Hyatt Regency Cartagena — Hotel in Cartagena

This was my 3rd stay in Hyatt Regency Cartagena - one of my favorite hotels. Was fortunate to be in the newly renovated Club Rooms, which are simply stunning. The decor, the layout, and view of Cartagena Harbor are simply fantastic. Yercelis Arroyo from the Regency Club contacted me before my arrival to inquire if I had any questions or preferences- thank you so much for your excellent customer service. Yercelis, along with Natalia were so nice and sweet and made sure that my sister and I had everything we needed for our stay. As a matter of fact, the entire Regecy Club staff was outstanding. And the food that was served there was one of the best we've had. Everyone worked so hard and made sure to replenish right away any food that was running out. We went there both for breakfast and for cocktails and snacks for dinner. The snacks were a lavish buffet dinner where every single dish was amazing, including the best pastries we've had. |The beachfront renovations in front of the hotel were completed and now there is a long beach with umbrellas and chairs one can go, relax and get into the Caribbean sea. The hotel is 5 min from the Old town by taxi or Uber, and there is a nice grocery store at the back for extra drinks and food if you ever need anything.|The hotel is still undergoing renovations, and one of the swimming pools wasn't open. But judging by the fantastic result from renovating the club rooms, the pool area also should be great once completed. |However, the renovations and re-organization brought a few changes that I personally do not like. The reception is not on the ground floor, instead on the 11th, which somewhat cheapens the experience. The 11th floor used to be open and one could admire the sea through the tall glass windows, making for a surreal experience. The wonderful coffee shop on the 11th floor is also gone- I so loved their coffee and pastries. Now the entire floor is occupied by a restaurant and a children's day care of some kind.|Another drawback of the renovations is that the thermostat in the newly renovated rooms cannot be adjusted to a temperature lower than 22.5C. Cartagena is a very hot and humid place, and I felt warm at times in my room during the day. There is a ceiling fan to help with cooling the room but it's not the same. I know that it's good to conserve energy but do not agree with the way it's done. The lighting in the newly renovated rooms is also designed to conserve energy with motion censors, but if you do not learn quickly how to turn off manually your bathroom light, you might be kept awake during the night while waiting for the light to turn off by itself.|One thing, right as we were leaving, left a very bad impression on an otherwise wonderful stay. During check-out we were asked if we had used anything from the mini bar. I responded that we didn't, and the employee asked again if this was true for both rooms we were occupying. I again responded that we did not use anything. She called on the radio to ask that housekeeping goes and checks our rooms. While I understand that some guests prefer not to tell the truth, the way this was handled made us feel like criminals. A taxi was already waiting for us and I had to pay surcharge for the wait. It's not the money, it's that the hotel receptionist at check-out treated us in such a manner. To avoid delays and manage expectations, the hotel should inform its guests that upon check-out they should expect to wait until the mini bar in their rooms is checked by housekeeping. |All in all, I will choose Hyatt Regency Cartagena for my next stay without hesitation. But small things like the one at check-out unfortunately leave a lasting impression that could have...

UPDATE:

Manager talked with me the next day to apologize for the incident and helped us extend our room checkout time.

The facilities of the hotel are quite nice - lovely infinity pools and a decent spa. The hotel overall is quite modern and comfortable, even if the rooms don’t seem properly stocked… so I’m changing my original review to give a higher rating.

BUT, even though the hotel is modern and most of the staff courteous, I found that the service seemed to be quite inefficient at times? People are generally kind, but perhaps not the most well-trained (observed this when looking at other guests trying to check in or put in some request at the front desk).

The location is convenient to reach the walled city, and offers lovely views of either the ocean or bay.

Compared to the Hilton, the Hyatt is definitely more modern and comfortable just based on the building and amenities. But the service at Hilton is much quicker and ready to solve problems (also has a private beach) though the property is a bit dated.

ORIGINAL: Super frustrated with my check-in process (especially since I got off a very late flight and am already exhausted). Check-in took an abnormally long time, even though I’m only staying ONE night, and I was told I was given an upgrade to an ocean view junior suite, only to walk in and find a regular room.

I’m then told that there are suddenly no suites available unless I pay more for a regency suite, after the one hour plus hassle this whole process has cost me. I always stay with Hyatt all over the world and every hotel has been a smooth process except this one. There was also an initial issue with a key mix-up that took up even more time. The room phone also doesn’t seem to work so I had to keep going downstairs to the lobby instead of just being able to call.

The outcome after an hour plus of being at the front desk is that we get the same room but will have regency club access for breakfast. I appreciate the gesture but since we plan on sleeping in from how tired we are, the breakfast doesn’t mean anything to us.

To be clear, it’s completely okay if there’s no upgrades available for world of Hyatt members because of availability.

But I wasn’t told that there was no availability upfront. It’s not okay for check in to take almost an hour, to tell the customer there’s an upgrade when that’s not true, have them discover that it’s not true AFTER walking to the room, and then not have a ready solution.

My family and I booked one night and were initially going to extend if we liked the hotel but it looks like we will just be moving to the Hilton tomorrow instead. Usually love my Hyatt service but today was just not a good first impression of Cartagena.

Update: no basic amenities in the room like bathrobes, slippers, shower cap or toothbrush

Will update this review tomorrow after I am well rested / in a better mood and can look at the facilities and the rest...

OK, first of all I'm a repeat customer of this beautiful property My favorite thing about the property is the main pool and infinity pool with the restaurant next to it in a bar absolutely main reason for me to go there Unfortunately, I wasn't told they were doing construction so you have a little pool on a different floor. I don't know it sounds petty, but when that was one of your favorite experiences of the last few times you were at the hotel you look forward to that part so much OK, let's get that out-of-the-way. That's really only bad thing. I could say about the place First thing I wanna say is, I've been going to Columbia for 10 years. I have an apartment. In Medellin. I like to vacation over Cortana a couple times a year although I've been going to Santa Marta a little more often lately. It's a little quieter Anyway, that's not my point I want to first tell you people that are Very familiar with Colombia Well, understand what I'm saying the help in most restaurants unless they're very high-end and even them is very poor The employees are very slow. They don't care about you. They don't care about Their job I feel they have no pride with their job and look I understand I own a restaurant there are problems with some people problems with not everyone, but this is a very common thing in the country. It's a problem, but we don't go there for the people who are helping us we go there because we like the countryside. We like the rest of the people and the food I find is extraordinary But being that inside that Hyatt, it has some of the best employees that I've ever had the pleasure to have them served me from the person bringing up my luggage to the guy at the pool, getting me my towel to the waitress of the restaurant in the hotel, which is incredible by the way, and also my check-in and check out Was amazing. There was a slight little problem with the room that they took care of so quickly I'm not even gonna mention what the problem was because it's so insignificant. I didn't think it was a problem, but I just asked to have something changed and it came up and they fixed it so fast so to be honest I gave the place four stars out of five. If I was realistic, I would give it 4.5 just because I lost the pool and the nice little restaurant outside by the pool, but I hope you read my comments here I recommend this place. It wasn't too expensive. I upgraded my room for a few dollars. It was such a great experience. I'll be back there next month Beware of Airbnb's in Cartagena. I've tried four of them over the years not one...