The Charlee Hotel, Medellín review: dishonest staff made for bad stay

I’ve been visiting Medellín, Colombia on a regular basis for years, having visited the city over 15 times in nine years.

Every time that I’ve visited, I’ve stayed at the same Airbnb, but decided to book The Charlee Hotel in El Poblado for this trip as I had some credits on Capital One Travel and I found a gorgeous room available at The Charlee Hotel that included a hot tub. Screenshots of the room below:

I could only get a away for a few nights and it was going to be a work remote trip, so the idea of having a hot tub to enjoy at night after a hard day of work sounded like the perfect getaway for me (and was enough of a reason to decide not to stay at my regular Airbnb).

To my surprise, when I checked in and was taken to my room there was no hot tub. I went down to the front desk and showed them the screenshots showing that I booked a room with a hot tub and they told me, basically, that the pictures on Capital One Travel were incorrect and that the the room I booked, a “Standard, King” did not come with a hot tub.

I asked the front desk staff if there was a room available with a hot tub and they told me no, there wasn’t. I also texted with the concierge to see if a room with a hot tub was available to book, and was told the same — one simply wasn’t available (screenshot below).

I went back up to my room, resigned to the fact that the hotel getaway I booked and was very much looking forward to wasn’t happening when I went on their website and saw, in fact, a room with a hot tub was being sold on their website for the same exact days (I was there April 17-19th). Screenshot below:

After seeing that they were selling a room with a hot tub for the dates they said no room with a hot tub was available, I called Capital One Travel. Capital One Travel agreed that I had booked a room with a hot tub and said they would pay any upgrade charge for me, and it felt like my trip would be saved.

I spent over an hour on the phone with Capital One Travel as they spoke to the hotel and after waiting an hour, I was told the hotel said, despite what was on their website, there was no room with a hot tub available. Capital One Travel gave me refunds and credits that helped cover the cost of the stay since I wasn’t given the room that I had booked. On top of that, after texting with the hotel’s concierge saying I was surprised they weren’t offering me anything for the mix-up, they offered me a free dinner.

With the credits and the free dinner, I decided I would leave the whole issue alone.

That was until this morning, when I was given a survey asking about my stay at the hotel, where I responded honestly. I was surprised to get this response from the hotel’s concierge, who must have read my response:

Here’s what surprised/disappointed me the most from this e-mail:

“Regarding the possibility of upselling, the team attempted to manage this process, but while the agency was confirming payment, the superior room was reserved by another guest, thus leaving it unavailable.”

Here’s why it upsets me so much:

• It confirms that the person at the front desk and the concierge were both lying to me when they said no room with a hot tub was available.
• Even after I got off the phone with Capital One Travel, the room with a hot tub was still showing up as bookable between April 17th-19th — meaning either the hotel was again lying saying the room wasn’t available or their website shows rooms as being available when they aren’t.
• Given the circumstances here, where the hotel was clearly aware that I booked a room with a hot tub (whether their fault or not) and that there was one available that they were trying to book me in, they should have prioritized getting me into that room rather than the last second booking they are saying came in. They could have easily called that guest and apologized to them, saying that it wasn’t available — I mean, I was already at the hotel, clearly upset, and that guest could have booked another hotel/room.

Since I’m a lawyer, I’m a big fan of taking screenshots in general. You can see that the e-mail from the concierge above saying all rooms with a hot tub are fully booked was at 8:34am (however, that was at 10:34am local time in Colombia). But my Capital One Travel call started at 8:42am, or 10:42am local time in Colombia (screenshot below).

This means that from the hotel’s own admission in their e-mail to me today, when the concierge texted me saying all rooms with a hot tub were fully booked they were lying. I appreciate them at least being honest with me after-the-fact.

Aside from the dishonest staff, there are some other things that I didn’t like about the hotel including:

• The breakfast that was included with my stay wasn’t that good.
• At check-in, I was told that if I wanted to have a friend or guest come over they would charge me a fee. As I have friends in the city since I visit often, I was shocked to hear this — feel like they were trying to nickel-and-dime me, as there’s no reason why they would need to charge for a guest visiting.
• Given the location in the heart of El Poblado, even on a high-up floor, the noise is loud and makes it hard to sleep if you’re planning to sleep at a reasonable (pre-2am) hour.

Based on my experience, I won’t be staying at this hotel again and if you’re visiting Medellín, I would recommend staying at either an Airbnb or The Click Clack Hotel Medellín (which I’ve never stayed in, but have had many friends stay in who have nothing but wonderful things to stay).

Bottom line

I understand that sometimes a third-party booking site may have inaccurate photos for a hotel room, but what I can’t look past is The Charlee Hotel’s front-desk and concierge lying and saying a room type wasn’t available when it was, particularly given the circumstances around me asking to be placed in this room (including the hotel being offered to be paid for the room).

If you’re visiting Medellín, I’d recommend avoiding the hotel based on my experience.