Hilton Santa Marta — Hotel in Santa Marta

I am writing to report a concerning incident that occurred during my recent stay at the Hilton Santa Marta. I was part of a wedding party block staying at the hotel for the weekend of March 16, 2025. Incident Details On March 16, 2025, at approximately 12:45 PM, I entered an elevator to travel to the 2nd floor to meet with other guests from our group. The elevator suddenly stopped and became completely inoperable. I immediately pressed the emergency button and informed the responding staff member that I was trapped. She acknowledged my situation and stated that they were aware and "working on it." Timeline of Events

12:45 PM: Elevator stopped functioning, trapping me inside 1:05 PM: After 20 minutes with no updates, I called again via the emergency button and was greeted with "what's your emergency?" - suggesting my situation was either unknown or not being taken seriously 1:25 PM: The security guard initially claimed the company wasn't answering, then contradicted himself by stating they would arrive in 10 minutes 1:55 PM: The front desk finally contacted my friends to inform them of my situation 2:00 PM: Elevator technician arrived at the hotel 2:25 PM: I was finally rescued after approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes trapped in the elevator

Inadequate Response and Refusal of Responsibility After being rescued, the hotel employee in charge (Laurith) merely offered a glass of water and said "we were trying our best." This lack of proper care was concerning enough, but what followed was even more disappointing:

There was no follow-up from management on site after this traumatic experience I had to personally seek out management for a resolution I was directed to speak with the Director of Food & Beverage, as apparently he was "the highest person onsite" The Director assured me he would connect with upper management about the situation

When I returned to the hotel later, Laurith informed me via WhatsApp that "management had made a decision" and asked me to visit the front desk. Upon arrival, I was told that:

Since the elevators are manufactured by an external company, the hotel claimed they were "not liable for any issues" They refused to offer any form of compensation for my missed flight and additional accommodation costs The attitude displayed was dismissive and completely lacking in empathy

Consequences of the Incident This incident had significant consequences:

I lost nearly two hours of my vacation time during a special wedding weekend The extended entrapment caused me to miss my flight I was forced to secure and pay for alternate accommodations for the night I experienced considerable stress and anxiety during what should have been a celebratory weekend

Your Corporate Values vs. My Experience As you know, Conrad Hilton founded your corporation with the vision "To fill the earth with light and warmth of hospitality." The treatment I received at the Hilton Santa Marta stands in stark contrast to these values. The denial of responsibility and lack of basic hospitality following a serious safety incident reflects poorly...

This is not a 5 or even a 4 star hotel if you’re well traveled you know the difference. Junior suite, room its self is decent but for $280USD a night underwhelming. A ocean view unit suite is only an ocean view when you turn to the right. Directly in front of you are apartment buildings. When you arrive you’ll be charged another $60 for breakfast. But that’s just the beginning of the comedy show about to take place during your visit. That voice in your head will constantly remind you “you paid $280 a night for this garbage” mostly for the following reasons:

No lay flat bed or chairs on beach just a hard plastic table type chair. Listen to me, this is your warning, you want a beach vacation to relax but you won’t. You will be bothered every 45 seconds by a vendor peddling something , there’s more of them on that beach than actual guests. I’ve been to 60 countries. I’ve been to every beach in Colombia and this is absolutely out of control, BELIEVE ME, it’s worst than you can imagine!

Food is just horrible, servers are lazy, lethargic and slow. VERY SLOW. They won’t serve you, you will have to chase them down. At any bar or Resturant in that hotel.

No mini bar in your room. Not even a bottle of water.

Service from everyone you encounter is subpar and just generally unfriendly.

Towels are small , thin so I hope you love that sandpaper feeling towel after that sunburn you just got. 1 robe in room with 2 guests and I asked 2x for a 2nd robe for my girl… it never arrived and I gave up asking. No slippers

Good luck trying to try to call the front desk from Your room… there’s no connection just a busy tone.

WiFi is spotty throughout the hotel and you won’t have normal cell service

Only one sheet on the bed. No top sheet, really?

$60 Breakfast for 2 nights. No, breakfast is not included in your overpriced stay.

The adult rooftop pool is very small, don’t let the photos fool you. When you arrive to es ape the beach hounds that won’t let you relax make sure you bring a water because it will take you at least 15 minutes to get a water and you’ll have to go to the bar and ask for it, they won’t ask you.

10% gratuity is included on everything you order there. I’ve lived in Colombia for 6 years and never seen that. Gratuity is not even a customary thing in this country. Regardless, I never experienced a service from anyone during my stay that deserved it.

I have to believe that anybody giving this place 5 stars are either bots or they just don’t travel much and the bar is set low. Years ago I remind myself that I was done with Hilton properties. Decided to give it another go and was quickly reminded to put them on the black list and...

This place is not generally bad. All the guest-facing staff was very nice and helpful. But there was a lack of caring for cleaning the rooms and common areas (more about that further down). For us there were a lot of smaller and one really big and important problem.

Small ones first, the big issue further down: Within three days we had to call the front desk around seven times because of missing towels, broken amenities, dirty and/or missing cups, and so on. In the gym water is dripping from on of the ventilation exits onto the sitting bicycle. In a big hotel things can happen and by itself none of the issues would be a problem. They should be seen and fixed quickly though. But here is a total lack of caring. When we reported missing shampoo and a broken dispenser in the morning, this was not fixed until we called again next day. The broken dispenser actually never got fixed during our stay.

One day after the room service, they forgot a towel, so we had just one towel for two people. After calling the front desk, they promised to fix it. They didn't, but we just got two new ones the next evening with the room service commencing. We could have called again in between and asked, but at that point we had been tired of calling the desk so often for everything.

What's the really big issue that makes me give just one star? A lack of hygiene when it's about the drinking water. At this place you don't have a bottle of water in your room, but an empty bottle that you can fill yourself up on the floor. That's actually a good idea. The problem was how disgusting the water dispenser was. This is the place where the whole people on our level get their water from. It was in a dark corner and there was garbage, hairs, stains and so on. When I adressed this, they said they will fix it. But only the garbage was picked up. Just check the picture. It's from 12 am checkout time on our last day. Everyone who would have cared, could have fixed that better with a wet wipe within 5 Minutes.

People safe up their money to have a 5-star experience at Hilton and then meet this lack of care. This is not ok.

The other reviews of the last months and the generic answers show a similar picture of...