Sonesta Hotel Pereira

“I will come back for sure 👌🏻”

One of the most beautiful hotel I have visited. There are two options in term of rooms . There are regular rooms or villas . I loved to stay in the villa , we had a green area to see and very quiet . The room had a door directed to a patio . Beautiful . The pool is warm , want us to stay longer . T… more

One of the most beautiful hotel I have visited. There are two options in term of rooms . There are regular rooms or villas . I loved to stay in the villa , we had a green area to see and very quiet . The room had a door directed to a patio . Beautiful . The pool is warm , want us to stay longer . The food was very good at the pool . The breakfast was good with options . The hotel was super neat and the restaurant octavo was great experience . I super recommend it and we expect to return one day 👏🏻♥️

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“Like a Destination Resort (With a Few Flaws)”

- Location: Off the highway connecting Pereira to Cartago, just a few minutes away from the airport and western side of the city, the hotel’s location is within proximity to many other sights while still preserving tranquility. The rolling hills, verdant farms and forests, and mountains are all bea… more

- Location: Off the highway connecting Pereira to Cartago, just a few minutes away from the airport and western side of the city, the hotel’s location is within proximity to many other sights while still preserving tranquility. The rolling hills, verdant farms and forests, and mountains are all beautifully visible. - Atmosphere: The lobby is open-air, making it fresh and inviting, albeit noisy at peak hours. Tall ceilings and modern furnishings to create an upscale vibe. - Amenities: I’m not sure if the hotel calls itself a resort, but it sure felt like a small, urban one. Several pools, a pool restaurant and bar, trails, a giant chess set, and other outdoor amenities for relaxation and play. I believe three restaurants are on site, including the top-floor Octavo, a classy place with international dishes that revolves, offering stunning views. One “flaw” that I’d really like to see “fixed”: No ATM anywhere on the property apparently, and the hotel is unwilling to exchange credit card funds for cash, even at a high exchange rate with high fees. So be prepared to have cash to pay your taxi driver BEFORE you arrive, which is always best practice regardless, but in my case, I was relying on the hotel because I wasn’t anticipating needing to be in Pereira until the morning on the day I checked in. Moreover, it would’ve been AWESOME to have a free airport shuttle, considering the proximity to the airport is so close that the Sonesta is essentially an airport hotel. Instead, according to the transportation desk, a shuttle would’ve cost 30,000 COP (7-8 USD), which is ridiculously overpriced when an Uber is only around 4 USD. - Service: Jefferson at the front desk delivered particularly high-quality customer service, especially regarding a dispute over payment to my taxi driver. He speaks fluent English and is super helpful. I can’t think of any other employee who wasn’t friendly, professional, and helpful—the whole Sonesta team is amazing. This is Colombia, after all, where I’ve really only encountered friendly people. Thank you! - Rooms: The only available rooms were villas, and I certainly wasn’t complaining! (The layout of the hotel consists of both a tower-style building with rooms and a little more than a dozen outdoor villas (housing four rooms each) encircling the pool areas, connected via a paved walkway.) The villas were clearly older, but their interiors were well-maintained and felt renovated. They were full of color and felt airy. Technology was incorporated in great ways, such as a switch to press to raise/lower the blinds to the long, floor-to-ceiling windows. Noise was somewhat of an issue in the form of hearing the wooden legs on the desk chair in the neighboring room scraping along the wood floors—a deafening, high-pitched shriek that startled me a few times it was so loud. Once the neighbors went to bed, of course, everything was fine. Perhaps the hotel should consider putting something smooth on the bottom of the chair legs (tennis balls? Lol) to avoid disturbing guests when a chair is even slightly pushed, even by accident. - Value: The cost is on the higher side for a midsized Colombian city, but there are so many amenities that one need not venture off the property to extract enjoyment, and the bang for your buck is evident (and no resort fees). However, I do wish there was an on-site restaurant that was open all day where I could eat a more affordable meal than Octavo, the revolving restaurant on the top floor. The lobby restaurant seemed to be closed for lunch and dinner during my stay, although I may be inaccurate in saying that it is always closed for mealtimes other than breakfast. At least from what I saw during my one-night stay, the lobby restaurant only opened for breakfast. Despite some constructive criticisms from my experience, I am excited about returning to the Sonesta Pereira someday in the future, this time for a relaxing, resort-style vacay!

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“Good hotel for kids but has a lot of room for improvement”

We stayed with two children aged 5 & 3. The Poole area was perfect for our family. The kids pool is excellent and there are plenty of sun loungers to choose from. There is an ant problem around the pool so expect ants on sun loungers and table and anything you place on the floor. We asked for towel… more

We stayed with two children aged 5 & 3. The Poole area was perfect for our family. The kids pool is excellent and there are plenty of sun loungers to choose from. There is an ant problem around the pool so expect ants on sun loungers and table and anything you place on the floor. We asked for towels at 10:30am but were told they wouldn’t be ready for another hour. Pool bar is over very priced (for Colombia) and service is very slow for food. If you order 4 meals don’t expect them to arrive together. Our children’s meals arrived after we had finished our meals. The same with the drinks. The quality and service for cocktails was average. We ordered two piña coladas and they were delivered warm which made them virtually undrinkable. They have the honour of being the worst piña colada I’ve had in Colombia in the last 18 months. Attracting the attention of the waiters is virtually impossible and they prefer to chat by the pool bar rather than check if you need more drinks. The breakfast is good and the waiters are attentive. Ordering a cappuccino at the coffee counter is impossible. No staff or when there was, they had other tasks meaning we couldn’t order. I was told they would be back to serve me in a few minutes. After waiting 15 minutes I gave up. Reception was excellent and the staff are friendly and efficient. Booking trips or transport is easy and efficient. The room (twin) was a good size. Power sockets for charging phones are poorly placed and make it difficult to charge on the bedside table. There are no usb power sockets. The bathroom shower flooded almost immediately and water poured into the room and out into the corridor. This is due to the poor design of the drainage in the shower. If you want to use the very small children’s golf putting green then bring your own clubs as they are not provided. I consider this strange personally…..who brings golf clubs to play on a small putting green at a hotel? We didn’t see anyone using it for obvious reason.

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“Mediocre Service”

The Hotel Sonesta Pereira is a lovely hotel with beautiful facilities. The grounds are very well kept and manicured, the pool is excellent, and it has a very nice gym. The rooms are large and comfortable, even though the furniture is a bit warn. The water in the bathroom was hot and plentiful, b… more

The Hotel Sonesta Pereira is a lovely hotel with beautiful facilities. The grounds are very well kept and manicured, the pool is excellent, and it has a very nice gym. The rooms are large and comfortable, even though the furniture is a bit warn. The water in the bathroom was hot and plentiful, but unfortunately the Wi-Fi in the room was hit or miss. You got much better reception in the lobby. Once you get past the facilities, everything else is mediocre at best. Our reception was horrible; the reception staff are generally not friendly and did not make us feel welcome. When I asked some questions about the facilities, they told me the bellman would tell me all about it, as if she was too busy to answer my question (I was the only customer checking in). They have a policy of paying your bill ahead of your stay, but they refuse to give you an itemized bill until after you check out. They will not provide you with disposable house shoes in your room, and only provide a 300 ml bottle of water complementary when you check in. Our rate included breakfast, which is a buffet, and very poor in quality. There were no international dishes in the buffet, not even bacon, and if you asked for bacon, it was at an additional charge. They also charged extra for expresso coffees such as cappuccino or latte. Service at the restaurant was also very mediocre. Servers lacked attention to detail and were more concerned about cleaning tables than attending to customers. The location of the hotel is also not good if you don’t have your own transportation. It is far from the city and taxis are scarce. There are no stores or restaurants within walking distance. If you don’t mind mediocre service, and you have transportation, the facilities of this hotel are great.

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