Hotel de la Opera

The staff were lovely and as helpful as anyone could ask for, even with our terrible Spanish and their varying English. They gave the place a nice character, and we’d definitely return. The good points outweighed the issues by a lot, though I’m not sure the facilities quite merit five stars. We stayed four nights recently. The location in Candelaria is brilliant, but transport can’t pull up at the door, so we had to carry our bags the last 80m. Our seventh-floor standard room was spacious, with a comfortable bed and a great outlook. The aircon didn’t work, though the windows opened, and the shower was very ordinary. Breakfast was good, but the selection gets a bit thin if you arrive late.

I felt the hotel was closer to four stars than five. It may have deserved five in the past, but not quite now. The staff seemed well intentioned, and when I reported a problem they eventually put it right generously, which I appreciated. At times I wished they spoke more English. A refresher for the staff and some additional English training would help. When staff don’t speak English, it would be useful for them to say so plainly so guests can adjust their expectations. Clear, direct communication about other problems during a stay would also help, and may prevent customers from getting upset.

Breakfast was something we really enjoyed, and the large room in this grand historic hotel made for a lovely stay. It’s in an excellent spot in La Candelaria, felt very safe, and has plenty of interesting places and restaurants nearby. We missed out on the pool and spa because we were given the wrong closing times. I was even more disappointed that nobody responded when we mentioned it in our feedback. Still, staying here was a Bogota highlight.

The room was small but okay, and the hotel itself was nice. What let us down was the service. We had to ask twice before they enabled our WiFi, and when we went to the restaurant at night, nobody paid us any attention, so we left without eating. They did give us some snacks at checkout early the next morning, which was okay. The whole thing could have been handled much better. We left really disappointed, especially about missing dinner.