Guest User
January 7, 2024
This hotel is a reasonable and average 3-star option, that (minus the helicopter issue) would be a slight step up from a hostel experience under normal circumstances. However, it has several things letting it down. First and foremost, the hotel is situated either on top of, or extremely close to, the helicopter launching pad from which touristic helicopter tours operate. Ostensibly, these tours only operate between 1pm-5pm. However, "transportation" (non-tour) helicopters appear to operate sporadically at other hours. In any case, the assault on the senses between the hours of 1pm and 5pm is absolutely extraordinary. I cannot overstate this. It is simply impossible to think of anything else except the helicopters in the immediate vicinity. The helicopters are so loud that you must raise your voice in order to be heard; it is also very difficult to hear others. This, of course, makes understanding Spanish very hard if it is your second language. I could almost bear the noise if it was, say, once an hour, but the helicopters leave back-to-back, one after the other, at all times between 1pm-5pm. It is so severe that I would say, as a lawyer (please note this is not legal advice, and I have no qualifications recognised under Colombian law), that, if the helicopter business commenced operation after the hotel businesses in the area, that the hotel businesses probably have a cause of action against both the authorities that approved the helicopter business, as well as potentially the helicopter business itself. Nevertheless, note that this is not legal advice, and I am only qualified under a common law system, not a civil law system. Whilst I genuinely feel sorry for the hotels impacted by this noise, my sympathy is somewhat tempered by the fact that the hotel appears to be run (or at least reception is run) by three rather grumpy and sullen young women. While I do feel sorry for these people, as the noise is truly insufferable and must surely impact their mood, their demeanours were nevertheless sincerely unwelcoming and cold. And whilst I realise as a woman myself that it is out of vogue to ask women to smile, at some point, surely being horrible to recently-arrived and polite guests is not a cool thing to do. I was further offended when one of them followed us to the room, then proceeded to count each duvet/doona/comforter, each towel, each blanket and each sheet, and asked me to sign a form certifying that there were a certain number of each item in the room. While I am normally exceedingly polite to a fault, I could not help but tell the woman: "no somos ladrones" - we are not thieves. Thankfully, she advised me that it was just in case I "accidentally" took home a doona, or a sheet, or a towel. I was too humble to mention that I could buy a Target store full of doonas if I wanted, thereby obviating any immediate need for me to steal a doona from a third-rate hotel in Colombia, but I kept my mouth shut. Another issue with this property i