Landmark Hotel Medellin — Hotel in Medellín

FACT CHECKING RECENT 1 STAR REVIEWS:

Despite a few recent 1 star reviews, I booked Landmark Medellin for a 1 week stay. Here's my experience and some rebuttals to different 1 star reviews I've seen.

Before I proceed, I will note, the hotel makes it VERY clear that you must check in any and all guests at the time of check-in and they make their policy very clear as well, that if you bring any guests, you'll incur a penalty. It's not a hard policy to understand and I have a feeling some of these poor reviews are because they tried to bring an unexpected guest in later.

Regarding London C./Richard C. (I believe these are the same person leaving multiple 1 star reviews) they state that the hotel didn't inform them the pool was under maintenance. I had the opposite experience. I was informed of the dates that the pool was under maintenance, the aircon was under maintenance, and when the partner restaurants had limited menus due to issues outside their control.

The same reviewer states that "the restaurant has atrocious food". Again, this appears to be a reviewer upset about other circumstances trying to make the entire trip sound bad. I ate at Smash and at General Cafe and both had great dishes. I had the pasta that this reviewer mentioned and no, it does not have Cheetos. It does have something adding a crunch aspect, but it's not Cheetos and it's not bad (see photo with aperol spritz, this appeared to be the same dish). Also, both of these restaurants are partnered with the hotel to offer guests breakfast (if you included it on your booking) and the breakfasts are fantastic. I had Mr. Pochado (recommend) at General Cafe, avo toast at Smash, and eggs + croissant at General Cafe. All came with juice and coffee and fruit. It was a very high quality breakfast every time. Images attached.

The last complaint from this reviewer is that they took someone to their room and got charged. They chalk the guest situation up to a woman that was an employee recruit. I don't understand why they would be bringing a potential recruit to their room. These rooms aren't situated for professional meeting spaces and a male inviting a "potential female recruit" to this room seems inappropriately intimate. The common area has plenty of seating and a professional setting.

Regarding Alejandro Salgado's review, I was surprised to read a bad review about the blackout curtains. I slept during the daylight hours a couple different days this trip. I had no issue. The room got nice and dark. I even took a photo (see attached photos) to compare the difference, mind you, the attached photo is with a long shutter speed so it appears even brighter in the photo, when in reality, the room was nice and dark when the shade was down. Also, the shade is automatic, which I thought was neat!

This reviewer also mentioned a smoke detector above the bed. Yes, there is one. However, the blinking light is a tiny microLED. The red LED on the TV power indicator is much brighter. Claiming to be awoken by this LED seems dramatic. This was a very odd complaint and I found this to be inconsistent with my experience.

I found the bed to be extremely comfortable and the pillows comfortable as well.

Lastly, regarding Sang Peiris review. Yes, I found my room to be a bit small but it was adequate for what was needed. My suite did not have a staircase, so I cannot attest to the steepness, though other reviews mention the same. Balconies are, in fact, quite small and only have 1 chair. I would agree with this. My unit, however, DID have a water dispenser which I found very unique and clever. It's a dispenser built into the wall with an RO system, as I was told. I saw an iron in the free laundry room. Also, the laundry room was a great touch. Totally free with washer and dryer and Tide pods + dryer sheets. There's also an ice machine in there. While Sang's review was correct, there's no coffee in the room, there is an abundant table of coffee and teas in the lobby available at all time.

Overall, I loved this hotel and found the 1 star reviews to be contrary to...

The location of the hotel is good, otherwise it's a disappointing experience. The hotel is very impersonal and has little character, design tries to upgrade it, but it remains more on the level of an Ibis hotel, This is also underlined by the room size.

The atmosphere is not authentic and could be in any other place in the world. At check-in I was constantly spoken to in English and I had the feeling that the front desk staff was not interested in the guests. I constantly replied in Spanish and the staff member ignored this. If you come to Medellín to get to know the charms of Colombia, this hotel is the wrong place for it.

It was very loud at night, guests were partying drunk in their rooms, apparently the security doesn't pay attention to something like that. In general, the walls are not well insulated and poorly built. You can hear every bump and movement from the adjacent rooms, above and below, as well as from the hallway.

Breakfast is very expensive at 51.000 Pesos for one person and you get unlike other hotels in Colombia, instant juice, one cup of coffee and some fruit yoghurt. No water has been offered. If you order this at the restaurant separately you possibly run cheaper. Weird. For the breakfast you have to book in advance. You were supposed to get a voucher for it, but it was not handed over to me by the English-speaking employee. This led to the fact that after a long wait in the breakfast room I had to go to my room, there was no voucher in the documents, again to the reception to receive it there after inquiry. This process cost me 20 minutes that morning and I was late for an appointment.

The hotel is partly digitized in many areas, which makes it very impersonal, why you need a voucher for breakfast is a mystery to me.

The rooms have a refrigerator. Unfortunately, mine was even louder than the air conditioning, so I had to pull the power plug of the refrigerator in the evening.

Can I recommend the hotel? Depends on the expectations, if you like to be in an anonymous place, prefer USA kind of low quality service and breakfast and don't care where you stay, it's a good hotel, if you expect more and want the service you normally get in Colombia, it's definitely not the...

Exceptionally clean hotel with everything you need. Good location and a convenient walk to lots of restaurants and stores. About a 10 -12 minute walk to El Poblado station where a lot of tours meet up. It's a very safe neighborhood with lots of tourists.

I stayed here for 3 nights and everything was perfect. The pool on the roof is really nice on a hot day and I love the free laundry downstairs. They give tide pods and Bounce dryer sheets, all free. There is only one machine and dryer but I had no issues using it and others were very courteous with taking their stuff out on time. They even have an ironing board, hangers, etc.

Wifi is very, very strong throughout the hotel. The breakfast was good, though a bit confusing since it's next door in its own restaurant. Easy once you figure it out.

The front desk staff spoke English very well so I had no issues communicating and they were able to store my luggage before and after check-ins.

The rooms are very clean, and I could see housekeeping working incredibly hard on each room (more time per room than I have ever seen in a hotel!). I actually suffered an injury on this trip so I spent a lot more time in the hotel than intended. The shower is nice and hot and there is everything you need. There is a water filter built into the wall for drinking water, though the water there is actually safe for Americans to drink. They have a gym, which I didn't use lol, a nighttime security guard, and a little minimarket next door and right up the block for any snacks/soda you may want. There is also a taxi stand right across the street for the children's hospital so that's very convenient too.

Only downside is that there is a bit of construction going on next door. That's obviously not the hotel's fault, is temporary, and it doesn't start until 9am. I was able to sleep through it without issue If you are a very light sleeper you may want to ask about a room away from that, but it doesn't seem the construction will be going on much longer.

Book reservations early as I wanted to stay here an extra day but they were...