Dear Guest, Thank you for your nice review. I’m happy that you enjoyed your stay !The Souvenir d’Afrique room is 27sqm (290sqft) and La Mer is 33sqm (355sqft), these are our 2 largest rooms and they are significantly larger than the average room size in hotels and b&bs in the Historical Center of Cartagena.On booking sites, you’ll find 2 different rates, one including pick-up and another without pick-up. When confirming the reservation we offer our guests to pick them up , if it’s not included we specify the rate and it’s up to the guest to decide if they wish to be picked up by our driver or not. We recommend to all our guests to take our pick-up service because arriving at an unfamiliar airport in Latin America can sometimes be overwhelming. Upon exiting the airport you’ll be surrounded by dozens of drivers trying to get your bags and getting you in their vehicle and they will almost always overcharge you. Having a valet service with a private driver that is waiting for you, no matter if your flight is late or not, that will help you with your bags and will take you safely to our property and that is coordinating your arrival with our concierge is a big plus. Yes, we charge Col80,000 for airport pick-up which seems fair and not comparable to a cab fare. We also recommend our guests to take a cab when checking out as going from our property to the airport is straightforward and as we call the cab from a known cab association the risk of being overcharged is limited and if this happens we’ll be able to pursue and report the driver. I invite you to contact me at our mail or Whatsapp. I’ll be happy to further discuss the matter with you. Thank you. Cheers, Marcus

Dear Guest,Thank you for your review though I don’t grasp the economics behind your words…should we give you all for free ? Free water, free coffee, free room…?The room is 27sqm ( 290sqft ) as indicated on our listing on Expedia and on our web site. In the room there are vintage African items and French furniture from the 18th and 19th century. I’m sorry you did not like it. When you stayed for one night, there was indeed a water emergency in the city, which was then declared Public Health Emergency by the Mayor’s office. The 1,300,000 inhabitants of Cartagena had no water for 4 days. But, I must insist, you always had water and we went above and beyond to make sure that you and our other guests always had water.Your room has a dedicated emergency water tank and though with little pressure, the shower, the hand basins and the toilet had water. We also put in every bathroom 2 gallons of water and 2 water bottles to rinse your teeth…WHICH WE DID NOT CHARGE.You did not use the shower because there is a window in the bathroom ?You state that we offered you wine instead of water, this is not accurate. Your reservation was part of Expedia’s VIP ACCESS program and offers a preferred rate and a courtesy wine bottle. When we checked you in we showed you that the wine bottle was in the minibar as well as cork screw, glasses and vacuum pump. We also offered you water and coffee when we checked you in and registered, WHICH WE DID NOT CHARGE. In the room’s minibar there is water, coca-cola, beer, prosecco, snacks,… The price list is on the side of the minibar. Do you sincerely believe that you should have all the items in the minibar for free ? The bottles you bought at the local store are not spring water as the bottles in the minibars, it’s filtered tap water, very very very different from spring water, hence the price difference. Price and quality are not comparable. The water bottles in the minibar are Agua Manantial, the only spring water available in Colombia.The Nespresso capsules for the coffee corner have a cost, which is shown on the price list. We do buy, and pay the Nespresso machines and capsules from Nestle, we don’t have them for free…Breakfast does indeed start at 7am and is served until 12. You checked out around 5am, so breakfast was not available, which I believe is understandable, within the norms and you shouldn’t blame us for this. When you made your reservation I personally sent you a mail confirming your reservation and offering you to pick you up at the airport. I also personally helped you with your tv set and Netflix during the night and our staff gave you lots of info on where to go to explore the city. Why would you say you did not have good customer service ?We believe that customer service is of uttermost importance and do our best every day and every night to give the best service to our guests. We also believe that screaming at Francois, the young man that came at 5am to help you check out, get

Dear Guest, Thank you for your review.Yes, indeed during the night of your stay, at about 10pm a transformer from a nearby power station exploded and the voltage of the whole block became very irregular until the morning. The lights continued working but not the a/c. I’m really sorry about that. Of course it’s not our fault and we, and all the neighbors, hotels and restaurants, called and called the power company until they repaired it but I do understand that without a/c, the nights in Cartagena are really very hot…again, I’m really sorry that this happened during your stay. This is something that sometimes happens, Colombia is a developing country and the power infrastructure is insufficient to cover the touristic needs in the center of the city and of several areas in the country.Wifi may have been affected as well during the night though the concierge told me that you communicated by Whatsapp.The mattress is an orthopedic mattress. It’s firm, some like it some don’t…probably the lack of a/c did not help. What issue did you have with the wc ? We checked it before we gave you the room and then again this morning before the next guest checked-in and we found it flushing normally. I hope that we can accommodate you again, with no power shortages for you to fully enjoy your stay at Les Lezards. I invite you to contact me at our mail or Whatsapp. I’ll be happy to further discuss the matter with you. Thank you. Cheers, Marcus

Dear Guest, I’ll be straightforward and clarify things up:Expedia’s VIP ACCESS program offers a preferred rate, WHICH YOU HAD as you can see in your reservation info, a courtesy bottle of wine, WHICH WAS IN THE MINIBAR OF YOUR ROOM, with wine glasses, corkscrew and wine vacuum pump, and a courtesy upgrade IF AND ONLY IF A HIGHER CATEGORY ROOM IS AVAILABLE. You stayed during Thanksgiving week-end and all rooms were busy so we could not give you a courtesy upgrade. We did not incur in any wrongdoing nor is this a case of false advertising as you claim. Yes, we are a BED&BREAKFAST indeed ! Hence, LES LEZARDS b&B is the name of the property ! Luxurious furnishing ? Your room has a last generation a/c, a 55 inches Samsung tv, some teak furnishing and an antique chest of drawers. What kind of luxurious furnishing did you expect ?There is a hot tub ! What do you mean toilets do not flush ? Why would you say something like that ? Nobody told you to place used toilet paper in the basket in the bathroom ! This is a completely non hygienical thing to do ! Mattresses are orthopedic mattresses.Every bed has 2 soft and 2 hard pillows.Where was the floor dirty? In your room ? In the patios of the house ? We clean the house several times a day and the rooms are cleaned daily. Did we miss something in your room ? At breakfast we can accommodate seven guests at the same time in the 2 patios, our breakfast serving time is from 7am to 12. We also offer breakfast in the rooms if the guest wishes, or on the terrace. As the house was full during your stay it’s possible that you showed up for breakfast and that the tables were busy. If this happens we inform our guests that as soon as a guest finishes his breakfast we’ll call them or that breakfast can be served in the room. We also offer you to schedule the day before at what time you wish to have breakfast, this is indicated on the breakfast menu leaflet in your room. We met every day, several times a day, during your stay. We talked in the patios, we chatted in the corridors, we even met on the nearby square and talked. We gave you so many recommendations on tours and restaurants but at no time did you ever inform us that you were having so many issues. My staff and I were all under the clear impression that you were having a great time. Your wife did also publish an amazing review on your stay on the internet. If you would have told me or our staff about all this we could have definitely solved your queries, such as the toilet paper use, the floors, setting up a time for your breakfast, and giving you softer pillows. I invite you to contact me at our mail or Whatsapp. I’ll be happy to further discuss the matter with you. Thank you. Cheers, Marcus

Dear Guest, When you arrived with our driver that picked you up at the airport, we gave you the room you booked, Up in the Sky. When you booked, I personally sent you a message confirming that you booked the Up in the Sky room and offered to pick you up.All the info on this room (which by the way is our most sold room) is available on Expedia and is visible during the booking process: pics, amenities, size of the room and that the room is on the upper floor. The staircase to the main terrace is not a “vertical ladder”, it’s a spiral colonial staircase and has been designed and built by the famous and award winner architect Alberto Samudio.The room is not dirty, nor is the house.You did not, nor any of our guests would have to take turns to get into the bed, this is outrageous.There where a few drops of rain in the room, a tropical storm just passed by, we would easily have solved this issue but you left. The neighborhood is not dangerous and has been declared by Forbes Magazine as one of the “10 coolest neighborhoods in the world. I’m sorry you missed that. Saying that our property is a “dump” is completely inappropriate. You did not run out from our property, we chatted with you after you told us that you had a knee problem and could not climb the stairs, offered you 2 other rooms, you denied our offer, and we called a cab for you and then helped you with your bags into the cab. Bocagrande is very different from the Historical Center indeed. All the history, architecture, tropical lifestyle and colonial vibe, bars, restaurants, galleries and events are here in the Historical Center. It’s a completely different experience and if you stay in the modern neighborhood of Bocagrande you’ll spend your holiday catching cabs to go back and forth to the center. I can also add that comparable hotels in Bocagrande are cheaper than in the center. I invite you to contact me at our mail or Whatsapp. I’ll be happy to further discuss this matter with you. Thank you. Cheers, Marcus