Our Members Say
We stayed at this hotel for 3 nights in december 2008. You can tell that it once was a nice hotel. Unforturnately, it has not been properly maintained and is showing it. The beds are really bad and are little more than a mattress and box springs on the floor. The televisions, curtains, and other in room items are in despirate need of renovation. The initial room we were given was hot and not receving a/c (its a central system of some sort), but the second room we got was fairly cool.
The location is pretty nice, right across the street from the beach. Some rooms have a very nice view. There are 2 towers and I was told that the rooms in one tower were much nicer than in the tower I was in. If you get meals included, don't expect much. The breakfast is OK, but is the same every morning. But it is good enough to get you going with some eggs, coffee, meat, pan caked, and a variety of items. The lunches and dinners vary widely from being quite adequate to being quite poor.
Be careful if you book this hotel on the internet as I did. First, it is a bit cheaper to book in person or by phone (but they do not speak english). Second, when I checked in it was not a problem, but when i checked out I spent over an hour trying to convince them that I had prepaid on the internet. And that was with a spanish speaking friend doing managing the situation. And don't think you can just walk out because they got a security guy at the front door watching for people with luggage and you must show a receipt that you paid before he will let you leave.
One nice thing was that they have in room safes that you can program with your code. It was very helpful to be able to secure credit cards, passports, and jewlry.
OVerall, I would not choose this place again. It is full of families but reminds me of a spring breakers hotel because of the cheap furnishings and run down condition. However, it was tolerable since we were not at the hotel very much. I think I paid around $90. per night.
I do not know what the price of the hotels in the walled city are, but next time I will probably check them.
Stay safe.
14 members live in Cartagena
