MrHalliday

I suspect this depends on your RA vs. just amb. status.....

ian164000

not sure about RA benefits....i am a lowly platinum.

travelkid

noticed IC medellin has 5k pointbreaker now.

MrHalliday

For sure !
Its been there for months.
(ok maybe it went away a few days then reappeared )

It is the only remaining IC outside of 3 still on the Africa/Middle East list.
Santiago IC was another nice-sounding PB on offer until just recently.
I reserved a week there, but cancelled as friends voted for Medellin.

Booked Medellin Jan 20-30, may use only 6 or so nights.
Anyone there at the same time, give me a shout !
I will be reading my stack of MAXIM and WIRED mags by the pool.

Love that no-hassle cancel feature,
really ups the value of using PB deals.

MrHalliday

Arrived last night, stunning view of city coming in from MDE.

No suite for this Amb on PB, so room kiinda small and no coffeemaker But nice fruit setup, great looking pool, good TV channel lineup, should be excellent base to explore from.

njfan07

Ian164000,

Were you practicing your Spanish and by mistake say something offensive? 13" TV's?? Old shower heads? Maybe they didn't completely refurbish every room and left a couple for people they never want to see again? My experience was vastly different than yours, even using pointbreaks.

njfan07

They told me they upgraded me when I was there in November, but it looked like a regular room to me. Checked in late so received my fruit plate the next day.

Cabs are very cheap, so easy to explore, but be careful about taking cabs off the street at night. While violence is increasing and getting lots of publicity, it's still nowhere near what it was.

ian164000

wow...so much for FT being an open forum to share your thought with others..huh NJfan.


what do you have some kind of vested interest in this property that your willing to insult anyone who has a unkind word about the IC medellin?

seriously, why on earth would you write something like that?

for everyone else...i will say it again. the PEOPLE at the IC medellin property are great (and yes, i even received a fruit plate and a bottle of wine as a lowly platinum),...BUT the rooms are NOT GOOD AT ALL!!!

i highly recommended the city...but unless you are using points breaks....STAY SOMEWHERE ELSE!!

MrHalliday

Just for variety, I am changing rooms today from
my pool view to a city view.
......Turns out the "pool-view" is my AMB upgrade.
Not complaining, a great deal on PB.

Oh yes, the website implied some kind of
hotel shuttle to Poblado or elsewhere...it doesn't exist.

No mattter, taxi is OK. Now taking taxi down to Parque Poblado and try out he "Turibus".
EDIT: This was a very fun afternoon, recommended for COP 15K

MrHalliday

Received a preliminary bill under the door,
it shows a Hotel Insurance charge of COP 12,997 for EACH night.

The reservation online does mention a daily charge of $ 2.63.
They are charging almost 3X the quoted price.
Anybody deal with this before?

ian164000

...i did get charged the $5000 pesos a night for cleaning...but nothing for insurance..

njfan07

MrHalliday, the only thing that I had on my bill other than meals and phone calls were the daily insurance/security charge (Seguro Hotelero), which was COP 5,497 when I stayed there in November. Today, the website lists the $2.63 insurance charge and a $1.00 service charge that I was never billed. COP 12,997 is USD$6.63 so there's something wrong with that bill.

njfan07

Ian, interesting replies you posted! First you rated the place was a 5 out of 10 and said they had slow Internet. I posted that when I stayed in November the Internet was fast for me and I liked the improvements. You countered with a review that you thought the place was a dive and you told me that "I was sadly mistaken." When I disagreed with your opinion, you felt that I was restricting your ability to express yourself on an Internet forum (really?) and that you were amazed that someone would post something questioning your post (really??). Your reaction was to ask if I had vested interest in the location and you then you had the need to warn people with caps. If you felt so strongly about that hotel, why didn't you start your posts with a statement about the quality of the hotel?

FT has given me fantastic advice over the years, and when I can help people, I try to do that. Since I've been to Medellin 5 times and stayed at the IC 4 times. I try to help when I see someone asking for advice. That's my reason for posting. Since you asked the question, what is the reason that over half of your first 10 posts are focused on this hotel?

BTW, there is no cleaning fee. Maybe my jest about you inadvertently saying something wrong in Spanish was on the mark.

MrHalliday

The COP 12,997 was apparently for 2 people, got it reduced to COP 6488 per night.
This is close enough to the $2.63 insurance and $1 service charge quoted.
It turns out this Hotel Insurance charge is completely optional.

I paid the insurance charge for six nights (about $20 US) and didn't fight it,
just asking to not pay it starting one day they finallly confirmed it was optional.
At check out remainimg insurance charges were removed without issue.

More annoying was the COP 272,963.90 billed for each of the last
three nights of my Pointbreaks stay. Front desk got it reversed easily enough.

All in all excellent value: great city, great pool, pretty good rooms,
and small TV (with lots of channels though !). Thanks again IHG for Pointbreaks !

Quizarate

I'll be staying there from 3/5-3/10. One question. Should I bring cash with me and exchange it or find an ATM or something.

Also, I was thinking renting a car and driving from Medellin to Bogota. Good idea or no?

Thanks.