The Freedom Hotel

The location made getting around easy. It’s a five-minute walk to the main bus station, with a convenient, affordable ride to the airport. Free parking right out front is useful too, since having a rental car is essential for exploring the island. Queen Emma Bridge is nearby, with easy access to Punda and Pietermaai. The colorful neighborhood murals celebrating Curaçao street art are a must-see. Down the colorful stairs there’s a supermarket and a Chinese takeout place with fried chicken and rice or fries, which saved our dinners more than once. Breakfast was varied and very good, with eggs, bacon, sausages, tamales, potato tortillas, cheese, cold cuts, tuna and crab stick salads, yogurt, cereal, fruit salad, cake, and hot and cold drinks. Staff were always helpful and friendly. The pool is small but usually quiet, so it’s nice for relaxing after a beach day. We stayed several nights and had a very pleasant visit. The rooms are basic but comfortable, though more hooks or racks for clothes and towels would help. There was a smell from the bathroom pipes, so staff kindly offered a lower-category room and complimentary breakfasts for the remaining days. That seemed fair and we appreciated it.

Friendly staff and a location about a 16-minute walk from downtown Willemstad were the few upsides. The room was dirty and poorly maintained from the start of our stay with my two daughters. We kept finding other people’s hair on the floors and in the bathroom, and the floors often felt sticky. The bathroom was never properly cleaned, and the room didn’t feel fresh or hygienic. Housekeeping did the bare minimum, inconsistently. We went several days without fresh towels, had to ask for shower gel and toilet paper, and found the beds made differently each day, sometimes with missing sheets or blankets that were never replaced. I complained, but nothing improved; it got worse. On our last day there was no cleaning at all, and the room was left as we had left it. Light sleepers should know there’s a casino attached to the hotel, and it can be loud late at night. The poor and inconsistent housekeeping made our family stay frustrating and uncomfortable. We left disappointed and upset, and can’t recommend Freedom Hotel until it seriously improves housekeeping and guest care.

The rooms are reasonably sized, but badly built, especially the showers. Water sprays everywhere and floods the toilet area. Cafe service is hit or miss. There’s no microwave in the room, and when we asked the kitchen to heat our food, some employees said policy didn’t allow it, which was nonsense. At least two staff members had enough kindness and common sense to simply put it in the microwave and take it out. Too many of the others were unreliable and had an attitude.

The front desk staff were the one bright spot. Everyone I met was kind, helpful with recommendations, and apologetic about the hotel’s problems. For a moment, they could almost make you forget you’d probably be happier sleeping under a tree, though Curacao doesn’t have many trees. The location is fine, maybe even great, but you need to drive around the island anyway. Apart from breakfast, the hotel felt empty, with nobody at the pool or in the lobby. I stayed six nights and regretted not leaving every night. The casino on the first floor was a sad place, and its regulars were outside all night, drunk, smoking, and yelling at each other and security. The old building has thin walls, and even though I usually sleep well, the noise kept me awake. The room was filthy. After five supposed cleanings, there were still used Q-tips on the floor and hair in the bathroom. I’m bald and hadn’t brought Q-tips. Their “deep cleaning” left the floor even stickier and more disgusting, so I kept my shoes on. The bed was made differently each day; after day three my blanket disappeared and never came back, and one day a clean sheet was just folded on the bed for me to put on. There was no hot water in the sink, only warm water in the shower, which was enough in the tropical climate. Anyone wanting warm sink water to shave will be disappointed, especially since hot water is specifically advertised. The sink leaked through the p-trap onto the floor and took two days to fix. The balcony door handle was broken on the outside; after the wind shut the door while I was hanging clothes, I got stuck, and it was never repaired. The room was dark and dingy, with one outlet nowhere near the bed. The WiFi was slow, so I used mobile data in the room, and my computer couldn’t detect the network at all. Stay somewhere else. If things had been even slightly worse, I’d have packed up and chosen another hotel, but I didn’t want to waste an afternoon indoors instead of enjoying the island.