Estancia de La Mantilla(Hotel Casa la Mantilla by Faranda Boutique)

This boutique hotel was exactly what we were looking for. It's located in the old city, right in the midst of fantastic restaurants, music venues, coffee shops, museums, and more. The small hotel boasts a "Moorish" design with white plaster walls and stunning custom decor, a rarity in North American hotels. The staff were all very friendly and helpful in arranging tours, recommending restaurants, coffee shops, museums, and more. The front desk personnel spoke very clear English, which was always helpful. However, I must mention one issue that greatly upset us during our stay. We met up with a friend of a friend, a tour guide in Cartagena, who joined us at the hotel for a drink and to share some photos of our trip to Hungary. Upon leaving for dinner with said friend, the front desk agent (just doing his job) informed us of a $300,000 pesos charge (about $100) for having an unregistered guest in our room. The hotel was adamant about this charge, even though it was mentioned in our guest information, all in Spanish, with no explicit explanation of this peculiar policy. Needless to say, we were not happy about this unexpected charge. It's unfortunate that such cash grabs are commonplace for certain hotels in Colombia, and it significantly tainted our overall experience.

The hotel recently underwent a renovation. We may have been the first guests since their opening. Minor problems will always occur but it's how staff handles them that makes the difference for me. There are no words to express the gratitude I feel towards the staff. From the moment we arrived (welcome drink) to the charismatic front desk staff to the overall lovely attitude they greeted us with, made us feel comfortable and excited about this vacation. The very first night they helped me with a small surprise for my partner's birthday. They helped with the white lie to get back into the room and they went ABOVE & BEYOND what I was expecting. So much so, that I was also surprised. In addition to rose petals, there was a bottle of champagne (or similar - was too excited to even care) AND a small and beautiful cake. The note was personalized and it made us both feel so special. I know people write these kind of over the top reviews all the time, but I don't. I usually don't post reviews all that often, but this trip Cartagena has me typing away. There was an issue with the water and plumbing the 2nd night - as I said these things happen. Staff communicated with us and almost immediately offered a couple of solutions. One was to use their sister hotel for a shower and our immediate needs. The second option was to simply move hotels. We actually wanted to stay at la Estancia because that's how much we loved it. So we decided to go to the "nicer" hotel just to shower. Unfortunately the problem was going to take longer than expected. They promised the transition would be fast and seamless and IT WAS. The sister hotel was around the block so we told them we'd take our bags - no big deal. They were absolutely not going to let that happen. They had someone waiting to take our bags and someone to receive us when we arrived at the other property. It was a shame to not have been able to stay with them because honestly they were so special. Again, problems happen but the way they handled it made this trip unforgettable.

Great location, check in was professional, room very nice.

Great 9 bed hotel in a colonial style house on a slightly less busy street but very close to everything. Lovely bedroom, 2 small pools to cool off, nice breakfast, if you are lucky grab the 2 places outside overlooking the street. Really lovely, highly recommended. Lost a mark for the generally unfriendly breakfast team, shame, the only small negative

The people and staff are amazing, they were super helpful, available and caring. The only down it was the contraction of the supermarket that was under construction and they were working 24 hours a day for 3 nights of our stay.

Location location.. This Mini boutique hotel is located in the center of the colonial section You never have to walk more than 3 km to see everything Historic orI am angry modern about this City. It's surrounded by lovely restaurants Beautiful streets to Perus and shopsà