Bocagrande Cartagena Hotel

The AC didn't work, so the rooms were hot, and there really weren't any amenities to speak of. The rooms were basic and needed cleaning, while the lobby chairs and other shared spaces were filthy. The building itself looked old, nothing like the advertising photos, and the price wasn't cheap. I wouldn't recommend staying here. Breakfast was especially unpleasant. Tables were dirty, the area needed maintenance, and flies were around the coffee cups and fruit. I also saw cockroaches. The coffee station was filthy, with broken cups and plates and dirty silverware. The whole building felt disgusting. I had to wait 24 hours for towels, so I couldn't shower. When I asked reception, they said they were waiting for the linen truck. The towels didn't arrive until the following day.

There was a very busy, loud bar beneath the hotel. The reception had no AC, the place looked poorly maintained, and there was no elevator, just stairs. Carrying all our luggage up them was painful. The room photos on the website were nowhere close to what we saw in person. We left as soon as we checked in. This was the worst hotel we've ever stayed at, and it felt like a real scam.

Breakfast was so meager it wasn't even a snack, and when we sat in the restaurant, we waited 20 minutes for someone to take our order. Nobody came, so I went to the front desk to ask, and still nobody showed up. The hotel used to be relatively good, but now it's pure garbage. We spent four days there. They gave us just two small soaps on arrival and never replaced them. The hotel wasn't clean, and the beds had a disturbing smell. We were on the first floor, where the noise woke us at 5:30 in the morning. It was a huge disappointment.

The staff were very good, and breakfast was really good too. The main issues were noise and the cleanliness of the sheets. There's a restaurant downstairs with a singer in the evenings, which is nice, but you can hear everything from your room. If you're a light sleeper, ask for a higher room facing away from the street. You get what you pay for if you're trying to save money. It's not a bad hotel, but if you're used to a certain kind of vacation, spend a little more and book somewhere else.