Up Congreso Hotel

“Kind 3 Star Hotel”

For a 3 Star Hotel, this place delivers. I found myself getting robbed and subsequently moneyless and without a passport on my way to the airport, rendering me having to stay in Buenos Aires some additional nights until I was able to get an emergency passport and rebooked a flight. Luckily, I rem... more

For a 3 Star Hotel, this place delivers. I found myself getting robbed and subsequently moneyless and without a passport on my way to the airport, rendering me having to stay in Buenos Aires some additional nights until I was able to get an emergency passport and rebooked a flight. Luckily, I remembered my credit card number and booked River Hotel before I had to close out my credit card, as this was also stolen from me. Having no ID and no money, the hotel was very understanding and even let me borrow their phone charger as my phone and Internet were my only solace. The front desk staff are very nice and accommodating. The rooms are decent, especially for the price I paid. It came with a TV, a double bed, a full length mirror, a desk, and private restroom with a blow dryer, shampoo, and soap. I like that the water pressure was high. It was the best showerhead since the water came out at full blast. There was also hot water and air conditioning in the room. The breakfast was continental: ham and cheese, croissants, toast, yogurts, cereal, and coffee and tea, with butter, jam, cheese, and dulce De leche for your toast. The general area of the hotel is central and right next to Saenz Pena subway station and one block from the number 8 airport bus off Avenida de Mayo. It's not the safest at night as it's right by Plaza Congreso near where I got robbed, but it's close to everything and only a 10 minute walk to the Obelisk. During the day, it's a safe area. Overall, I would recommend this hotel as the staff really made my stay here, and it was a good price.

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“Convenient location”

Nice hotel with friendly staff, ideally located, close to subway stations and bus lines, free wifi, mais aussi access to PC, breakfast buffet not bad (miss some fruits and eggs, orange juice could be better)

“A "Veryt good" that could become an "Excellent" with some minor changes.”

We were at the Babel Plaza (formely River Hotel) for a 5-night stay between March 24 to 29th 2017. The first point about this hotel is "location". The hotel is located on a rather quiet street (considering the environment) and still near a lot of points of interest: Congreso is no more than 3 t... more

We were at the Babel Plaza (formely River Hotel) for a 5-night stay between March 24 to 29th 2017. The first point about this hotel is "location". The hotel is located on a rather quiet street (considering the environment) and still near a lot of points of interest: Congreso is no more than 3 to 5-minute walk. Near Congreso you can take a lot of buses (called colectivos) that will get you all around town (La boca, San Telmo, Plaza de Mayo, etc.). It is also only 4 blocks from the mythic "Corrientes Avenue" sung in so many Tango songs. It is walking distance (about 15-20 minutes) form the Obelisco. Noise from outside the hotel is minimal considering that this street is not a main throughfare and no buses ride directly on Montevideo street. The hotel lobby is very decent and well appointed.(See photos) Breakfast is minimal (Toasts, Croissants (Media Lunas), Cheese, selection of spreads, Ham, Cereals, Coffee, Juice and Yogurts) but is of good quality. The breakfast staff is nice and helpful. The breakfast area is rather big considering the size of the hotel and we never had to wait for a table. Now: the rooms. Since the hotel changed name recently, I suppose that they intend to modify or renovate some rooms. In some of them, it is a must. We first were given room 502, and frankly, I would not have stay in there. Fortunately, it was possible to change right away and we got room 606, slightly smaller but very comfortable. They have a safety box in the room, which is spacious enough to handle a large tablet and and it has two shelves so you can store your valuables in there. In room 606, there were no carpets. Fantastic for someone with allergies. There is a TV with many different channels, but none in English. The bathroom has toilet, bidet, sink, bath with shower. Our shower spray was not to best as it didn't spray from all around but it was ok. The rooms are kept clean, and the room cleaning, I found, was fast and efficient. One thing though, the corridors are echo. If you have a noisy neighbour, like we had for one night of our stay, you will hear the doors slam and voice in the corridors. Nothing from other rooms. I see it as an excellent value for money. Remember that this hotel is not a 5-star property, but it offers excellent services and value for the price you pay. The elevator are large and the reason why I mention this, is that we had friends who stayed at a 5 star hotel, paid much more than us, and could hardly fit a wheel chair in the elevator, so they had to ride separately. The elevators at Babel will handle minimum 4 standard size people. We have had no issue with wifi as I read in other reviews, and I noticed that each floor has its own wifi. I don't know if this is a new feature, but for all our stay, we could communicate, even video calls back home without any problems, whether in the lobby or in our room. For meals: if you walk on Montevideo street towards Corrientes, there are plenty of restaurants of all kinds. Once on Corrientes there are even more. Jorge and Sebastian at reception are of a great help and they know their city. They came in handy a few times and directed us to better solutions than what we had planned for certain visits and gave us valuable information on stores and areas. Considering the facts mentioned above, I will really consider going back to Babel Plaza, and will recommend it to our group for Buenos Aires.

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“TLC needed”

The check in and out process was great. The receptionists were very helpful and exchanged USD into Pesos for me to use. The gentlemen were helpful and the common area was brightly lit with filtered water and tea available as a courtesy. Safe available to store belongings in also. Unfortunately I ... more

The check in and out process was great. The receptionists were very helpful and exchanged USD into Pesos for me to use. The gentlemen were helpful and the common area was brightly lit with filtered water and tea available as a courtesy. Safe available to store belongings in also. Unfortunately I found my room to be slightly run down and very dark. The size of the bedroom was great, and the bed was large and comfortable, however I found a couple of things to be broken such as some of the lights and a section of my sink. Although the area was central, as a female solo traveler I didn't feel comfortable walking back here alone in the evening. This isn't to say that the hotel wasn't nice, I just think it is better suited for larger groups

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