We booked this hotel as part of a tour of Spain, and it was unfortunately the most disappointing hotel of all. Sad because the hotel itself is the most beautiful building, sympathetically restored and with a stunning setting next to the Embalse. Our room too was gorgeous, a "junior suite" with antique wooden furniture and a pretty white bathroom. However, thats where the good bit ended.
The hotel has this almost museum like atmosphere, where people speak in hushed tones ( if you even ever see other people - we only saw one other couple all stay! ) and we felt almost afraid to put things on the surfaces in the room, or sit on the terrace.
The bar, the restaurant and reception were always deserted and when we dared to ring the bell for service, although the staff were pleasant, we always felt as if we were interrupting something more important they were doing.
It is, as others have noted, situated at the edge of an "urbanizacion", a 10 euro taxi drive from the centre of Arcos, and there is nothing nearby in terms of bars or restaurants, so the choice is either to drive, or taxi to Arcos, or eat at the hotel.
We chose to eat out while we were there, as the menus seemed very "set" ( 3 courses only for 30 Euros ) and extremely expensive compared with local restaurants, plus the fact we would have been eating alone!
The first time we tried to eat breakfast at the hotel, after having spent some considerable time deciphering the various different options on offer in the book in our room, we couldn't actually find anyone to serve us, so gave up and ate out.
We tried again on our last morning, and after rattling cups very loudly, we were actually served, but almost wish we weren't. No choices were offered to us and breakfast consisted of 2 slices of yesterday's hard bread which we toasted ourselves, a small sticky pastry each, and coffee which was almost cold, and served unbelieveably with cold milk - unheard of in Spain!
It seems such a shame as this hotel has everything it needs to be fantastic - great situation, lovely rooms, nice pool and terrace - it just lacks something very basic - warmth and the desire to please the customers. Sadly I would not go back.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
16 August 2009
Dear Madam:
We read carefully your review and the opinions you got about our Hacienda.
First of al,l to apologize if we are given to you the impression of an isolated place, but the only thing we are trying is to give our clients what they are looking for when they come here: something different from the other hotels; silence, quietness, peacefullness and specially privacy.
We do not want to disturb the relax of our guests; to get "ambience" , noises, or people and childrem shouting or running is possible to obtain it in other places. That is the reason that you did not find the staff all around, but when you need us we are there ( if you ring the bells).
We also want to apologize as we never want that our costumer feel unconforttable in our house and of course, you can put your things in the floor or sit in the terrace.
Around us, there are more than 4000 people living habitually in the near residential area and there are a lot of things and places to eat, drink, or enjoy in between 500-1000 mtrs.( 2 restaurants at the border of the lake apart of us and 4 snack bars ), one Pub with night music,1 Paddle center, 1 Nautical Club for doing canoeing, sailing, kayak-polo, etc., and 1 Solar Boat which is making dayly trips every hour in the Lake and the Natural Park in front of the Hacienda.
During the month of august also we have Flamenco free concerts in the Sporting Club just at 800 mtrs. from the hotel.
The public bus stop is only at 350 mtrs. of the hotel and only cost 2€ to go up to Arcos; it is not neccesary to take a taxi, only in case thaqt you do not want to be adpted to the bus time table.
Specially in July and August, clients never stay at the hotel at night ( for dinner) as with this heat, the only right time to go out to do some visits to the region or to the nearest towns are in the afternoons/evenings.Maybe , that is the reason that you never saw people here.
We would like to thank you for your kindness and your nice words to our building, decoration, and staff and we feel so sorry that you do not think to come back to visit us.
If you change your idea, we would like to offer you a 25% discount of our official rates for the next 6 months; it is the minimum we can do to compensate your deception with us.
Kind regards.
Francisca
(owner)
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
