Hotel Laureles 70

“FRIENDLY AUTHENTIC PAISA HOTEL IN A LIVELY PART OF TOWN”

Three of us from the United States booked the Hotel Laureles 70 for two weeks at the end of June and early July 2017. We were tourists, but one of us was born in Medellin, and knew Laureles was a decent neighborhood, just off the busy street "70". We booked it as a combination fly/hotel packa... more

Three of us from the United States booked the Hotel Laureles 70 for two weeks at the end of June and early July 2017. We were tourists, but one of us was born in Medellin, and knew Laureles was a decent neighborhood, just off the busy street "70". We booked it as a combination fly/hotel package on CheapTickets ("cheap is good"). We had a quite small "triple room" with three single beds, a night stand, a decent wall mounted TV, a bathroom, and a tiny closet with 4 coat hangers. Candidly, the room was too tiny, not even a chair. I would not recommend this room if you like your privacy! But we were friends, and "cheap is good", right? The room was sufficient for our needs, however, as we spent only sleeping time there. We were on the third floor. There is no elevator. Get used to 3 sets of 17 stairs each. The housekeeping staff was thorough and everything was quite clean. On some days we only needed new towels, so the "no molestar" doorknob hanger was sufficient to leave the room undisturbed. The beds were comfortable. The A/C worked so well, we asked for blankets. The shower (and tub) had lots of hot water. The real pleasure of this hotel is its authenticity. This is not an American chain hotel in the sterile Poblado. Lots of Colombians and other nationalities stay here. The streets are alive. This is 100 feet off the 70 street, which has numerous small, lively cafes, bars, a bakery across the corner, the Jugosa (ice cream store next door), discos (even a "Viejosdisco"--for patrons over 60). The famous restaurant Mondongo is a block away. Like tripe soup? Music is everywhere (so bring ear plugs to sleep if you need them). Laureles 70 has a great staff. I enjoyed very much getting to know the front desk folks, Paula, Juliana, and Daniella. I especially enjoyed my interactions (with my pathetic Spanish skills) with the waiters in its restaurant. Breakfast--arepa (flat cornmeal bread), scrambled eggs, juice, coffee-- was included and pretty good, especially the Colombian coffee. If not included, the cost was 7000 pesos ($2.30 USD). Alejandro and Alex (brothers who speak excellent English) and Simon were the usual waiters; Mauricio usually had mornings. All were super friendly and polite. Suppers there in Hotel Laureles 70 are typical: fried pork or chicken, small salad, yucca. Very affordable, 11,000 pesos, perhaps $3.61 USD. Beer is about $1.25 a bottle. No craft beers; just local beer. The one quite odd and a bit irritating issue is the hotel's placement of a "basket" of various items such as peanuts, potato chips, some kind of chocolate, a toothbrush, toothpaste, which appeared our second day on the night stand. Turns out it was not complimentary, and as we had used the toothbrush, on check out the staff inventoried the room and the basket and we were charged about $2.00 USD for it. A disclosure paper of the costs of the items was under glass on the night stand, but because I don't read Spanish too well and I had placed brochures and papers on top of it, we never paid attention to it. The hotel needs to reevaluate this practice and either include the basket as complimentary or eliminate the practice. It was quite annoying to have the staff ask us to pay for the toothbrush. I mean, seriously, charging for a toothbrush?! Small detail, sure, but nevertheless it was a silly annoyance. Overall? This is a really good place to stay in a very interesting and safe part of Medellin. By calling one day before arrival to the hotel, it will arrange a safe taxi pickup at the MDE airport.

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