Hotel Dorado Plaza Centro Histórico — Hotel in Cartagena

If I could give negative stars, I would. My very brief stay was absolutely appalling.

Location is central to many things in the historic district. The area surrounding the hotel was full of aggressive merchants. Also the beds were extremely hard, and water very cold. All of those items would have been tolerable. What was intolerable was the exploitative nature of part or perhaps all of the staff.

My reservation was made and paid in full, in advance. Upon my arrival, the front desk clerk asked me some specific questions about my reservation, which gave the impression he could see it. I was advised there was an issue with my reservation, and in order to enter the room I would be required to leave a cash deposit. He assured me he would resolve the issue in the morning with the person who handles reservations and promptly return my cash. The amount requested was 25% higher than the nightly amount I had already paid. Considering my flight arrived close to midnight and I am outside of my country, I complied.

I spent the majority of my trip trying to work with the hotel and my credit card company, trying to figure out the issue. The story of the issue changed multiple times throughout the ordeal and would alternate between four stories.

I never made a reservation. They only received an inquiry, no reservation. I had a reservation, but no money was received. I had a reservation, and they had money, and the money I was paying in cash was not a deposit but an additional cost because there was a second person in the room with me. Even though I completed information for two occupants, paid for a double bed, and the amount i was paying was the cost of the room plus another 25%.

Every night they requested additional funds in cash, never processing the money but leaving it to the side. After a couple of nights, I explained any additional double charging would have to be on my credit card. The lady at the front desk (her name starts with an M) refused. In our conversation, her story went from deposits must be in cash to, credit card charges would not be refunded to, refunds take months to process, "3 months if I'm lucky".

Ultimately, through some digging within the company, I was able to confirm they had the reservation and the hotel had received payment, but somewhere in the system my name was removed. I referred to a few local friends of mine who indicated it was very common for hotels in Cartagena to defraud foreigners in a similar manner. Knowing all of this information, I did not want to stay at the Hotel Dorado Plaza any longer.

Trying to leave was another issue unto itself. Initially, they indicated they wanted another night paid for, in cash. I was eventually able to retrieve my personal items. The woman I was dealing with throughout this process would not process the cash and refused to issue a receipt. It took the threat of calling police before a receipt was provided.

Given that most people coming to the hotel are foreigners, this is wrong. It takes advantage of people who are in vulnerable positions. Fortunately, I found a great hostel down the street to stay, which I will also write a review for.

I highly discourage anyone from staying here. This place has deceptive practices and...

This one the worst price/quality value of my life and I’m not very picky. ||||Some of our relatives were stolen things when we were there (a phone charger first and then a razor in a unopened pack which has been opened and a bill was put behind for the “inconvenience” how crazy is that ?!)||||There is no hot water in the hotel, it’s the policy of the hotel, the water is like “swimming pool temperature” they consider its enough since in hot in Cartagena. ||||There is lot of noise in the street and in the hotel. My mother had a room next to three air conditioner compressor and my brother couldn’t sleep with is bedroom on the street. ||||The staff is not very nice, no one is speaking English and we were almost insulted by the staff when we talked about the stolen things. ||||The only good point is that the room is clean. The breakfast is decent but nothing amazing. ||||I definitely do not...

I have stayed here a couple of times and also sent tourist groups. Both times I have been blown away by the excellent service, quality of rooms, comfortable beds. You won’t get hot water unless you are in a refurbished room but the water in Cartagena doesn’t go lower than warm 😂||Breakfast is varied and delicious, let them know in advance if you have allergies like Gluten free and they will do an arepa or adapt to suit, maybe too much fried for me but they are on the coast.||The location is excellent as it’s on the border of Getsemani by the centenary park (monkey & sloth’s to be found inside!), just a 5 minute walk to the walled city - don’t recommend cutting through the comercial area after dark, go along park and through clock tower.||Thank you to all the wonderful staff for making our stay so wonderful,...