I filled out the reservation form on the Callao Suites hotel website for a 3 night stay.I got an email back entitled "reservation" requesting, "Para reservar alcanza con una tarjeta de crédito -VISA, AMERICAN O MASTER- con los datos completos: número de tarjeta, fecha de vencimiento y código de seguridad." Apparently asking me to email them my credit card number and cvv2 code. (Aside, merchants are prohibited from storing cvv2 codes).
Instead of emailing my credit card information, my wife telephoned with it.
Thinking everything was set, we arrived on Monday to be told that we didn't have a reservation. When we pressed the "door man" a little bit, he found an envelope with my name printed on it in big letters and a reservation for 6. Since I had made a reservation for 3 and the email stated the price for three, I figured, ok.
We packed ourselves into the elevators. 3 people plus luggage was a tight fit. We slide the card key into room #702 and opened the door only to be shocked at the site of other guests watching TV!
Instead of the doing the sardine trip again my wife went downstairs to resolve the issue. My friend left to find a bathroom. I finally got bored and made it downstairs to see what was happening.
It seemed like just about nothing. The door man was trying to get ahold of someone and they weren't answering the phone. Then there was some talk about going to their office.. and off we went.. up 1 floor.
From outside the office door we could hear someone talking on the phone, but they weren't answering the door.
Finally a lady came to the door. She looked at the email I had and said, something like "that isn't a reservation". She never answered my question, of "if it isn't a reservation why was it emailed to me?"
We were told we didn't have a reservation and then we were told we had a reservation for 2. We were told there weren't any rooms (though another doorman told my friend downstairs they had a room on the 9th floor for us). The lady finally decided we could go to room #703.
Now, moving us from #702 to #703 was cruel as #702 were we were originally put was in the front with a view fo the street. #703 was in the back.
In #703 I plugged my laptop into their ethernet jack and the internet worked. It seemed slow, but I didn't have a chance to do much.
My friend asked about the bed (sofa bed) and the doorman pulled on the side of it as if it would just open up. It didn't, it was simply a sofa. The doorman mentioned getting something (we though a bed). A little while later a maid came up to put sheets on the sofa.
While the sofa bed was being fitted we decided that it was really a bad idea to stay there as we really didn't want strangers to be given our room key by mistake and there was really no one helpful at the hotel. The doorman and maid were doing the best they could for the management's screw up.
We found another place on the internet and left.
Unfortunately, our experience at the next hotel left even more to be desired and we cut our trip short.
I made a complaint about both hotels to the Tourism department of Argentina.
To give the Callao Suites some credit, the manager answered the email acknowledging that it was their fault and offering a free stay of 3 nights whenever I like. The other hotel and the Tourism office have yet to reply.
