Hotel On Vacation | Amazon — Hotel in Leticia

On Vacation tried to charge us for "Avianca" checked baggage and anything that's over the carry on, but we found out upon check in that we would have been allowed a checked bag included . . . However, keep in mind the 20-25 minute hike to the ferry. Additionally, with our reservation, the seats that Avianca assigned are aisle and middle, but you can pay for upgrades.  If you would like better seats, arrive early & you can select & pay for your seats at check in, just like a regular reservation.  Keep in mind that Avianca does NOT know who you are, until you check in with your On Vacation documents||Numerous times we reiterated to the supposed agent that was assigned to us, that I am handicapped.  This was not annotated with Avianca or the resort.  Originally, the resort had us in a room that was literally almost a kilometer from the main office AND on the THIRD floor. But they were very gracious to move us immediately. ||Make sure you have all denominations of Colombian peso, I would suggest a minimum of $200,000 . . . Transports to/from airport/port/pier . . . Incidentals, souvenirs, water, munchies, etc. ||There is a 20-25 minute hike to the ferry {carrying all of your luggage}, however, we were able to secure a taxi to a small port, where we took a water taxi {$20,000} to the ferry.  I am not sure if anyone can secure one of these taxis and you would have to pay the small fare.  I am not able to do the walking, so they handled the taxi for us. ||And the ferry that WE were on, was NOT 40 minutes to the resort . . . But an HOUR & 40 minutes.   There were a couple ferry's that flew past us, but I don't know where they were going.  All I know is that the ferry we were on, progressed at a snails pace, AND was hot.  Basically a somewhat enclosed boat, with not much air circulation. ||We tried to secure a different {faster} transport back to the pier/airport, but we were told that they would not be responsible for river taxis.  But they did tell us that coming TO the resort is against a fast current {we actually commented on that current}.  Going back will supposedly only take 35 minutes. ||By the time you FINALLY get to the resort? You feel like you have gone through torture to get to hell.  But after you get some rest, the next day . . . You will have a whole new perspective. ||No matter what time you arrive . . . You cannot get your room key until after 3pm.||They are not joking when they say that there is NO internet service . . . They do offer sporadic "at best" service for $10,000 for 6 hours & only good for WhatsApp supposedly. ||Apparently this offer some sort of "VIP dining experience".  They literally serve the same food that everyone else receives, except that it is in an air conditioned space with waiter service. ||Water IS expensive if you plan on purchasing at the resort.  Suggest you either bring large bottles of water {if you can, weight wise}, lots of empty bottles {you can refill at the buffet, but there are sometimes lines} OR try to purchase at the pier before boarding the transport {ify at best}.||Free drinks was difficult because of only 1 person working & long lines. ||FYI . . . ZERO pets allowed. ||All tours/excursions are $50,000 except 1 for $160,000 that offers supposedly 3 of the tours in 1.  This is the tour we took because we wanted to see the pink dolphins and an encounter with an indigenous tribe and monkey Island.  The pink dolphins were a joke because the only way we supposedly were to see them was as we were going along in the river if they popped up.  The indigenous tribe was horrible it was dirty and nothing like the hype.  Monkey Island was the very best part of our entire experience in the Amazon.||PROS||The service is impeccable & the rooms are large & comfortable||The grounds are well kept||We encountered zero...

IF YOU DO NOT SPEAK SPANISH, DO NOT GO HERE! IT IS UNSAFE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ACTIVITIES, you will also learn nothing, not that speaking Spanish would prove much more educational, this is a package tour, Disney on the Amazon. If this is what you are looking for, crack on.

I went here because my Colombian friend (in particular his mum) enthusiastically recommended this hotel. I saw the reviews before going and my friend played them down, this is my contribution.

I should have stayed in the backpackers hostel (or Hotel Amazon in Leticia) where I spent the first night and the guy spoke more English than all the reception staff at this "4* Hotel". From Leticia book a local guide with the language you speak.

I love nature in all its richness, complexity and interconnection - the tours here cover none of this. E.g. the Canopy Tour, is a single zipline and a ladder walk, the guests were nice, but far from naturephiles. I have been yurning to see a rainforest for years, in this hotel I was trapped between an inaccessible jungle and the Amazon River. Both mighty but just out of reach.

The hotel is somewhere between a 2 and 3 star hotel, and I'm not picky. The rooms and hotel were very clean. I liked the eco building architecture, it made for a nice prison, though you can hear everything going on in neighbouring rooms. Annoyingly my neighbours AC unit was mounted on the headboard off my bed, and they ran it flat out all night (and I'm the Gringo :-) coming from Ireland in February and a bedroom temperature of 14C, I did but need AC, a cold shower (no hot water BTW) and bed works for me.

The staff are nice and remembered me (probably because I'm odd), but they are young and not professionals (you'd expect professionals at a 4* hotel, along with some multilingual staff), they do not anticipate need or try to help, like a catalogue hardware store, where the 18 year-old is clearly more informed on hair and make-up than plumbing supplies - but they can take a number and fetch an item, that's their job, they are nice people, just cheap to hire and largely untrained.

The food is absolutely terrible on the standard package, this is fairly inexcusable, by the end of it I felt like a cancer patient, trying to eat to keep up my strength for the rest of the holiday. It could be somewhere to go to lose weight, just fast it out, breakfast is bearable.

BTW - They do have internet, I had to ask on two days, then insist on day 3 to check in for flights, you can buy 6 hours of WiFi for 10k, there is no phone coverage at the hotel (nice to see guests off their phones), but oddly you get signal 50m in any direction from the hotel, but that is largely inaccessible, except for a price.

The other guests seemed quite happy, but they spoke Spanish and probably knew what they were signing up for. I had a deeply sad 3 days at this hotel, if I had not expended so much time and energy getting there, or if I wasn't so trapped, I would have left and made something of my time.

If I did what I wanted to do, I probably would have had a few mind blowing experiences over tiny interactions in the rainforest, but might have agrivated my mildly injured knee, the associated cut become badly infected and caught malaria - admittedly that would have been worse - though I would have learnt more than "be careful who's advice you take, read travel blogs and trust reviews more", also maybe email the hotel and if they don't reply, ditch them - on vacation did not reply, I would give advice on how to get the boat to the hotel, but if you need it DON'T GO! Also, on vacation is not like booking.com or kiwi, they are a package tour operator, this would have been useful to know, but I booked in a rush and trusted the wrong friend - a different friend...

I am not one to leave reviews unless the service is outstanding or just straight up horrible. Although I had seen a few bad reviews, didnt think it would be that bad given the 3.8 rating. Oh boy was I wrong. Unfortunately, what would've been a magical place was ruined by the bad service at the hotel and its personnel. From the rudeness and lack of care by the front desk to the tasteless and repurposed foods and lame/ basic tours.||Here's a bit of the things to highlight:||1. Our agent had us booked a 4 person room for just the 2 of us indicating there were no other rooms available. Meaning we paid a higher price; however, when we went, you could tell the hotel was at about 50% capacity or so and there were indeed rooms available. Thus, we paid extra beds just for the fun of It I guess.||2. Ask for the price breakdown before making the payment. They charged us 200k pesos for some random fee in case of cancelation - makes so sense. Anyways, I was never reimbursed the money and it was a fight.||3. We asked for a change of room given the sheets smelled like sweat and there were clear signs the room has not been properly cleaned prior to our arrival.||4. We asked to be changed of room and what was a simple and understandable request became an ordeal. Front desk was rude and clearly did not want to attend to our request.||5. For the first time in my life, in a HOTEL, it was a fight to get towels. The cleaning lady simply forgot and the front desk did not believe that was the case. They sent me beck and forth. It was not until three hours later I was able to get towels.||6. Food was tasteless and basic - Buffet style. On the second day, I noticed the leftover food from the day before was reheated, chopped or mixed with others and served for lunch. I am sure when it comes to meat and fish, that could not be safe.||7. The tours were unorganized. Departure time waiting for other that were very late (+20 mins) and the activities were pretty basic. Not much to see... all they cared about was selling and selling and putting together what was at hand. During our trip to Tres Fronteras, the store they took us was certainly overpriced (+60% mark up when we compared the same items from a store a block away).||I personally would not do this trip with them again and rather seek other alternatives. Talked to a few other people who found better options, from traveling on their own and staying in Puerto Nariño to others staying in Leticia and booking their tours from their hotels at very...