We picked this hotel due to its location which did not disappoint, however the hotel has beautiful grounds but the interior is all dark giving it a dinghy feeling. We had read previous reviews and seen the photos so we knew what to expect. The bathroom was OK but the bath itself had marks in the bottom of it. Our view out of the room was another building which was only approximately 4 foot away, together with a dripping roof all night. The bedding also looked very dated giving the whole room a dull feel. As we were only here for 2 nights it didn't matter too much however if I was staying longer I would definitely pick another hotel. The staff were OK and there was a tour advisor on hand in reception who was very helpful in craming in our requirements. She arranged for a guide who was very nice and arranged for our passports to be stamped in Argentina (not something always done because of the visitors to the waterfalls in either country). One good thing about the hotel was that it was only 10 minutes from the airport.

We stayed at this hotel for three nights.
The one major hiccup was the standard room. The hotel itself has a lovely swimming pool, grounds etc and pretty good facilities but the standard room was truly appalling.
We tried several of the rooms and they all stank of cigarettes smoke. The room was also not only small but the condition of the shower/hand basin was poor and in desperate need of replacement. There were also no plug sockets/no hairdryer or shaver socket in the room. Having travelled around the world this is the worst "4* star room we have ever stayed in - more like one star.
My wife in particularly was upset over the standard of the room and as a result we were forced to upgrade to a better room (at a price of almost £20 a night!!). Though small it had been modernised and was up to standard.

First the positive things:
We liked the large pool-area and also the breakfast-buffet was fine. (although we saw better ones on our Brasil trip). But the variety was good enough for us and everything was fresh.
We liked also the very close neighbourhood of the National Park and the Birds Park, which I recommend both.

The room was shabby, oldfashioned, obviously it hasnt been renovated since at least 20 years, the mirror was broken, the wardrobe smelly (as the room in general too) and there was not a single chair in the room !!! But the bathroom was the worst of all, simply disgusting and tiny tiny small. Everything rusty and extremly worn-down.

As I heard from Brasilians the most hotels in the Iguacu area are oldfashioned and worn-down, as the tourists still come there because of the falls. But we saw a few new hotels under construction along the Ave. das Cataratas. I therefore recommend to make sure to check the hotel age before booking. I would never return to San Martin again.

Be aware of the tourist desk in the hotel, the guy there is nice and gives good information even without buying a boattrip f.e.; But the woman trys to sell things people doesn't need oder can get in the National Park for half the price!! As we were in the middle of nowhere we had to book at least the transfer to the argentinian side, which was really expensive. But there's no alternative unfortunately. Taxis are also very expensive in that area. But I recommend to book the rest (boattrips, safari-trips) in the National parks, as it is cheaper there.

Having just read the previous review, I am a little suprised at the problems experienced as we stayed in September 06 too and were happy with the hotel.

Having said that, we did find the staff at the reception desk of varying helpfulness and politeness!

When we got there they tried to get us to pay for a superior room, rather than the one we had already paid for. I thought this was a bit odd as they did seem to imply that you had to pay extra to get a nice room! Our room was a little old-fashioned but comfortable enough for the length of our stay. The bathroom was a bit on the dated, mouldy side!

The pool and poolside bar were great and i would imagine, had it been warmer during our stay, that we would have made good use of all of the facilities.

Do visit the bird sanctuary, which is next door, if you have the time but beware if you go in to the Maccaw enclosure!