Nacar Hotel Cartagena, Curio Collection by Hilton — Hotel in Cartagena

What a disappointment! Absolutely filthy ‘Grand/Presidential’ suite. I had reserved only 2 nights, but left after one.

The place looked nice from the pics. The Presidential/Grand suite was only $400 vs $275 for a standard room, so it seemed like a no brainer to reserve it especially since it has a private pool. I’m a Hilton Diamond and have spent many nights and trips at Hilton properties and was looking forward to enjoying a vacation!

The room is a nice design with a certain cool factor design, but that’s where the pleasantries end. The floor was absolute filth. You could feel the grit on your feet and after walking around for a few minutes the bottom of my feet were black. The grime on the floor left a film that you could use your fingertip to draw in. The suite, which is just a large room with a staircase in the middle of it that goes up roof, was dirty throughout to include the stairs and handrail which was caked in dust and hadn’t been cleaned in ages.

The upper part of the stairs had a musty smell and the metal part covered in black mold (looks like it’s time to paint over it again, as was apartment had been done in the past). No wonder there was a dehumidifier unit running in the room.

As for your ‘private pool’ be prepared for it only to be half filled. The water didn’t even come up to the first step into the pool. When standing it was below my knees. I realize It’s only a plunge pool but at least put another foot of water in it, good Lord, it’s not even deep enough to float in!

Another surprise is this suite (along with 6 others) are located in a completely different building and in a different location than the main hotel). It’s only a 4-5 minute walk but it’s fairly inconvenient to deal with aggressive pan handlers and street vendors just to go from your room to the front desk.

I realize I’m in a tourist area and I’ll have to encounter vendors and panhandlers, but who wants to deal with that right after you wake up as you schlep down for breakfast!? damn.

The door to the balcony didn’t lock, the deadbolt on the front door didn’t lock (bolt didn’t line up with hole).

When I checked out I brought my concerns to the manager, who was polite, but seemingly ambivalent as nothing was offered other than to not pay for the 2nd night (which I wasn’t staying for anyway).

You know, you stay at the best suite in a top rated hotel and you just expect a little more than a room with filthy floors and a...

Lovely hotel, a great way to enjoy Cartegena!

We spent 5 nights in at Tcherassi while enjoying Cartegena and were very happy with our visit. Highly recommend for most types of travelers.

The primary experience for us was in the overall interior design of the hotel which was by our experience, fantastic. The hotel is clean, novel, and smart in its overall feel. Our room was wonderful, well appointed beautiful design too. Mark my words, best hotel shower you have ever had. AC was great and the king size bed very comfortable.

We ejoyed the pool quite a bit, its perfect for quiet lounging around. The pool is gentle and enjoyable shallow and easy to float around in. Food and drink service at the pool was tasty. We also gave 4 thumbs up on the morning buffet which was delish!

The overall service of the hotel is where I am holding back from 5 stars. I am not going so far as to say its bad and that should prevent you from staying here. The staff simply requires more training in all areas if they want to hold by worldly service expectations. Here are some examples; we took a coffee cup upstairs to the pool and and left it there. There house keeping staff didnt replace the cup in our room, we just had one coffee cup the remainder of our time there. No big deal, but one little detail that is something the staff could be trained to look for. In the restaurant we would sit down and fix a buffet plate and no water would arrive. We'd sit and wait and the staff would eventually come over but forget to bring us water and we'd have to ask again. Little things, the staff needs a bit of "next level" training is all. There are several examples of this but I chalk it up to Cartegena is growing in its tourism busines rapidly and the talent pool will eventually get there.

The front desk staff did a wonderful job and made some terrific suggestions. They connected us to a great day trip to an island. They connected us to great day trips overall, and a driver who was great, and some super restaurants too.

Overall, we loved our stay at Tcherassi and highly...

A lot of my review is based on personal preference, which is why I gave it an overall 4 star and not less. I'll start with the beds: Unbelievably firm or I would say hard, or more like sleeping on a concrete slab.

They use an incredible amount of fragrance in their linens, (thank God it's not fabulouso) which is then sprayed with more fragrance once the beds are made. I did have housekeeping stop spraying our bedsheets, but there was still a significant amount of fragrance left. Again, it's a matter of preference. I prefer crisp clean versus a floral assault.

The air-conditioning is weak, and the room never got cooler than 70 degrees. You know the drill...preference.

The rooftop pool is small, and the bar doesn't open until 11am, which by that time we had been by the pool for hours without being able to get anything to drink nevertheless eat. The rooftop bar restaurant also seems to be owned by a different company, so you can not charge to the room. While we were there, they were sanding the cabanas, which is as pleasant, sounding as a dentist drill. I believe this is not a matter of preference. No one likes the sound of a dentist drill.

The location of the hotel is its saving grace, just steps from everything you would like to do except go to the beach. It does have an incredible Peruvian restaurant, which I have written a separate review for.

If price is your selling point, this is your hotel. If it's comfort, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Side note: Colombians are some of the warmest, nicest people on this planet. The hotel staff, while nice, didn't meet my expectations. For example, when I asked if they had a fan since after checking the ac, and telling us it was running on HI as it could, they directed me to where I could buy one. Not a single word to excuse the...