We came to this hotel to meet up with a couple celebrating an important birthday. Arriving at 6pm we were given the key to our family room and discovered the previous family mess still there - the room had not been cleaned, there were dirty towels everywhere, and a distinctly nasty smell of other people's bodies remained. Good start. The receptionist didn't know how this could have happened and we were asked to wait in the bar with a complimentary drink while the place was cleaned up. Another girl arrived an hour later to apologise if the room wasn't up to standard, but we had to try to be understanding, she said. Finally arriving in the room, we found it to be dingy, well past its best, and with a revolting shower covered in black mould. We tried to be understanding. Difficult really when you see the photos this hotel posts on its page as our room looked nothing at all like those.
Our friends were given the room on the other side of the internal patio; when they arrived they realised there was no heating and given the outside temperature of -3°C, the room was freezing. A small heater was placed in the room but had no effect whatsoever and they spent the night fully dressed...
We ate in the hotel. The meal for adults was a special Valentine's Day menu and was reasonable, but again, the champagne we ordered wasn't available and they didn't have enough pasta for two children's meals. I would have thought a restaurant would always have the basics and you don't get any more basic than pasta...and the restaurant was freezing.
Breakfast the following morning was minimal; apart from croissants, only dry bread and some old cereal was available to eat, and the coffee and tea from a machine was lukewarm and tasteless.
The couple who had invited us here complained and asked to see the manager; he refused to come to the hotel and left the younger members of staff to solve the problem. Yes, they had a reduction, but it really wasn't enough.
I find it very hard to understand how the others who commented on here could have been so enthralled with this hotel. It is embarrassing to think others would have the same experience as we did. There is most definitely better than this on the Basque Coast and it would be much better to pay a little more and have something which deserves its three star status. This hotel does not.
- Hotel De l Ocean
- De l Ocean Hotel
