Coming up today, the Alvear Icon Hotel in Buenos Aires’ Puerto Madero neighborhood.
The hotel is little bit stylish.
A little bit glamorous.
A little bit pretentious.
And, a little bit of a disappointment.
The full tour and review is starting in 15 seconds.
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Alvear is a home grown hotel brand in Argentina and has three locations in Buenos Aires.
The original, opened in the 1930s is the historic Alvear Palace Hotel in Recoleta.
There is also the Alvear Arts Hotel in Retiro, but I went for the Alvear Icon Hotel in a
neighborhood surrounded by waterways and restaurants.
For more specific info about my rate and booking method, what I think a fair price for my room
would be and my roster of videos in queue for the weeks coming up, please check out
the pinned comment below.
The 159 room Alvear Icon was opened in 2016 and features residential units integrated
with the hotel rooms.
For an Alvear hotel, the entrance and design in general are a bit more subdued than the
other two properties and the design here throughout tends to be a bit more modern, which is one
of the reasons I chose it out of the three.
Let’s take a bit of a closer look at the location.
The Icon is in Puerto Madero, one of the newer and more cosmopolitan neighborhoods in the
far east of the city.
No more or less convenient to either airport than any other hotel in the city.
The neighborhood, roughly outlined here is bordered by a nature reserve to the east and
the central business district of the city to the west.
While Puerto Madero is an upscale residential area, it is also a sort of happy hour district
for the Microcentro with all of it’s outdoor restaurants lining the central Dique river.
The interiors of the hotel reflect that cosmopolitan quality.
I won’t say it’s generic feeling, it’s not- but, that’s not to say that this hotel’s
design wouldn’t fit right in in many cities across the globe.
The design, it’s a lot, but both when I was there and when watching the footage back
while editing, I caught myself thinking multiple times that there was a level of restraint.
There are many areas of the hotel that are almost tacky, that are almost too much- but,
they stay clear of that line, if I’m making any sense at all.
The lobby leads up to what is probably my favorite space in the hotel, the very warm
and inviting lobby bar.
I’ll point out a few areas later where the quality of materials aren’t the best, but
here you can almost smell the money.
Before we explore further, let’s head up to the room.
The elevator lobbies are large and nicely appointed.
When I was looking at hotels in Buenos Aires, I originally wrote this hotel off my list
because of how dated the rooms looked.
Then when researching further, saw that the hotel was just six years old and looked into
it.
While they have done some upgrades to the bedding and flooring and some other touches
like that- the majority of their in room photos on many booking sights look like they’re
straight out of the 1980s.
Turns out, it’s just really poor photography.
In reality, the rooms now look just like this.
Classically elegant but with clean lines and an overall modern feel.
The room has all of the modern conveniences you’d need and plenty of outlets within
easy reach.
In front of the window is a small sitting area across from the large desk area- with
a few tacky announcements kept under the desk glass.
This little paper explains that unless you are going jogging, you are not allowed to
wear shorts or short sleeved shirts at any time in the hotel common areas.
In reality, it wasn’t enforced, but it’s the thought and honestly the way its presented
that was a huge turn off for me.
The mini bar was a bit of a joke.
No water or coffee or tea.
After calling to ask about it, they brought a Nespresso machine up to the room.
As we head towards the closet and bathroom, I’ll talk about the service.
It was very good, but very Argentinian.
Let me explain.
Any issues small or large, any requests, they were all met with the upmost professionalism
and dealt with really promptly.
But, there is zero initiative.
Anticipating guest needs is not what they’re good at at Alvear, responding to them- they
get high marks.
While the closet is a bit small for the size of the room, the bathroom is nicely laid out
and was clad in more white marble than I’ve seen in one place since I visited Turkmenistan
years ago.
One side has the toilet and bidet, a central double vanity and then a wet room with the
bathtub, shower and many many mirrors.
You may have also noticed, their logo is absolutely everywhere.
They love their logo, I get it.
This gem of a collage is every single logo I found, just in my room.
And of course there is a door to separate the bathroom area if needed.
This corner room that I ended up in had a fantastic view of Puerto Madero and the rest
of the city to the west and is exactly the view I was expecting as I booked a room with
“river and city views”...
In reality though, the first room they gave me had this view.
Ok maybe that’s not fair, let’s zoom out a bit.
But yeah, I wasn't impressed with that first room.
As I said though, they promptly offered the other room when I called down to reception.
That view also afforded some beautiful golden light views during the mornings.
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Early the next morning I headed up to the spa area to take a look at the indoor pool,
which was a bit of a stunner with the beautiful view behind.
The hotel does also have an outdoor pool but it is only open during the warmest summer
months.
As we are looking around, one thing I mentioned in my last review at the MGallery about the
hotels available in Buenos Aires.
There’s simply not that many to choose from on the higher end.
At the top you have the Alvear Palace, the Park Hyatt and the Four Seasons.
They are all beautiful hotels, but at official exchange rates they all range from $600-$800
per night.
Just below those you have options like this Alvear, the Sofitel, the Faena and the MGallery.
All in the $250-$500 range.
Besides that, you’ve got a few very dated big box hotels like the Marriott and Sheraton
and loads of 3 and 4 star hotels.
For a city as big, as vibrant and as important to the region as Buenos Aires, you would expect
there to simply be a more interesting selection.
But, this too we can blame on the neverending currency crisis in Argentina.
I’m going to group together all of the food that I had during my stay- because honestly
none of it was good.
This was the clear low point of the hotel.
That caesar salad, that innocent caesar salad was foul.
The dressing was off and it was swimming in it.
Then, that pizza- even by the broadest definition of pizza, this didn’t come close.
It was as thick as texas toast, gummy in the middle and flavorless.
Even their empanadas we just ok.
The next morning I certainly didn’t have high hopes for breakfast and I was glad I
prepared myself.
First, the breakfast restaurant- I see what they were trying to do with the design, but
it all just felt very artificial and, well, fake.
Breakfast was limited to the buffet that you see it and it was just super underwhelming.
The service inside was attentive but even with my decent Spanish, I wasn’t able to
explain that I wanted my ice, my water and my espresso all in the same cup.
So it was a continuous building process at the table.
With the coffee, I’m nitpicking, I know Iced Americanos are not normal in Argentina,
but yeah the food, no bueno.
How can I say, before my arrival at the Alvear Icon I think I had my overall expectations
right where they needed to be.
It’s a beautiful hotel.
The staff for the most part are great.
The views are fantastic- but I probably don’t need to go back.
Let’s get into the details of the Flip Flop Score.
Rule number one, make sure you are clear that you want a west facing room when you book
or check in for a better view.
For food, avoid the hotel- there are plenty of restaurants in the area.
As for the area itself, it’s great for restaurants and cafes, but other conveniences are few
and far in between out here.
Overall an 81/100.
If I were to stay at an Alvear hotel again, I’d probably just go for the Palace.
I really hope you enjoyed this video.
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Next up, my final stop in Buenos Aires, the NH Collection Centro Historico.