Best Western Plus Santa Marta Hotel — Hotel in Santa Marta

It's a very good hotel in a quiet area of the historical center of Santa Marta. It's a short walking distance to both beaches, and it's near the square with many restaurants.

We stayed at the 12th floor and it's an impressive view over the city, however the area right next to the hotel looks like a slum with garbage all over. It's sad, because it takes away the total impression of the view. Also the roof top is nice with a pool, bar and a beautiful view over the city without windows.

The rooms are very good, clean, spacious and with generous closets. Lots of space for the clothes and other things. The beds are perfect, we slept very well. A good bathroom with stylish design. The AC worked well. The fridge worked well too, however it was a bit noisy at night.

The breakfast was mediocre. I mean, they had lots of options, they even had different options every morning. So far so good. But the quality of the food was very varying. Usually you associate Colombia with the country of coffee, but the coffee in this hotel was so bland that I felt like they had used the same coffee filter a second time. Also the tank was empty lots of times. The scrambled eggs seemed to be made from powder and milk, not real eggs. The different options of bread were really boring and dry. But the arepas, the fruits and a meat stew they served once was very delicious. Every morning they also served some kind of pancakes on a special plate, but it was empty almost all the time so I never had the chance to try it. Also the organisation of the breakfast was a bit bad because it felt like it was tight, the guests and staff had to take turns in some spaces. In general the breakfast area felt a bit small for that big hotel. We didn't have that much problem since we were only one couple and always arrived early but we saw big families that arrived a bit later had some problems finding seats.

The staff were very helpful and service minded most of the time. They let you borrow towels when going to the beach. However, one thing we did not like was during the check in. I despise hotels that are so strict about their check-in time. We arrived at 2:30 pm, but they couldn't let us check in until 3pm because the room wasn't “ready”. It sounds ridiculous but we had no problem waiting until 3pm. But what happens when you tell all the guests that you need to check-in at 3 pm? At 3pm of course the queue of guests became very long and chaotic. Because of this we didn't get the key to our room until 3:20 pm. So all of a sudden they finished the rooms exactly at 3pm? Of course most of the rooms were already finished. Guests need to check out at noon. They would save so much time and frustration if they would let people enter when it's...

Due to an error made by the front desk. My fiancée and myself were treated disrespectfully and humiliated at every single interaction with this staff. From sending me to dangerous areas for currency exchange without first calling to make sure they were open as I requested they do. To discriminating against me and my Colombian national fiancée by stopping her from entering the hotel every day after her work. No management ever being visibly present except when sitting in the dining area during the breakfast buffet eating. To hiring and employing young irresponsible and petty security. The front desk and security employees, which by the way are and were my very first impression of the hotel were grossly incompetent and disrespectful. As one of the higher priced hotels in the area I would definitely suggest anyone thinking to stay here to reconsider and look at other similarly priced stays. I will say there was 1 front desk staff member that did go above and beyond my expectations (Marlon), but because he wasn’t working 24/7 the week long hotel stay was horrible to say the least. Too many nice hotels with front desk employees that actually want you and treat you like...

It is a decent hotel, not brand new, not super cosy, which does it job for an unpretentious business travel. However, if you are picky and expect top notch experience especially when it comes to customer orientation, details, breakfast and swimming pool, you probably will not be too happy. Rooms are okay but equipped to bare minimum (you get only one towel, no bathrobe or slippers, no shower gel, only soap, no typical hygienic kits or shoe sponge). Breakfast is edible but always the same, and there are few choices: only one type of bread and it is a typical disastrously tasting sponge (although I must say that good bread is really hard to come by in Colombia), no proper desserts or choice of sweet spreads. Then, the swimming pool opens ridiculously late, only at 9 am (three hours after the sunrise). Such a pity because thus business travelers miss a good opportunity to start their day afresh, sunbathing and unwinding...