Hotel NH Collection Valencia Colón — Hotel in Valencia

NH Hotel group’s only boutique collection property in Valencia promised to knock it right out of the park. Only 47 boutique rooms in a former office building refurbished in three different decors, a hotel that opened in January of 2019 in the heart of the city. A touch of a 5-star, wow!! What could possibly be better? The expectations are very high. Well, getting a hands-on experience gives a whole different perspective unfortunately.

Of these 47 rooms 30 are tiny boxy rooms worse than in NYC or Paris. So in order to have a somewhat average-sized hotel room you have to opt for a Premium room and the upgrade sets you back 20€ a night. Otherwise the 4 junior suites (a somewhat stretched version of a room) will cost you another 30€ a night for an upgrade. But why upgrade and not supply a descent sized room in the first place? If you are tall and want comfort one of the 10 Premium rooms is an absolute must. The rooms are very nicely appointed, but they lack the absolute necessity of even a 3-star hotel: No essential paper tissues, no toilet brush and no shower cap even. The empty minibar is yet another petpeeve, but a coffeemaker is at least provided. They gladly furnish a single luggage rack at least for one guest, but the designated other is flying RyanAir with no baggage allowance?

The very nice rainforest showerhead in the bathroom is great, but the shower is without a drain stop, so the bathroom gets flooded on a regular basis. Quite a messy situation there. And no bathrope or slippers provided in a Premium room? Do you live under a rock? These are the vital touches that count.

The breakfast at 19€ is ok. You get a questionnaire to fill out and 20 minutes later you might get your order. The choice is good, but not overwhelming. The rooftop terrace might be nice once it is not being rennovated and actually accessible. If you are really lucky you might actually score a space in the small garage for a hefty 35€ a pop, while parking behind the hotel on the white line is fortunately complimentary.

Overall the hotel is not bad, but they need to fix some issues and upgrade otherwise it sure does not meet its own high expectations.

They cannot possibly change the room size, but a guest should be well aware of that issue at least ahead of time. Information is key. The management has to be apologetic and candid about that major...

It was a fine stay, but we couldn’t fully enjoy all the amenities (see below, about rooftop terrace).

Very well located. I chose it mainly for the location. We arrived at the room and a little snack was laid out for us–very thoughtful, and very good. It was also my husband’s birthday during our stay, and that day, when we came back in the afternoon, there was a small birthday card/message accompanied by a brownie, cherries and blueberries. Once again, super thoughtful, as we did not mention his birthday (probably noted the information from his passport when we checked in). ❤️

Food was very good. We were expecting a bigger breakfast buffet, like we experienced in the past at other NH locations. But otherwise, the food was good, fresh and servers were perfect.

The room was as expected, and the cleaning was even better than expected. Great cleaning staff/crew!

The only ick for me was that the rooftop terrace was full sun, all day. So we couldn’t enjoy it one bit. This terrace was the second reason that made me choose this hotel. I was super disappointed.. Even though the promotional pictures of the hotel show big retractable awnings opened, don’t be fooled like I was. Those retractable awnings were fully retracted/closed, at all time. When we asked the front desk (because there is no staff up there during the day, until 8pm) if they could open the sun shades/awnings so we could fully enjoy what the hotel could offer us (a nice resting area, with shade, so we don’t cook under the 35 degrees sun) they just said there was no way to have shade on the terrace and that they would be looking into this for the next year (lol, what?). There is a way. There are several retractable awnings. They are simply currently retracted. 😑 I was left a bit speechless..

Oh, and the choice of ambiance smell for the hotel reception is very fitting, smells very good. HOWEVER, the smell is way too intense. Every time we were walking through the reception, the smell was so strong that I was annoyed by it to the point of not liking it at all. Objectively, it smells good though, but please just take it down a notch...

Although we explicitly reconfirmed our arrival the day before, the reception seemed surprisingly unprepared – especially considering our GHA status. To our astonishment, we were informed that our room was not yet ready. Frankly, in this hotel category and under such circumstances, that is simply unacceptable.||At first, we were assigned a very small standard room. Fortunately, shortly afterward, we were offered a significantly larger room, which we gratefully accepted – a welcome step after a disappointing start.||Special praise goes to José from Guest Relations, who made a sincere effort to turn around our first impression. His invitation to a cocktail and breakfast was a thoughtful and much-appreciated gesture.||Breakfast was pleasantly good – varied, fresh, and of appealing quality. The room itself was overall quite comfortable. Our only real complaint: the wardrobe was far too small and not suitable for the room category. On the other hand, the beds offered excellent sleep quality.||The hotel’s greatest strength is its perfect location for a city trip. The rest of the staff were also consistently friendly, helpful, and professional.|As a lovely parting gesture, we even received a small gift bag upon departure – a truly delightful surprise and a nice final touch.||Conclusion: Despite the rocky start, we were able to enjoy many positive aspects of our stay. If the hotel improves communication before arrival and at check-in, we would certainly consider returning.|After all, one truth holds especially in hospitality:|You never get a second chance to make a good...