Casa Canabal by Faranda Boutique — Hotel in Cartagena

Booking a boutique hotel in Cartagena is one of the best things about visiting this area. Casa Canabal was located within walking distance to the main walled city, go the opposite direction and it gets sketchy. The hotel itself is clean and looks nice. The service on the other hand needs help. To be a 4 star hotel, you can't have the current level of service this hotel offers. The website does not show the check in or check out hours. For your info, check in is 3pm, check out is 1pm. You won't find that anywhere but inside the hotel. Breakfast hours are shown on all their paperwork as 6-10am. We woke up at 6am in order to eat breakfast and get ready to go on a tour at 8am. Imagine our surprise when we found out it doesn't start until 7am, again, something their documentation contradicts. We were given 3 different rooms. The first one didn't have a door on the bathroom, something my husband and I are not cool with, so we refused the room. The second room was small, and had no windows except to the internal hallway, it felt like a cave and was very disappointing. We asked for another room, this one was the best of the rooms and was just off the lobby. We had to wait almost 2 hours for 2 people to clean the room. I'm not sure how it takes 2 women 2 hours to clean that room, but they did. The wifi is terrible at best, and only works in the lobby (sometimes). On our second day, they begin working on the lobby. There is a large wall of rock they were working on and it was also quite loud. The 3rd day, we were awoken at 6:50am due to hammering and chiseling on the rock wall in the lobby. Who starts work in a tourist hotel before 8am? As a woman, I do find the need to use a hairdryer. There was one in the closet, and when I removed it, I found that the hotel was so cheap, they had taped the cord together and assumed that their guests would not mind the threat of electrocution should they decide to try it. Breakfast was sad for Colombia standards. As my husband is Colombian, we have traveled throughout the country, and this is the first hotel that did not provide locally made items as part of their breakfast offering. Instead, breakfast was a cheap hodge podge of whatever they could throw together quickly and cheaply. The provide juice and coffee, of course, and then sliced bread, terrible wine cake, and some scrambled eggs. Also, some sliced cheese and ham. Arepas and/or almojabanas would have made for a much more traditional Colombian style continental breakfast. The rooftop patio and common areas are nice and well kept. The check in cocktails are nice as well. For the money we paid, this should have been top-notch. Perhaps staying on the first or second floor is better - less noisy, maybe some windows, but there is no light and/or windows outside when staying on the first floor. I really want to give this hotel a good rating as it is very pretty and I love staying at boutique hotels, but this one was just...

Casa Canabal was such a great experience for my travel buddy and me! This was our first time in Colombia (visiting from USA) and I am so glad we spent our 5 nights here.

LOCATION: Getsemaní turned out to be such a fun neighborhood to stay in. Lots to eat, see, and experience. It felt safe.

SAFETY: The front door of the hotel is locked at all times, and you knock to enter. The room door opens with key card and has a safety lock inside. A locked safe is provided.

ROOM: The room was good! It wasn't over the top, but definitely spacious enough for two people. The mini split worked incredibly well. The bathroom is large and the plumbing was good (no issues with hot and cold water). Comfortable bed, cleans sheets and towels every day, shampoo + soap + conditioner provided (bring your own face wash, lotion, and wash cloth if you use these items). No bugs (besides a few mosquitos in the lobby area). Quiet, clean, cool, comfortable!

WINDOW: many of these reviews say that they didn't like that there wasn't a window. This was a good thing, in my opinion. Getsemaní is LOUD at night and I am a light sleeper. The window to the courtyard let some light in, but the city sound was completely masked in our room. You don't need a great view because you'll go out to explore! Plus, the rooftop pool, bar, and view are all incredible!

STAFF: Everyone was INCREDIBLY KIND! They were attentive, and able to answer any question we had. Big smiles, fruit-infused water, help carrying luggage, welcome drinks, etc).

BREAKFAST: The breakfast staff were also very kind and helpful. The food was the same every day (fruit, granola, yogurt, basics) and changed every day (oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, pudding, etc). They also make eggs however you want (scrambled, fried, etc with all the fixin's). Coffee, juice, all so good! I loved eating and people watching out of the window.

Overall it was an incredible stay! The only thing I will warn is that the airport transportation is a taxi that they'll call for you if you ask. This is overwhelming if you're new to Colombia and your Spanish isn't great. We got scammed on the way to the hotel, having to pay the taxi driver x4 what it should have cost (20-30 pesos is about right). But this obviously wasn't the hotel's fault, and it's still not that much money at all!

In my opinion, it is safe to book your stay with...

This hotel has been nicely remodeled but its still going thru its growing pains. The personnel is friendly for the most part and breakfast it's alright. It's within walking distance of Torre del Reloj and 10 minutes away from the airport. Its clean and comfortable, but the rooms on the first floor really don't have exterior windows. The check in/checkout times are not in their webpage, which rearranged my first day in Cartagena and had to wait a long time to get settled. The first room I was given was missing the bathroom door, assuming no one would ignore that, my assumption is, they were going to try to see if I said anything about it. I'm not there yet in my relationship with my wife, where I feel comfortable using the toilet without a door so I requested a new room. The second room I was given had no wifi, they offer wifi service so my expectation was to get one. I'm on vacation but communications back home are needed at the end of the day. This is 2017 not 2007. Breakfast starts at 7 am not 6 am as stated in their key card schedule. This messed up the start of my second day as I was meeting with a group early morning and had to look else where for breakfast. The third day started with remodeling in the court yard at 7 am so it pretty much messed up my last day where I was planning to wake up as late as i could to catch my flight. My take is, with some many other good reviews, I just had a bad experience. Good service is defined with being consistent in providing it, the question is going to be if you want to travel all the way to Cartagena and have the...