Santa Marta Marriott Resort Playa Dormida

The sand was black, but soft and fine. My stay at the Hotel was incredible, and the staff were amazing across the board, from housekeeping and the restaurant to the SPA. Special thanks to Jose at reception.

We especially loved the beach restaurant, and the rooms were roomy and well cared for. The housekeeping team did a great job. The facilities are beautiful, and everyone was excellent, especially Marcela at the front desk and Jossefer by the pool.

I reported it right away when strange messages started appearing on my phone asking me to verify purchases around the world. After using the hotel WiFi, I was hacked and lost access to all my banking facilities, even my phone number. The hotel had three internet connections, and even after paying $200 a night, you could pay more for faster internet. They couldn’t tell me which connections belonged to the hotel, so one was obviously a hack. The rooms were nice and the staff were very nice, but the place was understaffed and getting food or a drink took a long time. I’m not a smoker, but I sometimes enjoy a vape with a drink. I was told that wasn’t allowed in the hotel and to go down to the beach area, which had unfortunately been washed away by a freak storm. There’s nowhere else to get food or drinks within a 10-minute taxi ride, so you’re stuck with very overpriced, mediocre food. I’d never stay in a Marriot again. I moved to the Hilton, which was much more reasonably priced, close to restaurants, and had a good choice of pools.

Breakfast was just okay, and I don’t recommend Marriott. At checkout, two identical drinks had different prices, with a 13000 cop difference. The man who handled my check-in and checkout was very rude, the one with a mole on his forehead. Check-in had already taken 45 minutes. I showed the confirmation email with a price of $340, but he said it was $445 and wanted to charge me another $105. In the end, it was $340. I think Marriott needs to sort this out.