Nacar Hotel Cartagena, Curio Collection By Hilton

“Cartagena - Si”

A perfect hotel in an excellent location in old city. Alejandra was a helpful smiling face at the front desk.

“Excellent location helpful service BUT”

Stayed in March location is excellent in the Old City close to the walls and the ocean. Many good restaurants within a 15 minute walk. Breakfast buffet is pretty good - it features a local dish which changed daily for the 5 days we were there. Service from room and wait staff is excellent. When w… more

Stayed in March location is excellent in the Old City close to the walls and the ocean. Many good restaurants within a 15 minute walk. Breakfast buffet is pretty good - it features a local dish which changed daily for the 5 days we were there. Service from room and wait staff is excellent. When we checked in we were asked to pay for the 5 room nights which was fine. What was odd was that that they chose to bill my credit card in $ without giving me the choice of currency. The exchange rate was less favourable when questioned about it the front desk staff said this was the only way they could do it. I let it go. Two months later I see another charge from the hotel on my credit card for 5 nights. It was reversed same day but because the exchange rate had changed I lost 5%. The hotel says the transaction occurred in March but was posted to my credit card in May. There are at least 2 things wrong with this. Visa/MasterCard rules prohibit merchants from keeping credit card information once the transaction is completed. Merchants are also not allowed to back date transactions which again is what happened here - they put through a charge in May for a transaction in March. Not sure what’s going on but be aware.

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“Unbeatable location but service could be improved”

This boutique hotel is perfectly located in a quiet area within the Walled City. There are actually two parts: the main building on Calle del Curato and a secondary smaller building around the corner on Calle del Sargento Mayor. We stayed at the main building with all the facilities but did stop by… more

This boutique hotel is perfectly located in a quiet area within the Walled City. There are actually two parts: the main building on Calle del Curato and a secondary smaller building around the corner on Calle del Sargento Mayor. We stayed at the main building with all the facilities but did stop by the atmospheric secondary building one evening for a complimentary corozo welcome drink. On checking-in, things started very well with a complimentary upgrade to a junior suite as recognition of our Hilton status and an early check-in. Unfortunately, the room on the 3rd floor had recently been repainted and the smell was overpowering. We subsequently noticed that much of the hotel had been repainted but in quite an amateur way as there were small paint splashes in lots of places, especially on the balconies. We then had to wait for nearly two hours while another room on the floor below was prepared. It would have been nice if we had been offered something for the inconvenience such as a complimentary drink or lunch. We eventually made it to our newly assigned room...thankfully no paint smell albeit there was a musky smell (which we accepted). The junior suite was quite nice with a large walk-in shower and dressing area partitioned from the bedroom. Dressing robes were provided but no slippers. There was a small gym in the basement and an equally small pool on the 4th floor which also featured the rooftop restaurant. The restaurant was quite noisy with fans and music but it did have a vibe. On the downside, we found the service very slow and they served their drinks without any accompanying snacks. Also, the Wi-Fi was very sketchy. Breakfast was quite limited. It consisted of a small buffet with only two hot dishes (scrambled eggs and mixed vegetables) together with some cooked to order egg dishes. Some of the buffet items were never replenished and the French toast we ordered arrived badly burnt. On our second day there was zero service at breakfast as no waiters had arrived for work at opening time! We just looked after ourselves which was fine. Overall, the location is unbeatable but the service needs some improvement we felt.

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