AC Hotel Santa Marta — Hotel in Santa Marta

Hotel located only a block from the Marina and Santa Marta Boardwalk (more like a park strip separated by a street to shops and restaurants as well as old town attractions) and the beach. It actually has police barrack next so, you will see lots of police and trainees on Carrera 2 which adds to the safety. To me, this area is probably the most clean and safe area of the town. With early arrival of plane, we got to hotel at Noon, Yohan checked us in early, commented on our Elite status, gave a full explanation of the hotel and our Full Board package. He and rest of front desk spoke very good English and well very kind and friendly, make our 4 days stay very welcoming. Rest of restaurant, bar, and other staff we encountered were very helpful and friendly, although most other than front desk staff didn't speak much of English, but fully acceptable. This is very nice and upscale for 3 star hotel, would gave 5 star if not for some small issues and spotty house keeping. The building is split into two sections, one for AC Hotel, and separate entrance for apartments. So, each floor has about 10 rooms each, so its not a big hotel. Room: stayed in 1802 with a king bed but more like a super king and perfect to my liking, firm but soft on top. Room does lack a seating area but roomy and like the bath set up, where you have clothes area separate by the sink with mirrored wall separating sleeping area. Desk area with drinks next and patted luggage bench, then separate shower and toilet. Large windows showed the downtown of Santa Marta and the beach/park area. (all even number rooms will be like this, odd number rooms will have likely two queens with balcony view of Mountain and some ocean view.) Room had two large bath towels and one mid hand towel. No wash cloth for bath, which I picked one up from GYM for use. Has a safe, refrigerator with mini bar stocked, snacks. Had two drawers, but plenty of hanging space and bag storage under and top. Had one bath robe and one pair slippers. I had to ask for extra slipper but the house keeping brought one that had same side (right foot). Asked the cleaning lady for one but gave me a used one (?) so I used my sandals instead. Biggest peeve was, room had the auto power, so you had to insert the room key to activate the electricity in the room, which is fine but having it and light switch behind the door was very inconvenient as after coming in you had to close the door to get to it so at night it was a challenge, same for leaving, had to pull the key out before opening the door.(see photo) Housekeeping: This one was very spotty. I left towels on the rack as not to renew, but it was swapped with new towels next day, then following day, again left on the rack but didn't replace it so had to ask towels at the front desk. Third night ran out of tissues, so I opened the case and left out the box so cleaner can see and replace, well, took the box away but no new tissue box, he/she left the tissue case empty. At least cleaner left extra bottles of Shampoo and conditioner. Facilities: Main lobby has work area, and lounge area next to Bar, which also had an outdoor sitting. Front desk has a bag storage area. Elevator is secured with room key activation to your floor. 4th floor has, AC Kitchen, small sitting area, bathroom, small GYM with multi function machine (I had to fix cables jammed in 4 pulley section but still had some issues), free weight in barbell upto 35 lbs. Two glider, two treadmills, and a bike. it was just enough to get a quick workout. Outside was large pool over seeing the ocean and mountain to the back that had the depth of 3-3.5 ft, and a kiddy pool; area also had pool bar, three cabana sections and several loungers by the pool. Towel is provided with a staff also work as a life guard. There is a tour desk near the elevators, security guard on duty at all times. Request for taxi by front desk was very quick. Food: Food was good and fresh all the time. Good breakfast, it did lack on yogurt section and fruits. Two options for fresh made eggs, or ask...

It seems that the room we were in is not initially designed for hotel guests. The sink and mirror are placed next to the bed. Whilst the shower itself is placed seperately. So after showering you have to walk inside the room to reach the sink and mirror. The toilet door is the most awkward I have seen. It is not equipped with a lock, and when closing it it does not close entirely! A little gap remains hence from seated position you can look inside the room, and vice versa. From perspective of privacy not logically designed and I would recommend for this to be changed at the next overhaul . The toilet door itself makes a lot of noise when trying to close it. Not handy during late night hours if you are with a second guest. The swimming pool was nice, however the windows surrounding it, should be cleaned clearly more often, considering the view from this floor is beautiful. Breakfast was relatively good could have more (daily) variation, and to include turkey/chicken ham. The service at breakfast was slow though. I had to wait several times more than 5 minutes for my empty plate to be removed. Whilst the employees were gathered at the entrance of the breakfast room, as a group chatting away. On several occasions I myself had to ask for items such as coffee and eggs to be supplemented. This should be noticed by staff itself, not by the guest. During my stay noticed that a bald men dressed in white shirt, likely a manager, was addressing his employees, related to their work. At the swimming bar, it was very audible that this man had a discussion with one the staff, (i think this was the painter) and he raised his voice several times during the conversation whilst I was trying to enjoy the sun. However due to this person having a heavy conversation with staff in front of the guests, raising his voice, this spoiled the experience a little. This same man, I saw him doing the same, at the hotel lobby, this time at a normal voice, still strict, talking to a group of staff. However these kind of meetings you should not do in front of the guests. Isnt it better to have it done in a private setting in a meeting room? The staff on overall were very friendly and I was nice to see visible security at the entrance. The cleaning services were good. The water in room is not poteable. There are stations on different hotel floors where you can replenish your bottle. Although i could not reach any of these floors with my hotel keycard. Hence I replenished at the gymnasium. The location of the hotel is good close to the boulevard, and there is a supermarket nearby. On overall some improvements to be made on room design and...

I have status with Marriott, Hilton and Best Western and I have finally stayed at all three hotels in the Santa Marta area. As a Platinum member, I felt VERY welcomed! I really enjoyed the value and attention I received at this hotel. I was offered a room upgrade to a balcony, and a choice of a 20$ daily restaurant credit or points. I took the restaurant credit and enjoyed some really delicious meals. The included breakfast was also very generous and had everything I would have expected at a European style hotel. Unfortunately, I am still waiting for my stay to post to my account so I am not sure how many points I will get. This was my first time staying at an AC Hotel and I would for sure visit this specific location again.

Ok so there some issues with the building, some parts were poorly designed. Here is what I noticed.

As others have said the pool is a bit strange and probably needs to be completely rebuilt, the ladders are not safe and the bottom of the pool feels like walking on a tarp. The pool area is not very comfortable to eat around as the tables are not high enough to actually eat from. The wind also makes eating around the pool not very comfortable. It's strange because when on top of the Hilton Garden or the Best Western the wind is not as bad. I imagined it's the design of the building. The rear passageway connecting the service area to the back of the kitchen and the pool bar needs to be fixed as the strong winds shutting that door is very dangerous... at one point I thought the door was going to break. The owner of the building needs to have that fixed for the safety of guests and hotel staff.

The bathrooms on the floor of the restaurant needed to be improved! The bathroom for those in wheelchairs or handicapped is not very good. How does someone with a wheelchair even lock the bathroom door? There are also not enough safety railings. In the men's bathroom, the doors to the individual bathroom stalls are so close to the toilets that you cannot even close them.

I am happy to say that everything in my bedroom was working perfectly. I really liked the shampoo, soaps, and lotion. I enjoyed the Platinum gift waiting in my room upon arrival. I also really liked the view from the balcony. The beds were very comfortable.

The staff were very attentive and accommodating. I think was asked many times what I thought about the food. It was really good! It was basic but extravagant. It was probably the best meal I had all week and for a...