This hotel had a decent recommendation in the Moon guide, and we needed to book something for Mendoza. We arrived to find an unfriendly front desk and a truly awful room, stained bedspread, smelling of air freshener, and on the ground floor with no lock on the window. We asked to see another room, and were grumpily and eventually showed an even worse room. Good-bye, Provincial! There's a zillion hotels in Mendoza, and for the $85 or so, you can find a nice room, nearer to the Plaza. Don't be fooled by the updated lobby.

Our stay at the Provincial Hotel was not planned in advance and was booked just a couple of days before our stay. However this does not excuse the room we received for what was US$100 per night.

The room we were given was on the 4th floor (of 4). Normally you would think this was a good thing. There are 2 bedrooms, 1 lift and the breakfast room on the 4th floor. Basically this means that at 6 o'clock sharp every morning you are woken by the clattering of plates and general noise of the maids preparing the breakfast room, not really what you want when you're on holiday.

At 7am guests start piling into the breakfast room and there's pretty much no chance of getting any sleep after that.

The other scary thing we encountered was a lack of a safe fire exit from the 4th floor. There is no staircase to this floor other than through the laundry!! Once you've safely negotiated the laundry you reach the bottom of the first staircase and you have no negotiate the pile of matresses that block your exit.....

The hotel reception was nice but staff were extremes, one lady was really friendly (I think she is the manager), helped with our bad Spanish, the older woman on reception was just bladdy miserable and totally unhelpful.

Location of the hotel is good however which is why I'm not giving this place a 1 star rating.

The location is perfect, not to close or to far from downtown.
The staff spectacular and accomodating.
The hotel, old, but well kept.Clean.Clean.Clean.
Rooms avarage in size.
Everything clean.
Free continental breakfast, good.
Hotel rated 3*** in the south america standard. I'll give it a 3 1/2 *** just beacause the cleanliness and customer service.

I booked this hotel with Orbitz and paid by credit card before I left on my vacation. The advantage is that I paid in US dollars and saved a bit on the exchange rate.

The hotel rate was a real value ($48 per night) for a hotel that was 3 star plus. It is in a nice neighborhood on a nice boulevard close to the parks and the pedestrian promenade that features outdoor cafes and restaurants, outdoor sports shops, airline and travel offices. A major casino is about 3 blocks away. The airport is about 6 miles away but the bus terminal is only a mile or so away.

The hotel itself looks brand new. It is patterned after 4 star hotels with lots of shiny glass doors and windows and granite stone floors and walls. The rooms are spotless and extremely quiet and secure. A warm, even hot semi-indoor pool is available. The breakfast room on the 4th floor has a nice view of the Andes and the town. A good selection of fruits and juice were available.

The staff was beyond helpful. They saved me from missing my bus to another town by calling my room in the early morning hours to let me know my taxi had arrived. (I had forgotten to adjust my watch one hour earlier to Atlantic time when I crossed over from Chile.)