The room was fine with a good shower and an unexceptional view of the street. Quite nice area- shops selling antiques and silverware. Reception was adequate. Lounge/dining area a bit dreary-heavy furniture . We were collected at the airport. The high spot was breakfast - with an extremely wide choice of interesting and well-cooked food.

ROOMS: We got the large room on the 6th floor and it was heaven. Good bed, fridge, windows and very, very clean! The bathrooms were spotless. They buffed all tile floors almost daily. Very clean.

FOOD: The breakfast buffet is freshly prepared daily with authentic Peruvian breakfast dishes mixed in with typical American fare. The fresh, peeled fruit is layed out on a lovely platter and there is always enough to go back for seconds....or thirds! We stayed for an extended period of time because the Hotel was recommended to us by our family in Lima. They've lived in Lima for decades and insisted on only this Hotel. We were glad they did. The food was great and very well prepared. As in SOME places, the food is dicey and you have to be careful, but not at this Hotel. It caters to too many European and American business folks so the food is super safe ( and tasty).

SAFETY FACTOR: The Ariosto takes special care to ensure it's guest's safety. They seem to contract with a few men who own their own taxis, so the drivers are safe and reliable. I compared the prices these men charged to the fares the street taxis charged and they were almost identical. I liked seeing the same guy outside the Hotel ready to take us someplace safely. It made all the difference in terms of feeling comfortable, and the prices were the same.

The Hotel has ample safety deposit boxes which they allow you unlimited access to without additional daily charge.

The Hotel picked us up at the Airport with an armed guard. Why? Well, Lima in the dead of night can be dangerous and our flight arrived in the middle of the night. The FREE shuttle service which they provided from the Airport to the Hotel had to pick us up at such an early hour that they sent a contract Police Officer to act as an escort during our drive from the Airport. It was free of charge to us and again, it seemed as if the Ariosto went to great lengths to make their guest feel comfortable.

SERVICE: The Hotel staff treated us like family. They were very polite and always seemed happy to help. I was impressed with the entire staff. They assisted us with everything.

THE SURROUNDING AREA: The Hotel is situated in a nice section of Miraflores. I felt comfortable walking to the corner store at night with no worries. It is about 2 blocks from a very upscale Supermarket named "Vivanda." As far as stores go, it seemed to cater to affluent tourists and carried local and international brands. Prices were slightly higher than the Wong's but not bad, really.

OVERALL: I can see why my Peruvian family insisted on this Hotel. It was safe, the food was good, the rooms were super clean and the surrounding area was tourist friendly. I travelled with my elderly mother and my 11 year old daughter. We three girls will never stay any other place than the Ariosto when we go back to visit!

Ariosto worked for us as a pick right out of Lonely Planet. We stayed twice...before and after our flight to cuzco. $65 for a double with free transport to the airport (although I tipped for each ride). A double in our hostel of choise cost the same when facturing in cab rides to and from the airport. Hit-or-miss with the staff. Some nice and helpful, others not. Breakfast was pretty darn good. Computer access and in our room we picked up free wireless from a neighboring business. The two rooms were completely different. One had a bath, but in an older bathroom. The other an updated bathroom with only a shower. One a mini-fridge...not one in the other. Don't know. It was good enough though for what we needed.

Biggest sell was the airport shuttle.

This hotel, where we stayed for 2 nights, had its good and its bad sides...

To start with the positive: we had the Republican Suite for 100$/night, which I think was a good deal because the room was really large with a very comfortable bed, mirror-wardrobe and otherwise quite nice furniture. But the real highlights of the suite were the sauna (ideal size for 2 people), which really was a treat, and the large, almost circular jacuzzi.

Airport transport is free, which was a nice convenience (although it was a bit bothersome to settle a time for our transport back to the airport, because they only did a single ride for a couple of guests at once).

The hotel has a restaurant attached, their rooms service was fine and the food tasty.

The negative issue about this hotel is the staff, which had an "I couldn't care less" attitude. Normally the staff's friendliness is not so important to me, be the frontdesk at this hotel was exceptionally not-helpful e.g. when I asked them to help me reconfirm my next flight, and one guy even refused to talk to me in English (although I knew that he was able to).

I can't say anything about the quality of the breakfast, since the frontdesk didn't tell us about the fact that it's included when we checked in (I only remembered later when I checked my personal print-outs I had brought with me), and the next morning we had to leave too early to get any breakfast...

The location is ok, it's about a 10 minutes walk to get to the seaside and there are lots of shops, a supermarket and restaurants within easy walking distance. It also seemed reasonably save to me.