When Santiago Pardo decided to set up a hotel in Valparaíso, at the same time, he thought of a restaurant. Undoubtedly, the best way to get to know the port city is through food and a dream accommodation. Today his hotel is one of the most sought after in the commune, located a few meters from La Sebastiana, the renowned home of the Nobel Prize for Poetry, Pablo Neruda, in Cerro Florida.
It is more than clear that the name of the hotel was inspired by the poetry that abounds in Valparaíso, a city that has welcomed many poets attracted by its vibrant cultural and literary life. With a modern infrastructure, but ornamented with the verses of famous poets and poetesses is a unique experience in the city.
Inside, Verso houses the restaurant of the same name, whose gastronomic axis is to bring to the table of its guests, local and seasonal products of the region, an exclusive selection of wines and signature cocktails. The elegant dining room is located on the hotel's terrace with a 360º view of the bay and hills of Valparaíso.
Verso opened in September 2016, a family project that responds to the realization of the idea of Santiago's late father-in-law.
- Why did you decide to start a hotel in this sector of Valparaíso?
"In the first instance because it is built in the neighborhood where my father-in-law was born, a few meters from the house where he grew up, and because since the project started the idea was to be in a center of tourist interest, in development, alternative to the classic tourist areas, which are Cerro Alegre and Concepción. But La Sebastiana was the central point to choose this neighborhood, it is a sector that has a lot of commerce especially around the Bellavista hill and also because Florida hill has great restaurants, besides ours, there are other good ones, such as La Caperucita y el Lobo, El Espíritu Santo and it is a neighborhood that offers a lot of tranquility to the passenger, it is very pleasant to come here, because it is quiet, safe, there are wide spaces to walk and park and it is not congested, it is a good space for the visitor".
- Why did you name your hotel Verso?
"We wanted to give it a theme around poetry, motivated because we are a few meters from the house of Pablo Neruda, La Sebastiana and the Plaza de los Poetas, Plaza Mena, where the busts of Neruda himself, Gabriela Mistral and Vicente Huidobro are located, so these characteristics of being in the poets neighborhood and La Sebastiana motivated us to give this theme to the hotel and that is why it is called Verso and is manifested in that the hotel is decorated with poetry, both in common areas and in the rooms, as each room is dedicated to an Ibero-American poet; Chilean, Spanish and Latin American, and there is a verse of each writer written on the wall".
-Santiago Pardo, Manager of Verso is a native of Madrid, capital of Spain, who arrived in Chile 9 years ago, motivated to carry out the project of his wife's family, who says that it was difficult to adapt to the city, but gradually began to love the wonders of Valparaíso.
- What does Valparaíso mean to you?
"Valparaíso is the most interesting city in Chile, in the sense that despite how ruined it is by many people, even from here, perhaps because of the problems it has had for a long time as a city, it is the most interesting city in Chile, it is a unique city, there are others that may resemble it like Lisbon or other port cities, but Valparaíso has a physiognomy and a history that is very important, very own, it is a city that was a pioneer in many things in the country, even in Latin America. So it is of crucial importance as a city in Chile, which is going through a difficult stage, indeed it is, but the importance it has should not be forgotten and undoubtedly it has much more potential than what is being obtained from it".
- What does Verso have to offer?
“Verso offers a place of rest, where one can relax in a super quiet sector of Valparaiso, there is a unique silence and is intended to enjoy a relaxing and gastronomic experience with a hot tub bath, a view of the city, accommodation, restaurant is a wonderful experience, in fact, so reflect the getaway packages, encompass all the experiences that we like passengers to live inside our hotel".
- Why should tourists stay with you?
"Verso has an added value, it has a restaurant that is located on the terrace of the hotel, with a breathtaking view of the bay and the hills, a practically 360° view and a great gastronomy, one of the best in the region that attracts a lot of passengers by the fact of having a restaurant, where we have a signature market cuisine, sommelier with a fantastic wine list and also a good cocktail bar."
- What is the balance you make in relation to the reactivation of the tourism industry?
"We have suffered a lot with this pandemic, like the entire tourism sector, we closed the hotel in March 2020, we were closed for 7 months, reopened for the summer 20-21 but it was a difficult opening because we were in phase two and went back to quarantine and had to close again and we reopened now in September, very recently, at this moment we are fully reactivated, although still operating with restrictions because we are effectively opening from Wednesday to Sunday that includes the hotel and restaurant, which is because the influx of tourists is still far from normal”. We are receiving national tourists, basically from Santiago who come on weekends, so the occupation is almost null and foreign tourism still does not arrive because a 5-day quarantine is required for people entering Chile (NdE: this interview was made before the Government removed the quarantine), and in general, Valparaíso attracts a lot of foreigners from all over the world, so we greatly notice the absence of foreigners".
Hotel Verso is open from Wednesday to Sunday and its restaurant is open from Thursday to Sunday for lunch and dinner.