Hotel Campoamor

The suite’s layout was a mess. The toilet is in a separate room with no sink, while the shower and sinks share the living area. The round shower sits right in the middle, and its electronic door seemed to have a mind of its own. It often wouldn’t close properly, the floor around it looked as if it had flooded repeatedly, and sometimes getting out meant fiddling with the controls. Pretty useless. We regretted choosing the suite. There were other room problems too. No “Do Not Disturb” sign, so the cleaner came in without warning at least twice. We only got a sign on our last day. There was no bottle opener or corkscrew either, so we had to queue at reception several times to get wine opened. Once, the young receptionist took a booking over the phone while serving someone at the desk, but wouldn’t hand me the corkscrew tucked under the counter as if it were the Crown Jewels. The elevator situation was frustrating: there were two lifts, but only one went to the 6th floor, and it was shared with cleaning staff, which meant long waits. Breakfast was in the basement, and it felt like it. The usual Spanish breakfast choices were there, but the scrambled eggs looked like they’d been made the day before. They were the same every morning, and rubbery would be putting it kindly. I was generally quite dissatisfied with the stay. The older of the two men at reception, the bearded one, was friendly, professional, and courteous. The other guy wasn’t. I’d only recommend the hotel to anyone keen to see Europe’s stupidest shower unit.

The staff were very nice, and the hotel’s location in Oviedo is great. But the room felt old, with dated furniture and an old-style bed and pillows. The lighting was much too bright and not useful. Food smells also came into the room, especially in the morning.

We were there for two nights before setting off on the Camino Primitivo, and the location worked well for both the route and exploring Oviedo. The room was very clean and had everything we needed. What stood out most was the service: everyone was friendly and helpful, and patient with our very poor attempts at speaking Spanish. One of the men working there also gave us lots of good ideas for places to eat and visit.

The room was clean and nice, and breakfast was okay. CampoAmor hotel is in a convenient spot in Oviedo, close to the city center and main sights. The awkward part was communication. The receptionist didn’t know a word of English, and we had a hard time getting our message across. She seemed unsure how to handle the fact that we didn’t speak Spanish, which I found unacceptable for hotel staff. They should be prepared to use a widely spoken language like English. In the end, it wasn’t a major problem because we speak Italian, which is quite similar to Spanish, so we managed to communicate.