Mandarin Oriental Santiago

August 18th, 2023

Posts in this series:

Introduction - The Andean Crossing

Review - American Airlines Business Class B777-200 New York Kennedy to Buenos Aires Ezeiza

Review - Anselmo Buenos Aires, Curio Collection by Hilton

Review - Flybondi Economy Class B737-800 Buenos Aires Aeroparque to Mendoza

Review - Auberge du Vin, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Tupungato

Review - Mandarin Oriental Santiago

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Santiago

Review - Air Canada Business Class B787-8 Santiago de Chile to Toronto Pearson

Review - Air Canada Express Business Class CRJ-900 Toronto Pearson to Washington Dulles

Enroute:

Allow me to be candid for a minute - while we didn’t necessarily “rough it” in terms of the hotels we stayed at in Argentina, I was looking forward to some of the finer things in life. You know, like a pair of slippers on a floor mat by the bed at turndown, or a hot stone massage at the spa. Totally bare essentials, if you ask me.

Chile is one of the most advanced and affluent nations in Latam, so Santiago was home to the only Mandarin Oriental in the region. Naturally we had to check that out. For the hotel and real estate nerds out there, this property was converted from a Grand Hyatt.

Check-in:

We had an easy Uber ride from the airport. Check-in was efficient, and we were soon on our way. I booked this room through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, but I don’t think we were upgraded. We did receive the usual free breakfast and $100 f&b credit.

You can tell that this wasn’t a brand new hotel by the atrium design. The lobby felt otherwise modern. Coming from Argentina I felt like the Chileans were much flashier. I noticed multiple women in somewhat revealing evening dresses, designer purses and lustrous jewelry.

Unpack:

For a base level room, I thought it was pretty decent. Upon entry, the bathroom was immediately to the right. It was an exposed design, with a partition separating it from the entryway.

The toiletries were provided by Barcelona-based Natura Bissé, which I quite liked. Although I did do their peel one time, and it fucked my skin up for a while, lol.

Outside the bathroom was a closet, which was adequate.

A king bed was situated in the middle of the room. The finishes were reasonably upscale.

Last in the room was a sunken living area. I’ve always been a fan (no pun here) of this design.

The hotel prepared us a bottle of Chilean rosé. I appreciated that there was a proper desk in the room, which was connected to the coffee machine and the fridge. There was no minibar.

It was raining the entire time during our stay, but we could still see the Andes from time to time.

Santiago is a business destination, so I think the room was sufficient.

Refuel:

We decided to have dinner on our first night at the hotel. After a week of eating beef every single day, we were pleased (relieved) to see there was a sushi restaurant at the Mandarin. It was the beginning of ski season in Chile, so the hotel had some ski-themed pop-ups.

We were greeted by a friendly host at Matsuri, and he asked if we were guests of the hotel. We said yes, and he said “Sit wherever you’d like. It’s your house.”. Ha!

After settling in, we placed our order and received an amuse-bouche. We were also offered an aromatic towel before dinner. The menu could be found here.

Followed by some unique cocktails.

We really just wanted a light dinner, so we shared a few small dishes.

I thought the food was average. While it’s not the best Nikkei cuisine, it was what we needed for a change of scenery.

In the mornings we had breakfast at Senso, which was an all-day Italian restaurant. You can see all of its menus here.

While the quality as such wasn’t too bad, the restaurant was completely slammed. There was a line to be seated, and it was impossible to get a coffee. I also noticed that there was a group of Air France crew members at breakfast.

Depart:

The Mandarin Oriental Santiago is a typical business hotel. There’s nothing wrong with that by any means. The spa was under renovation when we were there, so we couldn’t check it out. We went to the Ritz-Carlton after this, and I think I preferred the Ritz. I’ll cover the review in the next post of this series.