Holiday Inn Cartagena Morros

This hotel could be excellent, and the quality of food and helpfulness of restaurant staff was excellent. In fact the breakfast was the best I had in all my time traveling around Colombia. However the fraudulent reception staff (or management if they encourage this behavior) should all be sacked. The first lie the receptionist (male in white jacket) told us, when we were considering booking direct was that the law said they had to charge us tax despite us being foreigners only in the country a few weeks. Upon challenge,the second lie we were told was that the law had changed since we were last in Colombia and tax was now mandatory on all tourists. I then looked at hotels.com so I could pay in advance to them, as it clearly states in the booking the conditions where you need to pay tax and I would have some support if the hotel continued with the lies. The third lie from the receptionist was that if we booked through hotels.com we would have to pay for breakfast as well or we would still need to pay the tax. As we wanted to include breakfast in any case, we booked through hotels.com with breakfast. At checkin a few minutes later a different receptionist (Samid) lied by saying that although he had a booking for us through hotels.com, we had to pay for the room at the hotel as it wasn’t paid for. We showed him the confirmation email that said the room was all paid for, and his next lie was that we had to pay again as the person who could check that we had paid hotels.com was not in until the next day. We refused to pay a second time, so then he said he needed our credit card for preauthorisation of room charges. As we had no trust in the receptionists not to take another payment for the room, we asked him to put the preauthorisation slip in an envelope that we sealed and signed. We explained that this was so the hotel didn’t use the preauthorisation for anything other than at checkout when it could be used solely for room charges. He agreed to that, and the envelope was sealed and signed. Once in our room I immediately phone hotels.com and explain that the receptionist ‘believed’ the room was not paid for. Hotels.com were great, assured us that it was paid and there was nothing to pay at the hotel. She phoned the hotel, spoke to Samid, who agreed with her there was nothing further to pay. I don’t know how readily he accepted this, considering only a few minutes earlier he was insistent we had to pay again! We paid for all hotel payments without charging anything to the room, as we didn’t want another confrontation at reception when leaving. At checkout, a third (female) receptionist agreed there was nothing to pay for incidentals and I asked her for the envelope containing the preauthorisation so I could take it with me. She opened the envelope and gave me the preauthorisation but tried to keep the envelope. As my trust in reception was non-existent I asked for the envelope. She shrugged and gave it to me. Fortunately it didn’t appear to have been previously opened, however Samid had written on the outside ‘voucher esta aqui, huespedes locos!!’, ie calling us crazy. What a lovely way to treat paying guests!! No wonder she didn’t voluntarily hand me the envelope! I’ve attached a photo... I don’t believe that in a holiday inn that the staff knowledge and processes for hotels.com bookings are that poor, so can only believe the receptionists are acting fraudulently, either with or without the hotel management knowledge. Also, as each receptionist was happy to make up another lie each time they were challenged, they clearly have the authority to make the decisions on whether to charge the tax or not. I notice other reviews below that suggest to me this wasn’t a one-off. There is a pattern of over four years of lying and changing stories from reception staff, including complaints about changing stories, wanting 20% extra to be paid, wanting to charge tax to foreigners exempt, charging for insurance that was not requested or desired and using the credit card on file for erroneous charges.

We stay in one of the buildings next to the holiday Inn and we did not want to cook in the apartment. We ate at the holiday in Morros restaurant which I think it is a really good option. The breakfast is good and the other dishes are good as well. Just a little bit expensive but Cartagena is very expensive it is a good option to eat if you are in the Morros area.

I stayed there for three nights and liked I liked the hotel equipment and decoration, cleanliness, comfortable bed, good wifi, friendly, helpful staff, the music, and the seafood rice. The location (which should improve further as the construction in the area finishes, including the bike lane - provided the new raised highway doesn't lead to noise when put into service). BUT: unfortunately the list of problems during my stay is long. Although I discussed most of them on the day before departure with the person posting here most of the time sales pitches for the hotel in response to complaints and suggestions rather than to actually address them, I am not confident that this will change much. But perhaps this list will : At arrival the hotel wasted my time wanting to charge me local sales tax not due by foreigners and not included in the total amount confirmed by Booking.com, to credit it again at departure, as well as a « seguro hotelero » which turned out to be an optional service fee of 7.900 COP per day which they later agreed to waive. The main problem during my stay was the extremely low temperature in the restaurant. I had to cover up for breakfast and had other meals outside, missing out on the nice band on the last evening. According to the hotel they have difficulty controling the recently renovated air conditioning. I had to repack and move because the AC in the room booked was broken, stuck on 16°C and could not be repaired. On Day 2 I was awoken by a fire alarm at 5:45. A floor tile next to my bed was lose (repaired swiftly, but like the AC problem it should have been noticed in a hotel of this catogory and price). A smell of waste on the nice lawn between the pool and the beach made the rest there unpleasant, as did the disturbance by repeated massage offers. That night I didn’t find sleep until 2 am, when the party in the room above me, with singing and heels on the stone tiles, ended. The last day the television system in the hotel went down at 8 pm for the rest of the day, just as I was about to watch the evening news. Breakfast was ok, but nothing special as some reviews suggested, and certainly overpriced when not included in the rate (35.000 COP). On Day 1 I wasted time trying to toast bread. After two rounds it was still white and it took staff some time to figure out that the machine was on power saving. Same problem again the following morning, only that I could train clueless staff to flip the switch... I regretted the lack of environmenal responsibility of the hotel. Apart from the waste of AC energy to make guest freeze I also found no way to prevent hardly used towels from being replaced needlessly. If like me you are trying to escape winter or in summer experience warm temperatures and not feel colder than you would feel in your own home, you may want to check with the hotel with the AC problems are solved.

Due to error I ended up in Cartagena. I knew there was a holiday inn so went there with no reservation. Staff very friendly and helpful. Easy check in and check out. Rooms fine and food and drinks very good. Very good hotel and sorry I had to leave next day to get to right destination

This was our first time visiting the northern part of Cartagena. We usually stay in Bocagrande, Laguito neighborhoods but never again. Los Morros is the place to be when visiting Cartagena. The Holiday Inn is priced well. Has a great pool and direct access to the beach. This part of Cartagena has less vendors pushing products and services. My one issue was with breakfast one day. We arrived on Saturday and Sunday went to breakfast. The person at the restaurant mentioned breakfast was until 11am. However, when we went to breakfast on Monday at 10:30am everything was closed. The person at the restaurant failed to mention that breakfast was until 11am only on weekends. It was open until 10am during the week. Another problem is the remote location. I prefer uber (cash free) however, being so far north uber can sometimes take forever. If you take a hotel car it’s going to cost you more. A couple of blocks away you’re able to kite surf and or do fly board. You also have a good burger spot a couple of blocks away. The food in the restaurant was amazing. My favorite plate was the seafood with rice, baby beef and the grilled octopus. The holiday Inn is worth every penny. I love this hotel. The rooms were modern and well kept. As are all the facilities in the hotel.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not a luxury hotel but our clean and well appointed room was very nice with a balcony giving us a side view of the beach. You have public access to the beach as well as a pool and a garden area between the pool and beach access. Vendors would come and try to sell their goods but it wasn’t too much. Buffet breakfast has a good selection from eggs your way to bakery with juices and coffee. It’s a $5 (15,000 COP) cab ride to the walled city where we had some great late night dinners - no problem getting a cab anywhere. Oh, and the front desk really had good service - they arranged a SUV with driver getting us to our next stop in Barranquilla. A tip for the hotel - at the pool and garden your waiters would sell much more if the checked on your guest to see if they want something to drink or eat. No big deal as I’m ok with going up and ordering but it was clear they didn’t know their role. Go and enjoy, this place is a great deal!

Very disappointed overall, especially with the standard of food served by the kitchen and the staff in general. Waiters were inattentive and the room service atrocious! We ordered two meals and only one arrived. The staff then brought the other meal 30 minutes later but with no knife or fork, condiments etc. In both cases the chips were already cold by the time they arrived. When I complained the receptionists simply said “sorry these things happen”. However, according to their hospitality promise and I quote “if any part of your stay isn’t satisfactory it is our ‘hospitality promise’ to make it right or you won’t pay for that part of your stay”. Well they certainly didn’t make it right and I still had to pay. False advertising springs to mind... I also tried to contact the hotel twice in advance of our arrival to arrange a birthday cake for my girlfriend. Very disappointed that they didn’t reply to either email considering they have a 24 hour reception and the first email was sent three months before our stay. On the plus side, rooms were nice and spacious and furnished to a high standard. TV had English speaking channels which was ideal over Xmas. Ample space around the pool/beach area for sun bathing and decent gym on site. Taxi rank outside the hotel to ferry you into the old city (only $15,000 one way). Overall highly disappointed and certainly would never stay there again.

This hotel staff, facilities, and amenities were all outstanding. I highly recommend this hotel if your plans are to stay at the hotel and enjoy the quite beach and not really explore Cartagena. The view from our room and balcony were super amazing. The challenge that we had with this hotel was transportation. Basically, you’re at the mercy of unprofessional and discourteous taxi drivers if you want to see all the amazing things in the city because this hotel is 20 minutes outside the main town area. I was unable to get Uber to work at the hotel, only a few times when I needed to return to the hotel from the city and airport. The thing about Cartagena unlike Bogota or Medellin is the taxis and drivers don’t use meters. So it’s a constant annoyance because you have to negotiate every far, and every far is based on your negotiations. Also, I found that the taxis charge double what they would a local resident. This hotel did have a taxi service but again it was pretty expensive and without a meter and it was not always available. I think next time we will stay in Boca or the Old City so we don’t have to deal with the entire transportation as it was a drag. My recommendation to the hotel GM is provide a free shuttle bus service to the old city and help your guests better enjoy the city and not have to deal with the hassle of transportation.

The service was perfect. Always I found a positive answer to my requirements, at front desk, at restaurant, at swim pool, etc. Room had a great view as they promised during reservation. Also they have excellent recommendations for any plan in thecity