The Posada del Inca is a medium sized 4* hotel located in a deathly quiet upper class residential street in the business district of San Isidro, one of Lima's finest neighbourhoods. Surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the Peruvian capital, the hotel is in walking distance of the ultra-fashionable beach-side neighbouring suburb of Miraflores, and within a car ride of the decaying splendour of the colonial old town. The international airport is a 25 minute drive away, most easily undertaken in a taxi to avoid multiple bus changes. I stayed here for two nights in January 2006, on a bed and breakfast basis.

On entering the hotel, guests are greeted by a marble decored reception area located in the centre of an unremarkable glass-fronted open plan lobby. To the left was a plain multi-purpose restaurant, and to the right a small lounge area. The décor throughout the hotel is appealing, with a colour scheme based on traditional Inca earth tones, and original local style paintings of Andean scenes bedeck the walls. The receptionist greeted us pleasantly and efficiently, and was helpful through out our stay, furnishing us with maps and assisting with directions. However, this personal service lacked a certain warmth that is such a natural part of Peruvian manner, and was so evident in other hotels in which I stayed. The atmosphere of the Posada was slightly foreboding, and could never be described as a hive of excitement.

ROOMS

THE RESTAURANT

At lunchtime, the sleepy hotel burst into life with a mass invasion of besuited office workers dropping in for the very reasonably priced "Executive Buffet Lunch". If your idea of a pleasant midday repast is grappling the serving spoon from a sweating Jose, while Carlos bellows the latest figures at the stock exchange down his cell phone, then this is definitely for you.

1. As in many regions of the world where there is a vast gulf between rich and poor, travellers to Peru are advised to lock valuables and documents in the room safe rather than leave them lying around. This is a much-touted fact of which hotels often remind guests on arrival - indeed I did hear of an $800 watch go missing at a different and much better hotel in Peru. However, the Posada had lost the safe key to our room, preventing us from using this vital room function, and then hinted at check-out that we had in fact misplaced it. If a facility is provided, and deemed so necessary, it should be available.

3. The worse point to the hotel was the frequent power cuts, which seemed to be a specific issue with the hotel's supply. Being plunged into darkness in an unfamiliar bathroom is no laughing matter, especially with that toilet bin lurking somewhere near the door, but what particularly didn't impress me was being trapped in the black abyss of the lift late in the evening.

The word which comes to mind to sum up my stay at the Posada del Inca San Isidro is adequate. It is a clean, functional and well appointed hotel, but it is also unremarkable and forgettable. Apart from my few mishaps, there is inherently nothing wrong with it, but rather than the tourist hotel the Posada markets itself as, it is really a business hotel in a business district on the lookout to cash in on the holiday market. For my party of adults, who spent most of their stay out about town, it was suitable, but it is not the kind of hotel which would appeal to a family in style or location, and for a 4* hotel it is amazingly short on facilities.

© 2006 V.L.Collyer