Monte Ulía — Hotel in San Sebastián

Stayed at this hotel for 2 nights in late May in a room on the first floor on the side of the hotel. After reading TripAdvisor comments we had requested that we not be given a room at the front of the hotel as the noise from, what really is, a very busy road with lots of buses and trucks, was quite loud and continuous.||||Our room was a reasonable size and had a queen sized bed (quite firm), a bedside table with one draw and a wall mounted lamp on either side of the bed. There was also a desk with a chair and a minibar at the end of the bed as well as a wall mounted lamp and a small wall mounted flat screen TV. ||||There was also a small wardrobe with some hanging space and shelves. The infamous EURO sucking safe sat inside the wardrobe. I had read in disbelief one review of this hotel on TripAdvisor which detailed how you needed a Euro coin to lock the safe but you lost it when you opened it. Lock it and open it again another Euro. Now it stood before me and no, I wasn't going to feed its insatiable hunger. We locked our valuables in our suitcases. Not sure which non-customer focused tight-fisted guru dreamt this one up but it certainly puts you off. Why not just add a couple of Euro to the room rate?||||The bathroom was an adequate size with a walk in shower (shower pressure was good) but no bath or bidet. There was no vanity unit just a hand basin so there were limited places to put toiletries although there was a small stool.||||There was a small balcony off the bedroom with a small round table and two metal chairs.||||The room and bathroom were both clean and tidy although everything was a little dated.||||We did not eat breakfast here so cannot comment on the dining area.||||We unfortunately struck a very unhelpful and rude older blonde haired lady on reception when we checked in. Everything was an effort for her. At check out we were fortunate to have a young lady who was exactly the opposite - cheerful and very helpful.||||There is a large parking area at the rear of the hotel which is also where you enter the reception area. I would recommend driving past the small entrance to the hotel on the busy main street and taking the next street on the right, Bordatxipi Pasealekua, and the next right again, Toki Eder Pasealekua, and go through the gates into the car park at the back of the hotel. We found that along the main road, the sign denoting where the hotel was located was badly hidden behind tree branches until you were almost upon it and then it was difficult to slow down to enter the narrow drive way as you are in a bus lane and they fly down this main road. We went past and around to have a second go, waiting until all the buses had gone past.||||The hotel is well situated to Arzak being a 7 - 10 minute slightly uphill walk away on the same side of the street.||||The hotel was a 30 minute, mainly flat, walk from the old town or you could catch the No: 13 bus from the bus stop about 150 metres down the road from the hotel, which only took about 10 minutes to get to the bus terminus in the old town. The bus leaves to come back at...

We arrived after a considerable journey and were very taken back by the reception area. It was awful.||||There is no bar or anywhere to get a snack and we'd not eaten since about 6am.||||We were given a room key and we went to the room. I burst into tears as the room was so bad. The place looked very very dirty. Curtains were hanging off the pole. Outside seating area had broken glass panels (very dangerous as could shatter at any time).||||The duvet cover was all marked. The furniture and flooring falling to bits. Absolutely nothing like the photographs on Expedia who we booked through.||||The bathroom was even worse. The hairdryer was broken, again dangerous to have it in a bathroom. We could have been electrocuted. ||||I went to reception and told receptionist of our concerns. That the room was unsafe and we'd not be staying in it.||||He showed me to another room. It was just as bad. The net type curtain looked like it hadn't been washed for years and years. My skin was itching like mad. ||||We contacted Expedia who we booked the room through and told them of the issues. They were not very helpful.||||The photos on websites must have been taken many many years ago. The rooms did not remotely resemble them. ||||We found ourselves another hotel and told the receptionist we were leaving. His response was he'd cancelled our room anyway after Expedia contacted him and would resell the room. He also said that the room had everything that was advertised. ||||The photos were taken quickly and really do not show the full extent of how bad...

We originally booked Monte Ulia for 2 nights, but we enjoyed our stay so much that we extended it for an extra night! The hotel is in a great location—about a 20–25 minute walk to the Gros area of San Sebastián, and if you want to go further into town, there are several buses that get you there in just 10–15 minutes. A big highlight of our stay was the service. Jon, one of the receptionists (and the one we saw the most), was absolutely amazing. He went out of his way to accommodate us when we wanted to stay an extra night, helping us find another room without any hassle. He also gave us fantastic recommendations for where to go for pintxos, drinks, and even the best spots in town to watch the fireworks. Overall, Monte Ulia was a perfect base for exploring San Sebastián. Comfortable stay, great location, and outstanding service—especially thanks to Jon!...