Hotel Cocoliso Island Resort — Hotel in Bolívar

Day 1 - a friends toe cut open in the pool - hour 1.5. Stitches required, an entire 12 days of vacation lost to him being immobile. The hotel management didn't close the pool and ignored us about the issues. Now, we have no choice but to spend the rest of our day making a police denuncia for negligence. ||||We asked for a refund, if even partial, they said no. We asked for a refund to our medical expenses. They said no. No one apologized. ||||Our friend exited the pool bleeding profusely from his foot. He sat on a chair next to the pool and we personally covered his foot with a blue towel to put pressure on and stop the bleeding. ||||We called to the manager of the property, his name is Ever, to help us with the accident. He called to the "nurse" that they offered to us. The nurse is not a nurse, she also is a maid, and a welcome dancer. There were no first aid boxes available on the property, the boxes on the wall were empty. For approximately 30 minutes, with the most negligence, the "nurse" stated she was prohibited to practice first aid by the pool and was demanding that Brock Davis walk 150 meters with his toe falling off to get first aid. At this point we started to give first aid on our own as he was bleeding excessively. ||||We went to the first aid boxes and confirmed they were all empty. The "nurse" finally arrived with the incorrect medical equipment and had no idea how to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. We removed a hair band tie and put it around the toe to cut off the circulation. In the meantime, Ever, called for a boat ambulance. This ambulance arrived after 30 minutes of the accident with the guest still bleeding with no assistance. The "nurse" attempted to use a dirty cotton ball that falls apart to put on the wound which made the wound dirty. ||||Finally, the boat ambulance arrived to clean out the wound, stop the bleeding and provide true triage so we could make a decision about the next steps. At this time it was 1140am, about nearly 1.5  hours after the accident. The real emergency attendant at the time told us that the "nurse" from Cocoliso had applied the wrong type of liquid to the wound and had moved the wound incorrectly and did not have the skills to provide first aid. ||||We were told we would have two options: ||||1) wait until 3pm to leave on a group boat to go to Cartagena to see a doctor at a hospital there||2) go by private panga to the clinic on the island in 10 minutes and see a doctor there||||Obviously, waiting a total of 7 hours to get back to Ctg. to then look for a hospital, with no rooms to stay in and no ability to carry bags, this was the most ridiculous and dangerous offer. Only we would choose something so ridiculous if there was no medical help on the island. ||||We took a boat to a clinic where at 1:08pm a doctor began to sew up the toe of our friend. By 230pm we were back at Cocoliso hotel with instructions to not wash the sutures for 3 days, then to uncover them, then in 8 days to get the sutures removed. In this time our friend cannot walk, swim, sweat or bathe enough to get the toe wet. He continues to be on vacation until February 4th with no ability to take care of himself. ||||Cocoliso sent their maid/nurse/welcome dancer to the centro de salud with us, she recorded the entire event on video without permission and sent this back to her superiors, including Tania Garillo. She advised the doctor at the time that she wasn't given money to pay for the services and that Brock Davis would have to. ||||We paid $40 USD to the clinic for performing the work, in cash directly to the doctor, 20,000COP to the boat driver and also 25,000COP for the medicines required to keep infection away from the foot of Brock Davis. ||||We spoke with the management, including Ever, and were told that the manager would be coming to the island Tuesday to speak with us in person, and that she could speak english. ||||The manager's name is Tania Garillo. ||||Tuesday the manager arrived and ignored us completely. Our friends wife attempted to speak with her and was brushed off by her and told by Tania that she would speak with her after speaking with her own boss. We waited until 930pm Tuesday, January 23rd and were not given a response. ||||At this time our friends wife asked for medical expenses to be repaid, as well as a refund for the room at the very least or the room and food for the stay. ||||Wednesday, January 24th we were required to check out by 12pm. At breakfast, once again, our friends wife attempted to talk to the manager Tania Garillo and again asked her at that time to satisfy the situation. Again, as the day before she advised Tania Garillo that she would like to be refunded for at least her portion of the stay and food. Tania Garilllo stated that she would "talk to the team" again but they believed they did all that was required by offering us to go back to Cartagena on Monday, January 22nd. ||||At this time we advised them that for the past 3 days they were bringing guests to the property and allowing them to use the dangerous pool, without warning them or without shutting the pool. Tania Garillo agreed that they had chosen yes, to remain negligent in this regard because "they couldn't buy pool repair parts on the island". We used google and advised Tania Garillo that there were stores in Cartagena with the solution required to stop putting guests in danger. ||||Tania Garillo walked away from our table to "talk to her managers" and once again, tried to avoid us. At 11am on January 24, 2024, We again approached Tania Garillo to ask if they were going to solution our problem or if they would force us to create a denuncia and put our honest reviews on all social media showing the graphic images of the injury etc...Tania Garillo told us that they were choosing to have bad press and a denuncia over applying a remedy...

We traveled to this island for a 2 day “vacation” at the end of January. ||||We had no idea what we were in for but…..it looked like an interesting place to chill out after a few busy days and nights in Cartagena. ||||What we found was an absolute disaster, nearly abandoned and totally reprehensible management team. We could write a book but, in brief, it was a disaster that then ruined the future 10 days of our annual vacation abroad. ||||Within 2 hours of arriving one of our friends suffered a major injury in the pool. At least a dozen ceramic tiles at the bottom are broken and have knife edges. After walking toward the ladder to exit the pool, our friend yelled “oh damn, ouch….” Then raised a bleeding foot out of the water. Nearly cutting his big toe off. After being all but refused help by the hotel staff (except an option to wait 5 hours and return on the 1 hour boat ride back to Cartagena for stitches) a medical boat was called and we paid the boat driver, plus a doctor on the island to sew our friends toe back on. ||||Without permission, the hotel sent their maid/entertainment dancer/first aid attendant with us who video recorded the entire event. Without permission. The doctor asked us for a “colaboracion” ie PAY for the service. The maid/entertainment/first aid attendant said “don’t look at me I’m not paying for this and neither is the hotel”. ||||$40 for the doctor and $25 for the boat later we arrived back at the dock of the hotel. ||||Our trip was prepaid for 2 days, they would not refund us to let us leave. We had no accommodation booked in Cartagena or ability to leave when we had a hotel we already paid for which we were sitting at. We were trapped. In a rat nest of a hotel, injured and unable to swim, walk or stand. ||||We waited this out for 2 full days, then returned on the boat back to Cartagena. ||||We asked to be comped our food & drinks, the manager (who changed her name to us 2-3 times) said no. ||We asked to be comped our rooms, the manager (who changed her name to us 2-3 times) said no. ||We asked to be comped the $65 for our medical fees, the manager again said no. ||||We asked if they were going to do anything. They said that they told us we should have gone back to Cartagena to a hospital there. ||||This entire time they left the pool open bringing day pass guests, 50 at a time, allowing more people to potentially get hurt. They left the pool of blood from our friends foot to sit an entire day…and then some. They did not treat the pool for biohazards substances. No one was warned. The manger admitted that they “couldn’t find the supplies to repair the pool so it remained open in that state.” We googled a store on the mainland that sells underwater pool patch repair which any of the staff could have brought over on their daily journey with day passes. ||||Upon leaving the manager said she would send us her companies insurance claim documents. She refused to give them to us at the hotel….still 2.5 weeks later we have received nothing. ||||We were forced to visit the police, file a denunciation, a consumer protection report and report this to the tourism police. We are still waiting to hear back. We now have heard back from the government and will have to actually sue the hotel. This process is long and stressful and all the hotel had to do was take responsibility. ||||But here we are. ||||Besides being a total dump, falling apart, no repairs being made, rooms full of mold, no hot water….the ownership and management of this place are totally negligent and callous. What a scam business and horrible people who have no idea what customer service or consumer protection means. ||||Leaving, 2 of the 4 of us ended up with a stomach infection which later turned out to be hpilori most likely from food contamination from unwashed hands of people who have recently defecated without washing properly, then prepared food. ||||A vacation we so looked forward to destroyed by negligent, greedy people....

We stayed for 3 nights, and now we realize it might have been too many. One or two nights is more than enough if you are traveling with kids. If traveling alone or as a couple, day trip might be a better option. Boat ride takes about 45 mins from main dock in Cartagena to isla grande where the hotel is located. Staff and managers are very kind and serviceable. Hotel infrastructure is mostly well maintained, with only a few details here and there. Water is apparently scarce, so you might need to be extra patient with your room”s toilet to refill after a flush. Same applies to shower. Pools are reasonably clean and main pool has a wet bar. You also have access to the sea which serves as natural pool if you wish. Water is clear and you can even see some fish at plain sight. During our stay, there were constant power interruptions, not sure if that is a common thing in the island. Restaurant service is the weakest point by far. On the first day of our stay, they went out of stock on common items such as sparkling water, fish filets and plantains. Restaurant preparations are often inconsistent or poorly prepared. Some dishes were too salty, some had no salt at all. In one occasion our chicken filet order from the kids menu was simply uncooked, which is un aceptable, so we had to return it. When ordering make sure the waiter takes notes and fully understands your instructions. Every single time they would mess our order or confuse what we asked for. At times when the restaurant is more crowded, this situation gets worse as they seemed to be short staffed at the kitchen. Orders would take longer than expected even for water or drinks. Once the order arrived, it would be something completely different to our instructions. They commonly mix things up, a few examples; if you ask for,mashed potatoes with your order, they would bring you French fries. If you specifically asked for long pasta, they will serve short pasta. If you wanted you pasta with chicken, they would bring you pasta with ham. These kind of small incidents kept happening over and over again every day. Consider we stood there for 3 nights and ate all our meals at their restaurant, so there were plenty of opportunities for restaurant service to try and meet the expectation. Most dishes in their menu would range from not great no merely acceptable. We didn’t want to risk it with more complex dishes such as grilled octopus, so we tried to keep our orders simple. Breakfast is ok, they have an egg station where they would prepare eggs at your request. The ham they use is somewhat on the lower of the quality spectrum, I guess they cut costs there. The ham is ok for eggs but not great on their dishes such as pasta, so beware of that. Also worth mentioning the prices are still somewhat high overall considering the quality of the preparations, compared to other restaurantes in Cartagena. Again, this is an island so that might be a relevant factor for meal prices. There are other services offered, outside of the scope of the hotel administration. Some locals will offer you panoramic tours on a boat through the islands. Just beware of the tour to Barú peninsula, we ended up falling into a tourist trap that ended up being a ridiculously expensive day at the beach. Finally the artisans at the hotel might be a bit annoying trying to convince you to buy their craft. In summary, do the day trip if you don’t need to stay. If you stay, don’t stay for more then one night. Beware of waiters consistently messing your order and keep...