Intiwasi Hotel

One of the best things about the Intiwasi is it's location, in Providencia and close to the metro, in a lovely walkable neighbourhood. Our first room, on the main floor, was quite small. We were upstairs in a much larger room on our return, which was far more comfortable as it had a balcony and the bathroom was considerably more spacious. We found both Rodrigo and Victoria to be very helpful with suggestions of places to visit, how to use the metro, safety in the area (Providencia is quite a safe neighbourhood) and downtown. They were helpful with a booking error I'd made; I had accidentally booked an extra night, the night we spent on the airplane, but they did not charge me for this error. My only quibble is that the breakfasts were minimal and adequate for early risers, but were not replenished very well. Late-comers were quite limited in their choices. I would, on another trip to Santiago, stay at the Intiwasi again.

Not as great as others but adequate

Centrally located a stroll to bus or subway this quaint boutique hotel has pleasant rooms and breakfast on site. Rooms are compact as is bathroom, but free internet and safe and a quiet residential location.

I arrived at 9 PM for a 2 night stay with a guaranteed reservation. All looked fine at checking in, I had a good sleep and I had to leave next day early at 7h30, so I was is too early for breakfast (only starts at this time). In the evening I came back after very intensive day for my second night, I found my luggage taken out of room ! Reason : 'My credit card was not valid?' First of all : why my credit card was accepted during reservation, given as guarantee, and later on refused? No clear answer. Furthermore they requested me to pay that first night... I only had my so called refused credit card. but when coming down to payment it worked well... I asked if I can get back in my room, they said : no, already taken by some body else. But surprisingly they already had a solution : they reserved apartment on other side of street. As I had no choice, language issues, I was tired, I accepted : horror...they put me in a very cheap apartment, no breakfast or internet, value might be not even half price but they forced me to pay in cash before I could get in apartment same amount as in hotel, bye bye money... So, sorry, never again, I was not handled correctly, never seen this before. I think they overbooked hotel otherwise this is a very strange way to treat the customer.

We stayed at the Intiwasi for a total of 5 nights as we were crisscrossing Chile in December. It is a weird amalgam - not exactly a hostel nor a hotel and since TripAdvisor does not allow for fractional ratings, I would mention that Intiwasi is probably somewhere between 3.5 & 3.75. 4 is probably a bit too high and anything like than 3.5, IMO, is a bit unfair. Here are some things we really liked a) Location: Can't be beat period. It is right in the middle of the Providencia neighborhood, an upper middle class area with great shopping, bakeries, restaurants and the Metro all a few minutes away. We too the Metro (Los Leones) everyday and never had to look for a cab except to get to the Airport. The location alone was worth the stay b) Price - Santiago and Chile turned out to be surprisingly expensive and given the average cost of Hotels, the Intiwasi is very affordable especially if you are staying for a while. c) Service - The staff were very courteous, helpful & friendly, spoke good English, helped store our luggage when we traveled and provided some nice local tips. They were very prompt in responding to our requests. No complaints on this regard. They also have an in house laundry with rapid turnaround times, a boon for those traveling a lot. d) Cleanliness - Both the rooms and the hotel was pretty clean and we did not have any complaints. Some Cons: a) If you have not stayed in a hostel before and expect a standard full service hotel you may be slightly disappointed. You may need to make multiple trips to the front desk got towels, irons, floor mats etc. There are also no phones in the room (The A/C worked very well, a blessing in hot Santiago). Also, If you are turned off by throwing toilet paper waste into a bin rather than the toilet, this may be a bit of a shock for you :-) c) The hotel is off the main thoroughfare, but it is on a connecting road that may be a bit noisy especially if you leave the balcony door open. Also, this is a big City with the usual big city noises like car alarms etc d) My biggest complaint has to be the shower stall. Others have reviewed this before and it is really really small, literally 3 ft long and a 1.5 ft wide. to make matters worse there is a jutting safety bar that makes navigation even harder. Not the end of the world, but something to think about Overall I would definitely stay again and recommend this place to others

As soon as we arrived we knew we shouldn't had. The best part of the stay was the night receptionist who was super friendly and accommodating, unfortunately the lady staff member was not. We arrived at 1am, due to our flight time and as we arrived the man said oh no, you have booked for tomorrow. As we presented the email confirming the right time and day, he sorted it out and said "lucky we had a room available"... Lucky? Not lucky, number one stuff up on your part. We were then shown to the worlds smallest room that you couldn't even swing a cat in. Literally. I wasn't going to fight with reception at 2am by this stage so wait till morning. In the morning we realised the toilet was not working, to then we see the small sign stating "no bath tissue". What is bath tissue? It's called "toilet paper". So for a boutique hotel as you suggest you are, we then have to use the worlds smallest bin to dispose of our toilet paper. DISGUSTING. You are not a third world city, and no other place in chile did we have to do this. Especially at hotels?! We were then told to move to another room, to which I brought up we needed to move anyway as we have the email clearly stating that we had booked the "King superior" and not the "single room"... We are on our honeymoon, not backpacking! They then went to say "ah well, our mistake, you will need to move back to the other room tomorrow". Excuse me? No this is what we booked and paid for and you should honour this. Nope, by the end if the day our things had been moved back to the other single room and we had to stay there. Needless to say we were so frustrated, angry and helpless as what can you do? Both bathrooms we used are poor. The showers are built for tiny people and the toilet is so close to the wall you have to sit on it sideways. Very "hostel" like. The shower in the king room, doesn't take the water down the plug hole well. You end up ankle deep in water, it's disgusting. Stop spending money on decoration and start investing in your plumbing system. You are not a "hotel", and especially not a "boutique" one. You are an upgraded boutique "Hostel" and should be advertising at this as a boutique hotel is false advertisement. Yes you have nice decorations but that's about it. Much nicer "boutique hotels" in the neighborhood, but if you want a glammed up hostel, this is for you. When asked if we could get a DVD to watch as it clearly stated on the DVD player, the woman rudely said "no, no DVDs". Then take away the sign. Breakfast was nice, though your choice of toast or cereal were the only choices. Unfortunately we didn't have a good experience and we told staff this so this should come as no surprise.

Very friendly and helpful staff. Extremely welcoming. Bathroom a bit tight. Breakfast limited to basics. But overall, convenient location and comfortable stay.

From the outside, this is a charming hotel shaped like a Swiss chalet. Location is excellent, close to Avenida Providencia and walking distance to markets, restaurants, and shops. Staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The downside is that rooms are quite small, especially the bathroom. Every day the maid moved our stuff around in the bathroom so that we had trouble finding it (evidence that she cleaned, though). Also, breakfast was always problematic because food supplies *always* were low or exhausted; this included plates and napkins. However, when we pointed it out to the reception staff (who took care of breakfast), they promptly and cheerfully replenished missing food --even going to the market to do so once. This issue arose because this is a small hotel and, evidently, they are concerned with waste and do not periodically check whether there is still food in the breakfast room. There is a kitchen adjacent to the breakfast room; the kitchen staff cook for a cafe that the hotel runs. When we and other guests asked the kitchen staff to help out with the food problem, they seemed irritated and stated that it was not their job. A sign directing guests to check with the reception staff for such matters would have been helpful. In summary, a charming hotel that is excellently located but rooms are very small, maid service was problematic, and breakfast service was spotty.

From the minute my daughter and I walked in the door to the moment we left, we felt totally at home at Intiwasi Hotel. The staff were terrifically helpful and friendly--giving us excellent information and making tour arrangements for us so we could best use our short time in Santiago. Our room was comfortable, quiet, and attractively decorated--as were all the common rooms in the hotel. The self-serve breakfast was ample and tasty. Not knowing much about the city before our arrival, we felt so fortunate to have landed in a beautiful and tranquil neighborhood that was just a few short blocks from a bustling commercial district and a 6-level modern urban mall with stores, movie theaters, and restaurants galore. Intiwasi provided the perfect home base as we became acquainted with this vibrant city.

To enter the bathroom I needed to move the bed, so I could open the bathroom door. Inside the bathroom my knees touched the opposite wall and I hit my head against it when sitting at the stall. I did request to be moved to a larger, more comfortable room. The indifferent response of the hotel clerk “they are all of the same size”. The hotel decoration is cute, reasonable clean and the hotel location superb. But I have to move out of this hotel as soon as I could, to a one closed by with normal size rooms, since I could not keep going to a bathroom away from the hotel or risk more bumps in my head.