Ankebello

A nice gym is at the Hilton. Nice & bright.

holtju2

Just had a two nights stay there.

As Marriott Gold I was upgraded to a Junior Suite before arrival. I noticed this when I checked the award reservation on the day of arrival over the net.

It was raining and upon arrival I just plugged in my laptop and went to have a nap. When I woke up the work desk where my laptop was covered with water coming from the leak. Looking at the amount of water I was sure that my less than a month laptop would have been gone. To my surprise the laptop was fine.

I was promptly assigned a new room that was more spacious than the previous one.

The executive lounge was nice and had a good spread.

Overall the hotel was nice and I would not hesitate to stay there again. If you like to stay hotels that are more modern I can suggest Hilton where I stayed too. Although the Hilton was nice, it could have been anywhere in the world.

bdschobel

I had a 3-day award stay over Labor Day weekend. It's a nice enough hotel, although old. The gym is very nice. The lounge is OK. The location is perfect.

As a Platinum guest, I was upgraded to a large suite on the concierge floor. It did not have a desirable view, but I didn't care.

Bruce

limo

I stayed there in late March. I did not get upgraded although I am a Plat. However, the staffs were courteous and the lounge was rather nice. I would recommend it.

I personally think the gym is quite acceptable. The pool is outdoor and you can look down to the busy street below. I spent 30 minutes there prior to checking out from the hotel and I wished I found it earlier.

gsilliman

The Hilton is a great hotel, all new in every way. Also, there are other hotels that are more posh - 4 Seasons, Alvear Palace.
BUT
-- after the Alvear, the Marriott is the classiest of the historic hotels, and Marriott has done a lot to upgrade the infrastructure to world-class standards.
-- If you are alone or you may have some time to wander or explore, the Marriott is in absolutely the best location, at the end of Florida St (mile-long pedestrian street). Even if you have just 15 minutes to spare, you can take advantage of that time from this location. Great neighborhood.
-- If you are meeting someone, the hotel bar at the Marriott is a classic.
-- Excellent lounge

Canarsie

I would recommend this property.

The room was clean and comfortable. I had a long balcony overlooking the street below. The breakfast buffet in the restaurant was excellent. The location is excellent. The service overall was excellent.

I have absolutely no complaints about this property.

Cyba

Depends on what you are looking for:

- The Alvear is definitely the "grande dame" of BA hotels.
- The Four seasons and Sofitel are definitely next best in terms of service, property and rooms
- It is true that the Marriott is an old hotel and it is just fine in terms of amenities and quite centrally locatedThe gym though is really poor. The Sheraton is of lower quality (very airline-crew-standard and most of them stay here) but the gym is really superior and has a very nice outdoor swimming pool which is about 3 times the size of that at the Marriott.
- For modernity, try the Faena hotel, only opened last year - designed by Philippe Starck it is in the true tradiiton of the modern boutique hotel complete with chi-chi crowd, nice public spaces and small rooms.

All in all the Marriott will do the trick esp if staying for free or looking for extra nights for your MR status.

Hope this helps and enjoy your stay in BA

LagunaBeach

I stayed at the Marriott Plaza a couple of years ago. I think it's misleading that it is ranked as a 5 star. It is a great location with so much history. If only it would be updated to 5 star standards and become more like another old hotel- The Alvear Palace. I would recommend the Marriott, but expect it to be more like a European 3 star.

volleyca

I agree with many of the posts (I stay in BA about once every other month). The Marriott is a great location. Some of the rooms are more run down than others, but the location and the charm make up for it

RT@Nati

I am in BA on business every 6 to 8 weeks for the last two years, after trying many hotels I picked the Marriott Plaza.

Yes, its an older hotel but still a good one, it has the best location, I walk to many of my appointments and restaurants (check out www.guiaoleo.com.ar) in the area.

The staff is great, food is good (breakfast can be included in the rate) and the shopping is just outside the front door.

Watch out for the junior suites, they are old and tend to face the elevators, ask for a park view room high up (wonderfull views) and upgrade to the club level, its worth it.

Enjoy!

imverge

see below..

imverge

Just stayed at Marriott Plaza Hotel. The location is great although I would avoid Florida St. shopping. The prices are higher than in other parts of the city.

Had room 904. One bedroom suite over-looking the park. It also has a beautiful terrace where I enjoyed breakfast most mornings. The room furnishings was typical of Marriott. I sat on the same sofa in Rio & Lisbon.

The hotel itself is very nice but needs an updating AGAIN. The best feature of this hotel is the staff. Carla at the front desk was wonderful and selected my suite, Marco at the concierge was helpful and spoke excellent English. Ms. Romana at the guest service desk was extremely friendly.

Gym needs MAJOR upgrading. The pool is very small. Executive lounge was open 7 days a week and was okay for breakfast. Way too many sweets and no real healthy alternatives. Lounge did offer WiFi internet service.

Over-all the hotel is very good but not worth the money.

Also do not exchange $$$ at Airport (EZE) got 25% less than exchange houses in the city. If really needed, just exchange enough to pay for taxi ride into city.

frisbeeace

I live in BA and found this one as the most accurate statement. The Marriott is not in the perfect location as many said. Florida St. is no longer the main shopping area but somehow decadent. Retiro and the adjacent financial district may be convenient if you're on a business trip but certainly Recoleta or Barrio Norte neighborhoods are much better to stay for a tourist. Still, the Plaza is a bargain in terms of points for a category 4 Marriott.

HLS2002

I stayed at the Marriott Plaza twice in March, and I have to disagree with much of what I've read in the forum. Maybe they've lost some good staff since these older posts. I thought the service was horrible. Everyone just stands around, and they don't even say "buen dia" when I pass by them. This seemed to me quite rude and very unusual in Argentina. I've stayed at all the major hotels in Buenos Aires, and I never had a complaint about service before. At the Hilton, they even apparently recognized my name on a luggage tag and directed me to the executive floor check-in area (Sr. HLS2002, Vd. puede ir directamente al piso ejecutivo...). At the Marriott, the staff was completely inattentive. Instead of the customary welcome letter, I only received a letter explaining that everything at the hotel is priced in dollars due to currency instability. Apparently, this is only a problem at Florida 1005, because I don't remember seeing this price gouging elsewhere (i.e., a bottle of water that should be 5 pesos is USD 5).

The concierge knew less about basic tourist attractions than I did and didn't have an umbrella available for me when it was raining. When I complained about having a smoking room, a person at the front desk said he would only change my room if I had "proof" that my reservation guaranteed a non-smoking room. It took about half an hour for the bell staff to find my luggage in the storage area on the afternoon I was leaving. The two rooms I had were mediocre at best, although maybe these were saved for people staying on points. The lobby was always full of comotion, an apparent hot spot for people on package tours.

Among the well-known hotels, I can't think of a poorer value. Rooms at the Sheraton Libertador were a bit dumpy last time I was there, but it's so much cheaper than the Marriott and has a lot of friendly staff people. The Sheraton Buenos Aires is huge and impersonal, but at least you can get help if you need it. The adjacent Park Tower is beautiful, as is the new Hilton. I don't know that I could even discuss the Alvear Palace and the Four Seasons in the same post as the Marriott, because they're in another league altogether. As far as location, I don't think it's much of a privilege to be on Florida these days. I feel unsafe there at night, and I'm much more comfortable down at the Park Tower a couple blocks away. Even the IC is better situated, because there you can easily get a taxi to happening places. I'd feel silly taking a taxi only a couple of blocks, but the short walk from La Chacra on Cordoba to the Marriott Plaza around midnight on a Saturday felt unsafe (actual shady characters around, as opposed to the mere desertedness of calle Moreno after hours).

I guess for free I might go back to the Marriott Plaza, but otherwise, this hotel is a porqueria. I'm sure it was nice place back in 1906.

Endor

I wanted to chime in because I had 2 Award stays in March as well. I don't disagree with much of what was said by the previous poster.

I needed to rely on the concierge services quite a bit, and I agree that in general, the staff there is fairly useless in terms of assistance on seeing BA. The notable exception to this is Marco, who was referenced above. The other staff was beyond unhelpful - in fact I found them downright rude. At times, they refused to provide assistance and even refered me to the business center for assistance in booking tickets to some local attractions. I walked away from the desk infuriated a couple of times, I must confess. I 100% agree with previous poster that I, as a tourist, I knew far more about the local attractions than they did. When I needed non-tourism assistance - e.g. luggage repair, the concierge services were more effective.

I was happy with the assistance I received from the bellmen, but they sure do stand alone a lot! A lot, a lot, as mentioned above. Just a crowd of staff standing around. I was not as happy with the taxi/car service desk staff, but primarily because I found more of a language gap there.

Staff in the restaurant was not helpful, Room Service was fine, Operators on the phone were fine, Front Desk varied.

Other thoughts:

• I am a platinum member - I arrived for my first stay at 4PM. Normal check in is at 3PM. There was no room available for me. About an hour later I was assigned to a junior suite which was fine. The room wasn't standout, but it was adequate. On my second stay, there was also not a room assigned and waiting for me. They apologized for no suite being available (I didn't care) but they did quickly assign me to a concierge level room. The room was again, fine, but did smell like smoke, despite being non smoking.
• Price gouging - oh for sure. In addition to the overpriced water referenced below, the internet is also overpriced compared to prices around the hotel.
• Safety - I'm a single female in my 20s who lives in NYC. I must confess I did feel a little unsafe on Florida in the section right before the hotel. I had friends walk me back at night when possible.