We booked at the Design Suites Calafate with high expectations after a positive experience at the much older Design Suites Bariloche. The Calafate hotel has a striking design (from a distance) and is beautifully situated on a bluff overlooking Lago Argentino. The common areas and rooms are reasonably nice, but it is clear that attention to detail is lacking with respect to design, construction and service. Everywhere you look there are design and construction flaws, some of which impacted our comfort (e.g., lack of ventilation made the rooms and hotel very stuffy), and the staff really did not seem to care about providing quality service (e.g., breakfast, which was superb in Bariloche, was disorganized and appeared picked over). Overall left the hotel somewhat disappointed -- probably not worth the premium price, especially considering the distance from, and difficulty getting to, the main part of Calafate.

The hotel is in a great location, with excellent views.Our suite did not have a lake view, but it did not matter, since we did not spend much time in it. I agree with a previous review, the rooms do not have ventilation. The staff was very attentive. The hotel has a shuttle running between it and downtown Calafate, free, every half an hour, that is very convenient (some other hotels in the area do not). The lobby and restaurant have fantastic views, and the service is good.

I’ll go straight to the point:

Pros:
- Nice location with superb views of the lake
- Comfortable rooms if you have a lake view(with some negatives).
- Average breakfast. Too many pastries (it felt like an afternoon tea time)
- Comfortable design lobby, bar and restaurant
- Beautiful pool area
- Friendly staff. Unlike previous comments, we had a warm welcome at the reception and we had an excellent waitress at the restaurant
- Very good food at the restaurant.

Cons:
- Not well sound-proof. We could hear our neighbor’s conversations or their phone ringing.
- The Jacuzzi was not working
- 20 pesos ($7 US) for a one liter bottle of water in the bathroom… I’m sorry but this is insulting.
- The rooms are nice but very IKEA-ish. Cheap materials are being used and you can notice the wear and tear for such a new hotel. I didn’t like most of the Art work in the rooms or public areas (but that’s my opinion).
- We had a regular room for our last night and it was facing the parking lot. The hotel HAS to build landscaping on that side of the building so you get a minimum of privacy. People can see in your room from the parking area. The ground is flat from there to your room.
- There is an air circulation problem. No air-conditioning. They opened all the doors to let air moving around the floor... Meaning that anyone could climb the stairs, go through the open back door and walk directly to any of the rooms without being seen (obviously a security issue)
- We picked a boat day trip excursion with the hotel. I’m not sure if I was understood properly but when I asked how many people would be on the boat, I was told that there would be around 30. To my horror, it was more like 300.

In conclusion, we did like the hotel for a couple of nights even with the negatives I mentioned.
El Calafate is nice for 2 or 3 nights and I would recommend this hotel. Just remember to buy water in town!

I very much enjoyed my stay at this hotel, however I should preface that most of my time was spent enjoying the glaciers and dining downtown rather than living it up at the hotel.

However, for my time spent at the hotel, I was pleased by the service, enjoyed the hotel atmosphere and was impressed by the rooms. There are a few things that could be improved upon, but given the price I felt the service was in line with my expectations - to elaborate, I didn't expect over the top service but expected (and received) general courtesy, attentiveness when requested and a comfortable, clean, simple but modern room (i.e. like the pictures I had seen).

To provide some more color to my stay ...
First, in terms of areas for improvement:
1. The shower situation results in quite a wet bathroom floor. The shower head is located in a quite a large size tub however the partition between the shower area and the rest of the bathroom stops halfway across the bathtub. As a result, the sprays from the shower are not contained within the tub therefore eventually water will end up onto the bathroom floor. I found this was also the case at another hotel in Buenos Aires (Hotel Esplendor) therefore it appears this layout may not be uncommon. ??

2. When booking a tour with the front desk, they did provide a binder with all the tour activities around the area. We learned that all glacier tours originate from one company therefore whether you book from the hotel or within the city, the price is the same. (I'm assuming what I heard is true ...) We did book the ice trekking trip via the hotel and found the price to be exactly the same as what was listed downtown ... so in case you're wondering if they charge an additional fee, there's no need to fret. However, the only thing we found to be inconvenient is that you have to pay in cash at the hotel however you can pay via credit card if you head downtown. I'm guessing the inability to charge via credit card is related to some formality/policy, etc but it would be nice if this could be rectified. Since our huge party wasn't carrying a significant amount of cash and did not know about this policy beforehan, we had to book another trip in the downtown office. It was rather inconvenient but since we were going to shop downtown anyways, it wasn't too much of a hassle.

As for areas we enjoyed:
1. We were warmly received by the staff and the welcome drink was an unexpected touch. It was a nice welcome to start off our stay in El Calafate.

2. The breakfast was pleasant. Nothing elaborate but I was able to have yogurt, fresh fruit, bread/pastries, juices, coffee and tea. I think there may have been eggs but unfortunately I'm writing this review a few months later than I had wanted and so I can't completely remember. However, overall I was happy with the breakfast and definitely had no complaints.

3. The view is unsurpassed. Every room has a huge window that faces towards the lake. The hotel is situated rather high and looks directly down on the lake - if you wanted to walk down towards the lake, it's only a short walk. We noticed during our drive to our activities that no other hotel of equal caliber was located near the water with such a view ... however, I admit, this could possibly be contested but we did not notice any other hotel with such a prime view.

4. I was traveling with quite a number of people and we found the restaurant area pass the main lobby as well as a TV area on the second floor to be great places to relax, have a drink and chat with friends. (The 2nd floor area does not have a bar but you can order a drink downstairs and take it upstairs. The area is very cozy with huge couches, a flatscreen TV and DVD machine)

Overall I thought this hotel was extremely comfortable and provided the perfect atmosphere for our trip. The view was unbelievable and the service we received was what we expected for the price paid. The staff was attentive to our needs, always smiled and treated us with respect. However, as we rarely needed the staff except to help book us for our activity and only ate once in the restaurant, I thought the service and overall experience was fantastic and would definitely stay here again.