Concierge in Cartagena: Reservations, Chef and 24h Management
Updated: September 8, 2026 · by Marta Fernández, founder of CABÚ Viajes, local operator in Cartagena de Indias (RNT 215668).
Concierge, plain and simple: a local person who gets your trip whatever it needs, when it needs it. The Saturday table, the chef at the villa, the photographer, the surprise for the bride, the pharmacy at 2 a.m. At CABÚ it's not an extra: it's the layer that wraps around all our group trips.
What CABÚ concierge covers
- Reservations and early access: tables at restaurants, beach clubs and nightclubs — any in the city, not just the ones in our guides.
- The house, alive: private chef, staff, decoration for special occasions, groceries stocked before you arrive.
- The unexpected: a flight that changes, someone who feels unwell, a plan that has to be reworked mid-day. That's what the 24-hour WhatsApp is for.
- The extras that make the trip: photographer, live music at the house, salsa classes, bachelor(ette) party surprises.
How it works
No apps or tickets: a WhatsApp chat with Marta and her team, open from the moment you book until you land back home. You ask, we confirm, done. We're available 24 hours a day, every day, in Spanish or English.
Who writes this: Marta Fernández Ruiz, founder of CABÚ Viajes and local operator in Cartagena de Indias. She answers personally on WhatsApp at +1 754 201 9833.
Operator registered with Colombia's National Tourism Registry, RNT 215668.
Keep reading on CABÚ
Activate it for your trip
Message Marta on WhatsApp at +1 754 201 9833 with how many people, what dates, how many nights and what plan, and we'll walk you through how we set it up.
What a concierge in Cartagena actually costs
Every operator in the city offers "24/7 VIP concierge" and almost none of them says what it costs. Here is the number, with the same logic we use for everything else we publish.
The local host is billed per day, not per person: $200 to $300 USD. That person is in the city, answers the phone at two in the morning, and fixes things in the local language with local contacts. For a group of 12 over four nights, that works out to $67-$100 per person for the entire trip — less than one dinner out.
What we do not charge is an agency fee on the rest of the trip. The house, the boat and the dinners are shown to you at their per-unit price, and that price does not change because you book them through us. That is the difference between a concierge paid for their work and one paid through a percentage buried in every reservation.
What it covers and what it does not
It covers: tables, restaurants and beach clubs booked with written confirmation; running the boat day end to end; private chef and the market shop; transfers and transport throughout the trip; one person reachable around the clock while the group is in town; and fixing what goes wrong — the delayed flight, rain on boat day, the guy who loses his passport.
It does not cover: getting into places that do not take reservations, skipping lines or rules, or anything involving paid companions — we do not work with that, and it is worth saying plainly, because in this destination people ask. We are also not a security service: at the high level, overnight security is contracted separately, at a published price.
Concierge, agency, or doing it yourself
- Doing it yourself works if the group is small and flexible. The cost is not the money, it is the time and the risk: paying someone upfront that you cannot verify from another country.
- A package agency gives you one closed per-person price. Convenient, but the large-group saving is kept by whoever sells it — we explain that on bachelor party packages.
- A local concierge charges you for the work and shows you the price of every piece. Above about 10 people it is almost always the cheapest of the three, and the most flexible.
Concierge FAQ
Is the concierge charged separately?
Yes. The local host is billed per day, $200-$300 USD, and appears as its own line in the quote. There is no agency fee on the rest of the trip.
Is someone available at night?
Yes, while the group is in Cartagena. It is the main reason the service exists: group-trip problems happen at night.
Do you work with small groups?
From 6 people. Below 10 the per-person price climbs, because the host, the house and transport are billed per unit.
How do I know you are a real operator?
Our RNT is 215668 and it can be verified free in Colombia's national tourism registry before you pay anyone anything. The step-by-step is on how to verify an operator.
The five pages that answer the rest
All of it is open on the site, with no form in the way:
- The number, now: the budget calculator — people, nights and level, and it returns the per-person price with the breakdown.
- Which house and which boat fit a group of 6, 12 or 18: by group size.
- Which day each thing goes on: the 3, 4 and 5-night itinerary, with the five mistakes groups repeat most.
- If someone offers you a fixed package: what it must include before you can compare it.
- How to pay without risking the deposit: deposit, invoice and what goes in writing.
Tell us what you need and get it back in 24 hours
You do not need to have it all decided. With these four things we send a real quote, not a brochure:
- Dates (or the month) and how many nights.
- How many people. Here you pay per unit: the house, the boat and the van cost the same for 8 people as for 16, so the headcount moves the per-person price a lot.
- What is non-negotiable for the group: an island day on a private boat, a chef at the house, a club table.
- Where you are flying from, and whether everyone lands the same day.
In under 24 hours you get an itemized breakdown per unit with what is included and what is not, plus the payment schedule: a deposit to hold the house and the balance before the trip, against a company invoice. No agency fee and no commitment — the quote is a draft open to changes, and nothing is reserved until you confirm.
Request your quote here · Local operator in Cartagena, RNT 215668.
