Sofitel Arroyo Buenos Aires Sept 2015

Sofitel Buenos Aires Arroyo

Length of stay:3 days at the end of September 2015.
Room booked:Prestigue Suite - rate included breakfast
Room given:Penthouse Suite with City Views (room 1902)
Le Club Status:Gold through CdA

Airport Pickup:
As requested via mail, we were picked up at Buenos Aires International Airport (EZE) in a Mercedes Benz taking us directly to the Sofitel Buenos Aires Arroyo Hotel. The driver greeting us was there on time and held a sign with the hotel name but not our own names (he asked for our names as a confirmation). The drive was scheduled to take around 45 min and I believe it was done a tad faster than so.

Airport – Hotel transfer:
During our drive we were not offered any drinks (which we usually have been given when picked up by Sofitel elsewhere in the world) but didn’t make any difference to us. Also there was no WiFi in the car (or at least we were not told so eventhough there was a sticker saying there was) and again made no difference to us… There was a folder with the Sofitel logo and papers for us to fill out as well as a drinks/bar voucher that we could use at our own convenince. We arrived around 09:00 on this Sunday morning.

Hotel Arrival:



When arriving to the Sofitel, there were plenty of staff to greet us. Our bags were taken care off straight away and the door oppend for us with a warm welcome and smile from the porter. We were again greeted with a “Bonjour” at the reception and the check in was done in a few seconds confirming that the hotel booking included breakfast. I was also told that someone from the hotel wanted to see me the next day and I could not think of whom at the time. We were instantly upgraded to a higher room category as I had returned to A-Club gold status after sometime being a meary classic member. I had sent a mail to the hotel prior just to confirm the gold status update and had also asked for an early check in which was granted without any problems. This one of the perks I cherish the most tbh. The bell boy followed us to the lift, but didn’t enter with us as we were told that this was against hotel policy, and pressed the 19th (and top) floor buttom for us. We got to the floor before the bell boy and only two rooms are on this top floor 1901 to the left and 1902 to the right.

The room:
Upon entering the suite there is a hall way leading to the downstairs bathroom and also a service entry door for staff (along with elevators which I believe is for staff use).





To the left is a relatively large sitting room with a working desk (printer, scanner etc), sofa, TV, coffee machine and 2 large windows with views over the city of BA.



A staircase winds up to the second floor



and continues



where the bedroom is located



again with a TV set and another hallway



leading to the very well equiped bathroom



with rain forrest showers head and a separate bathtub. After 30-40 min we got a phone call fron the front desk asking if everything was in order and if there was anything they could do to make our stay even more comfortable. I had only a few words and these included “Fantastic”, “WOW” and “Amazing” along with “You have done more than enough”.

Turn down service:
For some starnge reason this was done at around 17:00 (5 pm) so we were always in the room at this time, meaning we were just handled 2 bottles of water and 2 tiny chocolates (dark, milk or white). Only one time was there an actual turn down service (when we were not in the the room obviously at 17:00).

Breakfast:
The restaurant Le Sud is very stylish and there is comfortable space between the tables which I like. Foodwise, it’s very much based on breads (ptisseries, baguettes etc) fresh fruits, salad types, ham, cheese and sparkling wine if it should have your fanzy (and it’s included I believe). There is also a hot selection which needs to be ordered by the staff working in the restaurant and this can be a tad hit or miss. My better half ordered waffles and salmon which turned out to be thick American style pancakes with Salmon and I ordered the full works which should have come with a cheese and ham filled croissant which it didn’t. We had the breakfast a few mornings and everytime something changed without beig informed about it. Change is good, but I think the person ordering the food should be informed prior but it never happened. Some mornings we got a basket with “fresh” bread and pastries other mornings we didn’t. Each table had 4 little glass containers/jars with : Honey, marmelade, jam and Dulche De Leche or rather should have, as this could also be hit or miss (twice did we open a jar that had already been half emptied by someone prior to us sitting at a table = not good).

The worst was the butter sistuation. One needed to ask for butter over and over again and the portions where so small that one run with the butter knife would empty the litte tiny glass plate. The small butter packs you get on planes are double of that we got at our first stay.

Dinner:
We were told that Le Sud was among the best restaurants in Buenos Aires so this was something we wanted to try and test out ourselves. Huge mistake. Poor service (not that the staff were rude but just seemed so un trained that it actually hurt). This is not a restaurant review so let’s lerave it at that.

Bar:
The Library is a very nice hotel bar in deed. We used our voucher for two glasses of sparkling wine and it came with olives, nuts (not peanuts thank god) and other savoury snacks. The waitress kept coming over checking up on us asking of we needed more snacks as the evening moved along.

Location:
The hotel is located in a very quiet area and in walking distance to the main pedestrian street of BA (Florida) as well as very close to a little corner shop (carrefour express) and large supermarket (Disco).

Check-out:
We were asked if we needed more time for check out but we kindly denied as we had used the early check in and didn’t mind having to wait in the bar prior to the airport transfer. The check out went fast enough but there were some issues. 1) We had been charged for a bottle of Evian that we never had. I got a refund on my credit card without any fuss. 2) I had opted to partly pay with points (I had a measily 2’000 points I wanted to use) but this was never included. We agreed to have these moved over to the second stay a week later as a credit.

Hotel – AEP transfer:
This went very smooth in deed and only 20 min away or so depending on traffic.

As mention above, someone wanted to see me and this happened one evening when we were at the front desk and all of a sudden I hear “Mr. Cupart?” and it turned out to be the lovely Ms. L.B. whom I had been mailing back and forth a little prior to our arrival. We eneded up talking for over an hour about nothing and everything. She was abosolutely amazing and gave us some great tips on BA which we followed though on. She even recommended us a blue collar restaurant serving some fantastic food for next to nothing which we always try and do when travelling abroad (beat the dinner at Le Sud by a hundred miles if not more).

Over all Sofitel Bunoes Aries is top notch all the way except for the restaurant which brings it down in my opinion. The actuall hotel staff is amazing and one can have a very informal good fun talk with anyone at any given time. I also feel that being a Gold card holder our business was really valued and we were taken care off as expected. The VIP treatement as discussed elsewhere in this forum was missing (free newspaper?) but I don’t care as the staff made up for it 110%. The internet connection was stable but very very slow at times.




This stay (first of two) was a clear 8/10 experience all taken into consideration. Excluding the dinner at Le Sud we land on a clear 10/10

All this said, things did change a tad during our sencond visit 8 days later… to be continued