I stayed here in September 2012, after the U.S. Secret Service incident was widely reported. It was a weekend during a large conference, so I had trouble finding an affordable room at a nice hotel (the only room left at the Sofitel was over $800 a night - however this is the hotel I would recommend if possible). The Hotel Caribe is pretty far outside the old city. I tried to walk my first day, but it was so hot and not a pleasurable walk (and the traffic didn't help, with the noise and exhaust) so we finally got a cab. Cabs are very cheap, so that is not a problem.

The staff at the hotel was mixed. The woman who checked us in was not terribly helpful, but all of the bellmen/doormen were extremely helpful and kind. After check in, all of the front desk were great.

The room was a major disappointment. I believe the wing we were in simply had not been updated, but was in dire need of renovation. The bathroom looked like something from an old dorm. The beds were comfortable and the air conditioning worked fine. But the room just looked worn out. I asked to be moved, but due to the conference, there were no other rooms available.

The pool was very nice, and the grounds were lovely. The breakfast buffet was very good - wide variety of items, large room, and good food.

I would say for a family, this is a good location if you do not want to be in the old city (which could potentially be noisy or difficult with children) but for younger people or a couple, I would not really recommend this hotel. The beaches are not nice in Cartagena, you must take a boat to visit a beach (there are beaches near the hotel, but you might be disappointed if you are accustomed to Florida or California beaches). However, if you don't mind taking cabs (which, again, are not expensive and rarely take more than a few minutes to arrive at the hotel) and prefer to stay in a larger hotel rather than a small boutique or little inn, then this might be a good spot for you.

If you're looking for a moderately hotel in Cartagena that's on the beach in the Boca Grande area, then this is a reasonable option. My room was spacious enough is clean. The hotel itself is somewhat dated, but not terribly so. The front desk staff were generally good. The concierges were very inconsistent, & not all that helpful. We tried using them to make restaurant reservations a few times, but eventually decided to make our own reservations. The pool side & beach restaurants were ok. The included breakfast was also fine (nothing great, by any means). The beach itself is just so-so, as it is absolutely mobbed w tourists & extremely aggressive peddlers/masseuses/etc, which did not make for very enjoyable days on the beach! If we ever return to Cartagena, we'll probably spend more & stay at the Sofitel Santa Clara in the Centro Historico (not the Charleston!), since we spent quite a few Colombian pesos on cabs to/from the old city at least several times each day.

While the gardens, beach front, and pool of Hotel Caribe are outstanding and the location excellent, there are many other areas that leave a lot of room for improvement. First, the website and reservation situation is poor. I found it impossible to get anyone to answer the phone, to respond to emails, or to give valid information about the 3 different towers. I finally used a booking service and they too had issues and had to phone the hotel several times to get answers. Even then, we paid several steps up from the standard room and thought we were getting a waterview room and wound up in a building where only the extremely hot top floor room had a very distant water view past and over another building. After looking at several rooms we finally gave up. The room was comfortable but nothing beyond very standard and we paid for a superior room. The breakfast was excellent if one overlooked the screaming, crawling, running young children who were not supervised....with no attempt on the part of management to seat them in a separate area. We specifically stayed at this hotel because I remembered that they had a decent gym, which we use regularly. We were quite disappointed to discover that the treadmill had been broken for 4+ months with a new motor "ordered", the recumbent bicycle had no computer and therefore no resistance, and the gym was beastly hot with the only fan pointed at the attendant. We specifically asked in advance about the gym and were told it was excellent......broken cardio equipment that has been broken for months is not excellent. The final surprise was the day they asked everyone to leave the pool area at a very busy hot part of the day and all the guests were herded into one tiny section with all their stuff. The management decided to remove and install the new poolside furniture during the hot crowded afternoon rather than in the early morning, evening or at night....regardless of the guest's comfort or convenience. To us, this was indicative of a poor attitude. The staff very nice and the good grounds and location might have made this a top hotel which calls itself 5 stars but I don't think any 5 star hotel in the world has such reservation, website, gym, and timing issues.

Upon Check-in Gloria at the front desk informed me that I would have to pay $400-$500 additional for having "your girlfriend". The Expedia website clearly states same price for 1, 2 or 3 people in that room. The Hotel Caribe site clearly states same price for 1 or 2 people in that room. She was glib and sarcastic when I protested and said "Your girlfriend will not be eligible for the free breakfast you get with the plan". After much debate she said they would make a decision in the morning. So I spent the next 3 hours contacting Expedia and the Hotel showing them their own policies. Eventually 24 hours later and several legal threats later this got resolved in my favor.

Then after this was resolved we went to have our "free buffet" that Gloria promised. Upon leaving the wait person chased me down next to the pool and said "Sir you owe $45". I guess Gloria was wrong about the free buffet too. How embarrassing.

Upon checkout I paid the full bill with my credit card, collected our luggage and went to catch a cab. I was detained for 10 minutes by a security guard who needed to validate that I paid the full balance EVEN THOUGH I HAD A RECEIPT JUST ISSUED 20 MINUTE PRIOR.

I would rate this "0" stars however there is no "0" ranking. The room was OK. The pool area is nice. Some accommodations like a games room. But the service was the worst I have ever experienced ANYWHERE.

The work out room is the size of the hotel room with one broken treadmill. My room faced the back area of noise and garbage.

5 Star???? Is that a complete joke. Fire the entire staff and start over.