We stayed in the main hotel, rather than one of the overflow properties mentioned by other reviewers. It was a lovely hotel, with lots of Moorish ambiance--tiles, plants draped over the balcony and hanging into the central courtyard, and Moorish lamps with candles lit in the evening. The rooftop also boasts a pretty spectacular view, and is open to hotel guests.

Our room was a little on the small side, and the bed was a bit hard. However, based on the seven hotels we stayed in during our trip, this seems to be pretty typical of Spain and Portugal (and arguably, many other places in Europe). The bright side is that we weren't in Sevilla to hang out in the hotel, so it didn't matter much.

The location was pretty much smack dab in the middle of the Santa Cruz district, which was really great for walking out the front door and finding tons of tapas bars, and getting to the cathedral and the Alcazar (the wall of which is literally at the end of the hotel's street). The downside is that the hotel is situated on such a teeny tiny street that it was difficult to find your way back without leaving a trail of crumbs, or maybe in this case, a trail of jamon or manchego crumbles. A piece of advice--pass on the ridiculous map they hand out at the hotel. It's filled with all sorts of giant cartoonish icons for all the sights, and many of these icons block the streets on the map. In a word, the map was useless.

This place was by far the most expensive hotel we stayed in during our off-season trip. And while 90 euros/night is not exactly a sky-high price, it was very high compared to other hotels where we felt we got much more in the amenities and service department. (and don't forget the off-season part...we found great deals everywhere except this place.) The ambiance of Casas de Santa Cruz was great, but there were virtually no amenities. In other words, it wasn't a great value for the money.

One story about the service that really perturbed us--we needed to call ahead to our next hotel to confirm our stay, and make sure our arrival date was correct. We asked about the possibility of using the phone to make this call to Cordoba (85 miles/140 km away), and were told that that wouldn't be possible. Instead, they vaguely directed us to a couple of places where there "might be a pay phone". These suggestions turned up nothing, and we inquired *again* with the hotel staff, hoping they would loan us a cell phone for the 2 minute call or let us use the front desk phone and charge our room. We were told that if we returned that evening without having found a phone that we could "probably" use the front desk phone. It was pretty ridiculous service, especially since we were clear about the fact that we a) weren't calling another continent b) were going to make it short and sweet and c) that the call was directly related to the reason we were there, i.e. travel. Anyway, this did not impress us, nor leave us with a very favorable impression of the service in this hotel.