Over promised & under delivered is the theme at this hotel.

We booked our river view room with two beds months ago based on great review and photos submitted by travelers; not the cheapest place in town but I was confident it would be nice and it started out as such.

The hotel confirmed our stay and emailed me to get our arrival date/times so they could pick us up at the train station, like most of the hotels do in Aquas Calientes.
We arrived and saw many hotels representatives waiting there with their signs but not Casa Del Sol. After waiting for a while ~20 min we decided to leave and find our way through a maze of shops before getting out on the street and ultimately we found the hotel on our own. The receptionist said her colleague had left to go get us; well obviously too late. No real explanation was given for the mishap.

They offered us a set time in the jacuzzi at their spa – to compensate for the service mishap or so I thought - & we gladly accepted a 6pm time slot for 30 min the following day. After hiking most the following day at Machu Picchu we are tired, a bit sore and ready for the hot tub. We went to the spa 10 min to 6pm and walked into what looked like big mess. Most of the lights were off, doors open to a messy broiler room right in front of us as we walked in and a cleaning lady was down there mopping the floor. She had no idea what we were doing there and called the front desk. Obviously they forgot to note our time slot on their calendar, just as they forgot to pick us up at the train station.... The receptionist came down and gave us the excuse that we were early and they were not ready yet and to come back in 10 min. We went back to our room and 15 min later we proceeded back down to the spa. This around 6:10pm and now the lights were but the water in the tub was cold and a big mop bucket full of dirty water and stick were parked next to the jacuzzi. Also now the service door to the left of the entrance leading into a broom closet was open and we got the view of cleaning supplies, dirty rags etc. Honestly a hotel guest should never see the back of the house and this made me want to run as fast as I could away from this place. We actually did end up leaving after standing for a few minutes and no-one came out. Once we got back to our room I called the receptionist to let her know that we were at this time pretty disappointed. She did not really offer any explanations or anything of that nature just telling me they "may" have had an issue with the water heater/broiler or what have you. I told her in that case they should have informed us or at least put an out of order sign on the spa door... But what I am to say - I don't manage this hotel or run this spa. (At other hotels when such thing go wrong I have been offered similar service at another hotel in the area or a gesture to compensate for the short comings). Really things happen and it's how the hotel/business handle these mishaps when they do that makes a difference!

More observations/disappointments:
Breakfast buffet – perishable food items left outside starting at 5am not in refrigerated cases, incl breakfast meats/fruits & cheeses. By 8am when we ate we stuck to toast/butter for food safety concerns as hot breakfast did not look good period.
Dinner service – 4 course plated meal, way overpriced and poor quality. Smoked trout on salad tasted fishy so we did not eat. Dessert consisted of a terrible tasting yogurt sorbet and the brownies was a bunch of crumbs. Soup was tomato bisque which reminded me of campells right out of the can. Now I do realize they get all food supplies via Peru Rail so getting items up there is not easy and cannot compare to Cusco or Lima. But still then do something less “fancy” that works!

Speaking off Peru Rail it if you're a light sleeper the train is running by right outside the hotel - a few feet away and can be heard in the all rooms, even the river view rooms we were in. We live in a large city so that did not bother me, just wanted to mention it!

So to sum it up, as I stated I gave the hotel a chance for service recovery in which they failed or simply did not care. So therefore I labeled this review overpromise and under delivery. Which is always so disappointing especially when the place is not cheap to begin with! You pay for quality & service and here really did not get either!

The hotel manager was kind enough to meet us @ the train station to take possession of our bags so we could head straight to the MP bus. After a hectic MP visit w/ thousands of new found friends we were pleased to check into this tranquil & beautiful river-side hotel. As usual in Peru, the service people were extraordinary & eager to please. The accommodation was spacious & beautifully decorated to include a jacuzzi bath on the balcony. A hot bubble bath was much appreciated after traipsing all around the MP compound. A very stay in a wonderful place, MP Pueblo.

Ask for a river-front room in this centrally-located hotel and you’ll be impressed by the power of the river that runs through this valley. Depending on your floor within the hotel, you’ll likely have to close the large windows at night to mute the sound of rushing water but it’s a lovely sound! The train station and bus stop for Machu Picchu are nearby.