Llao Llao Resort Golf & Spa

“Excellent Resort with Sophisticated Vibe and Beautiful Setting; Customer Relations is Awful”

This is a beautiful resort located about half an hour's drive from the city of Bariloche or the Catedral mountain ski area. It is about 35-45 minutes to the airport depending on traffic. The views here over the lake are equivalent to Europe. The rooms in the newer Moreno wing are a few extra minute… more

This is a beautiful resort located about half an hour's drive from the city of Bariloche or the Catedral mountain ski area. It is about 35-45 minutes to the airport depending on traffic. The views here over the lake are equivalent to Europe. The rooms in the newer Moreno wing are a few extra minutes of walk but they are larger and have bigger windows. We had the royal suite 6314 and a connecting room. The room had a large terrace with a gorgeous view. Photos at this hotel are best taken in the morning. The suite was spacious and well decorated. We were miffed at the lack of welcome amenities -- all we got were some chocolates that you might get at turndown. And the quality of the toiletries they provided were not anything you'd want to take home. Food is a plus here. The breakfast buffet is very good, although I had to ask for smoked salmon and avocado (and be charged for it). Food is expensive here; expect something close to Manhattan prices even though you are in Argentina. Dinner at both restaurants was excellent, and the main restaurant offers a buffet of sides and salads that is fantastic. You get a really beautiful selection of high quality fruits and vegetables here. The fish from the BBQ grill (ie trout) is outstanding and one fish entree could almost feed a family of 4. This resort has a great team of pastry chefs. Lunch in the winter garden was also nice. Facilities are good; the gym is decent and so is the warm indoor and outdoor infinity pool with a killer view. The indoor pool can get crowded and closes at 7. No bathing suit dryer and I am not sure I recall if there was a steam room. There is a spa and it was fine. I enjoyed the nightly live entertainment in the lobby from 10:30pm. Things run late here -- the kids club at night is open from 9pm-11:30. Not many people eating dinner before 8. The public areas here are beautiful and the place has a sophisticated vibe to it, although there are many families with kids here. Hotel has a travel agency onsite that arranged good tours for us prearrival as well as hotel transfers and hikes. This is a great place to explore the outdoors. My main beef with this property is that considering we were in the royal suite, I had hoped they would do more to make us feel welcome and special. They did nothing, even when I pointed out that there was a lack of amenities in the room to greet us. First a person said they would check our reservation and decide, based on who the travel agent was, if they would do anything. They did not, which did not make my travel agent look good. Every time we asked for a hotel shuttle, we didn't get one. So my wife had to walk up the hill from the boat dock in the freezing rain with ice coming down on her head undoing the $70 blow and dry she had earlier in the hotel salon, and boy was she angry. I had $230 worth of laundry there, mostly a collection of socks and underwear at $10 each, and I asked for a discount. It took 3 days to get a reply and then a grand offer of 10% discount. Great, so now $9 a pair of socks instead of 10. In the Copacabana Palace in Rio the list price was $3 and they gave me 30% off. Finally, a manager agreed to 30% when I got upset and insisted because I had asked about this when I gave in the laundry. Finally, a customer relations person told me that they don't do anything special for any of their guests. Yeah, right. But our suggestions are good ones and appreciated, she said. All the answers we got above to our queries were clearly not the right ones for a good 5-star property that's been in business for many years and sees itself as a world-class player. Every time we went to a restaurant, we were asked which room we were in. The concierge made our dinner reservations. You might have thought they would have flagged us for good tables or at least not charge me $50 for breakfast items they should have had on a buffet but didn't. They didn't do anything for us. When we checked out, I tried to see if my Amex FHR amenities were included. They might have been but the bill was so confusing with several pages of mumbo jumbo with all the Argentine taxes and various items on their own bills that I couldn't figure it out. I had asked several times at the front desk but was told things would be done that had not been done, so I didn't trust them anymore and was frustrated at having to waste so much time working through my hotel bills with them. Finally, I opened a dispute with Amex to have them make sense out of my hotel bill because the last thing I want to do now is try and correspond with this hotel. When I checked with my travel agent, they told me that the hotel no longer had a dedicated sales rep to deal with the Andrew Harper travel agency (a high-end agency) and had downgraded its commitment to having relationships with travel agents. It is clear to me that there is an arrogance here on the part of this resort in terms of what it thinks of customers and travel agents. In terms of its customer relations, I would rate this place in the bottom 20% of 5-star hotels. I am telling you now that the last thing I want to see is some stupid note from hotel management below this review saying that they apologize for the way I was treated, that it was below their usual standard, and that they are studying the matter and hope to improve and do better for me next time I visit. I told them several times while I was there that i wanted to be treated better while I was there and not apologized to at check-out or on the TripAdvisor site. So my verdict on his property is it is an excellent property and you should go there, but don't expect to be treated particularly well if you ask for anything. I was paying top dollar for the top rooms and was backed by American Express Platinum and Andrew Harper, which clearly left no impression on them. As long as this doesn't matter and generally it doesn't matter with me except that the manner customer relations was done with me was downright insulting, it's fine.

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“Idyllic hotel in the beautiful Lake District of Argentina.”

We booked Llao Llao on the recommendation of friends and we were not disappointed. The setting is spectacular built in the magnificent Nahuel Huapi National Park. Like the town of Bariloche, the hotel looks like it belongs in the Swiss Alps and has a very interesting history. We had a stunning su… more

We booked Llao Llao on the recommendation of friends and we were not disappointed. The setting is spectacular built in the magnificent Nahuel Huapi National Park. Like the town of Bariloche, the hotel looks like it belongs in the Swiss Alps and has a very interesting history. We had a stunning suite in the Moreno wing with uninterrupted views across the lake and Mt. Tronador. A small sitting room with the view and a nice patio/balcony. Good sized bedroom with comfy bed/pillows and excellent wardrobe space. The bathroom was large with a jacuzzi bath with a picture window with the same view, double sinks and a very decent shower. Check-in and the concierge service was excellent (big shout out to Patricio). Breakfast was of a good standard although it was awfully busy, irrespective of the time we went. Views from this room are breathtaking especially if you are lucky enough to be seated at the window tables. The BBQ (Argentino) restaurant (in the dining room where breakfast is served) was not available during our stay as it was booked for a corporate event. So we had a choice of the lobby bar or the Patagonia. The Patagonia is a cosy Swiss chalet-style room with pine furniture and chintz fabrics. Small niggle re the lighting which was a little stark - more canteen than intimate dining room. The menu is short but we each selected a good starter and main and opted for the excellent Llao Llao house red. Service was a little perfunctory ( bored but very competent) and we thought it expensive for the standard of food. The lobby bar was buzzy with live music on 2 nights so lovely for a cosy drink after dinner. Service in the bar was very good but the food menu is limited. Again, the food was OK and quite expensive. In summary, spectacular hotel in a spectacular location and I would return in a heartbeat. It is such a pity that the food is so average.

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“A must in Argentina”

Fantastic Hotel with superb views. Rooms are acceptable. Service at the concierge and at the mediterranean restaurant is poor. Breaksat buffer and grill are superb in food, views and service. Amazing spa and walking tours… would deffinitely come back!