Meutia C
Google
I stayed in Familia Piatti B&B for 3 nights on 22-25 January 2014. I was ready to give Piatti B&B a benefit of a doubt, given the good review in the tripadvisor. However, in my experience, Piatti B&B fell far from delivering what he promised in his website, and I would not recommend this place.||||To be objective, there are also positive parts of this B&B: For a start, the room is warm, reasonably clean, and spacious with a mezzanine, large window with a view to a forested area. There’s wifi in the room. The proprietor also took the initiative to book me the transport to the National Park door-to-door. The breakfast was brought to the room. The proprietor also lend me his raincoat / windbreaker because I forgot to bring mine. ||||Prior to staying here, I also have been aware that the location is a bit far from the city center, approximately 15-20 minutes walk. I thought this would be manageable for me, but the weather during my stay turned out to be rainy and cold, making the walk not so pleasant. Besides, the walk to the city center is not really scenic, because it’s basically going along Ruta Nacional no.3 (an expressway), which is not at all a park-like environment. However, one can easily overcome this by taxi, which costs about ARS 25 (Jan 2014). Besides there are no restaurant or food options around the area, and the B&B only provides breakfast (not sure if other meals are available as an optional service). Next time I come to Ushuaia, I would opt for a more central location for ease of access to attraction, food, and transport without going through a long cold walk.||||The negative parts are: ||||1) The proprietor had promised to arrange transfers from and to the airport when I booked around 6 weeks before my arrival. I confirmed this again two days before my arrival, but the proprietor this time told me that he would not be able to arrange for a pick up because at the time of my arrival he would be busy preparing breakfast. He asked me to take a taxi from the airport. Luckily it was easy for me to get a cab. He later “reimbursed” me for my taxi by deducting my hotel payment at a rate of ARS 11 for a dollar (Taxi was 66 pesos). However, when I received the receipt for my hotel payment (which I had done in US dollar), he denominated it in ARS using the rate of ARS 7.7 to a dollar. Had he used the same rate, the deduction for my taxi would be USD 8.5 instead of 6, and using the written peso my room would be cheaper. ||||2) Although the bedsheet and pillowcase were replaced upon my arrival, the duvet was not replaced from the previous guest. The duvet was simply sprayed with a fabric freshener and reused for my bed. ||||3) The website indicated that the room includes fridge, microwave, hairdryer, and bedsheet was “natural Egyptian”, in my room there were NONE of those. ||||4) I was only given one tiny bar of soap and no shampoo/conditioner – unlike in other B&B I went to during my trip. I had to wash my hair using the bar of soap. Besides, the floor mat in the bathroom was not replaced from the previous guest. ||||5) Although the room is spacious, the wall is thin, and as a result, I can hear the neighboring guests activities, even their snores.||||6) The room was supposed to be cleaned daily. However, one day I stayed in my room a bit late (until 11:30am), and when I returned at 9:30pm, my room was not cleaned. Even the breakfast tray and leftover food was still on the table. ||||7) I asked the proprietor to help me book a trekking trip to Laguna Esmeralda. Later, he told me that the trip is unavailable on the day I wanted. I don’t believe him entirely because I am sure that among many tour operators in Ushuaia, at least one must operate on the day I want. Nevertheless I didn’t make a big fuss because I ended up arranging my own trip on that day. ||||8) Lastly, I am very disappointed with my departure experience. Two days prior departure I told the proprietor my departure schedule and preferred hour for breakfast. One day before departure, I told him again my schedule and time for breakfast, twice, when he was giving my breakfast on that day. We agreed that he would give my breakfast at 6:45, and that taxi would be available at 7:45 because my flight is 9:10. During the departure day, I waited, and no breakfast arrived at 7:20 until I knock the proprietor’s house asking about my breakfast and airport transfer. He was not ready with both of them. He said that he had forgotten what we had agreed, and defended himself saying that he tried to check with me by knocking my room and I didn’t answer. Not a good answer: if he really wanted to reach me to ask, he could have slipped a note under my door or email me (there’s wifi in my room, besides we have been in touch by email for booking!). I told him that I had mentioned my schedule twice, and he apologized again saying that he didn’t have his notebook with him at that time (really bad excuse). I was angry and almost late for the airport. He finally booked me a radio taxi which arrived at 7:45. I was suspicious that this taxi would end up being paid by me in the airport, so I pre-empt by telling the taxi driver that the proprietor would pay for the taxi. Granted, the taxi driver was unaware that the transfer should be pre-paid, so I brought him in to see the proprietor, who also didn’t expect that I would come in to ask him for the taxi payment before going to the airport. Finally the taxi driver and the proprietor agreed for taxi pre-payment. ||||In conclusion, my negative experience outweighs the positive ones, and not possible for me to recommend this place. This lengthy review outlines my actual experience in the B&B. The proprietor speaks good English and we corresponded by email many times, so I do not think communication had been an issue to warrant this experience. I had far better experience in other B&Bs in Argentina.
