Guest reviews Luna Salada

by JMS50 Toronto, Canada

HIGH PRESSURE TO PAY BEFORE YOUR STAY - NO REFUNDS - DO NOT PAY BEFORE YOUR STAY

First, let me say up front that we never got to see this hotel property, but our dealings with them throughout the booking process were not professional. We booked one night, Oct 7, 2019 at the Hotel de Sal Luna Salada on the recommendation of a friend. I wish I'd never contacted this hotel. We booked the room through my husband's Egencia account. For every other hotel he has ever booked using Egencia, payment is made only AFTER services are rendered. Not in this case. My first negative interaction came after we'd made our booking and I requested to add on a booking for an early morning airport taxi on our departure date. This request precipitated a stream of back-and-forth emails. The cost they said would be US $12 per person but the payment for the airport taxi had to be pre-paid immediately. An email from Tatiana Chavez (and cc'd to nine other people) suggested there were two ways to pay. The first option was to *FILL AND SIGN THE AUTHORIZATION FORM WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION - VISA OR MASTERCARD. *ATTACH A SCAN COPY OF THE CREDIT CARD (BOTH SIDES) *ATTACH A SCAN COPY OF THE CARDHOLDER’S ID OR PASSPORT I could not believe that a person working in the travel industry would suggest that a tourist email a scanned copy of both sides of their credit card together with a scanned copy of their passport. Further, if you were to "reply all" your information would go to TEN other email addresses in Bolivia. That is like handing over your credit card to ten strangers. No one should do this and no hotel should be asking any client to do this. The second option was to pre-pay for the taxi through an internet online payment company. I had never heard of the company or their payment system before and I wasn't comfortable entering my personal and financial information into a service provider that was unknown to me. I suggested to the hotel that we would pay in person with our credit card when we arrived at the hotel. The hotel staff was taken aback. Another round of emails ensued. Meanwhile the couple we were travelling with had made a booking at the same hotel.. When asked to pay in advance for their airport shuttle costs they declined saying they would pay when they got there. This was accepted by the hotel staff without further correspondence. In the end, my friends sent me their email correspondence with the hotel so that I could use it to help make my case for paying for the airport shuttle on arrival. It was amazing to me that we were treated so differently especially because the four of us had requested to travel together in the same taxi! We proceeded with our trip with our hotel and shuttle reservations made and payments pending. Once in Bolivia we were again contacted by the hotel by email . Again, they were scrambling for payment and insisted that we pay for our hotel room before our arrival. By this time we were in La Paz and our stay on the Salt Flats was only six nights away. With limited internet access and very limited free time over the next six days, and wanting to be sure our reservation was intact when we got there, we caved-in and paid our non-refundable rate. (My husband accomplished the payment through his Egencia account). What could possibly go wrong? Just a few hours later we were contacted by our Salt Flats tour company. They were urgently warning us that earlier in the day, government workers in the region had issued a statement that they were going to go on strike on October 7th, the very day of our booking. Explaining that the last time a strike like this occurred road blocks prevented tourists from leaving the area for days, our tour company emphatically urged us NOT to fly into the region unless we could be sure to get out before October 7th. It was interesting to us that the hotel had contacted us insisting on securing payment within a few hours of our tour company contacting us to tell us our tour would have to be moved or cancelled. Coincidence? You decide. We sprang into action forfeiting a half day of sight-seeing to try to rearrange flights, tours and hotels in order to get in and out of Uyuni before the strike action began. I will give the Hotel de Sal Luna Salada credit for one thing - they did agree to move our reservation to an earlier night. Unfortunately, in the end, we were unable to change our flights. On the advice of our tour company, and with heavy hearts we cancelled our trip to Uyuni. Hotel de Sal Luna Salada took our money and refused a refund on our non-refundable room rate. Our tour company warned us of the political action, refunded all but their sunk costs for the tour, and bent over backwards to provide other options to us as tourists in Bolivia. In terms of good service to the tourist industry, I cannot recommend Hotel de Sal Luna Salada.

by SagarVS India

Great view

Considering the fact that the hotel was in an isolated salt desert, thus place Has superb facilities. Made of blocks of salt this hotel has large rooms and bath. Great facilities like a bar and restaurant. Many interesting lounges and games area. The food was particularly good. Great views.

by Fran T Surrey, England

Disappointed

This is a unique hotel built with salt blocks and even the flooring throughout the hotel and even into the bedrooms is covered in large salt crystals. The novelty of this, however, wore off very quickly, especially as everything is then covered in salt, clothes, shoes, bags etc. Fortunately there was a normal floor covering in the shower room. The food is buffet style and the poorest we experienced throughout Bolivia and Peru. Unfortunately on our first night there were two large parties of (North) American tourists who swamped the dining room and demolished most of the buffet! The second night we stayed it was much quieter and the food seemed better, although still not of a high standard. The staff spoke mostly Spanish and were not particularly friendly or helpful. There were other activities, including a games room, but all the equipment needed upgrading - we played table tennis with bats that should have been thrown out.

by Raphael A

Surprising experience in the Salar

Great infrastructure in a hotel very close to the Salar. The main reason why we have chosen Luna Salada was because of the heating system. This hotel has much more than that. It is a very pleasant and sophisticated place. Beds are comfortable and employees very kind. Food served in the dinner and breakfast is also great, with huge variety to cover everyone’s preference.

by LTHarris90

Luna Salada -

Lovely location. The view from our room was across the Salt Flats and the view for sunset was incredible. We also got our own private stargazing tour by taking a short walk down the drive way once the sun had set. Hotel arranged for shuttle bus to drop us off in Uyuni centre ($12 per person). The hotel was undergoing major construction work at time of arrival. This wasn't mentioned to us prior to arrival at any point so we had to make our way past men working and shovelling salt in the main reception area of the hotel. Understandably this left my girlfriend in a foul mood and quite upset. At no point were we offered and apology. We were given 'complimentary drinks vouchers' which ended up being the choice of tea (hot water and a bag so hardly generous), an awful cocktail (too strong and poorly prepared) or juice. The Spa was completely underwhelming, the hot tub was dirty, tiles cracked etc and the sauna was completely broken (again not mentioned to us). For a hotel set so far out from town I would have expected better amenities for guests. The shower in the room barely got warm despite calling to reception to request it to be looked at (the response "please wait 5 minutes and it will get warm I promise you" - another promise that turned out to be a load of rubbish) and it leaked over the bathroom floor every time. Only one towel each which was insufficient as it is not warm enough to dry towels in the room overnight. Even buffet meal was acceptable but like 90% of the consumables at this hotel it was overpriced. All in all - lovely location and good experience. Needs work to improve it's atmosphere for visitors especially at the per night cost. One word of constructive advice. If you want to be an 'exclusive luxury hotel' act like one when it comes to the simple things.