Atlantic Lux Hotel

We got a refund in the end, but I kept all the photos in case I needed to dispute the charge with my credit card. This place is a dump, old and cracked, so do yourself a favor and book somewhere else. The OZ hotels are highly recommended and cost about the same. We’d stayed the first night at a nearby four-star hotel, which was great, then went to Medellin and booked this place for our final two nights in Cartagena. Arriving around 10:20 p.m., we found a dark, hot lobby. The front desk attendant had a lamp and a fan behind him. It was so hot we started sweating while waiting for guests buying something from the display. After we got our keys and went upstairs, the place gave a horrible impression, nowhere near a four-star property. The elevator opened on the third floor, where it was dark except for the elevator light. My phone light was the only help until the sensor switched on the hallway light for about 10 seconds, then it went dark again. The elevator doors had already closed, so I used my phone light to find our room. The bathroom was the best part. Everything else was painted black, the old mini split didn’t cool, and the closet’s sliding door was scratched and missing its handles. The room had a really bad vibe. I tried the AC for a few minutes, got nowhere, and went down to tell the attendant about the room and the darkness. They gave us another room, supposedly an upgrade on a higher floor. Same darkness outside the elevator. Its walls were cracked, and a piece of cardboard served as the mini fridge door. Some rooms were out of service with their doors left open. With the pitch-black hallway, it looked like a horror movie where someone might come out of one of them. The AC in the new room finally cooled a little after several hours. I booked through Agoda and tried to reach them, but was told I had to wait for a response from their booking partner to cancel. The attendant said he couldn’t cancel it and we’d have to wait until the next day. It was around midnight, and we just wanted to shower and sleep. We had a tour the next morning, so we went to breakfast early. Two employees controlled the breakfast and served portions like we were two years old and food was running out. We even spotted a small roach around the bread. Before leaving for the tour, I went downstairs and was told management wasn’t there yet. While we were out on the tour, we booked the same property we’d stayed at on the first night. That really was a four-star hotel, though it didn’t have a pool. It had welcoming attendants and bell staff, welcome drinks, and plenty of staff in an air-conditioned lobby.

We arrived at night to a clerk with an attitude, who seemed annoyed that we’d shown up. When we saw our room, we were shocked by how run down it looked. The furniture was moldy and dusty, the AC barely worked, and there was a cockroach running on the bed. My wife screamed and panicked while I tried to squash it. We grabbed our things and went back to the desk with a picture of the bug. The clerk showed no concern and didn’t even apologize, just handed us a key to another room. By then it was past midnight, and we were exhausted, so we went upstairs instead of searching for somewhere else to stay. Breakfast was very poor, with very small portions. For the price, you can definitely do better.

A nice pool and good breakfast, with tasty food that’s almost the same every day. The rooms are spacious and cleaned daily, and the location in Boca Grande is handy, close to the beach and lots of shops and restaurants. The pool gets no sun in the afternoon, though. And being right by the busy main street can make it quite noisy, so it could be a problem if you have trouble sleeping with noise.

The whole hotel felt run-down, and the room didn't help: it was dated and the A/C barely kept up. Breakfast was awful. Check-in dragged on until 3 before I could get into the room, and when I finally got there, the door wouldn't open, so I had to return to reception. At 70EUR a night, I expected a lot more. Don't waste your money here.