Casa San Agustín — Hotel in Cartagena

From the moment we walked in, Casa San Agustín delivered. The website says a lot — beautiful architecture, excellent service, etc. — but the hotel is everything they advertise and even more.||What Stood Out| • Junior Suite View & Comfort|The view from our junior suite was marvelous — it felt like having one of the best seats in Cartagena. The bed was among the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in (outside of my own home). That alone would make a stay memorable.| • Bathroom & Water Pressure|The bathroom was enormous. Spacious, beautifully designed, with generous fixtures. The shower had fantastic water pressure — the kind that refreshes after a long day exploring.| • Food & Dining at Alma|Alma was a highlight. The restaurant lives up to its reputation. The food was delicious, beautifully presented, and the flavors stood out. Definitely worth making time for it.| • Spa & Pampering|We spent over three hours in the spa, and every moment felt luxurious. The treatment rooms, products, care — all of it exceeded expectations.| • Staff & Service|Here’s where Casa San Agustín truly shines. From reception to restaurant staff, bar, spa, everyone was attentive, genuine, and went out of their way to make us feel at home. Hospitality that feels thoughtful, not routine.||A few people made our stay particularly unforgettable:| • Amanda| • Bernardo| • Yanelis| • Jeffrey| • Douglas| • Yeimi| • Alvaro||Their warmth, professionalism, and smiles were as impressive as the room, the food, and the view.||Overall - ||If you’re going to Cartagena and want a hotel that balances elegance, comfort, great food, and superb service — Casa San Agustín is a top-tier choice. It’s rare I leave a hotel feeling like every detail was just right, but here, I did. Highly...

Let me start off by saying that this is a truly wonderful hotel, well located and with an extremely friendly staff.

Given that, I will share some details of the good, the bad and the ugly about our stay:

THE GOOD Great breakfast Amazing area by the pool, where you could spend the whole day just sunbathing Great location and service Incredible bedroom facilities Amazing WiFi Speed (this is a major issue to me, and it was simply incredible)

THE UGLY They have a live band in the restaurant that starts at about 8pm and goes up to 11h30pm. Very loud, the sound is truly disturbing and it is impossible to ignore it, even in the room. A major thumb down, specially if you are in the resting mood.

THE BAD The dinner service in the restaurant was not good (slow, confusing). You would expect way more given its price. Pool only has 6 places to sunbathe, so you better be quick. They recommended a lousy day tour to the Rosario Islands to us, and did not provide a transportation on the way back. Summary: we came up totally soaked from the boat back, and could not get a cab. Had to walk for 35 minutes from the city. One day there was a water problem, lacking water in the bedrooms for the whole day.

When these problems happened, and we let them know, they were EXTREMELY attentive and helpful, sending a bottle of champagne to say that they were sorry and moving us to the presidential suite due to the water problem in our old room. So, although we had some problems, we were well taken care of. Could be a 5-stars, but given some misfortunes, a 4-stars is...

The hotel is beautiful, but the service was just...bad. Our checkin process was chaotic. We walked in and had about four people asking us different questions, including asking us to repeat information we already provided. They said our room would be available in 30 minutes and that they would take our suitcases straight up to our room, so we went to the hotel restaurant for lunch while we waited. It took about an hour and a half to finish lunch, and when we came out our suitcases were still sitting in the hallway, and we had to remind the front desk staff (again) who we were and that we needed our room key.

All day long there was banging from construction. It felt like it was right over our heads. They front desk staff said the construction would be from 10-5 daily, but there was nothing they could do about the noise. For $500/night, I would expect to be able to relax in my room without the sound of a jackhammer overhead.

Other small things made me disappointed in the service: we asked for extra water for the room and it never appeared, other people at the pool had drinks but I couldn’t find a bartender to place an order with, even though we paid for late checkout, they only gave us an extra 30 minutes, and when we came back to the hotel late at night after being at a salsa club, the security outside were smoking so I had to walk through a cloud of smoke to get back in.

There are so many other great hotels in Cartagena that next time I would prefer to stay somewhere that the staff actually cares...