Hotel Emblematico Agaldar

Algaldar Hotel is stylish and in a perfect location within this really lovely authentically Spanish town. However, the lack of information/communication from Agaldar Emblematico Hotel for those arriving by car, especially for those guests who are not Spanish speakers caused us enormous stress and ultimately cost us a €100 parking fine. Cars cannot pull up to the hotel as there's a no-entry barrier to the square where the hotel is located next to the church. Guests are not told this. It's therefore very difficult to unload luggage and get it to the hotel. In order to unload our luggage we reversed in to a nearby disabled parking bay and left it for less than 5 minutes. When we returned there was a ticket fine for €200, which reduces by 50% if you pay immediately. This was very upsetting and seriously spoiled our arrival. Reception told us "yes, they target hire cars". We pointed out we'd contacted the hotel about parking and there had been absolutely no mention of arrival, how challenging it is or how there's a 30 minute waiting/parking bay we could have used. We were told the manager would speak with the police "to see what they could do" and hours later surprise, surprise "there was nothing they could do". We were then directed to a local A** to pay the fine. We did this but could not understand how to pay the fine this way. We again returned to reception and asked for directions to the local police station. We then spent an hour of our only night in Galdar finding the station and paying the fine. The police ironically were apologetic. Hotel management never once contacted us directly to either see how we were or offer any advice. When we asked a member of staff is this happens on a regular basis they were silent and their face revealed that it does indeed happen time and time again. The town parking policy is obviously not the responsibility of Hotel Algaldar, but guest hotel arrivals are . A simple email when making a reservation or information on the Algaldar website would help guests avoid unnecessary and very expensive fines. Another tip for would-be guests is when enquiring about parking you'll be directed to a nearby paid car park but guests can park for free on blue zone streets where there are no lines or white lines.

Do not trust some pictures of the web site…rooms at second floor are quite tiny despite photos with wide angle.. and be ready to have your window looking at the back of the bar In addition welcome desk is a bit surprising. When asking a recommendation for a restaurant in galdar, the answer we got was no recommendation except restaurant of the hotel…in a nutshell a bit disappointed and very noisy during new year eve with a concert in the plaza till 4:30 am!!

Classic case of Faulty Towers: beautiful building let down by incompetent management. Beautiful historical building renovated with taste and respect for the original structure, in a great location in a main square of the old town. The result is visually pleasant, but little by little shortfalls emerge: the doors are not soundproofed, which means you hear all the noise from the interior courtyard, including people having dinner and breakfast; no handle on the bathroom door; no minibar. The real problem happened in the morning when someone opened our door at 8am - without even knocking, which we’d expect the cleaner to do. A little later a loud alarm went off in the interior court however not in our room. I went out to find out if we should evacuate and the staff told me they ‘didn’t know if that was the fire alarm or not’. ??? So staff had no clue about essential safety procedures - and we notice there were no fire safety plans in the room. When my girlfriend mentioned this at reception upon leaving she wasn’t given apologies or an explanation but rather excuses. A shame as the building is great, but we wouldn’t come back.