Argentinean Accommodations Offer Limited Alternatives

<B> Argentinean Accommodations Offer Limited Alternatives</B>

By Robert Selwitz

<I>Buenos Aires</I> - While Argentina's capital overflows with commercial opportunities, culture and extraordinary steaks, it's decidedly limited in its number of upscale and luxury accommodations.

To avoid dubious alternatives, most industry watchers agree that corporate travel managers should encourage early bookings here. The desired half-dozen hotels include the 200-room Alvear Palace, 152-room Caesar Park, 165-room Park Hyatt, 315-room Inter-Continental, 315-room Marriott Plaza and 950-room Sheraton. All offer world-class accommodations, savvy bilingual staffs, business centers and locations from which business appointments easily can be reached.

The sleekly modern Park Hyatt is located at the border of the fashionable Recoleta district and the beginnings of Buenos Aires' most famous street, Avenido Neuvo Julio. The hotel features very large rooms, all of which have mobile phones and dual direct phone lines and safes. The business center features secretarial services, copying and translation services, and rentals of fax machines, PCs and printers, slide and overhead projectors, screens and audiovisual equipment for meetings and conferences. Also for meetings, the hotel offers its own 1920s era, neoclassical-designed, seven-room mansion. "It's among Buenos Aires' most unique spaces," said Laura Schmidt-Soar, director of sales.

The Sheraton Buenos Aires--Latin America's largest--is located in the heart of the business and financial districts, and caters to business travelers at several levels, according to general manager Jose Ponte. The year-old, 181-room Park Tower adjoins the completely renovated original hotel, a Buenos Aires mainstay since 1972.

Rooms in the 23-floor Park Tower, part of Sheraton's Luxury collection, feature stereo systems with CD players, dual-line direct dial telephones and computer hook-ups, in-room fax machines and cellular phones. Ponte said the phones "have forwarding capabilities so calls can be directed wherever in the city the guest happens to be." There's also a secretarial-staffed business center in the Tower.

The 20-story main hotel, meanwhile, offers four business centers. Further, 29 rooms are being altered to become business suites, containing sleeping as well as work space, "allowing guests to effectively operate from a temporary Buenos Aires business address," Ponte noted.

Rooms at the Hotel Inter-Continental Buenos Aires, located in the midst of the historic district, are equipped with fax machines, dual line phones and dataports, said general manager Aureliano Vignati. The property is converting 10 percent of its rooms into office suites. When completed, these will feature oversized desks, in-room copying and fax machines, printers, superior lighting and office furniture. A fully equipped business center is available six days a week. The hotel also offers three Club Inter-Continental floors, providing meeting rooms, breakfast and complimentary cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.