Blue Castle Guesthouse

The host experience was awful. We raised our concerns, and she eventually agreed to refund the remaining nights because we were unhappy. Around 11am on our second day, she told us to hurry back and pack by 1pm. We did, then she said she’d deduct €80 from the refund. We tried to negotiate since we’d already agreed and left the room, but she withdrew the refund entirely after we had paid for new accommodation. We would have lost €300, but I contacted Airbnb, which acknowledged she had violated our contract by telling us to leave. I tried to be accommodating and offered to stay an extra night so she could get another booking. Since I work in a similar industry, I even offered to help her reclaim the fees from Airbnb. After that message, she became spiteful and refused to let us leave. Somehow, she then got Airbnb to remove the review. Absolute scammer. The room was tiny, with barely enough space for the bed and nowhere to put our bags. It looked nothing like the pictures, the doors slammed loudly, and we could hear people in other rooms. A hotel room would have been better. The location was awful too: on a huge hill, with everything worth doing a 30-minute walk away. We were exhausted after one day. Two massive dogs in neighboring houses barked all night, and one was right outside our window day and night. The pool isn’t available all year, and that wasn’t made clear. We moved to a much nicer whole private apartment in the center, with our own balcony, for the same price. Don’t fall for this one, guys. It’s not worth it.

This was one of the worst booking experiences I’ve had. We reserved seven rooms at Blue Castle for a family holiday celebrating my auntie’s birthday. Afterward, the property asked for a €1,000 deposit per room, €7,000 total. We challenged this and a team member confirmed a credit card would instead be held at reception. We accepted that in good faith. Management then ignored their staff member’s agreement, contacted all the guests directly instead of the person handling the booking, said group bookings weren’t allowed, and raised the deposit to €3,000 per room, or €21,000 for our family stay. Booking.com’s listing doesn’t say groups are prohibited or that deposits this large might be required. It only says stag and hen parties aren’t allowed, and we confirmed this wasn’t one. If these are really the rules, they should be clear before booking rather than introduced later along with increasing financial demands. We were lucky to still be within the free cancellation period. People booking closer to their stay might have less choice and could feel pressured to pay huge, undocumented fees or risk losing their accommodation. Poor communication, changing policies, and the way guests were treated overshadowed what should have been a special family celebration. I strongly recommend booking elsewhere if you want to avoid surprise costs and holiday stress. Check the owners’ rude responses to other low Google ratings too, they give a clear sense of the poor customer service.

For Malaga, this was good value if you’re on a budget. The guesthouse had a cute outdoor space and was in a pretty authentic Spanish neighborhood, about a 20-minute walk from the historic center. But the room was disappointing, very small and much bigger in the pictures. The bathroom door didn’t shut properly, so it didn’t feel private enough. It came across more like a hostel. Parking nearby was hard, and the narrow, steep street was terrifying to drive on. Our rental car got sideswiped while parked there, so I wouldn’t stay here with a rental car.

We had a very pleasant stay in this cozy place, even during the Spanish winter. The district was quiet but still close to everything, and staff communicated well. The patio, with orange, lemon, and mango trees, was beautiful. The kitchen had what we needed to cook. The rooms looked smaller than in the pictures, but the beds were comfortable.