Hotel Cruz del Vado — Hotel in Cuenca

We walked into the lovely reception area and were greeted warmly with cold towels and a welcome drink and an upgrade to a lovely suite located looking out to the river. ||Our suite was lovely, spacious with a cute shared balcony. (Which does mean other people can see into your room) ||A few improvements required though ||I thought I’d use the jacuzzi bath but the water was luke warm without adding any cold … the towels - one each are so so tiny as were the bath robes… I’m 5 ft 3 size U.K. 12 and I could hardly get the robe on - my husband could get one arm in and as for the towel couldn’t even get it around his waist….. ||We had booked in for dinner from the U.K. and upon checking in the chef came to the front desk to tell us they were having a bbq that night… we attended the restaurant and said we’d have a drink first - I ordered an Aperol spritz and I have zero idea what they gave me.. when I queried it they actually knew they’d given me something else and apologised.. they then delivered a small plate with tiny bits of chicken and beef strips and I mean tiny, 4 small pieces of sausage and 4 small pieces of blood sausage - we were perplexed - zero side dishes so we thought they must come soon but no - we asked for some more as they said it was all you could eat - they delivered the exact same again tiny meat strips and again no sides and there was no one about to ask so we ate the little plate of meat then I found someone and he asked if all was ok and I said do they not include sides and he said I can go and get you something. … I said don’t worry now it’s too late ….but eating a small plate of meat with nothing else is not a proper dinner. We tried to order a bottle of Rioja but he cane over with the bottle and said we could only order a glass as it was the last one… Breakfast next morning was a buffet and as we sat down the waiter said we’ve set it up for brunch… there were a few Ecuador lunch dishes, a plate of bread and a plate of salad and a plate of fruit … it just felt like they didn’t know how to run the dining side of things. The location is good and the staff are very nice and try super hard to be accommodating. The hotel is decorated beautifully, the bed was comfortable - such a pity re the dining and silly things like tiny towels and robes and lack of hot water because it could be a very nice hotel. Upon checking out they didn’t charge us for the dinner and drinks which was appreciated as it was a bit...

Cruz del Vado was recommended by the people that organized our trip and cited as one of the top hotels in the city. But, the stay experience fell very short of our expectations. I will share a few of the detractors that should guide you with your decision making.

Firstly, I was assigned a room that was the smallest I’ve stayed in, perhaps in my almost 5 decades of travel. I would say that it was not much more than 100 square feet, including the closet and bathroom. To be fair, I saw some other rooms and they were larger. But this is not something that you expect in a supposedly high-end property.

The second important thing to consider is that with the exception of a couple of suites in the front of the building, all the rooms face inwards, to a modern and closed vestibule that is very far from being a charming courtyard. The door has a blasted glass panel and there is a small window at its side. This window does open, but I was not able to cool my room; it was always stuffy and unventilated. Again, in such a beautiful city with such amazing buildings, this is a big negative.

For those of you who will need a decent internet signal, I barely had enough to connect and I had to make calls from the corridor.

Showers are important to me. For all 4 days that I was at the hotel, I had access to very little pressure, and the temperature was warm, but definitely not hot.

The final negative that I will mention is with regard to location. Cruz del Vado was cited as having a great location, but actually, it’s on the busiest entrance to the city center, from the south. This street has a lot of traffic. It is actually difficult to cross it and it always reeks of diesel and oil, from all of the vehicles. Consider that anything within 6 or 7 blocks of the central plaza offers a great location, so if you look around, you will find all sorts of alternatives. I did see and experience other, wonderful hotels in the city… I won’t promote them in this review; am certain that you...

Cruz del Vado was recommended by the people that organized our trip and cited as one of the top hotels in the city. But, the stay experience fell very short of our expectations. I will share a few of the detractors that should guide you with your decision making. ||Firstly, I was assigned a room that was the smallest I’ve stayed in, perhaps in my almost 5 decades of travel. I would say that it was not much more than 100 square feet, including the closet and bathroom. To be fair, I saw some other rooms and they were larger. But this is not something that you expect in a supposedly high-end property. ||The second important thing to consider is that with the exception of a couple of suites in the front of the building, all the rooms face inwards, to a modern and closed vestibule that is very far from being a charming courtyard. The door has a blasted glass panel and there is a small window at its side. This window does open, but I was not able to cool my room; it was always stuffy and unventilated. Again, in such a beautiful city with such amazing buildings, this is a big negative. ||For those of you who will need a decent internet signal, I barely had enough to connect and I had to make calls from the corridor. ||Showers are important to me. For all 4 days that I was at the hotel, I had access to very little pressure, and the temperature was warm, but definitely not hot.||The final negative that I will mention is with regard to location. Cruz del Vado was cited as having a great location, but actually, it’s on the busiest entrance to the city center, from the south. This street has a lot of traffic. It is actually difficult to cross it and it always reeks of diesel and oil, from all of the vehicles. Consider that anything within 6 or 7 blocks of the central plaza offers a great location, so if you look around, you will find all sorts of...