Hotel Apsis Splendid - Barcelona,
Catalunya/Catalonia (Spain)
  
(3,5 Stars)
Visit
date(s)/period(s): September 2008
Service type: 1 night for
single/double room
Service price: approx. 90
EUR/night
A 3-star hotel in central Barcelona that
could easily become a 4-star one soon.
We have checked it out and have found
some good and bas aspects as well and have decided to share them
with you.
The hotel is easy to approach from Plaza
Catalunya from central Barcelona and what has impressed us is the
kindness and elegance of the staff and the general good atmosphere
one feels when entering.
The only negative aspects were those
about some the hotel's facilities: some of the equipment are worn down
and that there was a piece of hair on one of the pillows in the
room.
There is free internet access and the
speed is very good.
There was a minibar in the room and the
drinks in it were paid for at the end.
Unfortunately only an internal window
room was offered. There was a view over some tubular air and water
systems in the interior of the building and there was very poor
airing, but there was an air conditioner in the room.
One could hear some noise coming from
other rooms and near the window there was some small machinery
noise, which could have been an electric machinery of some sort,
such as a large air conditioner.
Overall the Apsis Splendid Hotel in
Barcelona has a very good appearance. It has the feel of a luxury
hotel, especially the bathroom was impressively beautiful, modern,
just 1 step from luxury.
We have booked directly online, since
the hotel has its own online booking system on its website.
There was no breakfast included in the
approximately 75 EUR/night rate, but we had to pay for the items in
the minibar, which pushed the price above 90 EUR.
Staff:
(5/5)
Cleanness:
(4/5)
Location:
(5/5)
Facilities:
(5/5)
Breakfast:
(0/5)
Air freshness:
(5/5)
Window view:
(0/5)
Noise &
privacy:
(4/5)
Elegance/appearance:
(4/5)
Ease, security
booking & payment:
(5/5)
Value for price
paid:
(5/5)
Overall rating:
Hotel Erasmus
de Grácia - Barcelona, Catalunya/Catalonia
(Spain)
(3 Stars)
Visit
date(s)/period(s): September 2008
Service type: multiple nights for
single/double room
Service price: approx. 43
EUR/night
Cheap hotel, a good place for students,
backpackers, people who have a small travel budget and are looking
for a cheap place to stay in Barcelona.
Staff speak English, except the
maintenance personnel.
Friendly young people work at the
reception and will charge you all night before the end (you have to
pay at the beginning). They will also help you if you need any
information regarding travel.
Located not far away from the Lesseps
and Fontana subway station, it lies near a small dirty street where
trash is often left for days and smells horrible, very close to one
of the entrances.
Internet access is provided both through
cable and wirelessly, but it often interrupts and doesn't work for
days.
We asked the staff to help us, but were
repeatedly given unclear/confusing response that "it works" and
still had problems for days.
Toilet flush and sink didn't work well.
Both has problems with remaining water.
Poor quality shower curtains: water
would flow out when having shower.
The door lock system was electrical and
didn't work well either. Sometimes we couldn't open our own door or
couldn't lock it when leaving.
Asked for help, which was provided.
Poor quality small TV, remote sometimes
doesn't work and is overused.
There were only a few channels and image
quality was very poor.
Loud noises of other tourists were often
heard, even during the night.
The street below was sometimes noisy as
well.
Prices vary, of course, in September
2008 we had to pay around 43 EUR/night.
Booking can be done through a variety of
websites, the Hotel Erasmus de Grácia has no booking system of its
own, but they do accept credit cards and debit cards for payment.
Breakfast was pretty basic, but one
could take more from a single item, so you can theoretically fill
yourself up for a few hours of walk.
Staff:
(3/5)
Cleanness:
(4/5)
Location:
(3/5)
Facilities:
(1/5)
Breakfast:
(3/5)
Air freshness:
(5/5)
Window view:
(1/5)
Noise &
privacy:
(2/5)
Elegance/appearance:
(2/5)
Ease, security
booking & payment:
(5/5)
Value for price
paid:
(5/5)
Overall rating:
(3 Stars)
Hotel Odysseon - Kalambaka (Greece)
(4,5 Stars)
Visit
date(s)/period(s): July 2009
Service type: 1 night for
single/double room
Service price: approx. 35
EUR/night
Small friendly hotel in the northeastern
part of Kalambaka town, right near the Meteora cliffs.
Staff was friendly, most of them were
good in English and they will help you with useful information
regarding travel. Ask them about train schedule, visiting the
Meteora monasteries or anything related and they will help.
Some of the staff don't speak English
well and when we paid for the hotel in the morning, the person could
hardly give a bill.
Good internet access is provided
wirelessly. Sometimes it might interrupt, but in general is good.
The toilet flush system didn't work well
and even though we asked for help repeatedly, they still didn't
repair it.
Cleanness is not an issue to worry about
and pretty much everything is in good condition.
Maintenance staff doesn't speak English
at all.
The Odysseon Hotel has a very good
elegant feel and the views over Kalambaka are spectacular!
The price of 35 EUR is very cheap and
the value for money ratio is excellent!
Unfortunately they only accepted cash,
so you'd better have cash Euros to pay.
Booking was done through Booking.com and
was excellent.
The breakfast is very rich and you can
eat until you get full. No limits on how much you eat.
You can also buy drinks at the bar.
It is a very good hotel to stay at.
Staff:
(3/5)
Cleanness:
(5/5)
Location:
(5/5)
Facilities:
(3/5)
Breakfast:
(5/5)
Air freshness:
(5/5)
Window view:
(5/5)
Noise &
privacy:
(4/5)
Elegance/appearance:
(4/5)
Ease, security
booking & payment:
(4/5)
Value for price
paid:
(5/5)
Overall rating:
(4,5 Stars)
Hotel Diros - Athens (Greece)
(1,5 Stars)
Visit
date(s)/period(s): July 2009
Service type: 1 night for
single/double room
Service price: approx. 35
EUR/night
Cheap hotel in central Athens, in the
Omonia area. Easy to agent there by subway.
The location is dangerous, especially at
night. The Omonia Square is full of drug addicts and a large number
of suspiciously-looking people who will even allow themselves to
grab you.
Nevertheless it is a bad neighbourhood.
The only positive aspect about the staff
is that they could speak English at the reception.
Hospitality could improve.
Worn down bathroom with barn-like door
that could not be closed and major water-flushing problems with the
toilet and the shower as well.
The water would come back from a whole
on the ground when we used the sink and the shower.
There were no shower curtains.
The balcony was dirty and was in a
degraded state. Pieces of concrete and other components would lie
around and fell off easily if you touched them hard.
The air in Athens is hard to breathe,
heavily polluted and this area is one of the worst in the whole
city, making breathing very difficult.
The positive thing is that there was a
huge window-door to the balcony that one could open for new, but not
not fresh, rather polluted air with oxygen to come in and that there
was an air conditioner that was working.
The negative thing about the airing was
that the air conditioner could not be stopped.
There was wireless internet access,
which adds to the quality of facilities.
We were not told anything about the
included breakfast, even if asked. Receptionist would simply ignore
questions.
We had to search for the place where
they served breakfast, which was a basic breakfast of gem, some
slices of cake and bread, butter, orange juice seemed to be dilated
with water (thinned).
There were no limits to how much one
eats.
Staff:
(3/5)
Cleanness:
(5/5)
Location:
(5/5)
Facilities:
(3/5)
Breakfast:
(5/5)
Air freshness:
(5/5)
Window view:
(5/5)
Noise &
privacy:
(4/5)
Elegance/appearance:
(4/5)
Ease, security
booking & payment:
(4/5)
Value for price
paid:
(5/5)
Overall rating:
(1,5 Stars)
Hotel Balasca - Athens (Greece)
(2,5 Stars)
Visit
date(s)/period(s): July 2009
Service type: 1 night for
single/double room
Service price: approx. 45
EUR/night
Located not very far from the Larissis
Train Station and the Larissis Subway Station, the neighbourhood of
this hotel is much better than the Omonia area.
Staff is very friendly, helpful and
speaks English well.
The hotel is clean, but the window we
had was one with a view towards the interior: one can see other
buildings and balconies of homes, cars parked, sort of a place
behind other buildings that doesn't have an attractive look at all.
The air isn't fresh and there is an old
air conditioner that seems to have been built into the walls, but
works well.
Otherwise the air could become almost
unbreathable, one must open the small window and start the air
conditioner several times a day.
There is no internet access, but we
could connect wirelessly to several networks that had coverage in
the area (not the hotel networks, but private networks).
Breakfast is offered without limits, but
is a basic breakfast. Through, the selection of foods is medium.
You won't die of hunger at the Hotel
Balasca!
Noise is an issue because many rooms are
close to the stairs and the elevator. Noisy tourists often rush in
and out of their rooms, up and down in the building.
The rooms are close and entering-exiting
can be heard from the nearby rooms.
The hotel overall looks quite well, but
seems like it has technology from the early 1960s that would need
upgrade.
TV is of poor quality. Image isn't clear
and the remote control overused.
Staff:
(3/5)
Cleanness:
(5/5)
Location:
(5/5)
Facilities:
(3/5)
Breakfast:
(5/5)
Air freshness:
(5/5)
Window view:
(5/5)
Noise &
privacy:
(4/5)
Elegance/appearance:
(4/5)
Ease, security
booking & payment:
(4/5)
Value for price
paid:
(5/5)
Overall rating:
(2,5 Stars)
Hotel Claridge - Athens (Greece)
(1,5 Stars)
Visit
date(s)/period(s): July 2009
Service type: 1 night for
single/double room
Service price: approx. 40
EUR/night
Hotel is located in the Omonia area,
which is dangerous and noisy , especially at night.
Prostitutes and pickpockets, drug
addicts openly using syringes on the street are in crowds of
thousands.
Quite a cheap hotel for 40 EUR/night,
but the facilities and the area did not impress us.
Staff had no hospitality whatsoever,
they were shouting to each other and not taking account of the
clients.
We had to wait about 1 hour to enter the
room, which wasn't ready.
Receptionists don't give enough
attention to clients. One has to wait sometimes 10-20 minutes to be
taken into account.
There is an old lift that has no
internal door, only external. This makes it dangerous.
It is a very small elevator which can
only accommodate 2 people in it.
The elevator is usually busy and one has
to walk op or down on the stairs.
There is no internet access.
There is a small TV in each room, but
the remote is worn-down and hardly functioning.
Image quality is very poor and there are
very few channels.
Breakfast is poor, basic and the
location where it is served is worn-down.
Positive aspect is that you can pre-book
for this hotel at HotelClub.net and then you won't have to pay at
the hotel. The room is paid in advance.
Staff:
(0/5)
Cleanness:
(2/5)
Location:
(1/5)
Facilities:
(1/5)
Breakfast:
(1/5)
Air freshness:
(1/5)
Window view:
(0/5)
Noise &
privacy:
(0/5)
Elegance/appearance:
(2/5)
Ease, security
booking & payment:
(5/5)
Value for price
paid:
(1/5)
Overall rating:
(1,5 Stars)
Hotel Do Centro - Funchal, Madeira
(Portugal)
(1,5 Stars)
Visit
date(s)/period(s): September 2008
Service type: 1 night for
single/double room
Service price: approx. 40
EUR/night
It is located in central Funchal, it is
easy to get there.
Staff don't speak English very well, but
are very friendly and open to helping.
The room we have received was one with a
view over the street in front of the hotel.
The air was unbreathable, dense and
seemed like there was no airing for a very long time.
There was an air conditioner, which
could improve the comfort level.
Bathroom looked overall well cleaned,
but the insects we saw have cut our appetite to this hotel.
The hotel is worn-down, old, but has a
modern elevator in it.
Positive aspect is that there is
wireless internet in the lobby of the hotel. Unfortunately it is
very very slow.
Online booking is theoretically
possible, as the hotel is featured on several websites, but the
problem is that the staff had no idea about how the online booking
system works and the computer they has was from the early 1990s and
could not perform complex tasks.
Staff:
(3/5)
Cleanness:
(1/5)
Location:
(1/5)
Facilities:
(1/5)
Breakfast:
(1/5)
Air freshness:
(1/5)
Window view:
(1/5)
Noise &
privacy:
(2/5)
Elegance/appearance:
(1/5)
Ease, security
booking & payment:
(5/5)
Value for price
paid:
(1/5)
Overall rating:
(1,5 Stars)
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