AC Hotel Cartagena

A new hotel from the Mariott Group. Nice rooms and bathroom well thought out. Friendly staff and helpful. Food was excellent in restaurant and nice cocktails too. Tried a new one, New York Sour, which the Columbian bartender introduced me to. We stayed for 6 nights and were very happy. The hotel is perfectly situated for everything.

The hotel has recently been completely renovated and one or two teething problems are inevitable. The garage probably does not take SUVs, for example. The superior room we had (509) was spacious and quiet and the bed was enormous. The balcony was also enormous, with some great views, but curiously bare and lifeless. The bathroom and attendant facilities were excellent. We did not try the restaurant but the bar was comfortable and cosy, if overpriced; obviously cheaper alternatives are to be found mere metres away. Our sole problem came with our arrival; we had booked through Central de Reservas (I do not recommend doing so!) and the receptionist could not find our booking details on the system, despite our having a confirmation sheet with the hotel’s name, address and a booking number. After a fraught 10 minutes or so, the receptionist (despite having to deal alone with two other arriving clients) satisfied himself as to our legitimacy and handed us our keys.

This hotel is overpriced with very small rooms. You have to scrape along the wall from bed to get out. The balcony has a huge step up with absolutely basic furniture. The breakfast is terribly overpriced for what it is. You can walk a hundred yard across the road and get a much superior breakfast for half the price. The parking is fine if you have a tiny car that can fit in the lift to take you down. We had to park in a public carpark as our quite small car didn't fit. Staff are lovely, cleaners great. Nobody uses the very small bar and nothing goes on in the evenings. Location is, however, fantastic.

We have no complaints about this hotel. Check-in was easy and welcoming, although we were never given a WiFi password. Our room was a corner room on the 4th floor. It was fantastic. One window looked out to the mountains and the other had a view over the building in front of us to the Port. Each morning was a delight. Breakfast was good and varied with fresh fruit, pastries, bread, an egg station (which the attentive waiters would take and make your way), meats, yoghurts, cereals, a selection of juices, and Bacon and eggs. The waiters would also make you a cup of coffee if you asked. There were also mini premade wraps and sandwich quarters which changed each day. You can tell they put a lot of effort in and the wait staff were great. The bed was comfortable and the pillows were also my preference. The room was pretty spacious with enough space for our stuff. The bathroom was a shower/tub combo which could be a bit difficult to get out of, but the bathtub was great! So good to have a bath in the evening with the bathroom window open to the sound of the port. I'm not sure what the other rooms were like, we were very fortunate with the location of ours. Finally, the location was also fantastic. It's just a few metres from the big draw card of Cartagena, the Roman Theatre and museum. It's also just steps away from where the tourist boat departs (recommend). It's also just a 15 minute walk to the Punic Wall museum. Overall we really enjoyed our stay and would likely stay here again if we were to come back to Cartagena.