Confortel Seville - 3 Star Hotel? Three cats arses more like!

Beware the Confortel Seville - Hotel Puerta de Triana Sevilla

Ordinarily I prefer to adopt the stance that if you have nothing good to say about something then its better to say nothing at all.  However the Confortel Hotel Seville forces an exception to this.

Being fortunate enough to have the opportunity of a short, much needed, mid-winter break the bargins available for hotels in Spain became irresistable. Four star hotels in major spanish cities and resorts up for grabs at 49 euros for the room - none of this stupid English Per Person rates - although these prices tended not to include breakfast which I consider an essential element to stays in hotels.  Checking the helpful comments on the Laterooms website a frequent complaint was about the poor value for money some hotel breakfasts offered.  Unfortunately there were no user comments about the Seville Confortel - watch that space.

The decision to book the Confortel in Seville was primarily drive by visiting one of its sister hotels during the summer at Fuengirola.  The Confortel Fuengirola came included in a package deal and it was truely outstanding - putting many of the other Costa Del Sol hotels to shame. Stylish decor, seafront location, spacious balcony, superb staff and marvelous munchtastic breakfasts all made the stay thoroughly enjoyable.  Expectations for the Seville hotel were high.

So what was wrong with the Confortel Seville?

• The room was tiny and the lack of space exascerbated by the deep purple walls and curious “modern” panel above the bed.
• A superb LG LCD TV sat handsomely on the desk - however all available channels had terrible reception - a ruse to encourage pay per view methinks.
• The bathroom (no bath) had been squeezed into a stud partitioned recess but had no extractor fan.  The shower head was fixed and did a wonderful job of spraying half the floor.  Dank, dingey and damp - had the stay been longer I would have set off some salad cress and brought in a mushroom kit.
• The offer of free internet connection was only actually available to those who brought their own wifi laptops to tap into the free hub along with them on their holiday.
• The foyer stank of poo!

It gets worse 

A redeeming breakfast would surely smooth the wrinkles of discontent? Not in the Confortel Seville it didn’t.  The tiny buffet area had a tall stand with a full coloured picture of a plate piled high with traditional cooked breakfast items - scrumptious. Imagine my surprise when mine arrived it was no more than two fried eggs on a bed of wet lettuce.  No Bacon, no sausage, no beans, no mushrooms just 2 eggs with wet lettuce.  My suggestion that someone pop out to the local Supermercardo “El Corte Inglis” and do a bit of shopping was ignored.

Eventually the waitress dutifully asked me to sigh for the meals…..30 euros for 2 meagre, shoody breakfasts - I circled the amount and added ??? in the hope it would be noted on check out.

Checking Out - Confortel Seville Style

Surely it is a “smart” policy to at least enquire if the stay was at least satisfactory - continual feedback is important for the service industry - were there any problems (yep) and also what did they do right is essential to help the business maintain and improve its service.  The front desk was manned by a preening young man - clearly more bothered about the appearance of his over gelled hair.  He continued to chat to a colleague whilst the bill was prepared, slid it towards me, retrieved it with payment all without even catching my eye.

Total bill for 2 nights stay and one so called breakfast 215 euros - confortel seville - blow your three stars - DONT GO THERE.

By the way, Seville was wonderful.