Tequendama is updating its rooms; lower floors are getting freshened up first with new furnishings and plasma TV. You may hear some remodeling noise during the day.

This is a full-service hotel with excellent security and good restaurants. It’s a bit formal, if you like that kind of thing. Made of the same red-orange brick prevalent in most Bogotá buildings, it almost looks like a college dorm from the outside, but it’s lovely on the inside. For decades it’s been the epitome of class in midtown Bogotá. The elevators are prompt and super-fast.

The ATM next to the front desk never worked for me – so be prepared if you expect to arrive after dark (personally, I had the best luck with Bancolombia machines).

If you want to wander around on foot after sunset, this isn’t the place, though during the day there are plenty of restaurants in the area that cater to office workers and students; the Sunday flea market is nearby and there’s also a good bookstore next door.

First the positive: The people from the hotel give a very friendly service, and they come quickly when called for. Well, as most Colombians they lack some logic, we ordered 40$ food to the room but later when asking them to open the Mini bar they wanted a creditcard as a security. However, the minibar was OK. Room service and cleaning are good and discrete. Location is very central but ugly, security is OK. But the negativs are too many for a Hotel of this price range – I doubt this is a four star Hotel, I would say 3 stars tops. We had a standard 1-double-bed room. The room had no air condition – or I would say a heating would be even more apropiate. We were for some days in July and the days were not cold for Bogota standard, we had even some sunny days. Nevertheless it was so cold in the room, the pijama outside the bed was not enough. As mentioned before from others, the carpet is very worn. It is not so unusual, but same as all the other decors, its just from a time of bad taste, looks like from the 60's or 70's. The windows glass is too thinn, it seems you just need to touch it a little bit and it will fall outside – its vibrating and making noises with every breeze. We ordered dinner to the room only one time, because it is too expensive compared to outside Restaurants you pay about the double, and the meat we ordered well cooked was partially raw. The badest of all, the room does not even include Internet connection, we had to pay for it seperately and it was very expensive. Do not go to the Tequendama! We were at much cheaper hotels that had a much better overall look and included Internet connection and better food at better prices, so for anyone I would recommend one of these: Hotel La Feria (my favorit), Andes Plaza or Rosales Plaza (well, the last one is expensive too).

Stayed at this hotel for 3 nights last February. I was sceptical to book this hotel after reading the poor reviews here. I booked an advance purchase rate at the IC website, at 75 USD per night for a standard room.

The reviews are absolutely right!! This is an awful hotel, which should be avoided at all times! It is located in downtown of Bogota, which is not too bad actually. It is a perfect base for sightseeing in daytime. Every famous sight in Bogota is within easy walking distance. But it makes no difference, cause after 5-6 PM everything in the area is dead. And this area is dangerous in the evening and nighttime. Even the locals avoid this place after 6 PM.

The hotel is very secure of course. You will se a lot of diplomats and politicians here. I saw President Uribe here one night. This is just because this hotel is operated by the Colombian state. So there is policemen and soliders with machineguns at every entrance and corner.

Check-in was slow. The reception was filled with receptionists, but they did not do anything to help me. I had to ask if one of them could check me in. They just don't care. After a while a grumpy girl checked me in. Then I got my roomkey and went to my room. There was nobody who helped me with my suitcase either, which is not proper for
a so called 5-star hotel (which they say they are). The common areas of the hotel are very grand, but also so tired, and quite tasteless. Typical Latin old-world grandeur. I am sure this hotel was THE place to stay in the 60s and 70s, but not anymore. Everything is so outdated and tired.

I was kinda chocked when I got to my room. Small and crampy! Old and dusty! There was no place to put my suitcase, so I had to put it on the tiny coffeetable. There was no inroom-safe. There was no aircondition. Which I think can be terrible in summertime, when Bogota is steaming hot. Their website said all rooms had AC, but none of the two rooms I stayed in had AC. The bathroom was old and tiny too. The shower was terrible. No proper water pressure, and the water suddenly went from burning hot to ice cold. Impossible to have a good shower. The hotel is also situated in the middle of a traffic-machine. Highways on every side!! Loud trucks and buses can be heard all night long. So if you are allergic to loud noises, you won't get a single second of sleep here. The windows are very old, and they aren't noisecancelling. The beds were terrible too. I guess the matresses were at least 25 years old. It was so hard and uncomfortable. Several areas of the room hadn't been cleaned for many months. I could tell due to the dust and dirty stains. TV was small, but had a good selection of channels. There is no proper internet connections in the rooms. They say they have wireless internet, but that's not true. In both rooms they had to install old fashioned modems to get my computer connected to the net. Stone age connection! Rooms are outdated and tired. The hotel needs a total top to bottom renovation to compete with other hotels in Bogota, and other international hotels. I think it is very inconvenient that the InterContinental chain puts up a website of lies - for example here they stated that this hotel had AC and wireless internet in all rooms, but this was not true. The rooms have NO AC and NO wireless internet connetion.

The service was slow and very unfriendly. Overall I found the staff very cold and unfriendly. I felt like asking for a huge favor when asking for more stationary or for more soap. They really have an attitude problem, which is not good. I have never experienced such inefficient service and rude staff in any IC hotel. There were several things I had to call for, they said it would be fixed within minutes. But nothing happened. Even after several hours I had to call
back to remind them, and they were quite rude, and said it would be fixed. But nothing happened. I had to get angry before action was taken to solve the different issues. I found the bellboystation and the reception unstaffed a lot of times. I had to wait several times, simply because there was no staff there.

Friends were also refused to visit me in my room during daytime. My friend told the security was very rude to him. Why can't my friend visit me in my room at day time??? I was shocked and demanded to speak to the manager, which I did. He couldn't give me a proper answer. He didn't even speak English!!! But they didn't refuse my friends access to my room after this.

Breakfast was terrible too. The breakfast room is dark and unappetizing. Small and bad selection of food. Only traditional food. There are no normal bread or healthy choices. Only high calory traditional food. You have to ask for everything, cause they do not serve you by the table. Like in other hotels you are usually asked if you want coffee or tea, but not here. Here you have to fix it by yourself. The breakfast room is disgusting, nobody is cleaning the tables after guests leaving. You can see tables with foodscrap and leavings everywhere. This is not very proper!

The bar, lobby lounge and the restaurant was sad and depressing chapters as well. Food and drinks were both mediocre, but the service
were totally awful! Not the place for a romatic dinner or a productive business meeting.

There are no proper health club or any swimmingpool at this hotel either. The business center was a joke. I laughed when I saw it. A table and a Pentium 120 computer.

AND, this is not an InterContinental hotel, recently it was degraded to a Crowne Plaza, due to it's lacking standards and amenities.

SO, avoid this hotel please. This is NOT a 5-star hotel. Rather a average 3-star. There are many better options in Bogota: among those Casa Medina, Hotel Morrison and Sofitel - great locations, nice rooms and lavish service:)

The hotel itself is OK, although needs an urgent renovation. However what makes this hotel not a good place to stay is where is located (dirty and dangerous old downtown) which is definitely not the place to be.

Also, if you stay here and then have to do business at the new downtown (where the WTC is) expect a 45 minutes ride by car every morning