Home Hotel Buenos Aires

A thousand modish details show that the Home Hotel Buenos Aires was decorated with a keen eye for style and detail, from the mid-century furniture and vintage glass sculpture in the lobby to the clever use of retro wallpaper throughout. Corporate travelers may prefer a hotel with a business center, and first-time visitors may elect to be closer to major sights, but design-conscious travelers will feel home at Home, the first boutique hotel in this lively neighborhood. With only 20 rooms, lots of attention on its interior design, and a bar and restaurant loved by locals, Home can feel popular to the point of being overcrowding. The restaurant’s lovely outdoor seating area overlooks the pretty pool and sundeck, which makes for fun dining views, but can make swimmers feel on display.

Home Hotel Buenos Aires is located in Palermo Hollywood, a subdivision of the larger Palermo neighborhood named for its music studios and production companies. A 20-minute drive from downtown and major attractions, this is a high-end residential area with excellent restaurants and easy access to Palermo Soho, the part of the Palermo famous for its quirky boutique shopping. It’s a 14-minute walk to the closest metro station.

• 14-minute public transit ride to the Botanical Garden (11-minute drive)
• 34-minute public transit ride to the Japanese Garden (12-minute drive)
• 38-minute public transit ride to the Museum of Latin-American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA) (16-minute drive)
• 39-minute public transit ride to historic Colon Theater (20- to 45-minute drive)
• 35-minute public transit ride to Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace (22- to 50-minute drive)
• 32-minute public transit ride to the Metropolitan Cathedral (22- to 55-minute drive)
• 56-minute public transit ride to the Museum of Modern Art (28- to 60-minute drive)
• 47-minute drive to Ministro Pistarini International Airport

The 20 rooms at the Home Hotel Buenos Aires range from the 205-square-foot standard rooms to the two-story, 1,050-square-foot Garden Suite with a private pool and rooftop terrace. All share the design sensibility the hotel is famous for, with chic cement floors, mid-century furnishings, and vintage wallpaper unique to each room. Blond-wood furnishings and molded fiberglass chairs make for a clean, uncluttered look. Beds are made with stark white bedding dotted with a splash of color from llama-wool blankets and throw pillows. Technology includes 26-inch flat-screen TVs (40 inches in the highest-level rooms), iPod docks, laptop safes, and free Wi-Fi, and all rooms have heat and AC. Each room has a stocked minibar, but even the fanciest digs here have price tags on the water bottles in the bathrooms, an unfortunate decision that can make guests feel nickel-and-dimed. Bathrooms have cool cement floors and countertops, with walk-in showers or showers over tubs. Each comes with robes, a heated towel rack, and signature toiletries in eco-conscious, refillable containers, plus a basic hairdryer.

The elegant wood-paneled restaurant and bar at Home Hotel Buenos Aires is popular with guests and locals alike, especially for weekend brunch. Tables next to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the pool and garden area, or guests can also sit alfresco on the deck. The hotel's free breakfast is served here, a set menu of high-quality, fresh items that vary day to day; the coffee is excellent, too. While the property's pool is small, it's surrounded by a lovely wooden deck with cushy loungers and umbrellas. The jasmine, native plants, and fruit trees around it could make it feel like a secluded green oasis -- if the restaurant’s outdoor tables weren’t so close by, sacrificing privacy. The hotel's signature design reaches all the way down to the small, chic spa and sauna, where one of the specialties is a treatment for jet lag. A concierge can arrange outings, transfers, and babysitting, and reasonably priced laundry and dry-cleaning service is available. Wi-Fi is free throughout.