Exquisite Escapes: Exploring The Singular Santiago - A Hotel Review Journey.

Welcome to an unparalleled fusion of elegance and modernity nestled in the heart of Santiago, Chile - The Singular, where luxury meets cultural sophistication.

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This trip to Chile has been THE most reorganised and rebooked of any, due to Covid. We were originally due to visit Chile back in May 2020 as part of a round the world trip for a special birthday, where Chile would be last stop before heading back to the UK. At that point, the plan had been to visit the remote Easter Island after Tahiti and Bora Bora in the South Pacific, before travelling to Chile’s capital (Santiago) and a final couple of nights in the colourful port city of Valparaiso on the coast.

Having to rebook and reschedule a number of times, it gave me the opportunity to make this trip solely focussed on Chile, spending longer in the capital and Easter Island, still visiting Valparaiso at the end and adding some other destinations that I wanted to go and see, like Patagonia and the Atacama Desert.

The Singular was my choice each time for the trip, so when rescheduling the last version for February 2023, that was where we booked and it didn’t disappoint. but also adding in Patagonia in the south and the Atacama Desert in the north.

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Fast Facts for Las Majadas Hotel Pirque

• Address - The Singular Santiago, Merced 294, Santiago Centro, Chile

• Contact - santiagoreservas@thesingular.com

• Nearest airport - SCL Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International / Santiago Airport

• Opened - October 2014

• Number of rooms / suites - 62 (Singular King and Twin, one Singular Suite and Classic Room, Lastarria Room & Accessible)

• Number of floors - 9

• Bars - 2 (first floor Bar Merced, Rooftop BAR & terrace)

• Restaurants - 2 (The Singular Restaurant/Cafe 294 & Rooftop)

• Wellbeing - The Singular Wellness Spa, Gym & rooftop pool (summer only - December through March)

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“Located in the cultural and historical hub of Santiago, The Singular Santiago, Lastarria Hotel invites guests to embody its unique spirit through relaxation and singular satisfaction.”

— https://www.thesingular.com/santiago

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What about The Singular Santiago, Chile location?

In 1997 the Lastarria neighborhood was designated as a Historic District, and I’ve also seen it described as bohemian. It was certainly great for the airport, being less than a 30 minute drive (meet & greet arranged by the hotel) after such a long flight (almost 15 hours direct from London). It was easy to walk to nearby cafes and restaurants, the Parque Forestal was literally across the road, and not too far to walk to the Barrio Bellavista (although it did take us a few attempts to find Patio Bellavista - Maps on our iPhones worked better than Google Maps did!).

Santiago was well serviced by Uber, so if the distance was slightly longer (like going to Sky Costanera viewing deck or the upscale Costanera mall; or to the Teleferico stop at Parquemet) it is very really easy to organise transport with Uber. We almost missed it (as in most cases we would go out of the hotel at the front and walk across to the park), but if you go out of the main door, turn left then sharp left again, you’ll find one of the nicest streets in Santiago. More on this in my Travel Diaries post, but here you’ll find interesting shops, restaurants, bars etc. and the most phenomenal ice cream shop in Galeria Lastarria.

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Hotel Accommodation at The Singular Santiago, Chile

There’s 62 rooms across 9 floors (Chile like the US must treat what I’d called the ground floor as 1st), so the rooms are spread over floors 2 through 8. Although this trip was rebooked a number of times, on this rebooking we were unable to secure a suite (I think there is one only) so instead we had a Singular King on the 5th floor with balcony overlooking the front of the hotel, and towards Cerro San Cristobal and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception/Santiago funicular. The hotel seems to be H-shaped so as well as the step out front balcony, there were also large windows on the other side too, as well as a circular window in the bathroom.

The room was extremely well appointed with a huge king-size bed, seating area, writing desk; and a lot of storage space in both cupboards and wardrobes. The bathroom was large too (would have been big enough for twin sinks, but only had one - a slight bugbear of mine) with both a large soaking tub and a separate walk-in shower, with a separate WC. Everything was spotlessly clean and serviced twice daily, with everything you could need toiletry wise. It was very hot when we were in Santiago, so the air conditioning was great overnight to keep things cool, and was actually extremely silent so as to not disturb.

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Food & Drink at The Singular Santiago, Chile

During our stay we ate at both the main restaurant (Valentine’s Day dinner) on the ground floor (this was also where we had breakfast), and at the Rooftop Bar/Restaurant, with views over San Cristobal Hill from an open air terrace. Meals were good, and breakfast was a particular highlight where a standard first course was served which consisted of tea/coffee, fresh juice, fruit, pastries, avocado, cheese etc. There was then the option of adding other items from the menu, like cereals, yoghurt, granola, all sorts of eggs etc. Service was great and it was a lovely place to enjoy a hearty breakfast before a day of exploring.

The rooftop bar (there’s a seated area inside, then also an outside terrace too with great views) serving from late morning until late evening. We had drinks here (La Maga cocktail with Malfy Rose Gin was a favourite of us both) and also a meal one evening; all good except that they delivered our starter and main course at the same time, and an issue with the volume of music as below. Thinking the Merced Bar was something separate than the main lobby bar at the entrance, we tried to find it for drinks before dinner one night, but as it turns out it is just the lobby bar. Although very nicely decorated and presented, it was lacking a bit in atmosphere when we went, so in actual fact we went back up to the rooftop where there was more atmosphere.

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Facilities & Service at The Singular Santiago, Chile

The choice of facilities was good, as was service throughout, especially housekeeping who presented the room with sparkling cleanliness daily and we liked seeing the thoroughness of one of the housekeepers on the balcony hoovering it and dusting the handrails! It felt like a small boutique hotel, but had everything we could want with the choice of restaurants and bars, and the spa (despite not being able to get appointments) was extremely well done on a basement level. Below that again (level -3) was the gym - a great choice of equipment, designed in an urban style.

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Highlights of our stay

• Location - really good to be able to walk to most places.

• Food/drinks - good quality and great to have those facilities on site.

• Spa/gym - save for the lack of appointments, both looked really well appointed.

• Valentine’s Dinner - a really delicious menu, extremely well presented and with great service. Only marred by the insistence of even guests having to prepay, which didn’t make us feel very valued or trusted.

Areas of Improvement

• Music volume on the rooftop terrace restaurant - when having dinner one night (seated right in front of the speakers), we asked if the volume could be turned down slightly (and it was loud with only four other people on terrace at that time), but the server came back to say they wouldn’t change it.

• Spa availability - a real shame we hadn’t been advised in advance that there was almost no availability. There was a slot during a dinner reservation which was no use to us, and nothing else. We asked if we could be told of any cancellations, and the night before we left the Spa Manager phoned to talk about getting an appointment. As it turned out, there were still no appointments and we were leaving the next day.

• Whatsapp - this is so helpful now for immediate responses from hotels, so might be a good addition. I did find it difficult to get a response in advance about airport transfers (and indeed had to chase via the Patagonia hotel to get an answer), so having that sort of live/relay chat service I think is fantastic.

• One of the most annoying things, when trying to reserve Valentine’s Day dinner in advance, was to be told that this would have to be prepaid even for residents. It was such a great dinner, but in my opinion ill-advised to not recognise the difference between drop-in diners and those staying multiple nights at both of the hotel’s properties.

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Would I stay here again?

Definitely, a great choice of facilities, good service and a perfect location. So glad we discovered the side street as that very much added to its situation.

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