First things first: PGA Catalunya is a sensational Spanish golf resort. The Stadium Course, home to the Spanish Open, is superb and one of the very best, if not THE best in Spain. But unless you are feeling really energetic and it is a cool day make sure you hire a buggy because there are some steep climbs especially from greens to the next tee. When we arrived all the buggies had gone and the temperature was over 90 degrees. We crawled off the course dripping with sweat and totally shattered. And we weren't a pretty sight either.
Fortunately there are loads of helpful staff at the golf club ready to give you a lift back to the hotel which is a two to three minute buggy ride away. If the hotel had as many helpful staff as the golf club there would be no problem. And there is where my 'But' comes in.
The rooms are excellent, clean, spacious with first class bathroom facilities and our dinner was very good indeed, mixing local produce with an excellent regional wine selection with good, attentive service. I just wish there were more staff on hand elsewhere.
The bar was unattended because the guy who was meant to be working there was also helping out in the restaurant and serving drinks outside. It took me two trips back up to reception and over 10 minutes before anyone served me a drink. And then he vanished again and I had to repeat the process to get another beer. Not what I expected from a hotel of this stature.
The same went at breakfast. I was asked my room number and that was it. No one showed me to a table, asked me if I knew that it was self service or asked if I needed anything special. I just found my table and helped myself. And when I went back for some more breakfast not only had my table been cleared on my return but my reading glasses had been moved onto another table. Odd.
The service at dinner was excellent but we were then in a group and it was pretty obvious that we needed serving. Checking out took a while too as the two girls on the desk were both busy with other things and did not make eye contact with me once until they had finished. A simple, 'Sorry, we will be with you very soon' would have made all the difference.
So to sum up: if you want to play both courses at PGA Catalunya, there is the more generous Tour course that we, sadly, did not have time to play, then certainly stay at this hotel which provides everything a golfing tourist is looking for. It just may take a bit longer to get it than you bargained for.
- Melia Vichy Catalan
- Melia Hotel Vichy Catalan
