I traveled to Colombia and stayed in hostels most of the way, but with Cartagena being my last stop, I wanted to treat myself to a real hotel, and I kind of wish I would've just gotten a private room in a hostel.
The good about Portal de San Diego:
-The location is excellent: right in the heart of the walled city/historic center of Cartagena. There are bars, grocery stores and restaurants just yards away, too.
-The staff are friendly and helpful.
-I only ate breakfast here once, and it was good.
-It's safe; you get buzzed into the building.
The bad:
-Terrible showers, considering the price. Poor water pressure, and lack of hot water at times. The temperature was also difficult to control.
-Not spotlessly clean; my sheets and pillows had an odd smell the first night, until they were changed I suppose. There were also a couple small stains on my sheet that first night.
-The wireless internet was fickle and would come off and on... Annoying.
-The TV in the room is useless; basically static on all channels. I don't watch TV at all when traveling, but it bothers me that I probably paid for something unusable.
-It's not very quiet; I had earplugs, so I slept fine, but without them I'd imagine it'd be difficult to get a good night's sleep.
In sum, stay somewhere else and save some money. I stayed in cleaner hostels with better showers and more reliable internet for a fraction of the price.