Description: At sixty dollars (season and room depending), a night at Santa Cruz’ Continental Park costs almost as much as an average Bolivian salary. However, despite being at the very top of the local establishments, I left it utterly disappointed. It enjoys an awesome location, midway between the central plaza and Monseñor Rivero Avenue, where the main entertainment area is in Santa Cruz; that was its initial appeal.
The lobby was well-lighted and spacious, but the scarce coaches were not enough to answer the demand for them; since the main coffee shops in town were a bit far away - mainly around the main plaza or on Monseñor Rivero Avenue - that was a drawback whenever I had visits. Moreover, the receptionist – standing behind a nearby desk – failed several times to communicate me the arrival of such visitors.
Between the reception and the restaurant, was a computers room with internet service, which was included in the room’s basic price. However, the hotel personnel were very fond of it. That wouldn’t have been of concern if they had restrained their smoking habits; the small room was constantly filled with smoke. After I complained, their answer was that smoking is permitted everywhere.
The buffet breakfast was included in the price and it was rather good. It included a rich variety of pastries – European and local ones – and made justice to the glorious choice of fruits in Santa Cruz. Special dishes could be ordered from the kitchen.
The room was well equipped, but it was rather small and the sumptuous bed seemed to fill it; having business meetings there was unthinkable. The closets were too big and being in front of the bed, they almost reached it and transformed the access to the wide windows into an almost Herculean task; however, since Santa Cruz is in a flat area and lowly constructed, there aren’t any interesting views from them. The television was connected to a local cables network and offered several channels in English. The air conditioner was an essential need, but it needed to rest from time to time to recover its capabilities; thus forcing me to take short walks outside at odd times.
The bathroom was luxurious and well equipped. It was kept spotless and would have been a positive part of this review if it wasn’t for the hot water issue - a recurrent problem in
Bolivia. The water heater worked only during the early evenings; even then, it provided hot water only for short periods of time. In my long stay, I needed to notify the reception an hour before each shower I took; that’s not acceptable in a top-rated hotel.
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