First, the good. This hotel is housed in a fabulous Victorian palace close to Plaza Bolovar, the BOTERO, and some excellent restaurants. The block itself is a Jewelry row, mostly discount places that both buy and sell. The rooms are inventively and charmingly adapted. The courtyard and public spaces are fabulous with what appears to be period furniture and numerous art works. The area is relatively safe but the Candelaria does have late night robberies, often of people walking from the bars.
Hot water scarce after 8:30 am but good earlier. Free breakfast was nothing special, though i loved the covered courtyard where it was served.
This hotel was very affordable for the size and quality of the rooms, the public spaces, and the good location.
The bad: I got some fresh insect bites while sleeping there, most likely bed bugs. The front desk didn’t give me the impression that they were going to get right on it. It’s an expensive problem, hard to fix, the front desk guy said. And maybe I just got bitten “out in the world”, by mosquitoes or something. The bite pattern I had was more typical of bed bugs.
Desm staff didn’t speak much English so we had to enlist the aid of another guest to translate.
Bedbugs are an unfortunate reality these days, and any hotel, regardless of price or cleanliness, can be affected. However the staff here didn’t treat the issue with the urgency it called for, or indicate that they were going to do anything at all.
