We were worried about the water problems referred to in previous reviews. We were reassured by Veronica who was very helpful and professional. We were not sorry we chose to stay.
Superb location on the edge of the lake, yet convenient to town with the hotel's free and frequent shuttle service.
Rooms were spacious, breakfast and lunch were excellent.
All the staff were most helpful and friendly, especially Veronica, Teo and Nicolas.
Do not miss the sunrise and sunset over the lake!

Hotel tries to be hip and contemporary although fails at most attempts. Although clean, the property shows a lot of wear and tear for its age. Our luxury suite had no less than 3 things broken, including the sink. Staff was not that friendly and rarely smiled, unlike most of the locals who went out of their way to be friendly. Moved from the Design Suites to the Imago. The view was not as great but the service and facility were far superior.

We stayed at Design Suites in El Calafate for 3 nights in late Feb. and loved it. The service was great from the minute we began checking in. The hotel is located outside of town, but it's a cheap taxi or free shuttle ride back & forth. Just a few recommendations:
Get a room with a lake view. Otherwise don't bother.
Eat at the restaurant one night. You can skip the shuttle in & out of town and have a great meal. We did. The food was very good, but service was slow because it was super busy that night.
Stay 3 or 4 nights. We could have stayed one more. We had three full days (72 hours) from start to finish, and would have been fine with one more night so we could have relaxed and enjoyed the hotel a bit.
Do the big ice trekking (not mini trekking) if possible. You need warm winter gear and hiking boots even in late summer, which we did not have but rented at a brand new shop in town. The big ice trekking company can point you to it.
Patagonia was a real highlight of our trip to Argentina and I am glad we picked this hotel.

My wife and I stayed at the Design Suites in El Calafate for 4 nights and loved every minute of it. We had booked a regular room, which overlooked the parking lot, and quickly changed to a a suite which had an obstructed view of paradise!!!
The hotel itself is probably a 4 star, maybe on a good day a 4.5 star, but as other reviews have mentioned certain things are missing or were just oversights. The bathroom did flood a bit when you showered due to the glass not extending the length of the tub, but placing a towel/hand cloth at the edge prevented a lot of the water from dripping down. The fact that there was a glass wall, which separated the bathroom from the bedroom, was an incredible feature, so as you showered you had a clear view of the lake below the hotel and the mountains behind that. Truly spectacular.
The hotel may be out of town, but a shuttle runs every 30 minutes from hotel-to-town and then town-to-hotel, which was super convenient. Not to mention, you shouldn't be going to El Calafate to spend time in the town!!! El Calafate is about being outdoors, visiting the glaciers either doing the a trek on the glaciers or a boat excursion. The town is nice, but not the highlight of being in Patagonia.
Overall, the experience of the Design Suites and the attentive service of the staff, made our stay worth it many times over. After having stayed at the Ritz in Bali, The Shangri-la in Bangkok and other 5 star resorts, the service was one of the best we have had. The fact that the hotel did not seem to have that 4-5 star feel, is quickly overlooked by the view and the overall feel of the hotel.
PS If you have stayed at the Design Suite in Bariloche (as we did after we were in El Calafate) you will notice a difference between the two styles of rooms and some of the finishings. The one in Bariloche is a little nicer, but the one in El Calafate has the best view of any hotel in El Calafate - as long as you get a lake view room. If no lake view room, in our opinion. we do not think staying there is worth the price.