A hotel review? It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Home Hotel in Buenos Aires was our little home away from home for the first part of our time there (We spent three days at beginning of our trip in B.A. before returning again after our time in Patagonia).

I’ll say that I tend to like hotels with a little “oomph”? Some might call it trendy or a little chichi, but I’m going to say that if I’m not going to be sleeping in my comfy bed at home or sitting on my couch, then I’d like to enjoy my surroundings. Home Hotel’s swagger was definitely about its design and vibe, and that’s okay with me.

Like most city hotels, our room at Home Hotel wasn’t very big. I chose the Standard Plus room, which is a step up from the slightly smaller Standard room.  There was essentially room for a bed, side tables, a desk, and a credenza for the TV. That was fine with me since when I’m visiting a new city, I like to be out and about anyway. The room was bright, simply decorated but colorful.

Fancy? Nah, but it definitely did the trick in between our days and evenings pounding the pavement in Buenos Aires. I also appreciated that the bathroom was bigger than the one in my own apartment.

Our shower: Big shout outs to the Home Hotel for the ample (and I mean AMPLE) shower gel.

While our room was simple, I have to say that my favorite parts of Home Hotel were the public spaces, particularly the bar and pool area.

 The Lobby

Because it was late summer in Buenos Aires, Husband J and I spent a fair amount of time hanging out near the pool and bar area. No, we weren’t downing drinks, but Home’s pool area really was a little garden respite from the busy streets of Buenos Aires. We spent time here just reading and enjoying the late summer breezes. If you do want to know, the drinks were very good. We made friends, with the bartender, Elina, and we chatted about Buenos Aires in English and Spanish (She encouraged me to practice). We dug our time at the hotel just as much as hoofing it around Buenos Aires. It was nice feeling like we could come back to the hotel and really just hang out, if we wanted to. I know that should be a no-brainer for a hotel, but you’d be surprised at how many places DON’T have that kind of atmosphere.

The garden: They even decorate the trees!

The bar area and outside dining area

 I know some people enjoy a pros and cons list for reviews, because let’s be honest: Nowhere is perfect.

Pros

1. Friendly and helpful staff. From the front desk to the bartenders, every staff member was helpful and went out of their way to make sure we got the most out of Buenos Aires that we could. Whether it was calling taxis or restaurants (There were many closures for Easter weekend), the staff took care of us. In case you’re not interested in practicing Spanish, everyone speaks good to excellent English.

2. Cute guidebook with suggested restaurants, bars, shopping and activities. I loved this little book that we received at check-in filled with suggestions from the hotel. Even with my preparation (okay, occasional over-researching), I still found a few places to try and even went to some of the recommended clothing stores. I’m not a big shopper, and I had to stop myself from buying a few things.

Our mini-guidebook courtesy of Home Hotel

3. Palermo Hollywood location – Home Hotel is located in the neighborhood of Palermo Hollywood. I was worried about not being in the center of much of the restaurants, shopping and nightlife in the well-known adjacent Palermo SoHo neighborhood, but being a fifteen minute walk away is not a downer. I like that Palermo Hollywood was actually a little quieter than Palermo SoHo. There are lots of restaurants, shops, bars, etc. right on Honduras, the street where the hotel is located. We probably could have stayed in Palermo Hollywood for eating and evening options if we wanted to.

4. Great breakfast including made-to-order items upon request. Aaahhh…the hotels serves their medialunas warm, plus eggs, spreads, fruit, coffee and more.

One of the better medialunas that we had on our trip was from Home Hotel

Cons

1. Far walk from the the subte – Taxis are cheap in Buenos Aires. To cut down costs, Husband J and I actually took Buenos Aires’ subte (subway). Home is close to a 15 minute walk (depending on your pace) from the Ministro Carranza stop on the D Line, and it did get a little old after awhile. At least you’ll get some exercise in.

2. Palermo Hollywood location – While I did like being in Palermo Hollywood, it was a walk across the train tracks to Palermo SoHo (Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous). It wasn’t a total inconvenience, but being in Palermo SoHo would have allowed us to be even more centrally located to some of the places we would have liked to go.

3. Paying more for Easter Weekend – I hate mark-ups. We would have had to pay more regardless of where we stayed in B.A. on Easter weekend, but that doesn’t make me feel better.

My main cons were location-based, and the folks at Home can’t really do anything to change that.

So, fun, comfortable and not over-the-top, made Home Hotel feel like home to me. By the way, Husband J was looking over my shoulder as I wrote this post and kept mentioning how much he had liked the hotel. When he does that, I know I picked a winner.

Home Hotel

Honduras 5860

Buenos Aires, Argentina

For those of you in the middle of winter, this is for you. Daydream, if you will…

Cocos’ best feature though is the views. All of the little bungalow rooms are built into rock and have beautiful views of Ffryes Bay and the Jolly Harbour area. Unfortunately, you have to work to see it all. The walk up and down to the beach and possibly to your room is not for the faint of heart or the out of shape. It’s up a cement path that can have steep inclines in some parts. Also note that we got a room with a nice view (you can specify) because that was all they had left.

-Don’t come here if you want luxurious rooms - The rooms were clean and comfortable with breathtaking views, but just simple. Honestly, you’ll be at the beach most of the time anyway.

When people think of Caribbean resorts, they think of beachfront all-inclusives. Well, Husband J and I felt like being contrarians and decide to stay somewhere practically across the street from the beach and not have everything included in the price of our hotel stay. I acknowledge that we can do this because we leave the hotel when we visit Antigua, and we know that there will be opportunities to eat and do things elsewhere. Our hotel for this stay, Sugar Ridge, offers just a breakfast option, and we decided that would fit our needs best for this trip.

What I really really liked most about Sugar Ridge is the modern feel of the buildings and the rooms.

Each building contains four rooms. The lower rooms have plunge pools.

I think one of the best aspects of Sugar Ridge is that the rooms are very new, and the decor is really tasteful. It’s not the cheesy decor that you will sometimes find in Caribbean resort rooms.

Our bed on arrival. I think those were freshly picked bouganvillea.

Bathroom

Very large terrace. There is an option to have a smaller terrace with a plunge pool.

So while we were not right on the beach, we did get to see the ocean from our room.

So what are the disadvantages to not being beachfront? Here are my observations:

1. You can hear the cars go by – It’s not transporting to hear cars passing by every few minutes. It’s not like Antigua has heavy traffic or anything, but it can take away from the peaceful relaxing experience that being by the beach can be.

2. Sometimes we just wanted to make a quick run to the beach, but you can’t really. Husband J, who is infamously impatient, didn’t necessarily like waiting for the hotel shuttle for the beach. Each time we waited it was no more than 15 minutes. If we were beachfront, we wouldn’t have to wait at all. A small thing for sure, but there were moments where we would have wanted to just walk down to the beach even for a few minutes.

Continuing the tour….

The public spaces also have the same simple streamlined contemporary feel.

The reception area

Sugar Club, the hotel’s main bar and lounge area

I personally like to go to the beach, but there were quite a few people at the pool throughout our stay.

View of the Sugar Club from the pool area

Since Sugar Ridge is not by the beach, you do get a nice view of Antigua’s hills.

It was greener than usual in Antigua since the island had been getting a lot of rain from tropical storms.

Here are some pros and cons of staying at Sugar Ridge:

Pros

1. Nice new rooms. Have I mentioned how much I like the rooms? I will say that the rooms were much smaller than I expected, but again still nice.

2. Great food. The food at both the Sugar Club, Sugar Ridge’s main restaurant, as well as Carmicheal’s, the premiere restaurant as quite good, especially for hotel food. I’ll have posts about both of these places soon.

3. A NON all-inclusive option. I do like the fact that we could just have our breakfast included. It encourages folks to go out to try other places not at the resort. At the same time, I know that’s difficult for most people nor do they want to. We actually found that we spent less than the rate for all-inclusive. We could have gone the all-inclusive option, if we were willing to spend an additional $90 per person per day, which we didn’t on any of our days there (even with drinks!).

4. Not being beachfront – While it may not be ideal, not being beachfront allows you to see MORE beaches close to the hotel (there are many). The hotel provides a shuttle to a variety of beaches within a reasonable drive (5 options). Our favorite was Turner’s Beach, and we also liked Ffryes. You can also walk to Jolly Beach, essentially across the street. I think it allows visitors to see and experience more of the island that way instead of the same stretch of beach. The hotel has an arrangement with some of the local beach restaurants/bars so that you can eat the meals included in your all-inclusive plan there.

5. Free wi-fi. It worked quite well. This is pretty rare still in many hotels in Antigua. If you need or want to be connected while in Antigua, then you should consider Sugar Ridge.

Cons

1. Not being beachfront – See my reasons above.

2. Service misses – I actually think the hotel’s service overall was good, but there were some moments that sometimes left us scratching our heads (several that require stories that I have to admit I’m too lazy to write. Just trust me on this one). Sometimes it was if people just didn’t take the time to think things through, or we had to ask for something multiple times (not twice, multiple). Often the service in the Sugar Club restaurant was quite slow, especially at breakfast. I know that you’re supposed to be on vacation, but slow service is still slow service. Ya know? We are not people that need to be waited on hand and foot either. At the same time the staff is very friendly, and some go above and beyond to make you feel very comfortable. Some are excellent at their job.

3. Saturday night party – I’m not sure if this is a weekly thing, but there was a party the weekend we were there. Since you are on a ridge, sounds travels up, and we weren’t far from the Sugar Club. It was LOUD. On most occasions we would have been there partying too, but Husband J wasn’t feeling well. It went on until at least 3am (I heard a great dancehall reggae set on my way to the bathroom at that point. Yes, I know..TMI). I hope for the sake of all guests that this is not a weekly event. Yes, I know that’s an old lady comment, but I do like my sleep when I can get it.

Okay, I lied. I’ve got one last Cappadocia mention, and that goes to our hotel, Argos Hotel. Be forewarned that there is actually another hotel in Turkey called Argos, but it’s on the Mediterranean side. I really enjoyed our stay there, and I would definitely go back just to experience it in much warmer weather. Like many of the hotels in the Cappadoccia region, Argos is built into rock and incorporates stone into the architecture of the room.

Courtyard

In my old age (hee!), I’ve realized that I like to spend a little extra on hotels if I can. Not necessarily 5 star (we were NOT rolling up to the Four Seasons, y’all), but a little extra comfort and perhaps some quirky details aren’t so bad. For the first portion of our time in Istanbul, we stayed at the Hotel Sultania, and it was definitely full of both comfort and some off-beat flavor.

Our bed

Each room is named after a wife of an Ottoman sultan. Ours was named after Sehsuvar, who was originally from the Ukraine, taken to be a part of the sultan’s harem and then his wife. The hotel provides a little narrative about her.

Sehsuvar

There are some things you should know about this hotel. There’s kind of a bathroom and kind of not. The basin area is actually right next to your bed and is cordoned off by a very pretty screen. I’m not describing this very well, so just check the pic below. Since we didn’t splurge for space at this hotel I didn’t mind. It’s in the old city, where all of the buildings are rather small. We weren’t going to be spending very much time in our hotel room in Istanbul anyway.

The toilet and shower have one door that serves as both the door to the shower and between the toilet area and the rest of the room. Essentially it means that one person can’t take a shower while the other uses the toilet (ya know, just in case you want to do that).

Shower/Toilet area with the door closed

So there’s the shower/toilet area. Kind of a racy painting, isn’t it? Girlfriend is wearing a thong and pasties. I’m not making this up. I had no idea the room would look like this.

Another thing you should know is that there is lots of funky lighting throughout the room.

Underneath the bed

Around the TV

It’s kinda fun to appreciate and admire, although it does get to be a pain when you are looking for the light switches to turn off all of those lights right before going to bed at night.

I will say that I really liked many of the Turkish details like this little tray.

When you open it, there are little treats.

I think it was little date bar with pistachios covered in coconut. They were good and were refilled each day. I appreciated a free snack.

Here’s what I thought of the Hotel Sultania, and I’ll do it in the form of a Pros & Cons list:

Not so bad cons, right? Would we stay there again? Yes. Recommend to others? Why not? I have to admit that if we do go back, I’d like to stay at the other Istanbul hotel we stayed in at the end of our trip. That’s for another post.