We just returned from a cruise to Anarctica on the MV Discovery. As part of our cruise land package we were booked into the Sofitel. The Hotel was fantastic from the moment we arrived at 7AM after a long overnight flight and they let us check in right away. The normal check in time is 3:00pm and we were worried as to what we would do until then. No concern at the Sofitel. We were able to sleep for a few hours and then enjoy Buenos Aries. The hotel is in a nice quiet area. Our room was very comfortable, quiet and the bathroom beautiful. The staff were very attentive, spoke english and we felt very welcome.

We ate lunch in the hotel and ordered steak. They give you 2 steaks for your meal. The steaks were delicious.

Our flight got delayed for 8 hours and the hotel let us stay in our room for another night for 1/2 price. Since we had a very early morning flight, we wanted to try and get some sleep before our 6 AM flight.

This hotel is truely a 5+ star hotel!

Our stay in November 2007 was our second stay in 14 months. When we decided to return to Buenos Aires we had no hesitation in returning to his hotel. Both stays were for holidays rather than business (not that it makes a difference for this hotel).

You get great service from all the staff and good sized rooms. It is an easy walk into the centre of the city.

If we are lucky enough to pass through Buenos Aires again we know where we will want to stay.. at this hotel.

I have just returned from four nights at the Sofitel in Buenos Aires and slept in the most comfortable bed I have ever been in. They use feather bed toppers -a layer of softest duck down on top of the mattress and the most divine high thread count sheets.
The hotel is not large and the room size was average but exquisitely equipped and the bathroom was perfectly finished with both a deep bath and a huge walk-in shower.
The hotel is well placed and I would return here if the opportunity arose.

I booked my stay at the Sofitel Buenos Aires because it rated #1 at TripAdvisor. I see now that it has dropped to #3, and in my view, should drop even further following my stay there with my husband.

The hotel is beautiful architecturally, with lovely furnishings in the lobby. Our king bed room was comfortable but nothing unusual or luxurious. It had a desk and arm chair, as well as a dresser, which we appreciated since many hotels now only provide closet space.

However, the door to our bathroom was so heavy that it literally required two people to open it. That's not an exaggeration, by the way. The shower was so tiny that anyone trying to wash one's hair must turn off the water to work up the suds.

Internet access was iffy, requiring frequent calls to the front desk, only to be directed to speak to an outside IT service. All that for 50 pesos per day. (Our friends staying at the neighbouring Sheraton had a larger room, and dependable free internet in their room.)

The worst part of our stay at Sofitel was definitely the absence of service despite the large number of staff working there. The small lobby consistently swarmed with staff, including at least 4 front desk agents at all times. Several security people flanked the corridor of the small lobby, and there was a valet outside.

However, they always seemed frazzled or disinterested in doing more than simply answering a question. On one occasion, a friend who was picking me up was running late. She realised that I was waiting downstairs for her, so she was anxious to get a message to me so that I didn't wait needlessly for an hour. She is native Spanish-speaking so there was no issue of miscommunication.

She called the front desk and asked to get a message to me. She added that I was likely near the front desk requesting tickets for a polo match. The front desk agent replied that she couldn't expect him to go around asking people if they were the correct person. She said, yes, indeed she did, especially since she knew I could not be far so it wouldn't be too difficult a task. He refused to do that.

She then asked if there was a paging system for such situations, to which he replied no. He made no attempt to look for me, while I stood there, pacing not more than 10 feet from him for an hour.

I wasn't able to sit comfortably while I waited for an hour because the hotel lobby has only 2 benches at right angles with a poor vantage point to the Sofitel's main entrance. No where outside the hotel is there a place to to sit while awaiting a ride.

Another example of poor service occurred when we sent out a jacket to get pressed one night. By the following night when we needed it, it had not been returned. We had to track it down ourselves, barely getting it in time for our appointment.

When the chambermaid cleaned our room, she moved our toiletries and clothes to places that took us days to find. My husband's and my medications were placed together. A brush was put in a drawer in the bathroom that we didn't know existed until 3 days into our weeklong stay. My husband's bed clothes were folded and placed inside the closet on top of the safe! (What the hell was she doing inside our closet? And who would put clothing on top of a safe on the top shelf?) Meanwhile, other clothes were folded and randomly placed in several different places in our room.

We needed a cab, and asked the valet to get one for us. Instead, he sent us to someone else who presumably had better skills than he did for the job. Passing the buck to someone else seems to be the hallmark of the staff at Sofitel BA.

The service consistently failed to live up to the standards of any 5-star hotel. And it is difficult to understand why, when there are far more people at the front desk than I've seen at any hotel.

I will not stay here again, nor will I recommend it to anyone. Service is what brings people back, and Sofitel BA just doesn't know how to give it. My husband and I travel all over the world, and have stayed at other Sofitels. There is no consistency in service or amenities at this chain.

I've stayed in other hotel chains, some much larger, others just B&Bs, and only for one night where staff greet you warmly, remember your name, ask how your day was, go the extra mile to make things happen. Sofitel did none of the above. They needed to be reminded again and again of our requests for reservations, and for help with the Internet. It is definitely not worth its 5-star rating.