Hoteles Desconecta2 — Hotel in Monesterio

Hoteles Desconecta2 was our last stop on a 3000km roadtrip across Spain before we headed back home to the south. We thought a "5 star" rural retreat would be exactly what we wanted after many days travelling.

The location and setting is certainly worthy of this "5 star" label, however that is as far as the "5 star" experience goes.

Upon arrival we were greeted (eventually) with smiles and extremely helpful (yet inexperienced) staff. Little did we know we were greeted by the only two staff we would see during our whole stay, a young man and young woman. We were handed the keys to our "5 star" room where we could relax and enjoy our "5 star" stay for the evening (not much to ask).

We entered our room, and the initial excitement blurred our vision, yet so did the filthy panoramic panes of glass. Through the glass was a beautiful view across the lake and hills, along with the same young man at reception frantically cleaning the hot tub, we clearly took him by surprise. He proceeded to show us the buttons on the hot tub and promptly left. The hot was very dirty, and clearly not maintained or used for at least a week or two. Green algae around the rim, bugs and leaves in the bottom and an oily skin to the top of it. We decided to put our idea of a relaxing hot tub sunset in the bin and looked around the room.

The room, no doubt, was beautiful...but so dirty. The glass was full of finger prints and smear marks, bed sheets with stains on, hair in the bath room, crumbs on the bed, dirty rug, weeds growing all across the exterior gravel and hot tub exterior space, dirty patio furniture, bushes overgrown and wicker fencing destroyed by the elements.

Our idea of a "5 star" experience, slowly began to unravel.

We decided to take a look around and check out the facilities and pool. The heated spa room needed a good clean, the water had an oily film on top and no staff in sight to undertake the massages and treatments "on offer". The gym was a lovely touch, but again it needs a good clean.

The bar and restaurant area is lovely, but hasn't been cleaned for a while.

Terraces all with amazing views but everything so dirty with glass panels filthy from months of not being cleaned.

The pool has incredible views and is extremely relaxing, but again weeds growing everywhere, glass and tables dirty, no staff around to order drinks as you would expect from a "5 star" experience.

We were then later told by the sound woman (who had been working on her own for almost the whole day) that a chef would arrive for dinner at 9pm. 9pm arrived and the chef (the same young man who was cleaning our hot tub) arrived. We decided to skip dinner and breakfast as we read a few horror stories.

At this point we decided to read the reviews on Google and booking.com and to our disbelief our experience is pretty common yet the management of the hotel are doing nothing to rectify this poorly run operation.

This hotel could be a hidden gem in Extremadura, yet the management lie to their customers and over work their workers ending in a sub par experience and automated chatgpt style replies.

I requested a refund from booking.com, but they struggled to get hold of management at the hotel. The hotel subsequently replied a day later with a mediocre chatgpt style response with no real solutions or explanations.

I feel so sorry for the two young staff of this hotel that are clearly being overworked and under trained. None of this is a reflection on them, only a reflection on the money grabbing management of this establishment.

I am sure this review (story) will go unnoticed by management. It is a true shame as the Hotel has incredible potential, yet horrendously poor management. Please try turn these points into positive outcomes...hire a cleaner or two, hire a chef, train your staff, maintain your property, respect the service your guests expect and have purchased from you. Be proud of the establishment and the tranquillity it could bring to people. Stop trying to make it an Instagram post and grabbing the money.

A final thought, the Sunset...

When we 1st arrived at this hotel we thought wow!. The hotel is in a beautiful location with stunning countryside views, it has been well designed to take advantage of those views from the pool, dining room and to a certain extent the rooms.|However there was a general air of neglect outside of the hotel, the grounds were not being maintained properly, our terrace was full of weeds with a broken fencing and dead plants surrounding it, there were piles of dead insects at the front and back of the hotel entrance every day that didn't get cleaned up and the pool furniture was dirty.|It appeared to be run by a handful of very junior staff that though nice did not appear to be very well trained, certainly not up to the 5 star level of the hotel. We saw no evidence of a Manager for the 4 nights we stayed there, the junior staff appeared to have multiple roles.|Our room badly needed a fridge for fresh milk to make coffees, and to store cold drinks, also a room safe and a bin. The coffees were never replenished in our room despite them providing a coffee pod machine, they only left 2 coffee pods for our entire 4 night stay. There was not enough hanging space, no iron/board, scratchy towels. There were serious privacy/security issues with our hot tub terrace, there was a dead plant that had created a large gap along the border that I caught middle aged men standing next to and peering through on 3 separate occasions.|Last but not least was the appalling food. Breakfast was 19.5 euros each for a continental. They only served toast, there were no fresh bread or pastries despite there being several places to buy fresh bread in the nearby village. I had possibly the worst meal I have ever been served for lunch. We ordered the lamb cannelloni and were presented with a plate of what appeared to be (frozen) potato wedges, with one piece of cannelloni each which looked and tasted like a frozen ready meal, it certainly did not appear to be a freshly prepared dish and was very bland. I also didn't appreciate having to listen to the same Coldplay and Queen soundtracks in the restaurant and pool multiple times over. I assume these were for the staff as guests booking a stay in somewhere as remote as this hotel are not looking for noise but peace and quiet.|Summing up this hotel has the potential to be a 5 star establishment but needs new management because it appears to have been left to be run by a handful of inexperienced staff with little to...

The surroundings of Hotel Desconecta2 are undoubtedly one of its greatest assets: a peaceful location surrounded by nature, ideal for relaxing and unwinding. The facilities are modern, stylish, and thoughtfully designed. We also truly appreciated the kind gesture they had for my husband’s birthday — after we had informed them in advance — which was a lovely and thoughtful surprise.

However, our experience was affected by a number of issues that shouldn’t occur in a hotel of this category. To start, the hairdryer in the room wasn’t working (although it was promptly replaced), and on the second day, the housekeeping team left our room door ajar instead of properly closed, which was concerning from a security standpoint.

Regarding the restaurant, although the food was excellent and the staff friendly, we had an uncomfortable situation: following the waitress’s suggestion, we asked to store the remainder of a wine bottle we didn’t finish. The next day, when we requested it during dinner, we were told they couldn’t find it. As compensation, they offered us two glasses of wine, which was a kind gesture, but overall the incident felt unprofessional.

We also noticed a clear shortage of staff, especially in the pool/bar area and the restaurant. During busy times, waiting times were unacceptably long, even though the staff present did their best.

Another important point is the maintenance of the facilities. Some details are simply not up to the standards of a hotel in this price range. In our bathroom, the wallpaper was peeling off and the faucet had chipped paint. The room’s windows hadn’t been cleaned and were noticeably dirty, which ruined the view. The cushions on the Balinese bed by the pool were covered in damp stains, giving an overall impression of neglect.

In short, the hotel has charm and great potential, but it clearly needs to improve its maintenance, organization, and attention to detail in order to deliver an experience truly worthy of the standard it...