Hotel Loreto in Santiago

Internet didn’t work. Power outages and water wasn’t always hot

Pictures do not reflect the current condition of the hotel. Hallways not lit, no amenities, No WiFi, towels are very small and multi-colored due to age. Very old and moldy smelling. Mold in bathroom and on ceilings. It was not a pleasant experience.

The Hotel Loreto presents itself online as a well kept boutique hotel in the center of many tourist activities. It is possible this image was true before COVID or something, but it is absolutely not true now. You'll notice there are not many recent reviews, which is usually a red flag but I somehow missed that. The hotel sits behind big iron gates, and you must get the front desk agent's attention through the window. The lobby is dirty and they are actively doing noisy construction on the front stairwell, which is close to rooms. The rooms are absolutely disgusting. I'm a stout traveler and can handle a lot, but these rooms are completely unacceptable. To say the furnishings are minimal would be an understatement. The rooms have as little and as basic amenities as possible. The room was not clean at all - dirt, hair, ants everywhere. The plugs are hit or miss for what work. The shower is what made us eventually leave for another hotel. If you turn the shower on, water would come gushing out at the base of the step to enter the shower. We reported this to the front desk and they said there were no vacant rooms that did not have maintenance problems (!). Their solution was to give us a bunch of towels to put on the floor and, presumably, just flood the bathroom. This is one of the most insane things I've ever seen a hotel suggest. After telling them we wanted to leave, they magically decided a room with a maintenance problem was actually fixed. We said absolutely not and requested a full refund. They reluctantly agreed and tried to talk us out saying it would take awhile to refund. There was no way we could comfortably stay there so we left. After time had passed, they still had not issued a refund as agreed upon. I sent them an email which they did not answer. I reported this charge to my credit card company, which was much more effective than attempting to contact these con men. After several days they replied and asked for the same exact details that we gave them when we signed in. This never resulted in a credit from the hotel. Thank goodness my credit card is reputable, but this hotel sure as heck is not. In all my travels, I have rarely encountered a dump that tries to scam people like this. The pictures you see in these reviews are either fake or from a time when this hotel used to be run properly. They do not represent the hotel in its current state. We went over to the Novotel for only a few more USD a night. The vast chasm in quality was so enormous. Do yourself a favor and book somewhere else. I recommend the Novotel Providencia but you could likely find a better hotel almost anywhere else in the city. You can see I have many reviews and most positive. I do not take one star reviews lightly, but travelers need to be aware of this trap. Do not stay here.