My husband and I have just returned from a holiday in Torremolinos at the El Velero apartments.

We arrived at the apartments on Monday 8th October at approx. 10pm and had no problems checking in and on first inspection of our apartment (Room 101) we were happy with the clean, basic accommodation. As it was dark we were unable to assess the view or anything else.

The following morning when I opened the curtains of the apartment I was disappointed to release that the only view we had was of the back of a modern religious building with a washing machine outside and old gas bottles. There was also no sun on the balcony at anytime throughout the day.

I asked the gentleman on reception if it was possible to change rooms he informed me that all the rooms were taken however over the course of the holiday it was more than apparent that (apart from over the weekend) there was hardly anyone staying there.

We went down to the pool area in the afternoon and decided that we would like to get a drink and something to eat from the bar as the website for the apartments stated there was a bar serving snacks but there was no bar open - we think the bar used to be next to the reception but there was no sign of it now - again a big disappointment to not be able to have a drink whilst lying by the pool - although lying the pool was uncomfortable as there weren't any cushions on the sun beds. The only time we saw cushions on the sun beds is when a Spanish couple were sunbathing but when my husband asked at reception for some he was told 'no' yet we had seen the couple get the cushions from reception and return them there.

We decided to go and try and find the sauna that was mentioned on the website which we located downstairs but this was locked up and there was a message saying to ask for the key from reception which when we tried to do another gentleman at reception did not appear to understand us and eventually we got the impression he just couldn't be bothered so we gave up on this as well.

When I tried to make some toast, the toaster was broken and there was no oven or grill so I was unable to make toast in the morning. The door was broken on the freezer compartment in the fridge so this did not work properly.

On Tuesday evening, I decided to take a shower as the bath was so small it was impossible to have a bath. Half way through the shower the water turned brown with a strange smell. I got out and let the water run for over half an hour before it cleared. This happened 3 times during our stay at the El Velero.

By Wednesday night, we had not had a visit from the maid and we had run out toilet paper so I went down to reception to ask the gentleman on reception for some. He was sat with a group of people, obviously friends or family, watching sport on the television in the lounge. He blatantly ignored me even though I tried several times to talk to him. We ended up having to go out and buy some toilet paper - I am sure that basic amenities like toilet paper should be included within the cost of the accommodation.

On Friday, there was obviously some kind of problem with the sewage system as the smell outside the hotel window was horrendous and forced us to keep the windows and patio doors closed. It really was revolting and I could not bring myself to cook in the apartment.

On Saturday, we had come back to the room for a rest as it was my husband's birthday and were going out with friends that evening, to be disturbed by the maid letting herself in to clean the apartment - why clean rooms at 'siesta' time? 2 maids actually came in and as they could not speak any English I was unable to make them understand that I didn't want them there at that time and they would not leave. This was highly embarrassing for both me and my husband especially as my husband then had to jump out of bed and put some clothes on as 2 women had come in.

On Sunday, we were woken up at 9.00am by amplified singing and shouting coming from the religious building next door, unfortunate as we had only been in bed a few hours following my husband's birthday celebrations. As it was raining on Sunday we did not really have anywhere to go and had to tolerate the overly amplified religious singing, chanting and instruments from 9.00am to 9.00pm - it literally went on all day and although it started off as amusing, it was not the case after a few hours and certainly not after 12 hours! We closed the windows so had no ventilation but could still hear everything, it made absolutely no difference.

I appreciate that this was a 'budget' holiday and both my husband and I went away with the view that it would be a 'cheap and cheerful' break but cheerful is not a word I would use to describe the service we received. For the first time ever, we were both glad to come home and this is not because of Torremolinos as we have stayed there in October for the last few years and go back every year to see friends we have made out there. This was purely because of the apartments and the lack of and poor facilities and the staff. Nobody made us aware at the time of booking that the facilities were closed otherwise we would have booked somewhere else.

I got the distinct impression that as we were British we were given a poor service as the British do not complain and everyone else staying in the apartments were of other European nationalities.