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The Park Hyatt Buenos Aires is a great city hotel, set in an upscale neighbor apart from the hustle and bustle of the city and just a few blocks from the Four Seasons. Service is excellent, and it’s a great value to stay there as a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member especially when cash and points is available.
My Park Hyatt Buenos Aires review begins with arrival at the property. There are two separate buildings, connected via underground walkway or outside through the garden. There’s the original Palacio and there’s a new tower.
I came in through the historic wing, which is their main reception though the building has only a couple dozen rooms. Once I identified myself I was escorted across to the other tower for in-room check-in.
The booking was made with cash and points, so just 10,000 points and $125 per night while room rates there would have been over $600. The hotel is known for treating Diamonds well, and I was brought to a Park Executive Suite for my two night stay… a complimentary upgrade, not something I had confirmed with a Diamond suite upgrade award. My room, incidentally, was ready when I arrived a little before 11 a.m.
Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Review: Park Executive Suite
The room was gorgeous — it featured a living room with desk area and a half bath. And a closet area led to the bathroom and bedroom.
The bathroom was large, with dual sinks, a tub, and separate toilet and shower areas.
The bedroom as well was large, and the bed incredibly comfortable, I had slept fantastically well.
The room’s windows opened wide to the room’s view of the city, and the water off in the distance.
The minibar area had a coffee maker and complimentary bottled water, they’d bring you as much water as you wished.
Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Review: Breakfast
As a Diamond member, in addition to the upgrade I receive free breakfast in the restaurant (this Park Hyatt, like others except for the one in Melbourne, has no club lounge) and free internet. I was also proactively offered 4pm late checkout, which was appreciated considering fly flight time after 8pm back to New York.
I ate breakfast both mornings in the restaurant in the contemporary wing of the hotel both mornings, although I understand you can take breakfast outside in the historic wing, because it was just a little bit chilly in mid-October.
You could have the breakfast buffet as well as order off of the menu, which I did.
Although they knew in the restaurant from my room number that I was a diamond and breakfast was completely complimentary (no check to sign, either), I was charged for both breakfasts. An email to the hotel after the stay had that corrected promptly.
Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Review: Overall
The hotel itself is stunning, modern and minimalist for the bulk of the property and yet it blends well with its exterior and palace Heritage. In a way it’s a Park Hyatt the way that I’ve come to expect throughout the Asia Pacific, it’s an oasis in a city like Buenos Aires (although admittedly I struggle that the style of the city is one I struggle to define — at one point in the 90s it seemed almost American, at other times Western European, though they’ve razed much of their colonial past).
Service at the hotel in general was outstanding. The front desk staff were extremely friendly. Housekeeping tidied up the cords for my electronics (I tend to let cords tangle). They also concerned themselves for my safety.
Breakfast service was very pleasant, although could have been more attentive especially with things like proactively offering coffee refills — especially considering they weren’t very busy — but that was the tiniest knock considering this is Argentina which isn’t known as a strong service culture.
Throughout the stay there was a gaggle of teenage and pre-teen girls waiting outside the front of the new tower, hoping for my autograph because Jared Leto was staying at the hotel.
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We were there when Ricky Martin was inhouse. The same barricades were up, and the girls were singing his songs.
I somehow doubt that those kids were enthralled by his performance in Dallas Buyer Club.
I received the same upgrade as a platinum (Hyatt visa) in a points stay this past summer. I also was very impressed by the physical property and service.
When using the Cash and Points option….does anybody know if you can pay the cash portion in local currency at the hotel?
Yes, you can pay the cash portion of the “Cash & Points” rate in local currency at the official exchange rate. Just did it in Apr and May 2014…quite a good deal!
@Carol: Poor girls.
@Sajer Guy: Wouldn’t it make sense to get their local currency first at their Black Market rates? More value for your US$!
Isn’t Buenos Aires supposed to be quite cheap, especially with the currency issues? Why would anyone spend $600 on a hotel room there?
Joe –
I rented a beautiful one bedroom condo five weeks in Palermo for $900 last year. Excellent location, great locations. Beats the PH location.
Problem is – that doesn’t sell any credit cards
A little off topic, my favorite PH is Sydney. You can’t beat the view and the location.
Looks just like my stay there this month down to my exact room layout, the room views (from the bedroom, bathtub, living room). But there was a larger crowd behind the fence, when I was getting in and out of the SUV on that side of the hotel.
Room rates for the higher end hotels in Buenos Aires aren’t cheap — the Hilton, for example, routinely wanted $250-329/night. Of course if I settle the charges in Argentine peso cash gotten by exchanging dollars “in the street” at blue market rates, then the prices seem more reasonable.
My takeaways from this article…
Wow, the BA skyline is extremely unflattering.
Gary, what time on earth do you eat breakfast? There is never anyone else there in your pictures.
I don’t see the issue with the security flyer thing. Anyone paying $600/night for a room at that place probably has their head in the clouds and needs a little grounding.
Really disliking the new layout with the jumps, big blue subheading font, and “Try this one weird trick!” style lead-ins…
@CW the jumps are something that a lot of readers asked for since it makes it easier for them to scroll through posts they aren’t interested in, but feedback noted
Re: Jumps I think my main issue is that they seem to be used inconsistently. When you first started with them they were used to collapse big pic-heavy TR-type posts like this PH BA one, which makes perfect sense. But now that you’re using them for the text-based articles there seems to be little rhyme or reason to them. For example, right now, the airport parking one has no jump, yet the Aeroplan mistake award article (roughly same length) does, and the Chase BA one, which is the longest yet, doesn’t.
@Gary, what sort of rooms are available in the historic wing? Is it just suites, or can you request a room in the historic room on a cash+points or award basis?
@Nick I know it’s mostly suites, not sure it is exclusively so
how can a bed be “incredibly comfortable… “? Nothing should beat the one at home which you are most used to and best optimized for personal needs over time, at least to me.
I think the gaggle of ladies out front were all view from a wing groupies ;)Did you give your autograph?
$600 per night does seems like quite a bit.
BPO9- Good call on the rented apartment.