Sonesta Hotel El Olivar Lima

This is the first time in my life that I am taking the time to write a poor review. I travel a lot so I have used all kinds of services in all kinds of places, and so far, I have concentrated in write only on the positive experiences to help promote businesses. But I have had enough. The members of this beautiful world have gone mad. You paid (good amount of money) to use or acquired a service and the people that represent this ‘service’ act as if somehow, they are doing you a favor. My stay at this hotel started bad from the beginning. As I was already in Lima, I came in person to make the reservation (after a failed attempt to do it online). Since I called and there was no answer, I came in person to be greeted by a young lady who looked at talked to me as if I was bothering her. Not once, she was welcoming or pleasant. I even asked her, why was she looking at me that way. I should’ve left. Instead I booked a room, out of convenience. I need it to stay in the neighborhood, and the reviews were good for the most part, although I have learned not to trust reviews anymore. My room was fine. The first night there was a very loud party outside the hotel, but close enough to interrupt anyone’s sleep. Front desk did offered me to sleep in another room for that night, but I found my ear plugs and stay there. The bathroom sink was leaking so every time I used the sink, water would piled up underneath, on the floor and I would step on ended up stepping on it. Four times in total, I had to let them know. They would say , it is fix, but it wasn’t. So at the end I stopped saying anything and started to put a towel on the floor to absorb the water. It was very clear that some of the staff in front desk area were annoyed. Let me say something about the staff downstairs, not everyone but some, clearly don’t enjoy their work and take no pride in what they do. Why? It is an honest interesting job. But few times , I have come down or go in where maybe one and sometimes two would greet me ‘the guest’ in a welcoming matter. Sometimes, you would see them gathering together talking about ‘who knows’ and ignoring the person going in. Maybe it was done on purpose since I’ve been complaining since day one. But I don’t complain without a reason or for the sake of complaining. Yet the attitude of some of the employees are as if they are offended instead of wanting to rectify. I haven gone only once to the free breakfast buffet because I am trying to avoid interacting with them as much as possible. That’s how uncomfortable I feel at this place. I’ve been in Peru since September 27. I’ve stay mostly in Cusco and Sacred Valley. In Cusco, I’ve stay at the Hotel Cartagena and in Urubamba at the Tambo del Inka. Both really great hotels. Please staff from Hotel Sonesta, I urged to experience these hotels for training purposes. Especially, Hotel Cartagena, and here I am talking only as far as hospitality. They make every single guess feel so special and so welcomed. For me, it was so touching. I’ve been traveling so much, in a way homeless, so they made feel like I was home, every single day, no exception. There warm and service they gave me, made all the difference in the world.

Great hotel. Super nice service, very clean, the building is older but has a nice style and everything works well. Good WiFi even up on the rooftop pool. Great location walkable to tons of restaurants and shops. Directly adjacent to the parque olivar which has walking path and ponds and sitting benches and is very secure at night with security patrols. Highly recommended.