"This hotel could have been excellent, but my experience was a disaster caused by poor management, a lack of staff training, and complete indifference to guests’ needs.
When I arrived, there were no available rooms with a double bed. I agreed to wait for approximately two hours and returned to reception at 3:30 p.m. because an employee had promised to assign me one. Nevertheless, she gave me a room with two separate beds. Only after I discovered this and returned to reception for a second time did I finally receive a room with a double bed.
I had also requested a room on a high floor. Instead, I was given one on a middle floor facing a dark interior shaft — literally a wall. The room receives almost no natural light, so I have to keep the lights on throughout the day. I work from my hotel room for much of the day and clearly explained why daylight was important to me. Yet nobody seemed willing to listen or make any real effort to find a suitable room, even though the hotel has plenty of rooms facing the street.
At one point, I genuinely felt like crying out of sheer helplessness. You explain a very simple need again and again, but the people in front of you neither understand nor seem to care. It is the complete indifference to a guest’s requests that is so upsetting.
I booked directly through the official Sercotel website because direct reservations are normally easier for a hotel to manage and are generally given priority over bookings made through online travel agencies. Despite this, the receptionist could not find my reservation using my first and last name and asked me to show the booking confirmation. A hotel being unable to locate a direct reservation in its own system was already an alarming indication of how poorly organized the operation was.
The following morning, I was woken at 9:00 a.m. by extremely loud drilling or hammer-drill noise coming from what sounded like immediately behind the wall. Providing guests with a peaceful and comfortable night’s sleep is the most basic function of any hotel. Starting such noisy work at 9:00 a.m., apparently without any warning, is unacceptable. Not every guest is an early riser. If this work is unavoidable, it should be scheduled much later — certainly not before 11:00 a.m. — and guests staying nearby should be informed in advance.
The disorganization continued at breakfast. Three different employees asked me for my room number. I gave it to the first two. Then a third employee approached me while I was standing at the coffee machine making myself a coffee and abruptly said, “Hello, room number.” When I explained in English that he was the third person to ask and questioned why the staff were so poorly coordinated, he admitted that he did not speak English. I then had to repeat everything in Spanish.
Checking room numbers should be handled by one employee or properly recorded after the first check. Guests should not be repeatedly approached by different random members of staff and asked the same question. This is a very basic organizational process, yet even that does not work here.
I am a professional travel advisor and travel blogger with a large audience, so I know how hotels are supposed to operate. However, this is not about expecting special treatment: every guest deserves to have simple, clearly expressed requests heard and to receive a basic level of consideration.
To be fair, the room itself is reasonably comfortable, and the breakfast is genuinely good and varied, with freshly squeezed juice and several hot dishes. That is what makes the situation particularly frustrating: this hotel has everything it needs to be a very good property.
Unfortunately, poor management, a lack of staff coordination and training, and no apparent understanding of the basic principles of hospitality ruin everything. In my opinion, the manager responsible for this operation should be replaced. A comfortable room and a good breakfast cannot compensate for repeatedly ignoring guests, disturbing their sleep, and failing to organize even the simplest procedures."
