Hotel Santiago — Hotel in Linares

Well, the planning of this, our first trip to the town of Linares in Andalucia, became a bit complicated when it came to the simple booking of 3 nights in a double room at “Hotel Santiago”. ||||But 4 e-mails and 4 days later and 8 weeks before our arrival we had it all sorted out at last. There would be a so called “Surcharge” on the third night because of the yearly “Fiesta”. “San Agustin” 28-31 of August 2011. Then they forgot the VAT – then the extra VAT for the third night – then the total sum of the visit including the VAT for all 3 nights. At last (4 e-mails) and we had it all sorted out and the total sum to be paid at the end of our visit.||||At arrival by Taxi from Costa del Sol – 296 km away – my longest trip ever by Taxi and into the heart of Andalucia in the province of Jaén, I hoped we would be through the check-in procedure in a flash. After sending the Taxi back to where it came from, we arrived with our entire luggage in front of the reception desk where 3 people were shuffling papers from one end of the desk to the other. Talking between themselves and totally ignoring the 2 new guests with all their luggage standing and waiting just in front of them. We were the only guests in the totally empty reception area. ||||After waiting for a while a loud: “HOLA” – and they stopped shuffling their papers and we came to their attention. An express check-in which lasted less than a minute (thank you) and all 3 continued their paperwork but gave no guidance as where to go next.||||I can now reveal to you – the lift is hidden behind the reception area to the right, the staircase is to the left of the desk but hard to see, not mentioned to find. Find your room yourself and carry your luggage by hand – there are no trolleys as in “Hotel Anibal”, where all the Matadors were staying. (Except the famous Toreador José Tomas, who stayed in “Hotel Santiago” as we did.) After a bit of searching we found our room ourselves.||||Back in the evening from the Barrera at “Plaza de Toros” at approx. 22.00 pm. we had expected the restaurant of this 4 Star Hotel to be open, awaiting their guests coming “home” from the big occasion and other Fiesta events. Not so – the restaurant was closed and the Ground floor lay more or less in darkness.||I can recommend 2 restaurants. They are situated on each side of the entrance of “Hotel Santiago”. There we all met for dinner. ||||Do I really need to tell you this? You may have guessed it. When it came to settling the invoice – the day before our departure because we were leaving early – they got it all wrong again. In the afternoon I was personally contacted by the Reception manager who apologized – They had forgotten the Surcharge and the VAT on the same.||||Why does the Hotel have a “Surcharge” of 62 % + VAT during the 4 days of the yearly “Fiesta” at all? The Hotel doesn’t offer you anything more for the money you pay extra. Nothing at all! ||You may call it: HIGHWAY ROBBERY. Buses, Retail shops and Restaurants in Linares don’t have any “Surcharges” because of the Fiesta. The Hotel can’t, as we now have seen, not even administer it.||||After all we will recommend this Hotel. It’s very central – No Street noise – A staff who always seems to be working with their many many papers in this relative small Hotel, and then manage to get it all wrong at the end. The double room was just perfect with a private Terazza in front with a table and chairs; the bathroom was exceptional well designed. A small Pool on the top added to the comfort of a Hotel which is well looked after. ||We will recommend and stay with “Hotel Santiago” again next year, but NOT if there is an unreasonable “Surcharge” of 62 % + VAT for which we got...

Muy muy mosqueada con el servicio recibido en este hotel. Regalé a mis suegros una estancia de fin de semana y, aunque ya han estado en otros hoteles en Linares que les han gustado mucho, esta vez decidí rascarme el bolsillo y pagarles los 74€/noche del Hotel Santiago pensando que “mayor precio = mayor calidad”. Confirmo desde ya que esta premisa es FALSA. El hotel en sí no está mal, aunque ningún otro hotel de 3-4 estrellas de Linares tiene nada que envidiarle. Las habitaciones están un poco anticuadas y desgastadas, aunque las zonas comunes son bonitas.

Sin embargo, nuestra nefasta experiencia no tiene nada que ver con las instalaciones en sí, sino con el PÉSIMO SERVICIO que recibimos por parte de la recepcionista del hotel: la persona más torpe e ineficiente que me he encontrado en la recepción de un hotel y, por desgracia para ella, sé de que lo que hablo porque he sido recepcionista de hotel durante 3 años. Parecía que era su primer día en el trabajo, pero estoy segura de que no, porque sabía muy bien dónde estaba todo y cuáles eran sus protocolos. Simplemente los hacía mal. Pondré unos cuantos ejemplos:

• Reservé una habitación doble a través de la web de SERCOTEL con un descuento del 5% por ser la primera. Sin embargo, cometí el error de reservar para una persona en lugar de para dos. Al llegar allí y esperar cerca de 45 minutos a que la recepcionista nos atendiera cuando solo había una pareja por delante haciendo checkin, la recepcionista me indica que el precio por habitación doble es de 74€. Cuando le pregunto que por qué no me respeta el descuento de la web (pese a que alguien parecido a un gerente que estaba allí también le dijo que me lo respetara), ella solo sabía responder “son 74€”, aunque la habitación doble solo costaba 10€ más y yo había reservado por 60€.

• La recepcionista me preguntó entonces (después de 15 minutos intentando procesar los datos de DNI de los dos huéspedes…) que si queríamos una habitación con cama doble o una con dos camas. Le pedí una con cama doble, ¿adivinas la que nos dio? Una habitación con dos camas xD

• Por último, DESPUÉS DE UNOS 20 MINUTOS DE CHECKIN, la señora me preguntó si quería factura, a lo que respondí que sí. Ella me dio la factura y yo, tonta de mí después de ver el servicio tan MALO que nos estaba dando, no comprobé en el momento que la factura fuera correcta. Mi sorpresa llegó cuando, dos días después, voy a contabilizar la factura y me encuentro que “la recepcionista del mes” había hecho la factura con mis apellidos, el nombre de pila de mi suegra y ATENCIÓN el número de DNI DE MI SUEGRO. De verdad que nunca me he encontrado tanta ineptitud en la recepción de un hotel.

Por cierto, mi suegro casi se mata en las instalaciones porque al volver al hotel sobre las 11 de la noche del sábado, se encontró con todas las luces del hotel apagadas. Al intentar subir a la primera planta (donde estaba su habitación), se tropezó ante la nula visibilidad y se torció un tobillo. También suena un poco vergonzoso que un hotel que vale 74€/noche tenga todas las luces apagadas por la noche para "ahorrar" en la factura de la luz.

Por supuesto, puse una queja a Sercotel y aunque me dieron un número de ticket, nunca se pusieron en contacto conmigo. EN RESUMEN: Ya tengo claro qué cadena hotelera y qué hotel en Linares no recomendar...

I felt this hotel was overpriced for what it is. It's certainly not a four star hotel, as advertised. The room was spacious and comfortable. The shower didn't work properly as the water kept running through the tap as well as the shower head so there wasn't much water pressure in the shower head. In addition to this, the shower door didn't close properly so the bathroom floor was soaked every time we showered. ||I didn't like the fact that all rooms faced onto an atrium which meant that the noise from all floors could be heard from our room. ||We were charged 10 Euros a night for the car park, which seems a little on the steep side. ||The breakfast was rather wanting given a lot of the buffet was not replenished quickly. The hotel was full due to an event, but this is no excuse. Dinner was lovely, although they did bring us our desserts before our main course one evening!||The location is central and handy for the main shopping area. ||Overall, the hotel is quite old looking and could do with some updating in order to be considered a four star hotel and merit the...