Hotel Costa del Sol

The room itself was clean and the beds comfortable, but the broken lock, moldy AC vent, peeling paint, and damaged, stained furniture made the stay miserable. The bathroom door was broken, the sink leaked, the shower drain was clogged, and there was no hot water at all. Loud music from the first floor carried up to the seventh, and the lobby, elevators, and stairs smelled bad. Other guests were noisy and disrespectful. We checked out early, only to meet rude staff who were reluctant to let us leave without filling out a form and waiver. We left anyway. At check-in, despite being told our booking for two adults could include two children, we were charged an extra fee, much more than the price for two adults. This was by far our worst hotel experience. Too bad we can’t rate it below zero.

My family and I couldn’t take it anymore and left at 10 pm. The service was horrible, the rooms filthy, and the lobby smelled disgusting. There was hair all over the elevator floor, which smelled too. Both rooms I’d reserved had broken AC, and there was barely room to move around. The beds sat on cement bases, and the walls were dirty with handprints. It was so expensive for such a bad experience. Never again.

The mattress was very comfortable, the sheets were clean, and the bathroom was clean enough to use. The room AC worked, there were two pools, the buffet food wasn’t bad, the shower had hot water, and the staff were friendly. It was quiet too. But there were plenty of downsides. We saw four roaches, including one on the food station, and after that I couldn’t eat at the hotel. Parts of the common areas and elevators smelled like roach spray. The room-facing beach couldn’t be used because construction was moving it toward the ocean to widen the street. I wouldn’t have used the public beach there anyway, since there was trash everywhere. The neighborhood felt quiet and not unsafe at night, but it was run down, with many vacant or broken-down buildings and rubbish. There was a nice McDonald’s with outdoor seating on the corner and a really nice restaurant across the street called crepes and waffles. Beyond those, I didn’t see anything appealing until we went to the city center and city wall on our last night. The package my friend booked through an agency cost US$1000 for three nights, meals, transfers, flights, a city tour, and a day at Baru beach. I didn’t want to make my friend feel bad by renting somewhere nicer, so we stayed the three nights. You get what you pay for, though. At the online rate of 400,000 copa per night, about US$100, I think you could find a lot better. The place is very basic, maybe okay if you’re on a VERY tight budget. There’s no AC in the common areas, one elevator, or the dining hall, and Cartagena’s heat is oppressive. The pool lining was loose and bumpy, the lawn chairs looked about 100 years old, and I wondered if the pool was even chlorinated. The room AC vent was held up with masking tape, and the fridge was rusty, so I didn’t even plug it in. When I asked how to use the safe, I was told they no longer work. There are safes in the rooms, but they’re out of order. At dinner on the first night, I asked for milk in my coffee and was told they only offer it in the morning. The desserts included peanuts, and guests used the same tongs for all of them, causing cross contamination. My Colombian friend said fewer people in Colombia have peanut allergies. They give each person just one towel. I used mine to mop up the bathroom floor because the half glass shower wall didn’t contain the water, then when I exchanged towels and asked for an extra, they said no, one per person. There was also no hot water at the bathroom sink.

I found three cockroaches in the room, which was a horrible experience, and the place wasn’t clean. The pool hours were too limited for a hotel, only 8 am to 5 pm, so we couldn’t even try it. Service was poor: they often didn’t have towels or shampoo in the room, wouldn’t let you pay for minibar items when leaving, and didn’t keep the building clean.