Sofitel Baru Cartagena — Hotel in Cartagena

Beautiful design, atmosphere, rooms, food and lovely hard working staff. The photos don't do it justice, it's stunning here.

All the little extras like cold mint towels, sunscreen, iced water, towels etc. on the beach were such a nice touch, and the food in the restaurants was exceptional. We felt very safe due to the high security and often left our valuables unattended without issues (obviously the hotel will not be responsible if they get taken from you!).

The hotel - exceptional design, quality, details and attention to chic style. the pools were all amazing, perfect temperature, with comfy beds, and next to the beach if you want to do both. we've been to the Decameron and it was good, but this hotel is more modern as it's new and the beach is also bigger. The rooftop bar is gorgeous for sunset drinks

Location - Road is rough as it's Baru so absolutely fine just keep in mind there is nothing to do here so the hotel is for maximum relaxation, gastronomy and water sports! Hopefully they will have entertainment at some point

Breakfast - delicious buffet, plentiful, we loved it! wish I had the stomach space to eat it all!

The room - very good sized rooms all facing the sea, amazing comfy bed and pillows, lots of towels, gorgeous shower, top TV channels with great movies, great amenities, lighting is very considered and even the fan is an exceptional design!

The food - delicious food in the restaurants, especially Bahia and the asian restaurant (every dish was exceptional!!). we have travelled to 80 countries between us two and live in London, so we're well versed in world gastronomy and these restaurants really impressed us...the prices are a little high and service sometimes slow (normal for this region) but it's quite big portions and high end dining. for us, the pound is so strong that it ended up being less than half of what we'd pay for this sort of food in London so we loved it.

The staff - wonderful staff who were very attentive, kind, fun to chat to, always smiling and relaxed, helpful, and working super hard. it really made me frustrated to read some reviews where comments are made about staff needing more training on luxury hotel service...seriously?! these people are unfair to say this. please remember this hotel is only one year old, you are in a country with a lack of luxury 5 star hotels in general, there is extreme poverty next to the hotel, the country is still advancing with luxury travel in general for foreigners, and the staff you are interacting with are probably not all used to this work yet and are learning (but doing a great job regardless!). give them a chance, and be kind and considerate! what I experienced was exceptional service, kindness and very hard work. i'm happy to see the hotel is providing good jobs for probably hundreds of Colombians. I think some reception staff may need to give guests more information, because we found out some things like that you can get suncream at the pools, by accident...but should have been told this when asking about it. but this is a simple learning curve

What we didn't like (caveat: small things that we wanted to feedback for improvement, that don't rate the overall great hotel experience down at all)

Room issue - we were put in the worst room at the hotel really, which bothered us as they knew we were there for only two nights and celebrating our engagement. the room was next to the restaurant (noisy until 10:30pm), on the bottom floor (people walking past), and our sea view was obstructed by a TV shoot we were not told about in advance. it was indeed disrupting to the hotel experience despite them writing in a letter that it won't be. it really bothered me because we paid so much to stay there, and the shoot was going on for an entire day

Other cons: small things but empty mini fridge, extortionate taxi prices to Cartagena (300k one way per person!!!), and a 20k charge for...

Sofitel Baru!!! FABULOUS & RESTORATIVE! This property deserves 6 stars, out of 5! There are so many wonderful and well-put together elements about it. First of is LEED! Thank you Accor & Colombia! I’ll begin with its architecture & well laid out, designated spaces, offering clear spots, passages, ways/path for going & returning; one feels safe walking around & easy to see everything. Main body stands alone, a beautiful, solid building, brightly-lit, on 3 levels, with a roof top, “Pergola”, with extraordinary good vibes & dreamy views of sunset. Again: all LEED (Leadership in Engineering & Environmental Design), thank you Accor Group & Colombia! Staff - everywhere on the property - is professional, with a perfect balance of friendliness and respect. A ton of favorites, all welcoming, happy to see, help, accommodate, bring the guest the most pleasant experience. We salute & appreciate: Jedder, Stephanie, Sharon, at the front-desk; they were welcoming, kind & efficient. Maribel, Victor, Ana, Karina, Yasmine, at Calablanca - breakfast, lunch & dining hall - all, especially Maribel: EXCELLENT customer-server skills! Gustavo & Ignacio - on the beach, offering their lovely smiles & helping hands, with towels, SPF lotion (free, in 1-oz compostable container), surprising facial towels imbued with mint/eucalyptus aroma (aaah!), free water (crispy). Thank you to ALL OF YOU, for making our 4-night stay truly magnificent in every possible way!

Must mention that the rooms (had 2 rooms) are spacious & comfortable, with a table & 2 chairs, with a furnished balcony - again: a round stool table & 2 comfy chairs, amazing sea views, a large rain shower AND a hand-held shower, L’Occitane toiletries, absorbing towels, amazing bedding - pillows, mattress, down comforter - such inescapable good quality, bathrobes, slippers, water, tea, Nespresso machine, (no mini-bar). Everything in the room, including the fixtures, draperies, bed frame, lights, colors, floor - is of remarkable design and quality! Room service is presented elegantly & abundantly. Loved the different kind of bread - sticks, wafers, balls, croissants - placed in a locally woven basket, “Mocila”.

The breakfast (surcharge) has all the tropical fruits cultivated in the area: fresh Pitaya, Chatandurro, Caymito, Mangosteen, Lychee, fresh healthy juices, fresh salmon/lox, cold cuts, innumerable style of breads, pastries, cookies, oatmeal, cereal, omelets, pancakes (a-la-carte, too), basically a plentiful of items, all freshly cooked and beautifully presented. Abundance! Humo, a Japanese restaurant needs reservation. BAHIA restaurant, al fresco and comfy, spoiled us, when the executive chef stopped by to say “!Bienvenido”, and to mention the farm-to-table ingredients. We mouth-watered over the Tuna Tartare & Hamburguesa de Pescado, buns made with ink squid. Thank you!

There is a spa, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a kids’ space, kayaks, bicycles, hammocks, darts, chess on the sand, a (small) soccer field, nautical activities available, FIVE pools, with private, beds, chaises, perfectly clean, perfect water temperature, 3 bars, a Mexican, super-delicious food truck, a new community of Sofitel (time-share) units right next door - heads up if you get addicted to this indulgent style of vacationing… :) The water is pristine. The white sand is pristine. The breeze is HEAVENLY! You can’t get out of the water. You can suntan in 2 hours. You forget your “troubles”.

Please visit this Colombian gem! Can’t stop thinking about all the small & big yummy pieces at Sofitel Baru! It is indulgent. It is an international delight of all five sense!

Wishing administrative staff and management happy visitors and good employees!

With warm, wholehearted gratitude for a sliver of perfection, The Griffin family: John, Ana, Tesi & Fina -...

I don't think I've ever had a worse hotel experience.

I’m a semi-frequent Sofitel customer and I don't plan on staying at a Sofitel again after this experience. We booked four hotel rooms for two nights, and were contemplating extending our stay depending on our experience at the hotel.

Needless to say, we did not extend.

The problems began at check-in, at check-in they offered to upgrade one of our rooms and when we got to the room there was no upgrade.

From there, we went to dinner. There was one other table of customers at dinner, yet it took two hours to receive our main courses. We ordered three steaks (2 medium well, one medium) all were served close to raw. We sent the three steaks back and they were returned overdone on the outside and very rare on the inside. The quality of the food was dismal. Not dismal for a supposedly 4-5 star hotels, but dismal full stop.

Later that evening we also book a massage for two which is to take place the next day at 6 PM.

The next day, we are away from the hotel for the entire day (boating) and return in time for our massages. At 6 PM we show up for our massages and we are told that they only have room for one person to be massaged; despite the reservation being for two. After the Spa attendant is unable to provide any remedy, we speak to the hotel manager. He offers a 50% discount on a massage the next day, and tells us that because of our other issues, he will offer us a discount/comps at check-out.

Later that day at dinner, we try the Asian restaurant on the property. Somehow it was even worse than the restaurant we ate at the night before. Not only does the meal take even longer, but we are served undercooked salmon, bleeding lamb, and RAW chicken. We have to send the lamb back three times for it to be cooked enough so the plate isn't bloody, the salmon is close to raw in the middle, and the chicken was completely raw on the inside (see photo). CAUTION: SALMONELLA. Oh, plus the rest of the food was awful. On top of that when we receive the bill, we are charged for a dish we didn't order.

We also check out the rooftop bar where sushi is served. Fortunately, we didn't risk it after seeing that the raw fish is kept in a non-cooled environment at room temperature.

At check-out, things got even worse. The hotel manager supposedly isn't there and hasn't done anything to adjust the bills despite telling us he would. On top of that, the bills are completely wrong. Double charging for meals, charging for more massages than we had, all sorts of strange charges.

We request to speak to the manager and the restaurant manager comes out and begins arguing with us and even has the gall to tell us that the photo of the raw chicken must've been photoshopped; can you believe that! The restaurant manager; Ari gets visibly angry and makes several comments that could be perceived as threatening ("you'll never forget me" etc).

Also when checking out, we speak to a couple that are checking out early since they got food poisoning their first night there. We aren't surprised.

My family and I have spent tens of thousands of $'s at Sofitel’s and don't plan on ever staying at one after this experience.

We've escalated our complaint to Sofitel corporate and plan on filing a complaint with the Colombian ministry of health.

In terms of the good: The hotel is new, the rooms are modern and good value for the price, the pool isn't heated but is fine, the chocolate mousse is very good.

But, all in all, STAY AWAY. Don't make the same...