Hotel Castella — Hotel in Lloret de Mar

2hr transfer journey from Barcelona airport only to be dropped off in the middle of no-where without directions to get to the hotel. Advertised as a 3* but it's only a 1* We payed £1600 for a 2 week stay for 1 room with 3 beds which 1 bed had stale blood on the mattress and a bathroom. No air-con, 2 electric sockets which meant if you needed anything ironed you had to do it on the bed. Other socket was in the bathroom near the sink. We encounted ants quite a few times especially in the bath. We were the only English family in the hotel.We reported that drugs were being smoked on our floor, only to be told that they were leaving in a few days so nothing was done about it. No laundrette at the hotel, that was a 20min walk away. Owner was very rude on 2 occassions. Reception staff were very friendly and helpful. Noise from neighbouring rooms and apartment blocks was awful. If you only need 2 hours sleep then stay here, but if you make noise after 12am then you will be thrown out. Morning deliveries took place at around 5am. Breakfast consisted of: Ham, Cheese, Bread Rolls, Toast, Crossiants or stale cereal. Tea and coffee was like dishwater and we never ate an evening meals as all that's on offer is chips, salads and burgers. We paid £1600 and I was ready to come home after just 2 days of being there. We never used the pool as its so tiny and all around you are high blocks of flats/apartment blocks surrounding all sides. Fresh towels were provided every day so that was the only good thing i can say. I had a pair of earrings go missing out of our room but didn't realise until we were going home. Hotel reception (night staff) were meant to give us a wake up call at 2:45am on our departure morning but failed and we almost missed our transfer back top the airport.The area was lively with plenty of bars, cafe's and nightlife to choose from. We were the only english family in our hotel with very little English people elsewhere. Most were foreign with lots of French and German people. The beach was a 10 min walk away which was pleasent but not sand, fine shingle but we spent most days there. Lloret de Mar is a nice place but over populated and very built up. I would visit the area again but under no circumstances would i choose or recommed Hotel...

just got back from the castella this morning. me and a friend went for a week half bored. initial thoughts of the hotel are thats its extremely difficult to find. transfers drop you off on the main road and dont tell u where to go! so ur hunting around for ages trying to find it! once in, very basic. but i must state it is very clean, i cannot fault them on that! food wise.. well, breakfast is pratically bread roll, ham and cheese. dinner, chips anyone?! u get some salad then a choice of 3 other things which includes chips every night!. basic food. not nice at all. noise is horrific!! trying to get sleep at night is just not going to happen. specially if your on the front. there is a apartment complex facing with people shouting at silly times in the morning! walls are paper thin as well!! its 5 minute walk to the beach, just a straight road. the night life is like 10 minutes and getting to no the area is required as u have to go down lots of random streets to get there!! the pool, we quite liked it as it was quiet and we could just mess around in the pool without upsetting others! its very over looked though by surrounding buildings. dont be expecting a nice view because each way u look there is an ugly wall as high as the hotel. very basic, friendlyish staff. had one problem with the day we were due to check out, we was never told the check out time and at 10:40 we had a knock saying we had till 11 to get out the room. but lads we knew who left a few days before had a check out of 12! we also paid for 7 days food and they tried to say we couldnt have dinner although our flight wasnt till midnight! no where to store your bags either so trust is needed as u have to leave them in the lobby!! overall, not great but if u just wanna go for the night life and sleep with be alcohol induced, you'll be fine!! NO ENGLISH THO, full of spanish, french and german =] you'll be lucky if u find any...

The only positive thing to say is that the staff were friendly. It's more like a hostel than a hotel, but less well run. There was no toilet roll in the bathroom when I arrived, and as I arrived late the staff were not on reception by the time I noticed, so I had to call the out of hours number. The hot water is shut off from midnight until about 7am and midday until the evening! The room was clean, but it smelled like someone had emptied 3 cans of air freshener, and this chemical smell lingered for days. The mattresses were old and lumpy, and the bed linen and towels were old (although they did seem clean). There is no heating in the room, and although a very small oil radiator was provided, there was only one plug socket in the room so you have a choice between heating or charging your phone. As there is no heating, a lot of condensation built up on the window and wall. The walls are very thin so we could hear the people in the next room shouting/partying until very late. The main entrance is locked after hours and although we were given a key, we only had one between the 2 of us. There is WiFi but the connection is not reliable and you have to ask for the code. They couldn't even be bothered to put the information on a sticker in the room.

It was very cheap to stay in January. You get what you pay for...but you would be better off staying in a good...