Faena Hotel Buenos Aires

Having traveled globally for over 20 years, I would call this a four-star hotel at best. The pros include the location and the lobby/pool/restaurant spaces. It’s in a tourist-friendly part of town, easily walkable to restaurants and local attractions, and it has quite a lovely main entry, bar, and pool patio. But the hotel itself has major drawbacks both in service and room quality. I experienced a laissez-faire delay in my check-in (with my keys lying visible on one person’s desk but no updates given to anyone else on staff, despite my repeated inquiries), which was not particularly appreciated after a long-haul journey, and the layout of my room was narrow and unpleasant. The bathroom was not a separate walled-off space but instead a glass cubicle within the main room, just feet from the bed and tight on space. Inside the bath cubicle, to achieve privacy it was necessary to close the door on the glass wall and then draw velvet curtains from both left and right. In using the shower, it was not possible to utilize the drying mat provided or reach a towel easily, as the glass door to the shower opened out toward the sink, hitting the mat and making it impossible to reach the towel hook. Drainage at the shower was also a little iffy. The toilet area involved yet another glass door, again making privacy an issue and further truncating the space, with all three glass doors opening in toward the sink. It was quite difficult to use the facilities at night without waking a partner in the room (since turning on a light in the glass-wall cubicle was not viable). The room itself had a bit of Old World charm — a bit outdated in style and tired from wear but attractive overall despite missing basics such as larger nightstands, a clock, etc. While there are surely beautiful suites to be had at the Faena, the standard room falls short and, unfortunately, feels a bit substandard instead.

This was by far one of my worst experiences at a supposed luxury hotel. I booked for three nights. I slept one night and realized I didn't get any sleep because of very thin walls. Also, the bathroom is made of glass that echoes and you can hear everything. We tried asking for another room and they showed us rooms to switch into but almost all of them were built the same way so we knew it wouldn't work for us. We weren't asking for anything fancy. We just wanted a comfortable room with adequate sound proofing to get a good night's sleep after 13+ hours of flying internationally. We asked to move to a different hotel with properly built rooms. They refused to refund us and the attitude of most of their employees at the front desk and concierge are cold and aloof. When we asked to speak to the manager, their manager ghosted and had us waiting for hours until we were adamant that we were going to leave anyway whether or not they would agree to refund us. Het met with us eventually but refused to refund us, saying they have to charge us for the rest of the nights since we had booked that room, preventing others from staying there. But that made no sense because the hotel was obviously pretty empty during our stay, and they had just showed me plenty of empty rooms to move into, so this made no sense and was a pathetic lie. We ended up booking a last minute room at the Alvear Icon Hotel across the street and rolled our suitcases over. We couldn't believe it. They were lower than the price of Faena and rooms had an incredible view of the city with beautiful all marble bathrooms and amazing sound proofing and very nice front desk and delightful concierge. It makes the Faena look like a cheap gaudy motel. Please save yourself from a major disaster and book elsewhere. This hotel is definitely not up to international standards and after having been to plenty of luxury hotels around the world, this is by far the worst and and the most stressful experience I have experienced in recent years.

I was staying for a week. Forgot my Credit Card pin number . there was a work around I suggested to the receptionist but he was having none of it. So I pre-payed for the whole five days with my debit card USD$3.5K. I also left a Euro 400 deposit to cover incidentals. He told me that I would still however have to pay on the spot for every service and every meal with my debit card each time any charge was incurred over the coming week - this despite the fact he had a cash deposit? He also informed me my mini bar was to be removed immediately. I was thoroughly enraged and humiliated by the time he had finished. Next morning I went down to the breakfast buffet .Incredibly expensive and an unbelievably poor offering. Think Econo Lodge. After paying for my breakfast with my debit card I vowed not to return and for the next four days I had breakfast at a cafe just outside the hotel which was infinitely better. If you're a businessman stay somewhere else. Buenos Aires is expensive but Faena hotel does not deliver on what you'll want and that is a world class breakfast and world class service. End of Story.