Hotel Dann Carlton Medellin — Hotel in Medellín

We recently stayed at Hotel Dann Carlton Medellín for a family trip and while there were some positive aspects, several issues—especially around noise and the spa experience—left us disappointed.

The Good: • Restaurant & Staff: The food at 43rd Street restaurant was excellent, and the restaurant staff were warm, attentive, and professional. The housekeeping team also deserves a shoutout—they were consistently friendly and helpful throughout our stay. • Room & Location: Our room itself was clean and nicely appointed. The location is convenient—just a short cab ride to most tourist attractions. The neighborhood is walkable and pleasant during the day, though the hotel staff advised against walking back after dark for safety reasons. • Pool: Our kids had a blast at the pool, which was well-maintained. While service was slow (more on that below), the staff remained cheerful and courteous.

The Bad: • Noise Issues: Our first night was extremely difficult. We were assigned a room on the lowest floor near the spa, elevator, and conference rooms—and it was loud. After traveling 12 hours with two small kids, this made it impossible to get proper rest. We requested a quieter room and were moved to a higher floor, but unfortunately still placed next to an elevator, despite our clear request to avoid that due to the kids. On our last night, a loud party two rooms down went on until well past 3 AM, including shouting and fighting in the hallway. Even after calling reception, the noise continued for quite a while. This completely ruined our night and woke up our children. • Breakfast Experience: While breakfast is included, the service was severely understaffed. Buffet items, once out, were not replenished even with hours remaining in breakfast service. Getting tea, coffee, or even an omelet took persistent effort and long wait times. A frustrating start to our mornings. • Poolside Service: Just one server was managing all food and drink orders for the pool area, so we waited more than an hour for basic items like beer and snacks. Again, the issue wasn’t attitude—the staff was nice—but they were simply spread too thin. • Spa (Chocolate Therapy): This was by far the most disappointing experience. We booked a two-hour chocolate therapy session expecting a facial, full massage, and body treatment. What we got was: • A 5-minute “facial” with two creams and no massage. • A 35-minute body massage. • Chocolate applied only to arms, legs, and torso (not full-body or face, contrary to their promotional images). • Then we were told to shower and spend the remaining time (over an hour) in the jacuzzi. So out of two hours, barely 45 minutes involved actual treatment. It felt like a complete rip-off for nearly $200. To add to the frustration, when we discovered that the spa menu included a 20% discount at the hotel restaurant for chocolate therapy clients, neither the spa, front desk, nor the restaurant could or would honor it. We got bounced around between departments and ultimately gave up. • Language Barrier: While expected to an extent, it’s worth noting that very few hotel staff speak English, making every interaction require Google Translate. It’s manageable but something to be aware of if you don’t speak Spanish.

Final Thoughts: This hotel has potential—it’s well-located, has a beautiful lobby, and some truly great staff—but it desperately needs better service consistency, noise management, and improved spa experiences. If you’re planning to stay here, bring earplugs, manage your expectations on service speed, and skip the...

Dann Carlton place would have been above 5 stars if there was a room with a kitchen as I would blissfully live in one of the higher floor units. You can’t beat this hotel’s location in Medellín in my opinion.

Location: Ask for a room facing Avenue of Poblado and Parque Presidenta, the view from the room (1309) was incredible. In the morning you can see birds flying around down from the park and at night, you can enjoy the beautiful mountains view while having the take-out food, of which the selection is plentiful within a 5-7 minutes’ walk from Provenza (east, across the park), Astorga (west, across the Avenue of Poblado), or Mila de Oro (south).

Professionalism: The first thing the Dann Carlton staff did before I entered their facility was to sanitize my luggage thoroughly and my hands. He was kind enough to sanitize the taxi driver, as well. It’s that sort of extra thing which gives you a peace of mind seeing how the management here treats the Covid situation seriously.

As for professionalism, everyone that I interacted with was very friendly and I’m going to have to particularly mention Liliana (sorry if I’m misspelling your name). I told her I miss the farmers market that used to be held at Park Presidenta on Sundays, and asked her where I can purchase vegetables grown without pesticides and funny fertilizers. She said she knows someone in the food industry, and called her friend. Within a few minutes, she recommended a supermarket called “Merka Organico” located in El Tesoro Mall (around 25 minutes walk). She also said she likes another supermarket called Carulla, which you see a lot in Poblado including the store around 5 minutes walk from the hotel (straight up above Calle 10). Although they share some products in common, the selection at Merka Organico is a little more exclusive including fresh looking mushrooms and veggies, so I’m grateful that Liliana called her friend for me.

Lastly, I want to mention their breakfast. They said they changed the menu everyday (except for the basic ones e.g. eggs and beans and rice), but I liked their empanadas. If you find the ones from the street too heavy to your stomach probably due to the repeatedly used oil, try theirs. It’s much easier to eat and I find it enjoyable even for breakfast. Also, I always custom ordered the omelet with cheese, bacon, tomato, and garlic. The extra garlic had...

After giving this Hotel a 5 Star Rating for the last times I stayed here I have to deduct 4 Stars because of a real bad experience I had this time. I’m writing this review in english so other travellers from outside of Colombia will understand it as well. This review is based on an experience with the bellboys that have worked on December 20th. That day I had to transfer to another Hotel because the Dann was overbooked in between December 20th and 23rd. We‘ve left our suitcases, bags and tote bags with the bellboys so that we could enjoy the City not having to worry about anything. When I came back with a Van to claim them at night and to transfer them to the other Hotel my wife told me that a tote bag with 7 packs of Coffee that was bought at a Finca was missing as well as plastic bag that included a couple of electronics (wires and some more stuff). Asked the other Hotel to call the Dann. The lady at the reception was surprised I called and asked for my missing items and wanted to get rid of me quickly so she transfered me to the concierge office. The guy that has received a genuine tip for his work earlier played surprised when I was asking for the missing bags. He said oh yes we found them here and were calling you already but the number wasn’t available. Note on that, my phone is on this entire journey and there are no problems reaching me so yes Sir you are a liar. On top of that the plastic bag with the electronics was attached to a backpack so it couldn’t have been put anywhere else if it hadn’t been taken off. Since he was „that surprised“ and „trying hard to reach me“ he then asked me if I wanted my stuff brought to me by a Taxi. Well yes I wanted to so he sent the Taxi. After all this trouble I also had to pay the Taxi driver another 10.000 COP which isn’t much. The Dann Medellin has left a bad taste since I‘m not sure if they tried stealing this stuff (the electronics are obvious since they’ve been attached to a backpack and couldn’t have fallen off as they were attached real good). My next stay will definitely not be in a Hotel where I have to be afraid that they steal my stuff. All in all a 5 Star Hotel would’ve played this entire thing a bit more...