Hotel Palacio de SAL

So disappointed with our stay at this hotel which was picked especially for my birthday. Hotel itself is lovely but what lies within is the problem. The reception staff are some of the rudest we have ever encountered. We arrived early morning on the La Paz to Uyuni flight (no option for afternoon flights). The girl who checked us in was robotic and nonchalant. After informing us our room ‘may be ready in 2 hours, maybe 3 hours’ she dismissed us by saying we could use the pool & spa. Ummm thanks! Surely if a town only has morning flights then those coming by air can be allocated rooms that have been vacated by people departing by air? Or is that too sensible?!?! Anyway we did get our room around 11am which was ok. Not the best room by any means which one would have hoped for a birthday stay (& yes we did pay for the highest category room). So then we headed off in search of some lunch which could only be found in the bar area. We ordered a few tapas from the surly waiter and they were mostly enjoyed aside from the cold garlic prawns and lattes! After lunch we went for a stroll across to the salt flats - an hour half later we returned to freshen up and prepare for dinner. We are not buffet people so the only option again for us was the bar area. Limited menu but spoilt again by the miserable waiter. Next morning (my birthday) we had a call from reception informing us they were waiting for us for breakfast! It was 8.45am and breakfast finished at 9.30am! I don’t understand why anyone would call your room telling you to go for breakfast! Maybe we didn’t want breakfast, maybe we’re having a lie in! Just bizarre! Anyway we went and had an omelette each. Ordered 2 lattes and sent them back as they were cold. Spent all day out on a tour and when we got back to the hotel my husband had ordered champagne & birthday cake for our room as a surprise. The layout of candles and rose petals in the room was lovely along with the champagne but alas no birthday cake! You couldn’t make it up! We left the next day on an early flight back to La Paz and weren’t sad to leave. We skipped breakfast as we just couldn’t be bothered. A little shout out to Joy in the bar, lady in the pool/spa and general housekeeping who were all smiley and happy. Massive thumbs down for reception staff who do not create a good first impression whatsoever. As with other reviews it appears the comments left for this hotel are futile as management respond by saying they will take on board but obviously they don’t. All customer facing staff need to get themselves to the Belmond hotel at Machu Picchu for training to see how it’s really done. The service there is absolutely sublime in comparison.

The road from Colchani is unpaved and very dusty, but inside the hotel is very clean. The ventilation fan in the bathroom is weak and it gets humid after a shower, but other than that, the room is very relaxing and comfortable. We had sandwiches at the bar and breakfast at the restaurant; neither of them were local, but they were very good. I especially recommend the fried eggs, which are baked in front of you at breakfast. Some of the staff spoke only Spanish, but we were able to communicate without any problems using a translation app. Above all, they were very considerate and helpful, which made the trip even better.

Beautiful common areas (5-star hotel level), average room (3-star), hard to reconcile value for money equation, but given local standard, this is definitely nicer than most.