Guido 1980 by Ayres Apartments Recoleta

All was good. Nice room and best location

The room we rented was horrible. The room was dirty, the towels were gray and dingy with yellow stains. Yes it was cheaper than most rooms in the area. I’ve stayed there before but the rooms are showing signs of deterioration. We had to leave this location because it was too depressing.

La Recoleta is one of the most prominent neighborhoods in Buenos Aires (BA), named for the friars who built the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in 1732, and the Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Peron and numerous other distinguished Argentinians are interred. These are overlooked across the park from the balconies of the Ayres Recoleta Plaza. To the right from the corner are a number of cafes with outdoor patios facing the humungous 230-year-old "Gomera de Recoleta" (Recoleta Rubber Tree" landmark and the terminus of the city Hop-On Hop-Off bus. To the left from the corner are snack bars, more cafes and restaurants, some night clubs, and a stylish shopping center, with art museums and cultural centers a few blocks away down wide boulevards. Strictly, the Ayres Recoleta Plaza is not a hotel in the usual sense; it's an apartment building that rents apartments for overnight and longer stays. The studio that I had rented for a couple of days was fully and stylishly equipped, with a complete kitchen, and there were a number of families there who were clearly short-term visitors. The front desk is open during regular office hours, and there is no food service, which was not really a concern, given the number of cafes and convenience stores around the corner, including the landmark La Biela restaurant -- quite pleasant for breakfast, and light other meals. Staff of the Ayres Recoleta Plaza were pleasant quite helpful -- they had arranged for a taxi to pick me up when I arrived early Easter morning at the cruise terminal and later arranged a taxi to bring me to the airport. I'd certainly return.

Experience marred by early check out (11.00) is only notified to you AFTER you book on ***********, not before (I have gone back and done a test booking to double check). This was a big deal for me as I needed somewhere quiet for a video call at 11.00. Also, paying USD 257 a night you would expect breakfast, but no breakfast is provided. You are given a choice of payment options (card or cash) but in reality paying in pesos cash is really the only option, as if you pay by card, the currency of the charge is USD not pesos, so you don’t benefit from the MEP rate. In the end, they let me stay till 12.00 but we had some tense exchanges on Whatsapp which isn’t really the experience you expect after spending so much. They point out that this is basically an apartment building with normal residents, and some of the apartments are offered as aparthotels on ***********, but the listing does not make this clear, it looks like a regular hotel. There is someone in the office during the day to collect the money and cleaning staff to prep rooms for the next visitor in the middle of the day. That’s it. No cleaning during stay. We also had no hot water (only tepid) in room 902 but that may be a one-off issue. Good points - great location, clean, free cancellation up to the day. I would recommend the Urban and Cyan hotels round the corner first - they have a similar layout but are proper hotels - if they were full this is OK for one night.

Despite a bit of a messy check in process where we were kept waiting for about 30 mins before I approached the lady to be told that she had forgotten about us! We ended up enjoying our stay here. Our room was clean and comfortable, though we opted not to pay the extra for daily room clean/towel change etc. The hotel is well located very close to Recoleta Cemetery and is around the corner from some good bars and restaurants. There is also a small pool at the back which is available for guests to use. Staff only seem to work 09:00 to 17:00 so if you have an issue in the evening or arrive late for check in I'm not sure what you do. You gain entry to the building through a QR code on your phone - so make sure that your battery doesn't run out!

This was a very nice hotel to stay in while traveling to Buenos Aires. It was well maintained and in a great location near lots of restaurants and shopping. The employees only work day time hours, so there is not a lot of service available if you need it.