Victoria City Hotel — Hotel in Oranjestad (city)

The City Hotel has a lobby and a 24-hour front desk. Other than that, it's just a collection of rooms. No services. No daily maid service, although the cleaner did catch me in the hall and asked me if I needed anything. Twice we emptied my garbage. She was very nice. No English. The hotel has cold water coolers for everyone to use. In Aruba, you can drink the water from the tap, which is a real bonus. The water tastes good too.||||The two younger guys who seem to run the front desk are very nice and speak excellent English. Two different older guys seem to hang around later in the day and the evening. ||||The room is basic. I've paid less for a better appointed Motel 6 room. During my week stay, I saw a few rooms through open doorways; they all seemed like mine. My room had a bed: very comfortable with a very comfortable pillow; a night table; an armoire with one low shelf but no rung and no hangers; a refrigerator. no chair. No chest of drawers, so your clothes sort of end up all over the place. The window was too high to see out of, making the room bright but confining.The TV only had programming in Spanish, although you can catch the odd American movie with Spanish subtitles splashed across the screen. I caught the 1998 version of Titanic. I turned off the sound so I could see the action without having to listen to the constant drivel from Jack and Rose. ||||Having said all that, the hotel is spotlessly clean. I didn't see one bug of any kind, which is something to say when you're in the tropics. It's safe and quiet. There's a large grocery store on the next block. Keep in mind that Aruba has banned plastic bags so bring your own or expect to be shown a pile of cardboard boxes (shades of the future). The hotel is at the end of the city's main shopping street that leads to the busy downtown area, which is about 10 minutes away. You can also walk to Surfside Beach in about 15 minutes; the beach is very nice but offers no services. ||||I paid about CAD 110 a night. Way overpriced. I would not stay there again or recommend it. Better...

I booked a room in Victoria City Hotel in Oranjestad for 2 nights and going to stay for 3 nights from January 24 to 27th. 

I found big security problems and unacceptable tourist accommodation in this hotel:

The hotel is on construction making big noise from windows, doors, roof and corridors, no hot water, no front desk service in the evening and night, and no security person who speaks English in night time. When you lock yourself out of the room without taking the key, nobody comes to help you to open the door. I saw electric wires on the doors, and construction materials everywhere in the corridors when I checked in earlier about 2:00pm. The whole building is not ready to accommodate guests yet. But they do accept guests constantly. 

The hotel owner and manager tried to cheat me and convince me to accept those situations by talking to me secretly in the office for hours and hours to accept those bad situations. They did not care about wasting my vacation time. They only care about their own interests. The owner promised to compensate me by proving 3 nights free stay in a very tiny room with hot water on 24th at 12:15am after having talked for 2 hours. I accepted it as I was thinking she was honest and tried to solve the problem. 
But she changed mind in third night. She and the manager pushed me to pay. The manager kept me in the office and talked for 2 hours again. I did not want to pay as she broke promise and became unreliable. 

Unfortunately the manager asked me to move out of the hotel. That was on 26th at 8:30pm that was too late to get the similar hotel with similar price. I had to book a very expensive hotel room. 

I was thinking to report to the police at the moment but the big guys around me including the manager that I felt threatened. It was a dangerous situation. I decided to leave this hotel and reported to the police after I left. 

I strongly recommend not to book this hotel at the moment when it is on construction and has no hot water and no full qualified services and...

I stayed there for 3 nights recently for my birthday and it was a complete disaster! When I first walked in I could smell the stench of cigarettes in the air. After I paid for my room with my credit card I noticed that the hotel changed me about 15 dollars extra so I asked the guy who works there why I was being charged extra and he said oh its a fee when you use your credit card… I should of known from that point this was a terrible choice I made but I was trying to stay positive. Then I walk upstairs to my room because there’s no elevator and when I open the door it looks nothing like the lovely pictures on the internet! I went back downstairs to let him know I wasn’t happy with the room and also to let him know there’s no box tissue in the room he told me that there was no other king rooms left and that in the 50 years that they been in business nobody never asked for tissue! He also informed me that the people in Aruba use toilet tissue for everything I was appalled and disgusted! I let him know I travel around the world and I never heard of such thing in my life! He said he would fix the issue and he never did!!! Overall Aruba is a nice place to visit but this so called hotel is TRASH! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED! I guess it’s true when they say you get what you pay for! IF I COULD GIVE NO...