Le Meridien Santiago

I arrived after a very long travel day and Gonzalo immediately made me feel like I was at home. The service here is truly exceptional, they go over and beyond to make sure you’re having an amazing stay

This was our first trip to Santiago.   We decided to stay at Le Meridien Santiago because of its location.  On arrival, we were greeted warmly by Mr. Gonzalo Ceriani, more than what we expected as a Merriott Bonvoy member. Our room was ready, and everything in the room, including bed and bathroom, seemed to be in great condition. We didn't experience any night-time disturbance or noise from the road traffic.  Then, there was a pleasant surprise the next morning- a big spread of breakfast items including made-to-order omelet.   Make sure that you include breakfast with your reservation.  Over the next two days, we also interacted with Ms. Michele Calvo at the front desk, who was also very helpful.  I didn't see any MAC machine to withdraw cash, however the hotel offers money exchange service- the exchange rate was very reasonable. The hotel is located near the historic district of Santiago, everything within 15 to 20 minutes' walking distance; some of the interesting places to visit are Santa Lucia, Santiago Cathedral, Plaza Santiago, La Moneda Palace, and several museums.   A short walk of 15-minutes to Funicular and cable car takes you to the top of the mountain for a great view of the city.  If you like shopping, don't miss Bellavista (about ten-minutes' walk) where you will see several boutique shops and restaurants.  If you want to venture out farther,  there is a metro station about five-minutes' walk from the hotel- however stay away from the metro during rush hour.   If you care for a larger shopping mall, visit Costanera Center which is also accessible by metro.   Most local tour companies offer pick-up service form the hotel for day-trips outside of the city area including Valparaiso (a must see) and other places.   I hope you have a good time at Santiago as we did.

The carpets in suits are dirty, the windows as well and the breakfast food quality is very low- cheap plastic cheeses and stale bread, you can clearly see the ingredients are not fresh, and the buffet offer doesn’t really change much so if you’re staying for 2 weeks you end up eating same food. I’d give this hotel 2-3 stars max.

No AC in our room for our whole stay. We alerted then about it from the first day (the thermostat was set to 5 degrees C and it was very toasty when we walked it, alerting us that this was an estimated issue), but they just brought us an oscillating floor fan and said the next day would be cooler. (Fans only help with windows opened, which the hotel room doesn’t allow.) We asked them to change our rooms (the hotel had empty available) but they didn’t want to bother so we had to stay in a too warm muggy hotel room our whole stay.