Hotel Prana Beach — Hotel in Cartagena

Our stay at the accommodation was a complete disaster and a huge disappointment.

The trouble began right upon arrival: We arrived by taxi, which cost us 155,000 COP. Two men carried our luggage but later demanded significantly more money than agreed—an additional 50,000 COP, even though the manager had confirmed a 20,000 COP fee for this service over WhatsApp. They also asked for another 50,000 COP for the boat ride.

Upon arrival, we were met with unfriendliness. No one explained the procedures or details about the property, and we felt completely left to fend for ourselves. Important information, such as the limited electricity (only available from 6 PM to 6 AM), was never shared with us beforehand. We only found this out through other reviews or conversations with other guests.

Our room was in poor condition—it was unbearably hot, with only two fans available, and frequent power outages made it nearly impossible to sleep. Additionally, we had to repeatedly ask for water just to shower or use the toilet. On the last day, we had to wait a long time before we were given any water. This kind of behavior is completely unacceptable.

The payment process was also chaotic and unacceptable. We were asked to pay for the accommodation by card, with an additional 10% fee, even though our credit card had already been registered with Booking.com. The poor communication led to confusion: we were told to “cancel” the booking, which in Spanish means both “to cancel” and “to pay.” This misunderstanding led to additional charges of 612,500 COP. After much back-and-forth, the cancellation was accepted, but the accommodation pretended not to know anything about it.

The food was another disappointment. Many dishes on the menu, such as burgers and shrimp, were never available. We expected more from the kitchen.

Throughout our entire stay, we had to deal with the same issues repeatedly because no one from the accommodation took responsibility. Other guests had to help us communicate with the staff and resolve misunderstandings, as the accommodation itself didn’t contact Booking.com. Even after speaking with the manager, who was never on site, nothing was done—he just claimed they provided “excellent service” without addressing our complaints.

The lowest point came on our last day: after asking again for water so we could shower, we were left waiting for a long time. The boat we had reserved arrived late, and instead, a tourist boat was called, which was not part of the plan. In the chaos, my girlfriend was roughly thrown into the boat, our belongings got wet, including my laptop. Not even a single staff member said goodbye, and they made us carry one of the large suitcases ourselves, even though we had paid extra for assistance with this.

The only positive aspects were the view and the water, but relaxation was impossible under these circumstances. We absolutely cannot recommend this...

Upon arrival at the beach we were basically forced to take a small boat to the "hotel" because with luggage it's simply too far to reach, especially on sand. This was an additional cost that should be transparent. At the hotel itself we could not pay by credit card and had to change money with some person at the beach. Later we magically could pay by card, this was a so called "favour" of the hosts. Now the really scatchy parts: No water in toilet, shower etc unless you ask for it, it's not very well seen and you seem to make them very unhappy by asking for it. No electricity during the day, so no Charing your phone or being able to take a rest in your room. We had old soap and hair from the previous guests in our shower, the room as well as the sheets etc were not clean. There was no toilet paper or towels, we had to ask for it. The really worst thing was that you felt the house shaking when lying in bed. We had the upstairs room and it felt like being in an airplane or something when there was movement in the room under us. I guess you feel it more in the top rooms but we felt very unsafe but had no possibility to change hotel that night, we did the very next day. Food was not as advertised, we were lucky to buy the last bottle of water at night. All in all a terrible experience. I understand that it is very difficult to run a place as it remote as this but you should not advertise something entirely different. If they said something like "it's a big hut at the beach we're you can spend the night" alright, but we paid good money and received an extremely unpleasant stay which is very said because the location itself is very beautiful indeed. Please don't go there, it really is a scam,...

The people are lovely and the location is impeccable. The general area is super nice, especially when you compare it with their competition, anywhere on this beach will struggle to compete with this place, if you want to stay a night I do highly recommend it.

However, on the flip side, the room wasn't so great, the toilet didn't have water for a while which was a bit nasty. Also, it was boiling as there was no power during the day (power goes on at 6pm and out at differing times we saw 10am and 6am) the payment with card is a little bit of a hastle but not impossible. Please bear in mind, we didn't have the deluxe suite, and thus didn't get the beach view from our room which made it that much hotter. I'm sure if you choose a room with a view the breeze from the sea will be more than enough to keep the temperature down.

There is no internet, even though it says on booking.com they have, however you can get wifi from the shop down the road.

Even with the inconveniences, I would recommend this place super highly, the people, food, and location make it a...