The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago

A great hotel in Santiago, while the lobby and building are a bit dated, the service is top notch, the breakfast is outstanding, the lobby bar has great food and cocktails, and the location is perfect, walking distance to shopping, dining, and nightlife. I’ve stayed twice and would absolutely stay again

This hotel is located in the neighbourhood of El Golf, where we felt safe walking around. Staff were lovely, particularly Enrique on the front desk, and Sebastian on the Bell desk, who has a great memory for names. We slept well, with the very comfortable bedding being on the firmer side. Robes and slippers are provided. There was also a mini bar, with complimentary bottles of water. We dined at the restaurant for dinner, service from Bastian and Miguel was excellent, and the food superb - highly recommended. The gorgeous rooftop pool area on level 15 includes a gym, sauna, and spa. An attendant showed us to individual lockers, where we found a bathrobe, slippers and shower towel. Would definitely stay again.

Very nice traditional style lobby. Great empanadas. Exceptional staff. Especially appreciate Christian who welcomed us upon arrival.

I have been curious about this hotel for quite some time but the price has always been high and it did not seem "wow" so I always picked something else instead. For this stay I decided to finally try to compare with other hotels where I have stayed in Santiago before. My main takeaway is that my previous opinion was well founded: RC is quite underwhelming for the price paid and I would never pick it over W nearby especially since RC is more expensive more than half the time. At check-in we received a junior suite upgrade as Bonvoy Ambassador Elite which is nice, but while I was happy with the upgrade it's mostly a naming convention thing: it's a bigger room but a bit boring, no local touch. The hardware is somewhat aging, not only in the room but some common areas of the hotel for example the elevator doors are banged up. In the suite, only one sink in the bathroom is not luxury, and the faucet was too close to the sink so it's simply bad design and have to wash hands by spilling water on the counter. There was no hand shower, only the rain head - another small but noticeable miss. I would be more ok with this hotel if it was a Renaissance for example, it should not be a Ritz. Breakfast was not a sore point of the hotel - the buffet was actually quite nice with noodle soup and rice which my wife was happy about. Many kinds of salmon, berries, etc. But I still cannot say it's was a good point of the stay because the noodle soup was lukewarm at best, sometimes even cold. The pot was laying on a heating station but it must not be strong enough. One morning the pot was empty near the end of breakfast and I asked for another one. They brought a new one from the kitchen so I thought it would be warm, but no, it was cool. That heating station is supposed to keep the soup warm, not to heat up a cold soup to make it hotter! They have an a la carte menu but the breakfast being included in our rate it was buffet only, so another lost opportunity to wow. When we left the hotel I was told no charge because our room service expense was covered by the 100 USD Food & Beverage credit under the rate type I booked, and I never received any invoice by e-mail. Then after we left the hotel I saw my credit card was charged. Apparently the hotel charged me tips which are not covered by the credit according to them. Sneaky of them to not mention the charge at check-out and to not send me an e-mail with invoice to inform me they took money on my card. All in all I see no reason for returning to this hotel which is grossly overpriced and provides an inferior product.

Tries hard but the age of the place (20 years+) does show itself. Rooms are not quite the usual RC standard. Food is very so so. Breakfast is fine but some of the fruit was not fresh or was in fact mouldy. Bar is more like a Marriott bar than a Ritz Carlton. Think sports bar with tv showing American sports. That said the bar staff were wonderful. Great cocktails.