Posada Oleary — Hotel in Parroquia Santa Lucía

I only made this reservation because I couldn't ask my couchsurfing host for a notarized invitation, and I need a hotel reservation, notarized letter, or return plane ticket to enter venezuela (I arrived on motorcycle).||||This posada is in a pretty dangerous part of town, and that's saying a lot for maracaibo.||||They have a very secure parking lot for your vehicle, no matter the size. The rooms are great, the service is great except that they lock you in with a shutter at night and the night person stays in a shed across the parking lot. You have to call her if you want to get out after 10pm. The rooms have wifi and a/c and cable tv, and everything works great (except the water after 10am in the dry season).||||If you book online, the man will immediately tell you that the credit card you provided isn't valid and then ask you to pay in cash (US). This is because US cash is pretty much gold in venezuela. If you object, he'll offer you a deal: you pay some super high amount of Bolivars and then a "commission" to the booking website in dollars, that he will make with his own credit card. If you ask about the commission, he'll say "five, six, seven dollars..." and then shrug.||||He can turn 5 dollars into 350 Bolivars (55 USD) if he changes it on the black market. I really didn't like the feeling that he was forcing me to pay in foreign currency, but I had no other choice because it was already quite late, and I was prepared to pay the money on my credit card anyways. I was really more annoyed that I had to give my precious cash to him.||||Feel free to skip out on your reservation, because your credit card isn't valid at the...

So when i travel i just usually pick a place based on an economical price. I just need a place to sleep. So I found this economical place with a great website. ||||I hadnt really looked at the rooms or the pics too much. When i got there it looked normal outside. but once i got in I felt like i hit the lottery! the rooms were awesome! super duper clean, modern, not too big but with a comfy bed, and a nice tv!||||So many people told me venezuela was unsafe, which i think is partly true, i think its mostly at night. but i felt safe inside! (also as long as you dress down and do not show any valuables you should be ok in venezuela in the day.)||||also I got to know the security guard, Cesar! we chatted alot! but he told me he really looks after his guests. He tells you where to go to get beer. ||||I got there in the early evening and wanted some local food delivered he got on the phone but the person that usually does that was not available so he helped me order some pizza and soda!||||lastly the location is central. it is a block from the main street where you can take the local taxi/bus line to the vereda park and there you can take a tour of maracaibo on the tranvia for very cheap. or cesar or the person there can...

A group of us stayed for 4 nights. Upon arrival we were expected to pay the full amount in US dollars. We are Australian so why would we carry that? This was not stated anywhere when making the reservation. We were told the city bank could swap our money so we got a cab there and were unsuccessful. Luckily a couple who were with us had just flown through the US and had some dollars left so we were able to convince them to let us pay what we could in US and the remainder in Bolivars (their own currency!!) We only went to all this trouble because one of our friends was ill and we just arrived on an overnight bus from Colombia. This hotel is advertised as a bed and breakfast but there was nothing provided and we were told to go to McDonalds. There was not always water running from the taps. We weren't given anything to enter and exit through the gate at our own leisure which meant we had to rely on 24hr security to let us in and out, and he was not always reliable. ||||On the plus side, the rooms were very small but clean and the aircon worked well which is a must for Venuzela. The driver that they recommended spoke English well and was a great help...