Fifteen suites and a Presidential Suite above the Plaza Grande, Quito's ceremonial square, facing directly across at the Carondelet Palace, the Cathedral, and the Archbishop's Palace from rooms that have not moved an inch since 1937.
"The most ceremonial address in the Andes, fifteen suites that look directly at the Carondelet Palace from the same windows the building has looked through since 1937. The Royal Suite balcony is, on balance, the best free seat in Ecuador."
Hotel Plaza Grande occupies what is arguably the most consequential address in the country, a four-storey Republican-era building on the western side of the Plaza de la Independencia, the city's central square since the Spanish founded Quito on this terrace in 1534. The plot has held a hotel since 1543, when the original Hotel Majestic opened on the site as one of the first inns in the Spanish New World; the present building, the Hotel Majestic by Antonino Russo, opened in 1937. After a long decline in the late twentieth century, the property was acquired and comprehensively restored by the Ecuadorian Sandoval family over a three-year programme and reopened as Hotel Plaza Grande in 2007.
The 15 suites are divided into three categories: Plaza View (8 suites, 50, 60 sqm), Royal Suite (6 suites, 80 sqm) and the Presidential Suite (170 sqm), which occupies the entire fourth floor. Every suite has a hand-carved Mudéjar-style wooden ceiling, a private living area, a separate writing desk, and, in the Plaza View and Royal categories, a French-doored balcony directly above the colonnade. The Royal Suites add a private hammam-style steam shower. The Presidential Suite has its own private terrace overlooking the plaza and a separate dining room for twelve. Soft furnishings, Italian Frette linens, and the property's signature Pacari single-origin chocolate amenity are calibrated to a standard the rest of South America rarely reaches.
The food and beverage program runs across three rooms. The Plaza Grande Restaurant (chef Henry Richardson) is the formal contemporary-Ecuadorian dining room with a tasting menu built around Galápagos fish, Pichincha-province lamb, and the full Andean tubers vertical. La Belle Époque is the all-day French brasserie and the city's most photographed afternoon-tea room. The Wine Cellar, accessed via an original 1937 staircase, is a private dining room for ten, with the country's most ambitious cellar (4,500 labels) and a sommelier programme that runs in partnership with Argentine and Chilean estates. The hotel's chocolate cellar, a tasting room with a 26-bean Pacari flight, sits beside the wine room.
Service is the property's quiet headline. The 4:1 staff-to-suite ratio is, by some margin, the highest in the country; the in-house pianist runs the lobby from 6 p.m.; the limousine service includes 24-hour airport transfers and a chauffeured Cotopaxi day trip. The Carondelet Palace, the Cathedral, La Compañía, and the San Francisco church are all within a 600-metre radius, Hotel Plaza Grande is the address that lets Quito unfold around the door.
For a milestone anniversary, the Presidential Suite, a single occupancy of the entire fourth floor with its private balcony over the plaza, is the obvious answer. The kitchen sets a private dinner in the Wine Cellar on request; the pianist runs a calibrated repertoire on quiet notice; the in-room Pacari chocolate-and-Champagne turn-down arrives without anyone needing to ask. The Royal Suite, at half the cost, runs the same brief at a calmer scale.
If you propose on the Royal Suite balcony at sunset, with the Carondelet Palace lit in the foreground and the Cathedral bells running their 6 p.m. carillon behind, and she says no, it wasn't the hotel's fault. The concierge handles the photographer, the ring presentation, and the Plaza Grande Restaurant private dining setup as a single brief, they do this monthly, and the choreography is invisible.
For business stays at the level where the address communicates, government, diplomatic, hemispheric corporate, Plaza Grande is the unambiguous Quito choice. The Wine Cellar is the city's most-used private deal-closing room; La Belle Époque handles working breakfasts before the Carondelet meeting; the limousine service runs the airport, Cotopaxi day trips, and the Quito, Galápagos onward leg without a sigh.
García Moreno N5-16 y Chile
Plaza de la Independencia
170401 Quito, Ecuador
Opposite the Carondelet Palace; 200m to La Compañía; 600m to Plaza San Francisco; 45 minutes to Mariscal Sucre Airport (UIO).
15 suites in 3 categories
Plaza View Suite from USD 366/night
Royal Suite from USD 580/night
Presidential Suite from USD 2,684/night
Includes breakfast and airport transfer
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
1937 Russo building; opened as Plaza Grande 2007
Member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World
Three restaurants (Plaza, Belle Époque, Cellar)
4,500-label wine cellar
26-bean chocolate cellar
Small spa and gym
Pianist nightly from 6 p.m.
Limousine and airport transfer
High-altitude oxygen on request
From USD 366/night. The Royal and Presidential Suites book three to four months ahead for June, August and the Christmas-and-New-Year week; six months ahead for inauguration weeks at the Carondelet Palace.
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