Les Lezards Bed & Breakfast — Hotel in Cartagena

Pros: Good breakfast. The cooks we had are very friendly. They showed concern for the one time we didn't show up for breakfast, they alone are 5 star. The location is right in the middle of the Getsemani neighborhood. Free taxi to the airport after our stay but with a caveat (see below).

Cons (here we go): The room is dirty, they never clean the floor. The bed sheets and toilet paper are never replenished unless you ask. If you never ask for toilet paper, you will never have any... Things that are common sense don't happen. You HAVE to ask for everything even things you wouldn't normally ask. Strange men all of sudden work there and then you never see them again. Oh and they have access to the key to your room... Common sense is so lacking! They opened the door without knocking when we were in there. NO AC! There's a mini split that is facing the wrong way and your room won't cool. We were in the Up in the Sky Suite (this detail is important for later also). We sweated ALL 9 days with no comfort. Also, they turn off the air as soon as you leave, so you come back to a sauna. Maybe they should lie and put spa in their description also... The shower situation... It is an outdoor shower and bathroom, so you sweat when you shower which was expected in this situation, but this wasn't the problem. You are below the roof line of the surrounding buildings so people can watch you shower! We had to shower at night and the times where we had to shower in the morning, I had to cover my wife with a towel over the window, so nobody could see. An added plus, the water pressure dropped in the city for a few hours and that happens, but for HOURS we weren't told and the water shut off covered in soap in the shower one evening... The construction next door... this one is not necessarily their fault, but this problem will continue for a few months for the next guests so its worth mentioning. Aside from the usual problems at a construction site like noise at all hours, the work area is eye level with the shower so yes I caught a few construction workers gawking into the bathroom while we were in there. Horrible. This suite is next to the small community hot tub so they go at all times of the night and are really loud. No real front desk by the way so if you catch a worker at breakfast is the only time we could voice concerns. Yes there was a free taxi at the end as a shuttle, but it came after they quoted 80.000 pesos or $20 USD (uber black is half of that by the way), but to have a for sure experience I said yes. Their personal driver was going to take us but he couldn't. The guy that sells the tours (he comes up in the next point) then offered to take us for the same amount and then we are waiting outside at 4:00 AM, he comes out of the building in PJs and says that another driver is coming when we need to have left already! Oh and it was a taxi which costs like $3 to the airport. I was gonna cause a fit if the taxi costs $20 USD, but upon seeing my distress, he said he would pay for it... I saved the best for last, so I hope you are here. They push the tours in the area fiercely like everyone else in Cartagena, so we got hooked on one. It wasn't great, but it did work out, so that's fine. However, since they seemed honest (at first), we decided to book another tour at 600.000 pesos or $150. They mentioned options that were not needed but recommended. We declined and paid the 600.000. I get a message saying that we now have to pay an additional 250.000 for food and an "optional" tour guide. This trip was more expensive than visiting the islands there that includes FREE drinks. I said no and that I wanted to chat in person. Here, I get the shakedown from the owner to reconsider and that it will be lovely. I don't buy it and demand my money back with no receipt. Things could've gotten ugly, but they did give me my money back

Safe to say, we are never going back. Thanks for nothing Markus and Paco!

PS: Look at Tripadvisor and see the disrepectful and unprofessional...

Pros:||1. Good breakfast albeit with limited options but very tasty. The cooks we had are very friendly. They showed concern for the one time we didn't show up for breakfast, they alone are 5 star.||2. The location is right in the middle of the Getsemani neighborhood.||3. Free taxi to the airport after our stay but with a caveat (see below).||Cons (here we go):||1. The room is dirty, they never clean the floor.||2. The bewd sheets and toilet paper are never replenished unless you ask. If you never ask for toilet paper, you will never have any... Things that are common sense don't happen. You HAVE to ask for everything even things you wouldn't normally ask.||3. Strange men all of sudden work there and then you never see them again. Oh and they have access to the key to your room...||4. Common sense is so lacking! They opened the door without knocking when we were in there.||5. NO AC! There's a mini split that is facing the wrong way and your room won't cool. We were in the Up in the Sky Suite (this detail is important for later also). We sweated ALL 9 days with no comfort. Also, they turn off the air as soon as you leave, so you come back to a sauna. Maybe they should lie and put spa in their description also...||6. The shower situation... It is an outdoor shower and bathroom, so you sweat when you shower which was expected in this situation, but this wasn't the problem. You are below the roof line of the surrounding buildings so people can watch you shower! We had to shower at night and the times where we had to shower in the morning, I had to cover my wife with a towel over the window, so nobody could see. An added plus, the water pressure dropped in the city for a few hours and that happens, but for HOURS we weren't told and the water shut off covered in soap in the shower one evening...||7. The construction next door... this one is not necessarily their fault, but this problem will continue for a few months for the next guests so its worth mentioning. Aside from the usual problems at a construction site like noise at all hours, the work area is eye level with the shower so yes I caught a few construction workers gawking into the bathroom while we were in there. Horrible.||8. This suite is next to the small community hot tub so they go at all times of the night and are really loud.||9. No real front desk by the way so if you catch a worker at breakfast is the only time we could voice concerns.||10. Yes there was a free taxi at the end as a shuttle, but it came after they quoted 80.000 pesos or $20 USD (uber black is half of that by the way), but to have a for sure experience I said yes. Their personal driver was going to take us but he couldn't. The guy that sells the tours (he comes up in the next point) then offered to take us for the same amount and then we are waiting outside at 4:00 AM, he comes out of the building in PJs and says that another driver is coming when we need to have left already! Oh and it was a taxi which costs like $3 to the airport. I was gonna cause a fit if the taxi costs $20 USD, but upon seeing my distress, he said he would pay for it...||11. I saved the best for last, so I hope you are here. They push the tours in the area fiercely like everyone else in Cartagena, so we got hooked on one. It wasn't great, but it did work out, so that's fine. However, since they seemed honest (at first), we decided to book another tour at 600.000 pesos or $150. They mentioned options that were not needed but recommended. We declined and paid the 600.000. I get a message saying that we now have to pay an additional 250.000 for food and an "optional" tour guide. This trip was more expensive than visiting the islands there that includes FREE drinks. I said no and that I wanted to chat in person. Here, I get the shakedown from the owner to reconsider and that it will be lovely. I don't buy it and demand my money back with no receipt. Things could've gotten ugly, but they did give me my money back||Safe to say, we are never going back. Thanks for nothing...

The hotel is in disrepair and I strongly suspect I had my money stolen. Pros and cons listed below.

Pros: Made-to-order breakfast was good, but the options were limited compared to another boutique hotel in Cartagena which I stayed. The staff, in general, were kind. The reception area had turtles and cats, which gave the hotel a homely feel. Quick communication with the staff.

Cons: The hotel room was in poor condition. The room was dirty, underneath the bed looked like it hadn't been cleaned in forever, and the paint on the walls was peeling off in the room and bathroom. See my attached photos. Two roaches were found during my two-night stay. When I alerted the hotel to this issue, they only offered an apology saying that the roaches are because it’s an open concept hotel. In contrast, I stayed at another open-concept hotel in Cartagena a 3 min walk away (days before my stay at Les Lezards) and they didn’t have issues with bugs. Check my other reviews. The hallways and stairs were very narrow, uncomfortably so, and difficult to navigate. 5. The table by the entrance was very dusty and rusty. The door to my room was very difficult to lock, it took ten minutes to lock the door even with assistance from someone else at the hotel. As a solo female traveler, this was very dangerous and concerning. I alerted the hotel owner of this issue. I have a strong suspicion that money was stolen from my room during my stay. Please see below for details. After checking in, I asked the receptionist about beach tours. The receptionist informed me that they offered a tour but only accepted cash, which struck me as odd. I told the receptionist that I didn't have enough cash on hand, but that I would go to the money exchange for cash. Upon returning with the cash, I inquired with the receptionist about how I would receive a receipt for the tour. The receptionist stated that I would receive a WhatsApp message. The receptionist then showed me the tour information via WhatsApp. The WhatsApp message stated a cheaper price from what I was quoted by the receptionist. Confused, I told the receptionist that I would get back to him later about booking the tour as I had to get ready for a different tour that I had that evening. I left my money secured in my bag in my room when I left that evening. When I returned to my room later that night, the money was missing.

I then asked the receptionist if anyone had entered my room. The receptionist told me that no one had entered. I asked if there was any security footage I could view. The receptionist showed me fragmented footage but the full footage was not shown to me.

I reached out to the owner after my stay (via WhatsApp) about the poor condition of the room. The owner revealed without solicitation, that the receptionist had been in my room while I was gone to change the battery in the AC remote (which I had not asked for). Given the inconsistency of this story and the timeline of events, I strongly believe that my money was taken by someone at the hotel.

I would strongly advise anyone to stay away from...