Hotel Cartagena Premium — Hotel in Cartagena

On arrival the staff seemed very distanced and cold. No smiling warm welcome that one is accustomed to in Colombia.|| ||Porter staff were willing and helpful enough.||||Room was a decent size with the obligatory wall mounted flat screen TV, channels included BBC Entertainment so got a fix of old Top Gear [incl Clarkson's Crew] and Master Chef.||||Nice big bed but had a concrete base and side table on which my wife cut her thigh one evening climbing into bed.||||Room had a fridge, absolutely necessary here, and a solitary plastic chair.||||Toilet was small, if I was any fatter woudl not have fit in.||||Access to a strong box just inside the room door... which had a broken lock leading to an unfortunate naked moment when cleaning lady entered room when I was coming out of the toilet!!!||||The room had a terrace just big enough for one person to stand in and 2 x a/c units marring the view from the window.||||Had a 19th story room overlooking the naval base, old town, docks and the cruise terminal, this was a nice unobstructed view, had we been beach side a new construction would have partially obstructed the view.||||One flight of stairs up to the swimming pool which was rarely crowded and had a nice sun terrace with 6 sun beds + a "bar" area.||||What really marks the hotel down was the food. We were on full board and maybe, just maybe, we've been spoiled by our experiences in Spain & Turkey, but the food here was uninspiring to say the least. I imagine that fat farms have better tasting, quality and quantity of food available.||||Whilst there were [the same] salad items available there wasn't much else. Chicken and fish served virtually everyday. In a country with great meat we did not see sight nor smell of anything remotely resembling beef or pork.||Breakfast rarely changed scrambled eggs and a horrible sausage type thing every day.||||The upside of the uninspiring food... I probably lost rather than gained weight.||||I would not go there again even if paid to do so.||||With so much competition for business you'd expect more. Oh and apparently there was entertainment on the 17th floor... no-one told us, we read it on the back of the door the day we left... as I said staff were completely...

When we booked there was supposed to be free airport shuttle. We prepaid on Expedia. When checking in found the room clerks knew nothing about an airport shuttle, let only included in the room price. I was thrilled on departure morning when asking them to call transportation to the airport they showed me the white car at the door, whose driver when I asked about cost asked me if I had a room at the hotel, with my positive answer he indicated no problem but, did not actually say it was included. On the way to the airport, with my luggage in the trunk, he pulled over in a sketchy neighbourhood and demanded 20,000 pesos for the ride to the airport. I gave it to him and he did take me to the airport.||The food is about the cheapest (not least expensive) that I have experienced in Colombia during five visits, the support from staff was very limited even though I do speak a lot of poor Spanish, the room was OK but atmosphere of the entire place was spartan, and the location is really awful. Stay away from Bocagrande if you are at all into going out for nice walks, or finding nice restaurants or bars. It is a string of very tall hotels along a narrow peninsula. There are much nicer areas in Cartagena, and likely much better deals even at this low cost. For the same price in the rest of Colombia I have stayed in very...

I don’t even know where to start. I usually not one to complain or write reviews however I need to say something before someone else makes a reservation. We were only staying for three days but our experience was terrible. Cockroaches in the room, AC not working, food pretty bad and the eating area has no AC and looks extremely filthy. Some workers are nice some are not. We did the city tour under the impression we weren’t leaving the vehicle because it was advertised as a driving tour well that was a lie me and my family couldn’t do part of the tour because it was not child friendly and also not accommodation for folks who have disabilities. My advice don’t come here yes is cheap but I’m sure if you do some research you can find a decent hotel for a decent price instead of this place. This is my honest opinion stay somewhere else away from this place. I am only giving it one star because the only positive thing is that the location is great and very close...