En el camino — Hotel in Boadilla del Camino

We decided to book something different which happens to be on the Camino but a convenient stop off from ferry to Alicante. Described as a hostel we were worried by this term as we wanted a hotel but were encouraged by the reviews we booked it. ||The most friendly of welcomes by the owner we arrived late at night it was no problem and our room was private functional very clean and overlooked farmland. ||Next door is a linked family restaurant in an old building with character we sat under large fruit trees outside again very friendly we tucked into the menu which we chose; a fish/ vegetarian menu but they have all options available it was less than €10 for a three course including more wine than perhaps was advisable. Nothing beats a warm hearty meal and jug of local vino tinto after a long drive. ||The whole place is peaceful and welcoming the hotel and the eaterie and the pueblo itself you just fit in and that is how they like it, the village is very small, besides the restaurant we didn’t see any shops just houses and a large central church it is a agri farming community the whole place is in good order, our dogs loved it too and we enjoyed a walk or two along the streams and across the fields. ||Highly recommended in fact we have booked 2 more nights in lieu of our other favoured stop off at La Vid near Aranda as we felt the simplicity this offered was exactly what was required to break our journey back...

The only good part about this place is that it isn’t dirty and is visually appealing. With my experience I had the man at reception push me and my mom off to the side, and wouldn’t see our passports until we went to the room. Then after settling, we had come back up to reception to get officially checked in when we were once again dismissed with him saying, “The other people behind you are more important than you and I must tend to them first”. When asked he told us that he would let us know when he was ready to receive passports again, and we waited next to the desk for 10 minutes. However, when he came back, he took someone else’s passport and took his sweet time talking to her while he saw me waiting.

Food was also either too salty or too bland, and when we were ordering, the waiter seemed to treat us like we were stupid when we asked questions about the Pilgrim menu.

Me and my mother are also Korean, and we noticed they were significantly nicer to other patrons that were white-passing, and didn’t treat them the same way when asking the same questions. I sincerely hope it’s not a race thing and that they were just having an off day, but this is the only reason I can come up with for how terrible the...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to cancel my reservation 6 days before my stay. I was aware that the cancellation policy required I forfeit the full cost of my room but was hopeful that due to the nature of circumstances, they might approve my request to waive the fee.

Communication with the owner was unsavory. He called, unhappy, but offered that if I wanted to swap my reservation for the night following, that was ok. He did not want to make the change through the booking system, even after I expressed my plans had changed and the room was not needed. When it became clear he would not waive the fee, I sent a message asking him to gift my private room to upgrade another pilgrimme so that it would not go to waste. His reply was for me to "come the following night," even after I had reiterated I would no longer be staying.

It was a very disappointing interaction and not inline with the pilgrimme spirit of el camino. I had been excited to stay there. In the end, the interactions were so uncomfortable, even if my plans had allowed me to stay for any reason, I would have avoided the hotel. I hope no one else has this experience, and I still hope they will reconsider their decision to...