Hotel San Miguel Imperial

We stayed at this hotel for Christmas, the room was 38 English pounds a night. We feel mixed about this hotel. The hotel is lovely, the room is really nice and the amenities are fine (we didnt sample breakfast). The location is ok, its a bit of a walk to the beach but its near enough to all the good restaurants and the bank. However, the area is also quite noisy. We stayed in two seperate rooms and in both cases the noise woke us up, either music playing or dogs barking. The most upsetting thing about this hotel, and the price we paid, is that they have NO HOT WATER AT ALL. Now normally we wouldn't mind this, but at the price we were paying we felt it was kind of unforgivable. Lastly we put some washing in on the day we arrived (Christmas Eve) and were told it would be ready Boxing day, admittedly its our own fault but we didnt ask how much the washing would cost. When we get it back on Boxing day we were shocked; 22 English pounds to wash about 20 items!! We couldnt help but feel we may have been ripped off. Still, as we didnt ask the price beforehand not much we could do. So our experience of the hotel is mixed. No doubt we could find somewhere for a similar price that is slightly better however we also didnt have a terrible stay. The main possitive of the hotel; The reception staff are brilliant, they are very helpful! They helped us many times, with getting taxis to Taganga, with booking our onward travel to Cartagena. It seems that for every item we felt disgruntled about they made up for it with. In summary we wouldnt stay again but this is mainly due to price. If the hotel had been cheaper we wouldnt have found the issues as bad. Having travelled for 3 months now we have a pretty fair grasping of what to expect for our money and this just didnt quite meet our expectations.

With some simple maintenance it could be so much better. Room 306, the window had slipped off its runners so the window panes rattled really badly, we shoved a towel in the gap to fix it. The door to the room scraped across the floor at one point on opening making a really loud noise which would surely disturb any neighbours if late at night, easy fix with a screwdriver to tighten hinges. Bathroom door squeeked really loudly, annoying if trying to be quiet in the night, easy fix, spray hinges. None of this demonstrates good ownership/management/care of the property and it shows elsewhere too. Breakfast was awful, cold egg and coffee as the restaurant opened, not good consudering the hawkers on the street can sell hot coffee all day long we went out for breakfast on day two so cost of night suddenly increased. Swimming pool only accommodates 3 at a time. Fairly decent location for quite stay. The comfy bed with soft pillow and duvet afforded a good night sleep and saved it from receiving 1 star, very friendly and helpful staff also helped.

So stayed here for 2 nights whilst in Santa Marta. On entering it had a friendly receptionist and a nice foyer, the room wasn't so good though. Hinges on the door had dropped so it scraped the ground loudly, the light was just a light bulb in the wall. No hot water, toilet seat was broken, toilet door scrapped again. Only one double plug socket in the room, no bedside lamp. Really disappointed, breakfast was no better, cold coffee and eggs, ate breakfast out the next morning... There is a pool only 3 people at a time though and the reception staff are lovely and friendly, but honestly better value elsewhere. I've given it 2 stars only because of the reception staff