Marriott Santa Cruz de la Sierra Hotel♡

Americans or Anyone Paying with US Dollars: Do Not Stay At This Hotel

2.0

I was not really surprised to see that this hotel already has a posting complaining about their unethical currency practices when paying in US dollars (or presumably any other form of payment besides the local currency or Bonvoy Points.) Let me share my experience from April 2026 when I spent two nights here on my trip to Bolivia. Please be aware that online when you book for this hotel through Marriott's online booking platforms you'll have a price in dollars that is--at the time of my booking--more than 20% LESS than what you will be actually charged. This is because the hotel will then use an exchange rate that is different then what the US dollar price would be. In my situation I stayed for only two nights (thankfully) and on the Marriott website it stated the price would be $300. At checkout I was told the price in the local Bolivianos--which of course I had no idea what that amount was since I was in a hurry to get in my Uber to the airport. (And I assumed it equaled the $300 that my email confirmation stated.) WRONG--it was $370 (or maybe a couple dollars more.) No-- the hotel did not initially mention that as I had checked in around midnight but even if they had--what would I have done? I already had a reservation and I wasn't ready to put up any sort of argument. Regardless, despite doing a chargeback with American Express for the $72 dollars that I was disputing the credit card company sided with the hotel company (which is just a franchise of Marriott, just a local Bolivian company.) And that's because the hotel had the legal right (I guess?) to use a different, more expensive currency exchange rate. The bottom line is this is a classic "bait and switch"--so definitely AVOID this hotel unless you're going to use Bonvoy points. Keep in mind I'm a Bonvoy TItanium member, have tons of reviews on this website (so I'm not an unseasoned traveler or have a personal vendetta against the hotel.) To the management of this hotel: I hope the extra $70 or so dollars that you pocketed was worth the review. And don't bother with convoluted explanations--your hotel knows that the pricing online is dollars is cheaper than what guests will pay--and it's to your benefit that they not know (and hopefully don't realize it or say anything.) To me the money is not that big of a deal--what's $70 one time? But it's the principle of the matter in this case with a business that is damaging Marriott's reputation. In terms of the hotel itself--adequate. Location good--rooms clean but with some strange chemical smell in the rooms and bedding--perhaps some sort of insecticide, I'm not sure but definitely was gross. Bolivia is an intriguing country including Santa Cruz--but try a hotel besides this one--there's several others in the area that are four or five stars.

Dishonest employees and extra charges. Beware.

4.0

Beware extra charges-we booked our rooms and paid for 2 rooms. We paid for the correct amount of guests per room-2 in room and 4 in the other. We prepaid for the additional guest in the 4 person room. When we checked out we found they charged us an additional $200 US dollars saying we had an extra guest, we did not and they knew we did not. We even discussed it at length when we checked in because they wanted to charge us extra at check in and we showed them the email showing we paid for the extra guest already. We have spent hours on the phone trying to get our refund and it still not resolved after 2 months. The Bolivian employees were dishonest and are now apparently not providing necessary info for us to get our refund. They also refused to let our extra guest eat the breakfast that was part of our package even though we paid for the extra guest. The rooms were nice but paying extra and the bad service and refused breakfasts would keep us from staying again and we would reconsider Marriott in general going forward. They were dishonest and cheated us out of things we had paid for so buyer beware.

Apuesta de estándar seguro, pero faltan comodidades

7.0

Uno sabe lo que va a encontraren estos hoteles, son una apuesta segura. La piscina y el área de jacuzzi son muy agradables. Desayuno muy completo y variado.

− Me pareció que el hotel entrega poca flexibilidad. Fue muy difícil hacer solicitudes especificas antes de mi estadía. No encontré un mail ni teléfono en la web de Marriott. Adicionalmente, ara el precio entrega muy pocos amenities en la habitación, por ejemplo productos de higiene femenina. El hotel arrienda el área de piscina para celebraciones particulares, lo que es incómodo para los huéspedes del hotel que no pueden usar las instalaciones con normalidad.

Muy bueno

10.0

Todo

Comfortable, surcharge for conversion USD to BOB

7.0

Comfortable hotel in line with this type of hotel class.

− I was charged an additional 50 USD when the booking reserved rate in dollars was converted by the hotel for payment in BOB. In the booking app it was not possible to display the rate in BOB. No satisfactory explanation was given why an exchange rate USD to BOB of 8 was used instead of the day rate of 6.96 found on the national bank of bolivia (BNB) website. A different hotel in Santa Cruz I stayed in in the same period applied 6.96. A request for reimbursement was not honored . Be aware.

Excellent hotel in Santa Cruz

10.0

I spent two nights in this hotel. Nice installations, beautiful building. Very good breakfast with many options. The restaurant is good with limited wine availability. Nor far from downtown. Walking distance from the Ventura Mall, best shopping mall in the city. The hotel service is excellent. I have to mention Marcela (lobby), and Jose and Limbert (waiters at the restaurant). They are very attentive and helpful. Coming back to Santa Cruz and I will stay at this hotel again.