Hotel Gimaura — Hotel in Riohacha

So I booked a 10 day stay for 2 rooms facing the ocean at $41USD x night per room(which upon checkout we notice they try to charge us $60USD x night), which at that price one would think, WOW What a deal! Well my mother always said cheap things in life cost you more stress down the road. But never thought it would be this bad. When we arrived at midnight, first of all there was no one in the lobby, we had to scream after waiting about 15mins for someone to notice us which after almost an hr more of the check in process at now 1am we are told that the rooms we had booked were not available(however was not charged any less). Its now 1:15am so we just take the keys and go to our rooms. Well, here it goes: The A/C in the room was not on and it took all night for the room to cool down.(housekeeping will turn off your A/C while you are away, seriously!) Mattresses are tough and you can hear the lose springs in them. The next day we woke up to a very lame breakfast, cold eggs, bread from a bag which had an expiration date of the same day we arrived. Coffee was not available and lets just say that as for fruit, they only had watermelon. WELCOME to Hotel Gimaura! (This was the case almost every day of our stay). HELLO BUGS, BIG, BLACK BUGS EVERYWHERE! Our toilet broke on our first night and never got fixed so they changed our room(twice). There is NO HOT WATER, they only have regular temp water so be ready to take cold showers in the morning when you leave on a tour at 5am. We were never able to enjoy the pool area because they kept closing it at 6pm every night. SERIOUSLY? What hotel does this? This one does! After all this we decided to ask for a manager which we were directed to a very young and unprofessional lady who after stating all of our issues, she said, OK, Im sorry for your inconvenience. I will note it all and take care of it. Thank you and I must go now because I have a huge event this evening. Turns out they had rented the outside parking area to a potential candidate running for mayor of Rioahacha, which yes, you guess it, caused a ton of noise late into the night. And now the parking, so they only employ 1 security guard at night and they are usually if not always are in the lobby on their phones. So you have to go to the front of the hotel get out of your car and walk into the lobby to let them know you need to park your car in the back. They take their sweet time to walk back there, you would think they would run knowing we arrived tired but no they act as if they are doing you a favor by opening the gate. If it were not for the fact that we had so much to do and worry about, we would have never stayed here. If you are planning to visit Riohacha, Colombia, DO NOT STAY HERE. YOU WILL ENJOY RIOHACHA so much more if you DO...

To start this place didn't deserve its 4 star hotel ranking but with limited non-hostel options in town, the Hotel Taroa being booked and a previous stay at Hotel Villa Elina a gong show (see our TA review) we stayed here. Normally the location right across the street from the ocean with palapas for shade and ocean breezes to keep you cool, topped with prompt menu service poolside would be reasons enough to stay here, but then they completely barricaded all that off and the hotel lost all its redeeming qualities. There wasn't any explanation and if there was only a problem with the pool we didn't understand why we couldn't just use the palapas and lounging areas.||The sheets were clean, the shower was just clean enough with a one tap setup delivering cool to tepid water, but the floor was very dirty. We only ever saw...

One of the few hotels in Riohacha that actually sits close to the beach and has a pool. The staff is friendly and helpful. That's all the positive folks. No hot water in the showers, a mediocre mattress on a wood platform in a small room. A chairs there for your convenience. Don't know why they even bothered... For around $50 per night, a poorly built hotel with no conveniences at all. Breakfast is included. If it wasn't, I'd walk to town to get something decent to eat. The problem is finding something that isn't mediocre in Riohacha - and I really don't want to spend the time and effort - there's really nothing to do in the town. It's a base to see other things around the city. Pass the city up, unless the surrounding area draws you here. And don't expect anything but basic at Hotel Gimaura - at least they have seats on...