Casa Noa Colonial Rooms

The room was comfortable and the hotel is in a really good spot. But there was nobody around to ask for help, and with no elevator, getting our luggage up to the third floor was a struggle.

We liked the neighborhood because we could walk to everything, and we first met at this hotel. The rest of the stay was awful. Staff took a bag of coffee we had bought for a family member, and I got sick after eating at Almas across the street. I hadn't expected that, but it happened. The bed linens were dirty, with lipstick and makeup on the towels, sheets, and blankets, none of which I use. I asked the cleaning staff to change them, but they didn't. My spouse also had a stomach problem after eating something that didn't agree with him, and asked for a mop or anything to clean up. They said they would handle it, and he gave them 50.00 pesos each. Later, the staff, who don't speak English, wrote on their website that we had ruined the linens and left the place dirty. One cleaner also asked us for money to buy her mother a television and for food. I'll never stay here again. Cartagena is a nice place to visit, but the country is lacking in English language skills. You get what you pay for.

The location is the main thing this small hostel has going for it. There isn't a front desk, so any problems go through the cleaning staff, who speak only Spanish. They let us check in early, but asked for a tip first. I reluctantly paid 20,000 COP. After we checked in, a cleaner knocked and tried to come into our room. I had locked the door, and after I yelled that I was in the bathroom, she left. Apparently she was trying to drop off the bottle of wine included with the room. Later she tried to sell us a beach trip and was unpleasant when we booked elsewhere, then asked for a tip at checkout. Our experience with staff was negative overall. It's probably an okay cheap option if you speak Spanish, but I wouldn't recommend it or stay again.

After only two nights we left and asked for a refund for the two unused nights. Management took hours to respond to our messages and refused. We were very disappointed, especially since we had already contacted them about the problems during our stay and they did nothing. The location is good, but the room didn't match the booking photos. There was no bedroom window, only one in the bathroom, and no tables or chairs. The bathroom door wouldn't close at certain times of day when humidity changed. Noise came through the room door so badly that TVs and keypad sounds from neighboring rooms woke us repeatedly through the night. The Wi-Fi wasn't good enough for video calls, and the TV had no channels and wasn't connected to the internet. The hotel described check-in as self-service, but we had to fill out paperwork on arrival. The keypad at the front entrance was confusing, and no instructions were sent before we got there. I wouldn't recommend the place. Management doesn't seem to care about fixing these issues, which other Booking.com reviewers have also mentioned. There are better hotels for less.