Áurea Casa Palacio Sagasta — Hotel in Cádiz

I just completed a 5-night stay with my husband in the Aurea Casa Palacio Sagasta located in the heart of Cadiz's old town. Without reservation, I highly recommend this boutique hotel to anyone looking for an elevated stay, upscale amenities, and a highly professional staff.||This former British Embassy exudes charm and sophistication at every turn. It even features one of the city's 126 remaining ancient lookout towers; the second tallest actually, it has been converted into a three-story suite complete with top-floor terrace offering breathtaking views of the city and sea.||We stayed in a Junior Suite which offers a living room in addition to the bedroom. Balconies accessible from all rooms provided great natural light when desired; and thick wooden shutters, once drawn, provided privacy and sound dampening (although wasn't needed during our stay) from the world outside. The oversized King bed was firm and beyond comfortable. Storage was generous. The in-room safe added peace of mind. The air conditioning system was powerful and easy to manage. The en-suite bathroom, complete with tub, shower, towel warmer, and separate toilet area, left little to be desired. We also found electrical outlets and lighting throughout the suite were thoughtfully situated. ||As a boutique hotel, the noteworthy services we took advantage of consistently were: spa, breakfast, and laundry -- each available for an additional fee (unless your room is booked with breakfast).||The Spa: You can book the entire spa for 50-min sessions. Totally private, it gives you and your guests exclusive access to a subterranean wonderland complete with dressing rooms, showers, shallow cooling pool with waterfall, steam room, and dry sauna. We reserved the Spa three times during our stay and found it the perfect way to cool off and relax after a full day of exploring the city. ||Breakfast: We reserved our room with breakfast included -- and we're glad we did. Hosted by either Brian or Christina, both super friendly and professional, we found dining at the hotel each morning to be a perfect way to start the day. The intimate and inviting space just off the main lobby offers a robust self-service buffet spread (breads, yogurs, fruits, pastries, meats, cheeses, tortilla Española, cereals, pies, and usually three warm options (e.g., sausage, veggies) and made-to-order egg options. You will be offered coffee after your room number is confirmed when you enter --- but can also make your own throughout breakfast. Per some negative comments I read prior to visiting about the breakfast offerings, I'd offer the following: If you're looking for an American-style 'grand slam' breakfast extravaganza, you may want to pass. However, if you're willing to embrace a well-executed and thoughtful European-style breakfast that embraces some traditional Spanish breakfast foods, you're sure to enjoy!||Laundry: We travel light but also hike a lot. In mid-August with heat and humidity high, we were sweating a lot and found ourselves using laundry service two times during our 5-day stay. The same day service provided by Vero was greatly appreciated as were the very reasonable prices!||Located on a pedestrian-only street between the Plaza De Mina and the Plaza San Franciso, you'll find everything you need just outside the hotel's doors. There are multiple dining options for lunch, dinner, and ice cream options in both adjacent plazas. Venture a block in any direction beyond those and you'll find dining (including breakfast) and shopping options everywhere you look.||And while the hotel and location were stellar, what took the Aurea Casa Palacio Sagasta to the next level is it's staff. We met the most amazing group of people during our stay -- all who you could tell truly cared about our stay and experience at the hotel. Each member of the staff exudes professionalism, pride in the hotel, and an authentic warmth that left an impression us. As I write this review, I find myself missing each and everyone that made our stay so special. In addition to those previously mentioned in this review (Brian, Christina, and Vero) -- I want to extend a special 'Gracias' to Bea and Angela in reception -- and to Nuria, Doria, and Natalia in housekeeping. Your advice, guidance, assistance made our stay in the Aurea Casa Palacio Sagasta an experience we won't soon forget....

Stayed for 2 nights recently in a junior suite . Couple of things that warrant a 2 star rating for me . 1. The lack of staff … stood at the door for 5 minutes waiting to get in when we arrived / the only staff member on duty was missing in action. 2 . We arrived at about 5pm … leftover pastries from breakfast were laid out for arriving guests … eh .. no thanks. If you’re going to welcome your guests then do it properly and not with 10 hours old pastry that have been sitting out since 7am . 3. Reception staff wearing Nike trainers with white soles and white Nike swoosh under their black uniform is not a great look . 4 & 5 are my 2 biggest concerns … 4 . We stayed in room 206 and there was a really foul smell from the mattress … at first we couldn’t figure out where the smell in the room was coming from and then I took one sniff of the mattress … it was disgusting and meant that we had really unpleasant nights sleep on night 2 (night 1 we were exhausted and had Aircon on so didn’t get the smell but by night 2 it was overwhelming) 5. Breakfast was appalling … pasties were either undercooked or overcooked , the cold food wasn’t chilled and the hot food selection … I think I stayed in a holiday inn in 2005 for 50 quid B&B and the cooked breakfast was better than the Áurea !||Also worth noting that it’s €25 per guest to use the leisure facilities.. this is a pure money making racket and leisure facilities should be free to use for paying guests in my opinion ! ||So whilst first impression of this hotel is good and it is an impressive building , once you get under the covers of it , it is very disappointing and I’m afraid I certainly wouldn’t be recommending...

I rarely post hotel reviews, but this is one of the few cases where I actually want to warn other people about booking this place.

Starting of with the positive: the location is good, the building (which inter alia hosted formerly the British Embassy during the Napoleonic wars) is stunning and the service was good. The breakfast was really nice as well.

Why then the one star?

They put us in the room on the ground floor, wedged between the reception and the wall facing the busy street. Despite the thick windows, we could hear every word spoken both on the street and the reception. This meant that despite the beautiful room, we could not enjoy our stay due to the strong noise pollution.

In addition, the (very beautiful) bathroom smelled like a septic tank, which got progressively worse over the day.

We asked for a new room, but were told there was nothing they could do as they were booked out.

We only spend 1 night here, so we didn’t want to bother with complaining further but more than a night here would have been unbearable due to the factors outlined above.

Hence, I‘d strongly advise against staying here, unless you can tolerate the risk of being put up in one of the two horrible rooms on the ground floor.

The quality of the stay really shouldn’t be impacted this much by the luck and order of which room you...