The Hotel Gervasoni in Valparaiso was a lovely place - the terrace has a lovely outlook. Its full of character. We had fairly small rooms that overlooked the street below with little Juliette balconies a nice feature. However, we were robbed - in our room within 10 minutes of arriving. Here's the story for anyone interested.
When we arrived, I went to put documents and money in the room safe. There wasn't one. When we had been there only 5 or 10 minutes, I went to the bathroom and husband put his 'man bag' with passport, mobile and money in it on the bed and went to see if our son was ok in his room next door. The door didn't lock automatically as in most hotels and when he came back about 2 minutes later, there was a well-dressed woman in the room. He thought she was one of the hotel staff, she smiled at him and let her out. As I left the bathroom, he asked me why the woman was in our room? I responded, “What woman”? and asked where his bag was? In a split second husband sprinted down the corridor and managed to grab hold of the woman making her get away down the stairs leading to the downstairs hotel exit. He grabbed her bag and she started yelling. He opened the bag and was able to retrieve it. While all this was going on, the hotel staff were grabbing my husband and trying to punch and pull him off the woman. They were yelling at him. As he had his bag back, he let her go, she ran off, and he showed the hotel staff his passport from the bag they saw him retrieve from the woman. They realised that he was a guest and that she was a thief so hotel security gave chase. She was caught by security and returned to the hotel. Later we were told that she had been yelling help, that my husband was trying to kill her and throw me over the balcony. Anyway we were all in shock at the treatment from staff but relieved that we had recovered our property. The police came, statements were made and it was all very traumatic -the holiday would have been ruined without a passport. The woman was very experienced and appeared to know exact layout of the hotel and that rooms didn't lock. While the hotel management were horrified at the theft and the easy access to our rooms, we thought they could have done a bit to apologise - such as a free drink or something on the house.
We'd be cautious about recommending it from a security point of view, paying particular attention to the fact that the hotel room doors didn’t auto lock, people have direct access from the street below and there was no safe in the room - until after the event - then a safe arrived.

Incredible views, terrific service, cozy interiors, good location and the owner is always around to make your stay pleasant!

We had left the tribute to Faulty Towers in Gervasoni where it has become apparent that
their policy is to overcharge for substandard rooms and service.

The Hotel:
• Promised a view and didn't give it to 1st two nights. They rushed us into back rooms which smelt & were noisy. There was zero acknowledgement of this prior commitment, nor was there consultation
• The Room didn't have glasses, water or other standard hotel items in room.
• Served a very ordinary breakfast and shut breakfast early.
• Roomservice did not change linen daily they had to be reminded to put 3 towels in room.
• The hot water system very slow, you had to let the water run for 7 minutes before you got hot water…”What a waste of water!!”
• Overrepresented room sizes online, Suite room very small especially if you got an extra bed for your child.
• The Hotel closed all doors with security that you can’t exit unless receptionist opens it for you. At night time there is no one to open the door, stays lock all night. It’s very dangerous in case of fire or earthquake. They should have someone in receptionist all night.
• Tried to overcharge us Rooms 6 & 5 smelt strongly of human excrement and urine which was charge to US $260 a night!!!

The Staff threatened to charge us should we leave early. I understand cancellation policy but the Hotel staff took this to a ridiculous extreme.

Every time we raised a point politely to the Owner/Manager of the Hotel did not acknowledge and tried to deflect. This was an insult to anyone of reasonable intelligence
.
We are an international traveller and spend 1/3 each yr travelling. We can not recall being treated this badly before.

If you are looking to stay in a great 20th century character home built by a very successful businessman from erstwhile Yugoslavia and enjoy the UNESCO world heritage city of Valparaiso from a great locatiomn, then look no further. Up in the hill of Cerro Concepcion, it's close some other attractions and has a great vantage point to look over the port area below. Cerro Alegre and its charming neighborhood is just few steps above the hill. When our taxi (from Santiago airport) was having difficulty locating the hotel (taxi driver unfamiliar with Valpo), hotel actually sent someone to pick us up free of charge late at night without even speaking with us directly! Restaurant was awesome in terms of food quality, service, wine selection, and overall ambiance. Only regret that we didn't get to stay longer. Our room was essentially a loft with everything in very good condition and keeping the age-old charm intact. We simply loved this place. Received fantastic service on the way back when the hotel driver dropped us off at the bus station (to return to Santiago airport). He went above and beyond his job to secure a discount on the ticket, carried our luggage to the bus (despite of telling him to leave earlier), and ensured that we were safely on board before he departed. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR A WONDERFUL STAY ALL AROUND!