Hotel Caravaca Resort

We stayed three nights for a work trip, and it was frustrating from start to finish. Staff were scarce, and one morning I went out early and returned to find the door locked. There was no code, nobody answered WhatsApp or phone calls, and I was locked out for over an hour until a local contact phoned the owner. Without local help, I could have been stranded outside. The place feels like a self-check-in hostel trying to be a hotel, but without the systems to support that. If you need anything close to hospitality-level service, stay elsewhere. The room itself wasn't dirty, and the shower had steady hot water and worked well. That was the best thing I can say. There was no kettle or hair dryer, and the vending machine only took coins, no card or notes, so getting a drink in the middle of the night depended on having change. The windows were cheap and squeaked loudly in the wind. Opening them made a wind tunnel that slammed the door opposite, which was too light to stay still. The beds were uncomfortable, the furniture felt as cheap as possible, the TV barely worked, and the door stuck. Location was 5/10, not close to much.

The restaurant food was good, and the staff were generally friendly and attentive. The hotel was quiet, and I think it could be much better with a few things addressed. The rooms and interior were clean, as was the entrance when we arrived, but it was littered with cigarette butts when we left, which isn't acceptable. During our winter stay, the stairwell and corridors were freezing, and so was our room. We had to keep the heating running, but in our room it barely warmed things up. Parking seemed quite expensive given how many free spaces there were on the street.

The mattress was unacceptable, one of those bad old-fashioned spring ones from beach apartments. The bed was so hard I couldn't sleep, and I ended up lying on a duvet to try to soften it enough to get barely four hours. There were parties and noise that made sleeping impossible. A group shouted and sang with loud music until nearly 2 a.m. We called reception, but they ignored the complaint, so we went down to check. The receptionist, Miguel, was enjoying the party too and kept pretending not to hear us. We called the police at 1 a.m.; they didn't come, but they called and the music was turned down a little. The party continued until almost 2. The next day there was nobody at reception. The cleaning lady was tidying the cafeteria where the party had been. The owner didn't answer the phone, and the woman didn't know how to provide complaint forms. We called the police again, and they explained how to file the complaint online. We didn't have breakfast and didn't want to spend another minute there. The location was poor, in a residential area away from town. They didn't provide the extra pillows we asked for, there was no hair dryer, and the toiletries were bulk products with no small amenities. The tub's height had been altered to use less water, and I nearly fell getting out because of the height difference. The facilities were very basic and didn't match the service they advertised. The stay was unacceptable.

Around 11:20 p.m., something apparently went wrong with the air conditioning in my room, and the power went out in the rooms on my floor. There was nobody on site, so I called the number provided. They told me to try various things, said they'd look for maintenance, then said they couldn't find anyone. I went to bed at 12:30 a.m. and woke at 8:15. Still nobody was there. I showered without light and left at 9:00 without seeing anyone. Nobody has apologized or even mentioned possible compensation, and I couldn't file a complaint either. I've stayed in about 500 hotels and have never seen guests treated with this kind of neglect.