We stayed at this awful place on a sadly misinformed visit to the town as a break on the drive from Barcelona to San Sebastian.

The rooms are clean enough, the price right, the location good.....except for the fact that they had NO HOT WATER.

We are kind people....and thought that perhaps with the large number of elderly convention folk checking in that their systems were temporarily over-taxed. We were exhausted from a long day on the road, with important business meetings in the morning and really needed a shower or bath. None in the offering.

We went out in search of a meal. The hotel food is beyond horrible. The dining room is laid out like a prison.....8 foot folding tables with paper napkins. The standard is so poor that the elevator brags about their 24 hour access to the single vending machine on the first floor. Crisps, candy.....no beverages are available. No mineral water. No sodas. Mini bar? Forget it.

Our meal search took a couple of hours.....we finally found some friendly boiled food with lots of the local Rioja. We began to understand the hotel bragging about their vending machine.

Upon return to our room.....still no hot water. We retired without complaint....and rose every few hours to check. Finally at 6am I went to the desk to complain. The poor man working there was shocked. Well, not shocked. Depressed. This is not a rare event in this poorly maintained hell-hole, it seems. He was kind enough to give us another room on an upper floor. Only the first few floors are normally affected, you see.

We were happy with the result...no worries. We changed rooms at 6am, and my wife got a shower. Happy days! Then I took my turn......no water at all came from the tap.

We immediately went to check out to find a hotel where we could clean up for our meetings. The desk clerk gave us no love at all....no discount, no consideration. He offered us breakfast (a 6 euro benefit). I went up to the first floor to check....home of the famous vending machine!....to discover the several hundred elderly convention folk had decimated the buffet: canned orange juice (in Spain!), instant coffee, and burned toast were on offer.

We kept looking around for the Faulty Towers crew.....no such luck.

Awful, awful, awful.

Caveat emptor!