Gran Hotel Puente Colgante — Hotel in Portugalete

I was so disappointed in our stay here.

The room picture on our booking site showed a small balcony and a beautiful view. Our room had a door that opened but no balcony and I found out that rooms on the second floor of the same room-type/price range didn't have doors that opened at all and had very small windows. I couldn't imagine seeing the images we saw for our room type then being put in a room like that.

The communication with the front desk was very difficult and we had a whole ordeal around parking. We called ahead of time to ask about parking and were advised it was available at the hotel. We then called when we were in front of the hotel, sitting in public parking, trying to find the hotel parking. After a very long phone conversation getting directions to move 100m, we found the hotel parking only to get to the front desk and be told of the huge parking fee and that street parking is free if we would like to get back in our car and move it back to the street.

We had planned a fancy evening and were looking forward to the Michelin star restaurant for dinner. We advised we were vegetarians and asked if there was something suitable on the menu, we were assured by the front desk that the chef was capable of making something for us, so we made a reservation.

During the day, we popped into the restaurant to be advised that only the bar was open that evening, not the restaurant. We went back to the reception and they said they had made our reservation at the bar as the restaurant was closed, even though they didn't tell us that's where our reservation was. We asked again about the food as we didn't see anything on the menu. We were assured it was the same chef and the front desk had left a note on the reservation that we were vegetarian.

You can guess what happened when we got there - no note on the reservation, no vegetarian options and the waiter basically scoffed as us when we asked about vegetarian options. He gave us the very unenthusiastic suggestions of bread or salad with ingredients being taken out then later advised they could make some rice and "pasta". There are no words to describe the food we received. The "pasta" was tiny macaroni with the worst red sauce that tasted worse than out of a can and had no a spec of spices in it. I can't even call it tomato sauce as there wasn't anything fresh or vegetable in it. The rice was just as bad. It was beyond disappointing to see that any restaurant would be comfortable serving this quality of food let alone and actual Michelin chef. No chef would serve that. The table beside us was also vegetarian and I send my sincerest condolences for whatever "food"...

Highly overpriced.|Beds not too bad but rooms are characterless and small. We got a triple room and the 3rd bed was fold-down and due to its design not really suitable for a child. |I could not and still don't see on booking.com any mention of PAID parking. €38 for two nights parking is extortionate. This is a 10minute walk from the subway that takes 20mins into Bilbao, so it's not that convenient. But it IS only 15mins drive from the ferry. Staff were a mix ..first receptionist was nice but not overly helpful...second didnt appear to know much about anything, and at check-out the receptionist was not nice and he accused me of smoking in my room which was an absolute lie...and seemed to be because I had challenged the parking fees..||The dinner was not great, everything was super salty with small portions, and the cheese board was 6 waxy sweating slices of hard, dry, flavourless presliced manchego...I had to return it...they also tried to charge us for 3 portions of bread that we refused and had taken away.||The breakfast is a ridiculous €22 per guest per day, so we didn't even have it...we went into bilbao and had delicious eggs and bacon (and pancakes for our son) with nice coffee and juice for about €25 for the 3 of us (in Beetle cafe)||Would not stay here again. Worst place we stayed out of 4 hotels in the...

What I liked: Location is super Bathroom towels were high quality Good blackout curtains Views Pleasant surprise that my room (double with views) had a terrace and this was not in room details when booking.

What I did not like: Poor soundproofing in rooms (one day I could hear a neighbour peeing) and doors that slam pretty easily. So it gets very noisy when other people exit their rooms carelessly (which is the norm) Rooms try to have a cool modern design but materials are cheap and a bit worn off. Room walls in my room were quite dirty. Light switches in my room were strangely sticky and dusty. 22 eur breakfast is of low value. No 100% natural orange juice (i think it wqs mixed). Bread has been frozen and is dry. Scrambled eggs tasted floury. Few options to put on bread. Very mediocre breakfast for a 4 star hotel.

Couple additional details: I had a nespresso machine in my room but no kettle or tea offering. There is also a machine with warm drinks at reception but there isn't any tea offering either! I recommend the hotel to provide this. It costs nothing! Bed and pillows are on the hard side I did not get an explanation of the hotel facilities and offerings upon check in. There is a paper in the room with the basics but it is...