We recently spent a night at the 62-room Four Seasons Bogota Casa Medina. We were just in town for a night, in order to fly the Emirates inaugural flight between Miami and Bogota (which was super fun).
Continue reading: Review: Four Seasons Bogota Casa Medina (Charming Historic Hotel)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It's great that you decided to venture out into the city! Too bad you didn't order the calentado 🙁
Recently stayed there and loved the property. The bed was super comfy and the staff were amazing. The speakeasy bar was a great place for a night cap. I would definitely stay there again.
stayed at their presidential suite back in 2018. It was nice but most of the furniture in the living room was from restoration hardware! lol. I thought I was in one of their showroom. With that said, price was great. Used Citi Prestige card and got fourth night free. In addition, got third night free from Four Seasons own website promotion. So price was amazing! Bogota was a great city to visit as well. Hotel was within walking distance to several good restaurants.
I feel similarly about this hotel too. I have a home in Colombia and was a frequent guest for wine and tapas on the terrace and stayed a few times too. It’s beautiful and the fireplace in room is great and they’ll light that for you too. It’s far superior to the other four seasons in zone T too. That’s a disaster. It’s damp and the service is spotty. Casa Medina has great staff. The chef used to be a weak point until they changed him out. It’s much better now. It’s not as polished as some other hotels at this level in let’s say Mexico City or Europe. Ive stayed in nearly every chain hotel in Bogota and I can confirm that this way better than the grand Hyatt and probably the best hotel in the city if you can live without the pool. I would avoid the Hyatt. I’ve stayed there and it’s basically a charmless airport hotel with poor service. I’d never pay 350$ for it. Maybe 180$. Rather stay in a holiday inn or courtyard for 100$. My next favorite in Bogota is the Sofitel (beside the other four seasons) for location and luxury and it’s usually better value than Casa Medina. Nice sunset views from the suites! But no fireplace.
I stayed in Colonial Suite which I liked very much. Hotel is very good, has excellent ( and very safe ) location. Restaurant is great indeed. Highly recommended.
What's tough with Bogota (from a luxury perspective) is that this is really the only good and reliable "boutique" hotel. All other luxury hotels there are huge, like the other Four Seasons, the W, etc. Your points about the hotel are spot on, and a lot of people do think it's very dark. I happen to love this hotel though. It's too bad you didn't get to see the Penthouse or the Colonial suites- they're beautiful.
I really enjoyed a business stay there. The conference rooms are average. But I agree with the overall review. Very solid hotel. For coffee snobs 😉 there are two great coffee shops just around the corner. (Right and right out the front door.)
Like a Marriott? Politely disagree, I loved this property when I stayed there, it’s worth staying in one of their top category rooms, they’re so well restored and cool, and bogota has some of the top restaurants in the world, best to eat out anyway
For Bogota it really is soooo expensive since you can often book a 4-5 star hotel for ~$50 (for example, many NH Collections). So this is like 10x of that and is a lot (relatively). Think what you would expect for a $4000/night hotel in NYC (assuming regular 4-5 star hotels at 400). And if staying at this hotel, it's probably more appropriate to have a limousine pick up from the airport which usually cost only ~$20-$30 than using Uber, which can have pretty cars there (though very cheap).
Looks nice. I'm just not sure Bogota requires a luxury stay. We did a Holiday Inn near to Zona G by Parque de la 93 (I'd argue a better area, street-level) that was a great value for the money, included free breakfast and was a modern property with nice gym, spacious rooms and outlets bedside. (There's no excuse for any major city property in 2024 to not offer this.) I remember thinking, 'if Holiday Inn had this quality in the US, they would destroy other brands.'
Restaurant menu is lame though for a luxury hotel. But Bogota did not impress me food-wise at all. Fantastic country in most every other respect.
Good to know about this if I ever make it to Bogota. And I tend to agree with you about luxury stays in cities. If I had unlimited money I would stay in luxury hotels everywhere, but as it stands I prioritize location and cleanliness in cities and stick to luxury hotels in more relaxing destinations like the beach, countryside, mountains, etc. I’m just not in hotels much in a city.
Of course if there are good points options in a city I’ll do that but otherwise I try to avoid paying an arm and a leg since I want to be out in the city anyway.
I was thinking the same, these rates are the norm in HKG, SIN, NYC, PAR but in Bogota... Two skinny guys walking out of FS are shouting to be 'burundanged'...
I stayed here multipe times pre-2021. It felt like an amazing botique hotel with authentic Colombian flair. Though, at that time, I often paid <$150 per night, and it felt like a steal
I was there in the very early years.
Even at that time the hotel was one of the best on my business trip around SA.
The coolest part was the fireplace service every evening automatically after dawn. And the bookshelves with real old books.
Great report that brings back good memories of that country…
I honestly fail to see any luxury here at all. A basic four star property. Really low ceilings, too. Restaurant looks more like a café. I would pay $100 a night at most for something like this.
Ben, I’m surprised you didn’t mention if you got an upgrade - given the mention of 4S PP.
@CX: I think you're exaggerating or you visited Bogotá many decades ago. I've lived there for 20 years and never came across a 5-star hotel at USD50/night. Maybe 10 years ago you were able to get a 4* hotel around USD60, which would have gotten you a location near some affluent neighborhood (but not at the core of any), a restaurant, and probably not any other amenities (pools remain a rarity all across the board in a city like Bogotá). But, post-pandemic, those "lower" rates disappeared, even when the average Colombian has now become poorer (while remote workers with incomes in strong currencies can now do whatever it is they do from a hotel room anywhere in the world).
I do agree with you when you said that the current rates are beyond ridiculous for a city like Bogotá (just like the one @Ben paid for at the FS), though. It's just that it's not 10X more than "other" 4* or 5* hotels, like you suggested. I've seen the Marriot on the Eldorado Ave. charging ~USD500 (I've stayed there pre-pandemic and there's really nothing that justifies that rate). The Ibis (not a 4* or 5* hotel, of course) goes around USD50, though. The Hilton Corferias easily goes above USD150 and believe me when I say that there's really nothing of touristic value in the Corferias area. Your "limousine" rates are also way off. Maybe a yellow cab can take you from BOG to the north of the city for USD20, but that's assuming the driver is convinced you're a local.
Top 5 star hotels are double or triple this price in Hong Kong, NYC, Paris, etc.
Hotel aside, the restaurant is ridiculously overpriced. 30-35,000 COP will get you steak dinner in fine restaurant on a better part of town.
Steak dinner in a fine-dining restaurant in a better part of town than Rosales (where the FS Is located) and for ~30-35000 COP (less than 10 USD), seriously? Please share the name of such fine place and the menu because I simply don't believe it, nor now, nor pre-pandemic. A McD double quarter pounder in a combo goes for 30000 COP. Harry Sasson's (which is the type of place that would be comparable to the kind of places this blog will ever cover) charges around 130000 COP (just for the entree, of course). So, I hope you can see where my incredulity about your price points comes from.
Stayed here a few weeks ago for a week and really liked it. The speakeasy is a nice touch with great service and drinks. And the hotel is walking distance from most of the city’s best restaurants. My AC stopped working one night in the middle of the stay so I was moved to a gorgeous suite with cavernous ceilings on the 5th floor.