Hot room mars an otherwise excellent hotel
It pains me to write anything negative about Hotel Botanico, as it has many excellent features, as noted by other reviewers, and I have visited regularly for 4-5 years. But it lacks a key feature for a 5* hotel,which is that guests have little to no control over room temperature. Since I regard a good night's sleep as a vital element of a hotel stay, I can't give them more than 3 this time. I like a cool room to sleep in, and I get headaches if it is too stuffy. In previous years I've found the room too warm: the staff explain that their system is either set to heating or to cooling, for the whole hotel. They were,however, previously able to provide me with a fan, and that was OK. This week it's been unseasonably warm and the temperature in my room is 27 degrees. When I asked for a fan, after several phone calls, I was told, sorry, they did not have one available. So feeling very tired and hot after traveling all day, I had to resort to sleeping on a sun lounger on the balcony. It was OK - and deightfully cool - but I'd prefer not to do it again. I'd forgive them all of this, except that I was told that today the cooling would be switched on, and should be effective by around 4 to 5 pm. It's now 6 pm and all day the room has been at 27 degrees. I fear it is not going to get any better. The room -which we're paying a lot for - has been barely useable all day. So it looks like another night on the sun lounger. Readers who, like my husband, love warm temperatures, will probably fail to see why this is a problem, but anyone who gets headaches triggered by hot stuffy rooms should avoid Botanico until they've reached the time of year when they turn on the cooling.
Hotel Botánico
Dear TheProfessorOxford, Thank you very much for taking the time to review us in TripAdvisor and for your visit once a time. Your suggestions are very important to us, we are very sorry, for the problems with the air conditioning. Due to the unusually high temperatures in this time of year and the abrupt change in them it has been impossible for us to adjust the temperature as quickly as we would have liked. Our heating system works with hot water, it takes several hours for the water to cool even whens witched off and then be able to turn on the air conditioning. Looking forward to welcoming you back to spend another relaxing holidays. We are conscient that you had already shared some of the thoughts mentioned on your review with our PR. It would however have been of great help to hear all the points from you personally, in order to have the opportunity to revert your experience during your stay. You are a loyal guest to our hotel, which we deepely appreciate, and know that our guests' wellbeing is a must and our priority. Please accept our apologies for all the inconveniences. Kind regards, Gustavo Escobar Hotel Manager