ALEGRIA Maripins Hotel

Disappointing
Visited a few years back and was fabulous. This year was very disappointed. The food was terrible, the hot buffet was mostly cold, and the room was average, the balcony view was disappointing, and the bathroom arrangement was poor

At first, I would like to emphasize what was okay:

1. Location – In most rooms, you are not going to have a sea view, BUT it is really close to the sea and the beach, just 3 minutes away.
2. Food – Diverse, with super tasty desserts, BUT the meat was occasionally not fresh, and two people in our group had stomach problems. Other than that, breakfast and dinner had a good variety and taste. The kitchen staff were polite and accommodating, even providing us with normal glasses for wine instead of the paper ones we had in the room.

What went WRONG – spoiler: 90% of the stay:

1. Cleanliness – From the first day of check-in, the room was dirty, some utilities were broken (shower, curtains, etc.), we received torn new towels, and there were dirty towels in the wardrobe. The mirrors had fingerprints, as if no one had cleaned them, and some pillows had a strange smell. After requesting a more thorough cleaning, a very rude cleaning lady came and used inappropriate Spanish words toward us (she didn’t know one person in our group could understand Spanish). Subsequent cleanings were very basic but acceptable. We received torn towels almost the entire week of our stay 😂 (Check photos).
2. After one cleaning session, we discovered our room was not properly closed (see photos).
3. Only a few staff members understood English. Most of the staff didn’t understand us, forcing us to call 3-4 times to get what we needed (like extra towels, as the ones provided were either dirty or torn).
4. What made me the angriest was the manager, who didn’t want to listen or even apologize. He tried to shout at us, even though we were calmly explaining the issues. The staff viewed our requests as rude, mixing up who among the three of us was supposedly rude. This seemed to be a defense strategy, as we were simply presenting facts. They suggested that maybe our “EXPECTATIONS were too high” without even sending a technician to fix the shower, etc. When we showed the administrator (a young lady) the photos, she understood and respected our feedback. However, the manager didn’t seem surprised or make any note to avoid such cases in the future. After telling him, “Okay, we understand maybe Spain is not an extremely rich country, and the hotel might have a limited budget for renovations, but at least clean properly,” he got angry and shifted the conversation toward patriotism (even though it wasn’t about that) instead of listening to valid feedback. I’m still unsure if he understands English fluently.
5. The photos on Booking.com are not accurate and don’t reflect reality. We booked a room for 3 people, but there was very little space, and the third person had to sleep right next to the balcony doors. I suspect it was originally a room for two people, and due to overbooking, they just added a third bed directly next to The balcony and had only 5 cm of space between the bed and the balcony doors, so in the end, guests had to jump over the bed to go outside because the bed was blocking the balcony door 🤔. The shower door was transparent, and the bathroom had no door at all, so the other guests in the room could see everything while you were showering.
6. The hotel is rated 4 stars, and that’s where the problem begins. If it were a 2-star hotel, no one would have any complaints because you don’t expect much from a 2-star hotel. But when you rank your hotel as 4 stars and in the room, you have 3 paper cups for the whole week, no kettle, and a run-down room, you start to realize how absurd the situation is.