REVIEW: Buenos Aires BA Club World and Marriott Luxury Collection Park Tower Hotel and more!

This Buenos Aires BA Club World and Marriott Luxury Collection Park Tower Hotel is a review from our regular contributor, Gus. 

British Airways Club to South America

Most road warriors will be more than familiar with the pros and cons of British Airways’ older Club World product, so I wanted to focus this review from a recent trip to Argentina’s Buenos Aires on my seating strategy, alongside reviewing the Park Tower Hotel (Marriott collection).

Specifically, as this was one of BA’s longest flights – from London Heathrow to Buenos Aires Ministro Pistar airport, chalking in at about 13.5 hours each way – I wanted to make sure that I had a prime seat to maximise my sleeping chances and if possible to dodge having a seat-mate next to me.

Trying to nail a Seat strategy

Several months prior, I booked a Premium Economy sale fare and upgraded to business with Avios, and as a BA Gold, I was able to book my seats at the time of booking and could see low occupancy levels. I was on a three-class B787-8 (Dreamliner), with the Club seats being in the usual yin-yang style (as opposed to the excellent new, more private Club Suites). I always prefer a bulkhead seat, as I find even if it’s slightly closer to a gally, it feels more ‘cocooned’, and therefore, for me personally, more liable to encourage sleep.

I used to use SeatGuru, but more recently, I have found aeroLOPA more helpful due to the more accurate seat plan and general aircraft layout – i.e. space ratios and size of gally, etc. The site does require you to know the aircraft type as opposed to simply searching by route, but given this info is usually on your flight info under Manage My Booking, it was straightforward enough.

Bulkheads and buddies…

For the outbound, I selected 1A as my seat, which was a bulkhead and, at the time of booking, had no seat companion. Ultimately, this proved optimistic on two accounts, the first being that it turns out I’d booked a defective seat, so I was (proactively) moved to another window seat off the bulkhead, and the second being that obviously seats filled up and I ended up with a seat buddy. That’s to be expected, but I stand by the fact it is a smidge annoying as there were plenty of other (aisle) Club seats open when we took off. Also, this particular chap kept using his laptop quite noisily throughout this night flight, and the light really did carry through the opaque plastic divider with gusto… But, as they say, c’est la vie!

Anyway, the flight itself was very standard, but I mean it in a good way, with food, service, and the usual seat and amenities always making it a lovely way to cross an ocean. After my (Gold recognition) welcome from the purser, I settled in and had a delicious beef starter with a slightly less exciting beef-cheek main. Cheese dessert and wine were both cracking, too.

It turned out to be a fairly bumpy flight, so I sacked, trying to sleep off a little earlier than I’d originally planned. Annoyingly, my IFE also didn’t work properly. Several attempts later, it turned out the whole aircraft was affected. It did get sorted eventually, and the purser asked how long I’d been without it, and I said a couple of hours or so. The question suggested to me that some kind of service recovery Avios may be incoming from the purser’s iPad, but a few weeks later and still nothing.

Hello to a new city

Arrival was smooth and super quick at immigration (including photo and thumbprint, but sadly, no stamp in my UK passport), and as I had not been to Buenos Aires before, I was keen to get into the city as swiftly as possible. While there are super affordable buses to the city, I opted to stick with the scrum for the ‘official’ taxis and did a 50-minute cab ride that cost $45. This turned out pretty pricey, given my return to the airport at the end of my stay was $25 with a taxi hailed on the street. (The Argentinian peso was/is so inflation hit that I paid for most things in USD).

When I got to the city itself, I was struck by how European the city felt.

It had a colourful mix of grand architecture tourist-friendly sights (and sounds), and felt big yet compact enough to deliver for most tourist appetites. Sites I ticked off and would recommend include the unusually interesting and memorable Recoleta Cemetry, meandering around San Telmo Market and the Palermo district, and eating empanadas and ‘dulce de leche’. Special shout out to Fogon Asado, too, who laid on an excellent semi-educational culinary experience at their great steakhouse restaurant, with ‘ringside’ seats to witness all the food preparation and to feel the heat of the flames as they conjure up many-a-treat.

Marriott’s Luxury Collection Park Tower Hotel

Aside from the full-on tourist-ing, I had decided to put my head down at night at the Park Tower, which is part of Marriott’s ‘luxury collection’.

It is right next door to, and partially attached to, its sister hotel, The Sheraton. While they share the same postcode (and many elements such as Club lounge, gym and pool – more on these later), they have also taken steps to ensure they also feel entirely different in many other regards.

The Sheraton, for example, felt quite impersonal and very much a conference and business hotel. While the Park Tower didn’t have some of the old-world charm that other 5 stars of the city probably offered (e.g. the Four Seasons and Park Hyatt), it did do service and glitz in equal measure.

I had gone big and booked a corner 1 bedroom suite, which was around £400 a night, or 33k points (also, base rooms start from £211 off-season).

The Park Tower Hotel room was more elongated than I anticipated from the pictures, but it had bags of space, and while a touch dated in some of the furniture and indeed fittings, it still felt very indulgent and well thought out.

I did, however, enjoy a plethora of welcome amenities, including wine (a full-size bottle of pinot noir), nuts, chocolates, as well as the usual bathroom goodies.

Amenities and hotel experience at Park Tower Hotel

Outside of the room, I also sampled the Club Lounge, which, like the pool and gym, is situated actually within the neighbouring Sheraton.

This was a decent space, with attentive service, good food (during those key few hours), and a pleasant view of the ‘Torre Monumental’ clock tower in the small park just outside the hotel(s).

The pool was fairly small, given the size of both hotels combined, but it was nice and light, thanks to the glass roof and the accompanying terrace area. The gym, too, was a decent size, and all were accessed by a long walkway from the main building.

The main Park Tower hotel restaurant itself, the St Regis, was a much grander affair.

I only ate breakfast there, but it was a fairly dramatic and imposing space, with wall-to-ceiling windows of the (sadly much less impressive) street view outside.

Service was a touch on the formal and frosty side, but it was prompt and attentive, and alongside a generous and varied buffet, there were plenty of a la carte options, too.

Overall, I enjoyed the hotel, not least as it was well-located and as comfortable as you’d expect at the price point. All too quick, it was time to head back to the airport for the slog back home.

At the airport, there were plenty of lounge options to keep any OneWorld status and/or AmEx Platinum card holder busy – which you can find here – but here I’ll share some final thoughts on my return leg.

Returning to London

This was also with BA in Club, and happily, it had a daytime departure (and on a sunny day – which was something lacking given I’d travelled in ‘shoulder season’), so I enjoyed the views on take-off. The crew in the return 787-9 for were chatty, but it was odd that while the route was sold as a 3-class again, this aircraft actually had 4-classes, i.e. including a First cabin. According to the crew, it was only accessible if business was overbooked, in which case a First seat would have been used but serviced as a Club seat. There were some people there, which was a bit odd, but sadly, I’d not made the cut (perhaps as it was a points upgrade, despite paying for PE and being Gold).

Either way, it was another slick service and a smooth flight, with my food choice this time being pastrami and chicken. There is nothing out of the ordinary to report, other than the classic FWP (first world problem) of arriving at a remote stand – not ideal after 13 hours in the air.

All in all, it was lovely to spend 26 hours with BA, even in their older Club cabin, and great to be on the ground for a few days in the lovely city of Buenos Aires and lay a head on the fine (and even firm!) pillows of the Park Tower. Thank you, BA and BA!

Like our regular contributors’ review of Buenos Aires BA Club World and Marriott Luxury Collection Park Tower Hotel? You can read more of his reviews here such as Bournemouth hotel suite-off: Which is better, Bournemouth Hilton or Marriott hotel? and First class long distance on LNER and Avanti West Coast Trains