Hotel San Sebastián Bogota — Hotel in Bogota, Capital District

I stayed here for seven nights, paying COP75,000/night through booking.com; I wasn't charged the 16% VAT I expected on top of that.||||I chose this hotel as I wanted to be close to nightlife without needing to take a taxi. The location is pretty good, I managed to see just about everything I wanted to see in Bogota on foot without having to take a taxi anywhere except to/from the airport. There is a bit of noise from the nearby bars on Friday/Saturday nights but I didn't consider it excessive and I could hardly complain anyway since I chose the hotel in part precisely because of the nearby bars. The taxi I took from the airport to the hotel had no problem finding it.||||The room was very large, I think it could reasonably be described as a suite. It was slightly shabby but overall I thought it was excellent value for money. Having a fridge in the room was a nice bonus. The wifi worked well (except for half a day when there was a power cut). My only gripe would be that the hot water in the shower was never very hot and I didn't ever have much confidence in it lasting all that long before going cold.||||The staff were OK; they kept my passport for me during my stay at my request, and they arranged a taxi to the airport when I left. I was disappointed that when I asked reception if they could help me arrange a tour to the salt cathedral at Zipaquira, the response was more-or-less "it's complicated... maybe you should look on the internet", but it worked out OK in the end as it's a slow-but-fairly-simple trip to make on public transport. (tripadvisor has a good post with detailed instructions; all I would add is that once you get off the bus in Zipaquira, it's a good idea if you have the salt cathedral's location on your smartphone so you can find it via GPS, it's not that far but it's not obvious where to go. If you decide to get a taxi from there, that's not an issue, but I'm both tight and scared of hiring taxis off the street.)||||Reception is indeed 24h/day as advertised, but the two nights when I returned home after midnight all the lights were off in the hallways, so I had to light my way to my room using my mobile phone.||||However, all in all I was reasonably satisfied and I would definitely consider staying here again...

First things first: unless you enjoy the sound of heavy, booming bass speakers from bars...don't stay here. Rooms are located directly above 3 bars, with music playing till at least 12am, but often much later. This is followed by screaming, loud, drunk college kids. We switched to an interior room, and the noise was just as bad.||The rooms are clean and spacious, but shabby and run-down. ||The staff was very attentive and kind...but that unfortunately couldn't make up for the noise. And quite honestly there are better hotels for cheaper in the immediate area. ||Skip this joint unless you don't mind the noise...

Not a big fan. Very, very old hotel, which would be ok. Location seems to be good as well, the owner is nice and speaks English. But:

None of the other (very nice) employees speaks a word of English. Hence no recommendations, which is why I booked a hotel and not an air b&b Room is badly isolated = loud and cold Bathroom floor was full of water when I arrived and is every time after showering, too For bringing a guest to my room, I had to pay 50‘000. Ridiculous and felt controlled. No soap or shower...