Tequendama Hotel Medellín

We planned to spend New Year's Eve at their dinner and party, based on promises of a dessert bar, cocktails, and more. The event was badly organized: there were no desserts, the dinner line was huge, and the organizers weren't around. I wouldn't recommend celebrating anything here.

After I found bed bugs in my room, the hotel kept me waiting in the lobby for four hours. They would only cover the $10 antihistamine I needed for the itching, and when I asked to see my room, someone else was already staying in it. The staff acted as if being bitten was my problem for choosing to stay there. Public health should shut this place down until they learn to handle this properly. Stay somewhere else unless you want to be insect food.

We had a great view of the stadium from our room, and the price felt fair for what we got. The staff were kind and helpful, and the front desk quickly moved us when our first room didn't match the online photos. Its window was broken, which was uncomfortable in the cold, rainy weather. The hotel is being renovated, and the work started as early as 6 AM. It didn't bother us on the first day because we had an early excursion, but we couldn't sleep in the next morning. They were redoing the bathrooms next door, and the drilling and hammering even left tiles cracked in our bathroom. There's not much to do nearby, and the area felt dark and lonely at night, so walking around wasn't inviting. A mixed stay: good staff and views, but noisy construction and a location that wasn't ideal.

Our banquet dinner was disgusting, and breakfast was horrible. There were cockroaches in several rooms among our group of 100, and staff acted like that was normal. I stayed for a week for a conference, and the hotel was noisy, the service terrible, and the area dirty and unsafe. At checkout, they said they'd compensate us for the awful stay, but still charged the full price. It's the worst hotel I've stayed in over the past 15 years.