Hotel in zona 4M Transporte Turistico, Arequipa

Family of four (50, 49, 16 and 14 YO) stayed 12/29/23 - 1/4/24 The location is perfect! Directly on Plaza de Armas, adjacent to the cathedral, the hotel has a view of the plaza from the fifth-floor balcony and the second-floor restaurant. We had one room on the fifth floor and one on the third. The rooms were nice, comfortable, and very clean. We looked at the Casa Andina Premium - the building certainly looked nicer but the location is not nearly as good. The location was too good to pass up. Food at the hotel's restaurant (LaPlaza) was great. Excellent breakfast which was included with the stay, and we ate dinner there twice. So nice eating outside on the patio with a view of the Plaza. I would have given it five stars except for two negative experiences: One - we arranged a shuttle from the airport with the hotel (Ashley Guzman contact), in advance that never showed up. I confirmed with the hotel the day before our travel. It turned out to be relatively easy to order an Uber while at the airport, but by that time we had already waited 45min. When traveling on family trips to new cities I like to order a shuttle ahead of time. I don't feel like waiting and/or negotiating with taxi services with a big family after a long flight, and Uber tends to be spotty in smaller foreign cities. I tried calling and emailing the hotel while waiting for the ride but couldn't get through and they didn't respond to emails. For some reason Uber drivers in Arequipa cancel trips often, i had three cancel at the airport before one finally accepted. Two - I made dinner reservations through the hotel at Alma (Casa Andina Premium restaurant) for New Years Eve two weeks in advance. I confirmed multiple times (Paolo Rodriguez contact), including the day we checked in, 12/29, as I was concerned about not having reservations for New Year's eve. When the time came we got dressed up, walked over to Casa Andina Premium and of course, they had no record of our reservation and couldn't accommodate us. It was quite frustrating since it was New Year's and we had no backup plan. However, putting the experiences into the context of our broader experience in Arequipa it is not surprising. Arequipa is not as tourist-friendly as Lima, which is what attracted us to it in the first place, and reservations just don't seem to be common in the city.

This is a beautiful hotel with lots of wonderful features and situated in a great location. The staff were excellent and very hardworking and nothing was too much trouble for them. The massage ladies in the Spa were fabulous. The only reason I have given it 4* instead of 5* is because I got salmonella food poisoning from the chicken goujon meal we had in the restaurant on our last evening - ended up with me having to be hospitalised and on an IV line for 3 days. Please check your kitchen procedures as I don’t want anyone else to have to deal with this situation as it pretty much wiped me out for the rest of my trip including Machu Picchu which is a great shame.

L'hotel è completamente nuovo, sembra elegante e è ben situato. Il servizio è stato molto amichevole e utile; abbiamo avuto un tour che è iniziato alle 3:00 del mattino e il personale della ricezione ha offerto una accatadine attive take-away colazione. E poi erano anche alle tre per noi alla reception, ma purtroppo non avevamo acqua calda al lavabo, e l'acqua non era corretta.

Mi è stata fatta una meravigliosa sorpresa in occasione del mio compleanno ed il personale è stato veramente carino e squisito nei miei confronti!! sorpresa meravigliosa…❤️Nataly jenny Marinella eliza. Sono rimasto molto contento non mi è mai capitato e quindi ringrazio tutto il personale che ha pensato ad una cosa così carina per questo evento!

Nice decor and styling in the rooms, large and comfortable bed (we had a private room just a bit back from the pool area). The inclusion of a fridge was a plus point. The cleaning staff were helpful and courteous. When we checked in, the guys working reception helped us up to the room with our luggage (I had been volunteering in Arequipa for 2 months prior so had a few bags). However, when I asked on our way out if they had anyone available to help take our luggage to the taxi, it was a hard “no ofrecemos ese servicio” 😕 So I guess it depends who’s working that day as to what level of service you get. The bar area around the pool was nice with lots of seating options to chill out, but the water in the pool was absolutely freezing and even cold water swimmers wouldn’t be in there much more than 10 minutes! I removed quite a lot of bugs during my swim, so a regular clean with a net wouldn’t go amiss. The worst aspect of this place was the obnoxiously loud and unrelenting music. I couldn’t even get peace and quiet in our private bathroom. I get that the poolside party is their vibe, but I really don’t think they need quite so many hours of it in their schedule. With retrospect, I’d have chosen a quieter hotel. Finally, we booked a massage. I thought it would be a nice way to round off our trip, the price was equivalent to about £30 GBP which I thought was a good deal. I’d had an excellent massage at Selina in Baños, Ecuador, so I was looking forward to it. Well, both my massage (hot stones) and the one my boyfriend had (regular massage) were so comically bad that we still joke about it 6 months later. I asked the masseuse in fluent Spanish 5 times and in a variety of different ways to really use a bit more pressure, but no…. the two of us spent an hour each being half-heartedly rubbed with oil by someone who clearly had received very little training and was unable to locate any knots, any areas of tension, anything. I actually left more tense than I went in! I did tell the reception so I sincerely hope they have recruited a new massage therapist. Overall, there are some benefits to Selina such as the relative proximity to the city centre whilst also having a pool. However, I wouldn’t rush back and didn’t find it quite as good as the other Selinas I’ve stayed in in Central and South America.

Es un hotel muy acogedor y con buen servicio y buen desayuno.