La Casona de Getsemani — Hotel in Cartagena

We chose this place due to good reviews and location. The location indeed was good (10 minutes walk to the old town). However, we didn’t really understand, how someone could write any positives about this awful place. Casa Portal De Getsemani was shown as a guest house with rating of 4 star. However, it would much better fit in a category of a poor quality hostel. From the very beginning we were told that we had to stay in whether we liked it or not, although the web policy stated something else. We contacted Booking.com and were advised to stay-in at least one night just to prove that we showed up. During that time, the monies were taken from our bank account without our approval, just in case we would decide to leave.||The lady, who looked after the house, although very friendly, did not speak any English. The breakfast, although included in the price, was of extremely poor quality (no choice whatsoever; ever day a piece of bread, either juice or coffee and eggs - no more then that!!!). ||The room was very dark and dirty. There were just two small lights which didn’t give enough light. Even during the day, there was not much light as the room had only a very small window. The towels were just changed after 3 days of our stay which was completely unacceptable considering the very hot and humid weather in Cartagena (and just after we asked for it). Hot water in the bathroom every other day. The bathroom itself was very small (had to go inside the shower if wanted to close the door of the bathroom). No ventilation whatsoever. Rust of the tap. Toiletries included just a small soap.||The beds were very small and uncomfortable (base made of concrete). No storage for the language whatsoever (wardrobe very small, old, smelly and dirty). ||An outdoor pool was tiny and dirty. Free Wi-Fi only in a communal area which didn’t have an air-condition making impossible to browse the net for longer than 5 minutes due to the heat. ||Definitely would never recommend this place to stay. On the very same street, there were much nicer and cheaper HOSTELS with hammocks and English speaking staff. ||No social life as there were just 3 rooms in the whole house.||||Please refer to the photos which show the real state of the house. We also recorded a video which shows much better the poor state of Casa Portal...

La Casona de Getsemani, Cartagena, November 2022||The staff were great, friendly, knowledgeable. 24 hour desk clerk. The cleaning and maintenance staff worked harder than any I have ever seen.|There is huge construction going on at the back of the hotel. Looks like that will be quite awhile. Seem to work regular business hours.|There was not-before-see amount of flooding the day I arrived, and for two days after. The water was more than 12" in the street in front of the hotel, just lapping at the hotel floor. When the power went out the staff had a generator going within a few hours.|The room given to me when I arrived was up one flight of stairs. It was very small, the bed touched walls on three sides. I rechecked the photos on the website, this room was not in any of the pictures.|The noise in the hostel was unending. The partying in the street ends around 2-3am. The noise from inside the hostel did not end, but did quiet down around 5:00am. The families with children were up by 6:00am, the cleaning staff starts at 6:30. So there was a good hour, 1.5 hours for sleep.|I asked for a got a quieter room the next day. That room is also not in the pictures. It was on the third floor, right outside the gathering area. Three nights running I had to ask the people socializing to go to bed, 2am, 1am, 11:30 (4 nights on short sleep was making me react faster). No enforcement on quiet hours, I did ask.|Great location to be in the thick of it, but as a solo woman traveller I was not comfortable going for a walk after dark. Taxis could solve that concern.|Pros: right in the walled city.|Staff were lovely.|Cons: there is no quiet place to sleep. While the third floor is quieter, there is still enough noise through the dark hours to wake a dead-to-the-world sleeper like me. |Some solo women travelers may need taxis in and out of the area...

I very much appreciated the overall colonial look of the house. Other than that, really, its just a place to sleep, shower (if you have water- one whole day the water was stopped do to some road work..of course not their fault but still very unpleasant) and to have breakfast. The owner helped us as much as she could but unfortunately she was out of town for the most part of our stay.|However...|The biggest problem for any weekend travellers i found to be the thin walls and the very...very loud neighbours until well after midnight. |The second biggest problem, like most places in Colombia, nobody speaks english, which can be a bit upsetting if your spanish is not the best and the hotel is advertised internationally. But we managed. |After the first day we understood that if you want more then fruit and cheese for breakfast, you have to ask for it. They do it, but you need to ask for eggs, arepas or whatever.|Very very bad wifi..the worst we had in Colombia. It was like it did not work at all.|Overall a nice place, but not particulary special; for the price you pay i am sure you might be better...