Hotel Casa del Mare - Blanche

We stayed here for 4 nights in mid September, and unfortunately were transferred here from the nearby Case del Mare Mediterrano hotel, due to a "booking difficulty". Had we not first stayed at the Mediterrano then we probably would not have had such a poor view of Blanche. But there is no way it's anything like 4*, and would say more like 2/3*. The room (no. 3) which were were allocated whilst spacious enough was in need of refurbishment, which came as a real surprise given the quality and attention to detail at the Mediterrano. Room lights were not working - 3 of 5 bulbs, the room safe was inoperable - unable to open in spite of being re set, the shower door leaked allowing water into the bedroom, and the sink surround surfacing was peeling off and cracked. The beach area was small - it felt as though you could dip your feet in the sea from the sunbed, there were insufficient parasols for beds, and the beach bar / cafe area was closed. When we found a reasonable sun bathing area it was open to the adjoining road and a building site. There was some strange sun bed reservation thing going for the one decent area which we couldn't get our head around. Very cleaver photography shown on the review. There was no breakfast buffet as shown on the hotel website, with only an ala carte option. When looking up at the concealed ceiling in the restaurant it looked as though it had not been cleaned in years, which was of concern. The surrounding area was run down and we struggled to find decent restaurants for evening meals. Recommendations from the reception staff were less than forthcoming (apart from Maria who was very helpful and pleasant). All in all not a very pleasant experience, and not a hotel that I would recommend.