka and Hotel Paracas, which I separately review.) As a Starwood Platinum, I was upgraded to a suite...though we spent so much time out and about town, we didn't take advantage of it much. Aside from a few glitches with the front desk and our bill, and a bit of unevenness with breakfast service, overall the staff was great...particularly the extremely helpful concierge desk. The hotel is very well located in Cuzco, which itself is a pleasant, clean city (with sweepers constantly keeping the central area clean) with fine shops, restaurants, sights, etc.

Because the hotel is build on what I believe an Inca structure, it preserves the feel of the good historic feel of the place. At the same time, the ground floor is on the dark side (except for the internal courtyard area where breakfast is served) since there are few windows. Most of the rooms also did not seem to have great views either. E.g., I guess to preserve the historical structure, the small "patio" outsider our bedroom had four-foot high walls. Still these are very minor matters. Also, the two rooms in our suite were both on the small side, though both very nice.

One caution I'd make for those coming to the PdI from its sister Starwood property, Tambo del Inka, is that the TdI is superior in terms of setting, rooms, facilities, etc. But that's because the TdI is so fantastic; the PdI is still a fine hotel.

Despite the minor, negative observations I'm making here, we really did like the hotel a lot in terms of its location, rooms and staff. I'd definitely recommend it.

zagy

thinking about going to Peru next year, with Machu Picchu being at the top of our list.

Is this place a good base location for this?

Thunderroad

The sister hotel, Tambo del Inka (also a Starwood property), is better located in terms of being closer to MP and having a train station right at the hotel. And while the PdI is a fine hotel, TdI is fantastic and even better in just about every respect.