Casa Heredia Boutique Hotel by GB Collection — Hotel in Cartagena

I came here as my original hotel has the habit of overbooking and relocating their clients to neighboring hotels.

I am not sure if the original hotel would have been better, but they placed us here instead and compensated us with picking us up from airport. If I would have known we were being downgraded to this hotel, I would have demanded compensation.

When we arrived, we were taken to our room. We were located in one of the two smaller rooms in the back upstairs. We could barely fit our luggage and walk within the room. The bathroom was half the size of the room.

There were no hooks for the towels in the bathroom, and there was a make shift shelf that looks as stable as someone putting an ikea shelf on the wall (so I only hung my towel there and nothing else as the two hooks look like they are about to fail).

Our bathroom also was not clean. There was the wrapper of a toothpaste that was on the floor for many days, and there was someone’s inter dental tooth pick behind the sink that the staff didn’t notice and still left it there. The shower was also not the cleanest, and the toilet was leaking. We put one of the hand towels down as it already soaked the floor towel. When we came back later in the day to find that they made up the bed and repositioned the hand towel on the ground to go on top of our cosmetics, we were a bit disgusted. Oh also, the door is one of those cheap hollowed out repurposed wood that slides. This means the bathroom is never completely closed and you cannot seclude it from the room. The door is basically next to the head of the bed, so do not expect privacy when here. Also our plastic toilet seat was broken, so if you didn’t sit on it a berating way, you would fall off. Also the space between the toilet and the sink was not so much so I kept hitting my knees on the thing holding up the sink.

Breakfast is served from 7:00-10:00 every day. The selection is not much unless you order in Spanish. I was hoping for a bit more but it was like visiting a friend in college and seeing what was left over in their refrigerator. They have a table with four seats for all the guests to use, so try not to come when the other guests come as you will not have a space to eat.

They also have a pool, that could maximum fit four people, but then it would already be too crowded.

There was a safe in our room that could fit about five passports. If you have something larger, good luck. You may have to take it with you. Actually our safe ran out of battery and I notified the staff. They said they did not have any more batteries and gave us the emergency keys instead.

The door is also a joke. Do you know those doors that have a push button for a lock? It literally looks like a closet door or a door made out of shutters with a simple push button lock. You are given keys, but in order to lock your door, you have to push the button to lock the door from the inside and pull it shut from the outside. If I wanted to rob the rooms, I could literally just kick the door and break it down. A kid has enough strength to break the doors down. This being said, you also hear a lot as the door has cracks in it as it looks like a shutter.

Our room did not have blinds to block out the sun but only decorative curtains. Bring a sleeping mask if you are sensitive to light.

The staff comes in the make the bed, but other than that nothing is cleaned nor are towels replaced.

Next door is a club or bar with live music. As all the buildings here are wall to wall connected, don’t be surprised to think the live concert is happening downstairs.

There was one night stand in our room that held the small safe. Other than that, there is no where to store belongings. There was no chair or table. Actually there was no more room to store items as the rest of the room is needed to walk around.

I advise you to think twice about booking this hotel. If you are expectations are low and don’t need much but running water and a bed, and don’t mind paying hotel prices for a hostel setting, then this place is perfect for you. If not,...

I stayed here two nights, unluckily the first night I experienced the mirror falling on my head above my head, the curtains hitting my head as well when I tried moving them slightly for some light. I realize they were barely holding on and the rod was broken. Had the lights shut off on me when I took a shower. Despite these incidents I think the hotel is nicely put in a peaceful place, the pool is a nice touch and the location is great. Cleaning could be done better as I found my first day that there was wet toilet paper pieces on the floor and the whole roll was soaked. I had to ask for a new one. The hostess Juliette I think was her name, was the one thing that was really positive about this hotel. She was very welcoming and smiley. The breakfast is good as well. I may add there was no issues in my second night. I ended up taking down the mirror that hit my head though and told the staff out of safety I just put it...

I made a booking on their website and received a confirmation email as well. I then get a response from the hotel saying that the prices on the site are incorrect and they quoted me a price DOUBLE of what I originally booked. Then they insisted that I send my credit card info immediately or the booking will be cancelled. On their site they mention that the booking can be cancelled within 72 hours of arrival with no penalty. When I asked, they said booking is non refundable as its peak season. I asked them if my friends in Cartagena can visit us and they curtly replied saying that if they visit for a few minutes in the day it's fine. This is certainly not what I expected. My friends did not plan on staying in the room with us, but would have just visited us, had a drink and then we would leave for dinner. But the hotel seems to have a problem with that as well. I decided to cancel my booking and stay at the...