Hotel Palacio de SAL

Our stay at the hotel was soured as we left the hotel to go to the airport, (we were literally outside the hotel) when my wife was accused of stealing a hand towel, when in fact it was the maid who had failed to replace the towel the day before. As if we would even consider stealing a pretty low quality small towel! The hotel is unique in that it was the first salt hotel at the salt flats (they had originally built on actually on the flats, until that was deemed illegal). A large proportion of the walls and roof of the hotel are built with salt bricks. In our room the bedside tables and the bed base were also made of salt bricks. The rooms are quite basic, but they are sufficiently well equipped with what you need in a hotel room. There were enough guest usable sockets to enable charging of devices. The bed was comfortable. The heating (it gets very cold at the flats at night) was adequate but old. What was disappointing was how dilapidated the shower was. The shower screen was missing several screws and it was a challenge to get the shower to the right temperature. One of the highlights of the hotel is the swimming pool. This is very warm and long enough to swim a few strokes. It is particularly welcoming if you return from the flats after sunset, as which point the temperature drops very quickly. Dinner is a buffet. There are a number of stations where you can select your food from. There is a short order cook for the nights when there is steak on the menu. There is an adequate range of foods and drinks to select from. Likewise with breakfast there was a reasonable amount of food to choose from, however there was no espresso coffee available. Service at the hotel is a little patchy and probably further training is required. The hotel has a bar. Overall it is a quite unique experience staying here, there are two other salt hotels nearby. The hotel feels tired and need of some renovation to both the hotel and the way that the service is provided.

The property has convenient access to the Salar. Room was good. Food options are limited to the buffet. No easy access to restaurants. The property is isolated. Staff were excellent. Generally not much to complain about!

Excellent facilities, world class spa (except the steam sauna a bit warm at 110 C). But management is at Faulty Towers level: Coming a bit late to breakfast because our guide put in a sightseeing, management declined request for coffee refill! Two star service at a 4 star hotel! Uneducated staff. Poor heating in restaurant. Stingy supply of water (which is essential at 3.600 m elevation.) So a lot of improvement potential at a place with a lot of potential if only incompetent management could be changed.

I have to say that my family and I have been received very well. The staff is quite good, even the receptionist came to me a day after I arrived just to give me back BOB 20, because my mom forgot them. The installations were cozzy, and the food is great! They manage how to find fresh ingredients in the middle of the town. Also, the spa center is exceded my expectations! It was pretty clean and the pool had the perfect temperature! If you and your family want to have a good time, I highly recommend this hotel!

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.