Casa Real del Cabrero by SOHO — Hotel in Cartagena

We stayed at Casa Real del Cabrero in February. Our room was lovely - it was spacious, clean, and the bed is enormous with very comfortable pillows. The air-conditioning was a huge relief in the heat and humidity of our days wandering around Cartagena. The location is fantastic, as it's just outside the walled city and set back from the main road, so it's fairly quiet. We had a mixed experience with the service at this accommodation, though. Although the booking website advertised a shared kitchen, and other Google reviews mentioned using the kitchen facilities, we did not feel very comfortable using it to cook our dinner. The lady who runs the kitchen did not seem very keen on us using these facilities - perhaps it was lost in translation as we don't speak much Spanish and she certainly doesn't speak English, but we got the impression we were an inconvenience. On the one night that we did cook our own dinner, there were no plates or bowls to eat from, so we ate out of the pan. I would recommend skipping the kitchen and using the great burger van over the road. I would also suggest that the hotel management include provision for a larger bin in the room for waste disposal, as we only had our room cleaned once. It would also be nice to allow guests a key to enter and exit the property. We found it frustrating having to call someone every time we wanted to leave through the locked front gate when there was often no-one at the reception desk. Overall we had a comfortable stay, but for the cost I would expect a slightly warmer welcome for...

Awful experience all the way around. It starred when we needed to contact the hotel to notify them of a late check in and we found that it is impossible to connect them. They don't have a phone number or an email address and they don't respond to WhatsApp or Instagram messages. When we finally arrived, we found a property in complete disrepair. The bedding was covered in stains and the covers and pillow cases had many holes and were falling apart at the seams. The floor was filthy and the walls had stains and splatters. The entire property is infested with mosquitos, I couldn't even eat the provided breakfast outside because I was getting multiple bites even though I had 25% feet spray on. Once we finally got out of there and to a different hotel, I opened my suitcase and had a giant cockroach 🪳 run out of it. They had 2 cans of Raid cockroach killer spray on the reception desk. Finally, they have a gate outside that is locked at all time so you have to buzz the front desk and someone has to come outside to let you in. That might be OK, but when I tried to leave at 9am, the gate was deadbolt locked with a key. I couldn't leave the property and there was no one at reception to let me out so I was trapped. I finally got someone's attention after yelling HELLO?! for several minutes.

Do...

We had the most amazing time in Cartagena and our stay in Casa Real was a big part of it. The most charming hotel, every detail is beautiful, full of art and antiques. We stayed for a week in the Bungalow room with our 2 year old toddler and it couldn’t have been more practical. Fidelina and Marta who run the house are so nice and helpful, and the breakfast they prepare is delicious. Thank you for a great stay, we will definitely be recommending to our friends and we’ll come back...