Voláre Hotel — Hotel in Armenia

It's good value for the price, let's say first that it's located in the border between the nice part of Armenia and the not-so-nice part of Armenia, so avoid walking late through the neighborhood, and still exercise some caution when walking around in the day, the property is an old house that was transformed into an hotel, we had some humidity problems with our room, but nothing serious, there is no elevator!, there are only 3 stages, but if you get a room on the 3d stage and are carrying a lot of luggage you will have to carry it along through the stairs, as there is no bellboy. rooms are small but cozy, minibar prices are ok, not expensive but not cheap, street-facing rooms are pretty noisy over the weekends, it appears that neighbors like to party hard so sleep quality on fridays and saturdays is very bad if you need a quiet place to sleep. The staff is very helpful and nice, although they don't speak english, if you need to control the A/C you will have to ask the staff as they won't give you the control for it, the preset for the A/C is 60 F which is pretty chilly, if you need to use the safety box you will also need to ask the staff for the key. you get 3 choices of breakfast: continental breakfast, light breakfast which I think is a cereal and some fruit and the Volare breakfast which is a grilled cheese sandwich, some fruit, a hot beverage and orange juice, those were nice but if you're lactose intolerant beware cause they use whole milk, so ask first, the wi-fi was good, I needed to get some work done and I need pretty powerful wi-fi signal to get it done, and I could get it done without any problems, this has been difficult to do in most chain hotels, but I got no problems...

I stayed here three nights in late October, 2013. The hotel is new and clean. The staff are very friendly and did their best to parse my poor Spanish. The breakfast area on the fourth floor is open-air and offers great views. For a vegan like me, the hotel didn't offer much for desayuno beyond arepas, but they were nice enough to heat up food I bought at the Exito, only a block away. The location is great, just a short walk from where Carrera 14 becomes a pedestrian walkway, and convenient to the Exito where there are ATMs and taxis waiting if you don't want to wait for the hotel to call a taxi. My only complaint was that my room, in the center of the second floor, did not have a single vent, window, or air duct. It got stuffy. It was okay with the addition of a fan I requested and the staff provided, but really, air is important, and this is the only reason I did not score this hotel a "5". I suspect other rooms have windows or vents, so just don't get this room. The hotel is a great value, and I will warmly remember the friendly treatment I received...

The Volare is in a great central location: a two-minute stroll to bars and restaurants while Bolivar Square is only 10 mins walk away. All the staff were incredibly helpful and the upstairs terrace has a great view of the Armenian streets and rooftops - breakfast is typical Colombian: fruit, eggs, toast etc. Perfectly nice. Our room was on the ground floor but while there was a glass screen and a tiny patio area about two-foot square, there was very little natural light, which made it feel a bit stuffy - there's no air con or fan. However, the shower was fantastic and much appreciated after days of tepid, watering-can pressure! Armenia is rather dismissed by a couple of the guide books, but if you like to see a 'real' working town it's certainly worth looking around above and beyond the day trips to Filandia...