Almarena Apart & Hotel Boutique

This property has a few things going for it. This was my first time and, will certainly be the last time that I will stay at this property. The bed in the room was comfortable. The Internet was strong and reliable. The shower was really quite good. That is the upside; now the downside. The hotel has precious few amenities. There is no food service available in the hotel at all; the closest and only restaurant is a small coffee shop/bistro that closes at 6 PM and if you want any meal after that the closest restaurants or something like 15 blocks away. The hotel does not even have a vending machine for you could buy a soft drink or chocolate bar. The seating in the room that I was given was on uncomfortable wrought-iron chairs. The power outlets are inconveniently located so that unless you have an extension cord and the requisite adapter trying to work with your computer is going to be a challenge. There are two or three packets of weak instant coffee in the room and if you want coffee pods for the Nespresso machine you have to buy them for one US dollar a pod. The hotel advertises breakfast for its guests but the same is at the little coffee shop next door. You are given a voucher and when you get to the little restaurant you only have three choices – and get this – if you want a 2nd cup of coffee you have to buy it. What I stay at this property again – in a word NEVER

We love Almarena, the people are great, the service too. The front desk, guest services, room service, restaurant staff couldn't have been nicer or more willing to serve us. We still had to follow the annoying protocols of reserving time at the pool and spa but they are for our own welfare. When we went to the beach the front desk gave us chairs, an umbrella and towels, which was very nice. Our last visit was in Nov. 2021. This time the hotel and whole town was packed with people like we've never seen before. It only had a small effect on us. A few times we had to park further away from the entrance, etc. but Almarena seemed to have multiplied their staff so we never had to wait for service. For the first time the beach was very crowded. Usually we enjoyed having it pretty much to ourselves. This time we couldn't even play frisbee because of all the people, an not only in front of Almarena but all up and down the beach. And the beachfront restaurants had installed hundreds of the lounge chairs and cabanas that make Mar del Plata so ugly. It was another wonderful visit for us but this time we did have a couple of small glitches. The wifi was weak and erratic, taking a looonggg time to download a document, frequently disconnecting. Most of my family did some work remotely while we were there and struggled to cope with the wifi. I had the same problems at 6am so I don't think the fact that the hotel was full had anything to do with it. For the first time we noticed some neglected parts of the hotel. Usually wherever we go, the room, Da Noi Restaurant, the spa, the lobbies and rooms, everything is like new but this time, for example the atrium at the entrance has clearly been neglected. Rust and mold are visible and clearly no one has taken a rake to the rock garden in a long time. Since most guests encounter the atrium on arrival and several times a day thereafter, Almarena should give it more t.l.c. When we made our reservations, our usual room 335 was already booked (its a 3 bedroom, duplex with a large terrace) so we accepted a slightly smaller adjacent room 334 (a two bedroom with a smaller living room area. With 4 adults and two children we found it to be uncomfortably smaller. I wish Almarena had a larger selection of very large apartments. In 2 years Almarena will be opening a new resort complex directly on the beach. There will be many apartments, another hotel building and shops and restaurants. We'll have more choices then.

Ntro depto súper moderno, con vista espectacular, todo nuevo. La limpieza es excelente, el personal de limpieza y del hotel es lo mejor que tiene el lugar. Mejoraría: la limpieza de la piscina (las juntas de las venecitas), y sumaría algunos elementos en el depto (individuales para las mesas/ algún otro bowl ensaladeras (solo hay 1)pero son solo detalles o gustos .El sector de spa es muy lindo.