I did not pick this place by choice, and was limited in option due to last minute booking. Location was great, cute boutique motel. I call it a motel because the room is like a cheap motel and it wasn't that clean. In my shower stall I found hair on the wall from the previous guest. The common area looked cute and clean, rooms are a different story. There are no elevators for people who like to travel with loads of things. I would have given more stars if the morning receptionist didn't give me an attitude about calling me a cab. I specifically told him that the receptionist in the evening booked me a cab for 10 am and if the cab did not show up if he could please book me another one immediately (I even used google translate). I waited 15 minutes and there was no call from the front desk about my cab. So naturally I went back to the front desk and requested another cab...he yelled at me. It would behoove whoever owns this motel to have proper training with the receptionists. Also there is no hair dryer in the room....you would have to go to the front desk and use a community hair dryer. As for the owner reading this, don't bother responding and ask what you could do to make me happier unless you intend on giving me a full refund.

A lot of noise from the street or from the restaurant downstairs. The rooms are small and some of them don't have windows. The locations and staff are great though. So pick your poison.

Friendly, Professional Reception Staff – But That’s About All We wanted to stay in the Historical Center since most of the sights we wanted to see were located in that section of Cartagena. We chose the Centro Hotel because of its location and the quaint appearance from the photos on the website. Well, the best thing about the Centro Hotel was their attentive, friendly, and helpful reception staff. After their professional service, everything else went downhill from there. The rooms were not quaint, but were rather spartan, worn, and faded. There was little storage for clothing and personal items, and one drawer in my closet didn’t open at all. Since Cartagena is in a hot and humid climate, the air-conditioning is a welcome relief … when it works. The air-conditioning in my room worked quite well, but the one in my traveling companion’s room barely worked at all (and was not repaired during our stay, despite her daily requests). The water pressure in the bathroom sink was paltry, with barely a stream of water coming out, even with both taps on full-blast. The water temperature in the shower never got warmer than tepid, no matter what time I tried to use the shower. While there is free wi-fi, the service is quite spotty. For example, I could not get any wi-fi signal if I were at the desk but had to carefully position my computer on one side of the bed to get a wi-fi signal, which caused me to have to hunch over from the desk chair that I had to move near the bed. There was an in-room safe, but it was operated by a master key (so anyone with that key could get into the safe). The lock on the room door was merely a simple interior, push-button lock, i.e., no dead-bolt lock or no chain on the door. I decided to push a chair against the door each night, just for a bit of extra security. The hotel is located on the second floor, so be prepared to carry your luggage through a small coffee shop and then up a set of stairs to the hotel reception. Being located in the old section of the city, noise is a big problem for the hotel, particularly for those rooms that face Carrera 5. Unfortunately, both our rooms did, in fact, face Carrera 5, where there is loud music, carousing of local youths, and frequent loud talking and shouting. Even with the two sets of windows closed, we could hear every word and every note of music played outside our rooms. For me, the noise level was compounded by the fact that my room was directly behind the reception desk, which meant I would hear conversations between guests and the receptionist at all hours, as well as the doorbell that guests have to ring to be admitted from the street after 10:00pm. Breakfast, which was included in the hotel price, was straightforward and decent, including a glass of juice, a cup of coffee or tea, some less-than-ripe fruit, and your choice of eggs or pancakes. In a country known for its coffee, the hotel’s brew was less-than-stellar. Go to the nearby Época for terrific Colombian coffee. In retrospect, I wish we had stayed at a more upscale hotel, rather than going for “quaint and local.” I would not recommend staying at Centro Hotel.

I stayed here for two weeks and enjoyed the experience, all flowed well. From the top down, the entire staff was very kind and helpful. They were attentive to my needs and able to provide information should I ask. Their patience and professionalism was on display when any distasteful tenants arrived. Some individuals might find too much noise coming from the balconies that face the street, this depends on individual ability to sleep, for me, it was light ambience noise & didn’t bother. The location is great, this hotel is adequate for the price, I can only recommend it.

Traveler's coffee is a relaxed and cozy place to spend some time while visiting Cartagena. Breakfasts are great, but the best things they can offer are the quality of the attention + their disposition to allow pets, something that is not very common in town unfortunately.

The hotel has charming authentic rooms and is at a great location in the old center of Cartagena. Breakfast takes a long time to be prepared and can be improved. For instance, they are not familiar with the concept of tea with milk and did not have the pancakes with fruit on two of the three mornings. When they did, the pancake only had three small slices of banana on it. The staff are friendly but could use some hospitality training as they can be somewhat informal and are not very proactive.

Motel on top of a cafe... building is really old and in need of renovation. The room was small, and everytime we shower, water will start to come up from the drainage in the bathroom.

I might have just gotten unlucky with the location of my room, but the noise from the street was incredibly loud. Thumping music kept me awake until 2am on a Sunday night... If you're the type who likes to go to bed early, consider another hotel a little further away from the bars and restaurants. Otherwise, room was decent for the price.

Super slow service in the morning. We had to wait for one hour for our pancakes. The standard room was small and without a window. However the hotel is super central and in case you get sick (as it was in our case) you can ask for a chickensoup, which they were kind to make for a few dollars.

I am rating the place based on recommendations for our tour guide as it is one of the best places to have good quality coffee.

Super friendly staff and great coffee!

The location of the hotel is fantastic. Very central to absolutely everything. We walked everywhere.

Great hotel, great location, wonderful staff.

I stayed at the Centro hotel for 15 nights and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Yes, the water was only a trickle but the towels were new and I found all amenities I could have wished for: fridge, television, hairdryer. Breakfast was served in a bright area with opening to the sky with palm trees. It is a delightful old building , thoughtfully furnished and the staff are charming and very helpful. My room with a balcony was spacious and had a desk, an arm chair, drawers and hanging space for clothes I think people need to appreciate the charm of the place and remember that they are in Colombia in the old part of the city. The hotel for me was perfect!