BLUESEA Rey Carlos

The location is the only thing I liked about this very strange hotel. I booked a single room based on the website photos, but the room I paid for was awful, old and smelly. When I asked to move somewhere livable, reception said I'd chosen that room, even though the site had shown the right pictures. They also wanted an extra €15 for the move. I hoped at least to get a decent room without the huge old closets and smelly sofas, but the upgraded room was quite dirty too. The sofa had white stains, the kitchen dishes smelled odd, and the toilet was already dirty when I lifted the lid. Outrageous. I strongly advise against staying unless you're ready to clean the whole room yourself on arrival. The hallways also have very little lighting. All the rooms are along one side of a long corridor, with the room numbers written on the doors and no backlighting. I had to use a flashlight to find mine. With all the decorations and lanterns in the main lobby, leaving the floors without lighting felt careless.

The location and pool area were decent, but that was about all Hotel Rey Carlos had going for it. Everything else made it feel like the hotel didn't care. Our room was badly dated, had no microwave, the AC didn't work, and the shower was unusable. The water kept swinging between scalding and freezing every few seconds. The bathroom was filthy too, as if nobody had checked the room before we arrived. The worst part was the service, especially from Manuel, an older receptionist with glasses. I've travelled a lot and have never dealt with anyone so consistently rude, dismissive and unprofessional. We were two people sharing a double room and asked for a second key. He refused, then suggested one of us go upstairs, open the room, leave it unlocked, return the key to reception, and go back up. It was unsafe and impractical, and he spoke as if we were wrong to ask. Housekeeping once forgot to leave clean towels. When I asked at reception, Manuel threw them at me without apologizing. We also needed a late check-out because our flight was later in the evening. There's a large sign at reception advertising it, but every conversation was met with the same dismissive attitude. We were told to come back at 9 a.m. on check-out day, though an organized hotel should be able to confirm this earlier. At 9, late check-out was suddenly impossible. They did say we could shower before going to the airport, but when we later asked to use the shower, Manuel acted like he'd never heard of it and treated the request as unreasonable. When I asked his name, because his behavior had gone too far, he encouraged me to write a review. He clearly doesn't care about guests or service, and shouldn't be at reception. Management should rethink who they put in front of paying customers. They keep replying to negative reviews that the hotel is “undergoing continuous improvement,” but the same complaints, especially about service, appear again and again. It doesn't seem like anything is improving, since Manuel is still acting this way. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone. There are plenty of other places nearby where staff treat guests with respect. A good location and pool don't make up for the disrespect, poor basic hospitality and management's indifference to ongoing problems.

We stayed 10 nights in an upgraded room on the second floor, and couldn't fault it. It's in a great location, the staff were excellent, especially Marianna at the pool bar, and even the local wildlife was friendly. My only small gripe is that there isn't a proper bar, just the one in the middle of the pool, which felt a bit small. That's just my preference, though. We'll definitely stay again, cheers.

We used this lovely hotel as a clean, comfortable base. It's a little dated, but the cleaners came every day. The pool was fabulous and the area was cleaned each morning by a cheerful cleaner who whistled away. The pool bar had a nice range of drinks and light snacks. We only had breakfast once, but it was tasty, with delicious coffee and a good selection of juices. It's in a fairly quiet area, and a taxi to the English beach cost just over €5.