There’s nothing quite like a glowing hotel endorsement from the New York Times. And by glowing, we mean flickering like a string of Christmas lights about to expire. That’s the feeling we got reading this week’s Check In, Check Out column, in which a Times-er describes the 28-room cE Hotel de Diseño in Buenos Aires as “slightly more stylish alternative to the corporate chains.” Sort of ouchy, don’t you agree?

“While the minimalist-cool hotel, which opened in 2005, offers a few sumptuous extras like Jacuzzi hydro-massage tubs in every room,” writes the NYT, “it lacks such basics as a full-service restaurant and closet space readily available in this price range.”

What a day yesterday was for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who after having been "missing" for five days, turned up deplaning after a flight back from Buenos Aires in Argentina and not the Appalachian Mountains, as his staff was lead to believe. Within hours of being caught on arrival, the Governor admitted to carrying on an affair while away in Argentina and resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

So aside from knocking boots with a hottie South American woman, what was the Governor up to in Buenos Aires? Five days can't all be spent in bed, and so we've compiled our guide to enjoying Buenos Aires in Sanford style:

Stay: Hotel 1555 Malabia House
As BA's first design Bed & Breakfast, the focus is on intimate interiors, garden spaces, and the historic neighborhood. This are, the Palermo district, is also where Sanford's mistress' apartment is located, so you're just around the corner from the luv guv's little love nest.

Nightly rates here average $170 for a room with private balcony; it's perfect for tawdry kisses and nighttime whisperings like "My heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul." We're sure Sanford would have felt right at home chillin the balcony as if he were back on a porch in South Carolina.

Photo by Ana_Cotta via Flickr, (Creative Commons)

Nobody seemed to know where South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was for days. His wife said she didn’t know but wasn’t worried. His staff said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. The police got involved.

Well, today the governor emerged at the Atlanta airport saying work had been stressful and he had gone to Buenos Aires because he needed a vacation and “wanted to do something exotic.” He said he spent the week driving the Argentine coastline.

Some don’t buy his story. Speculation about what he was really doing is rampant. Talking Points Memo has put together a handy timeline of events surrounding the mystery trip.

Anyone have any good theories?

Call me crazy, but I’m going to suggest the governor did indeed go to Argentina—because has a tango addiction. I have no evidence for this. I just like the idea of it and think it would make for a good HBO movie.

Come clean, governor. Is it tango? If it is, it’s okay with us.

· Buenos Aires: Beginning this weekend in the La Rural exhibition complex, the Feria Internacional del Libro de Buenos Aires brings over 1 million people together for the Spanish-speaking world's largest literature festival and book fair. Whether you're in the market to beef up your home library, tracking down signatures of your favorite authors or taking in a free lecture, the Feria is fun for all. Fluency in Spanish is of course highly recommended, but then we're sure they'll have language instruction for sale as well. Check out the full schedule for the fair, which runs until May 11, at its website.

Allow us to introduce our newest contributor. J. Jennings Moss has started a new business travel blog over at Portfolio.com which focuses on business travel. Recently, he scoped out the hotel scene in Buenos Aires. Got any questions about biz travel? Send 'em to us and we'll have him answer them for you.

Don't be fooled by the name. There isn't much that's "cool" about the Five Cool Rooms Hotel in Buenos Aires.

A disclosure to begin with: Five Cool Rooms was not our first choice for a boutique hotel. That honor, based on reviews in HotelChatter and word-of-mouth from friends, was Home

I’m pretty good about tipping in hotels. I don’t mind dropping the bucks for bellmen—especially after I spent two days as one at the Hotel Giraffe for the New York Post—and I agree that some money for the maid in an envelope is usually the way to go. However, I had an interesting situation in Buenos Aires that made me wonder whether I made a cultural faux pas.

At the moment, BA is in the throes of a change shortage. There simply aren’t enough coins—you see signs everywhere that say “NO HAY MONEDAS” or demand exact change if you’re buying a pack of cigs. The buses in Buenos Aires only take coins, so the commute for a lot of working people in the city is rather difficult. I accumulated a fair amount of change over the course of my stay, and on the recommendation of a friend who lived in the city, I gave it to one of the front desk fellows at my hotel who had been helpful. He seemed a little ... surprised, though he said “Great! For the bus!” after an awkward pause. Still, I felt weird just giving someone a handful of change as a thank you.

Have you guys ever given unorthodox tips in hotels? Cookies? A hat? Tell me I’m not the only one.

Photo by Irargerich via Flickr (Creative Commons)

While in Buenos Aires last week, I got a chance to tour the Alvear Palace. As part of a test of social media web 2.0 blahbitty blah, I also tried to tweet about my tour, with marginal success. It’s really hard to type little messages on your phone during a meeting with someone and not seem like a total jerkwad in the process.

Maybe, though, I gave you guys an eye into what the travel-writing game is about—namely, nodding appreciatively at pools and gym machines. OK, I actually was impressed by the Alvear’s gym—the machines have flatscreens with videos explaining how to do all the exercises. That’s right in the wheelhouse of a doughy nerd such as myself. 

I like to think of myself as pretty worldly when it comes to hotels and hotel design. I don’t mind sacrificing a little to stay someplace pretty, whether it be some space or comfort. But sometimes, hotel showers baffle me. I’m staying at the Moreno here in Buenos Aires this week and the shower looks amazing: rainfall showerhead, slatted wooden floor and just a small glass partition with no actual door to enclose it.

Functionally, it makes no sense. The water spritzes everywhere else but on the partition when you use it, and there’s no door to close to prevent that from happening. I’m a relatively clean guest, yet the hotel is actively encouraging me to make a mess. Plus, some of the shower water stays on those wooden boards overnight. If I were a groggy, first-thing-in-the-morning shower taker, they’d be slippery beams of death. This happens to me time and again: great looking shower, but it fails in the whole keeping water inside the shower area part. Do the hotels just not care?

I don’t mean to single out the Moreno; I like that shower, and if they want me to be a little messy, fine. In a nod to their understanding and patience, I promise I won’t eat a meatball sub over the room’s white cowskin rug.

According to our sources, the Hilton Buenos Aires was inspired by “Dancing with the Stars” to offer its "Totally Tango" experience. Guess you never do know when inspiration will strike.

Available from now through December 31, the package starts at $259 a night for a room, and includes a private lesson with a tango instructor, tickets to the Casa de Carlos Gardel Museum, an evening at the Esquina Carlos Gardel dinner and tango show, and “a souvenir CD of techno tango music.” Sounds...interesting. Although it's not really new as the hotel has been promoting this for a few years now. But we thought we'd give it a closer look.

The neighborhood of Recoleta is filled with some of the fanciest houses in Buenos Aires, and now, a New York venture capital and real estate firm called the InvestProperty Group is turning one of them into the city’s newest five-star hotel, the Algodon Mansion.

Set to open in August 2009, the unfinished Algodon — we’re talking a real hard-hat zone of exposed brick and cement, some cracked plaster and excavation lighting — recently played host to the Argentine press, hoping to garner some buzz over the coming months.