This could be a fabulous place to stay in Santiago. The location is a fantastic private enclave in the heart of the city, within easy walking distance to stores and great restaurants. The private parking was a great bonus for us. The outdoor space is incredibly relaxing and private.
Patrick is a friendly and responsive host, who made check-in and check-out a piece of cake.
The disadvantage for us was that the house is very small, yet crammed with trinkets, ornaments, old china and knick-knack collections. There was hardly a surface we could put any of our own things on. The fridge had somebody else’s food in it, every cupboard and drawer was crammed, including the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom cupboards and closets, with what appeared to be a bachelor’s effects and the level of cleanliness and tidiness that might befit a bachelor. We arrived to find two small shelves in the bedroom to put all our things on, and a small hanging closet that had two suit bags and someone else’s shoes in it.
There is no air conditioning and the one fan we found was broken. A naked electrical plug was hanging out of the wall in the bedroom and many loose wooden tiles on the floor were held down with Scotch tape. The bathroom window insert was mildewed and dirty. Hardly any water ran from the bathroom faucet and it never got warm. This really put us off on our arrival, so we booked two days in the middle of our eight days in a nice hotel in Valparaíso to break up our time.
In fairness to Patrick, when I texted him to tell him about our concerns, he responded immediately by clearing some spaces in the kitchen and bedroom cupboards, and fixing the bathroom faucet. He also left us an incredible array of designer chocolates to help sweeten the rest of our stay!
Having said this, I believe Patrick took our concerns and suggestions to heart. If the house had felt more like “our own” while we were there and some maintenance had been done in advance, it would have been great. We would return, but only if our concerns had been addressed in advance.