Apartamentos Avanel

A nice place with a good shower, full-size fridge, and mini kitchen. The beds are very firm, WiFi is semi-reliable, outlets are next to the bed, and it was quiet except for other guests. Staff were unkind and unwelcoming, with no effort to accommodate us. The towels I received were dirty, with someone else’s hairs on them. I asked for clean ones more than once and was basically told to use a smaller towel and deal with it. That really soured the holiday. Parking was fine, and the pool wasn’t usable in the bad weather. It might be comfortable in summer, and the place is spacious, but for how basic it is, it felt overpriced, especially with the staff attitude.

We had a frustrating stay, especially because of our dealings with Jose, the host. The female staff member who checked us in was nice and polite, but Jose was curt and rude when we raised problems. Our apartment was pretty basic, and the bed sagged badly in the middle, like an avocado. That made it very uncomfortable and, for us, was the biggest factor in the poor stay. I don’t think this can be dismissed as personal taste, since a bed that sags so much in the middle is hard to sleep on. There were also problems with what the Booking.com listing said. We had booked a loft apartment whose facilities listed a washing machine and balcony, without any description saying otherwise. But we were given a place with a pool view and no balcony, and the washing machine was shared and on another level. We showed Jose the inclusions on our booking and a new booking as an example that the “loft” listing included a balcony. He blamed Booking.com for limiting his ability to remove “balcony” and said it couldn’t be changed anyway. We knew that wasn’t true because we have our own property listings on Booking.com. He made a “pfft” sound with his lips, gave an insincere apology, then stomped off. We’d also completed every mandatory field on the online registration form required by the property’s policy. It was marked “Completed” with a tick, but Jose chased us at least three times, insisting it was incomplete because we’d left optional fields blank. We explained that those fields had no asterisks and weren’t mandatory, but he wouldn’t listen. The balcony didn’t matter much to us, though the price felt expensive without one. Jose’s handling of everything made the experience especially aggravating.

The pool is a real plus, and the view is blissful. It’s also fairly quiet. The place was clean, the location and view are great, and the price seems reasonable. The accommodation itself could be better, honestly. The interior feels poorly furnished, the sofa bed is pretty bad, though the beds are okay. A few things are missing, including a kitchen light, bathroom ventilation, and a decent hairdryer. The bathroom cabinet is so big that you have to sit on the toilet at an angle.

Good value, and I’d stay again. The terrace and swimming pool are great. It’s a quiet, convenient hotel with a clean room and a good bed. The decor could use some improvement.