HG Maribel, Sierra Nevada

1.9 / 5 Anonymous on 20/03/2008 (Young couple)

Small comfortable hotel with lovely spanish decor and furniture Very quiet and peaceful ski lockers were allocted for each room and very secure

Very steep long walk to main restaurants and bars as no facilities near hotel Had to pay for spa facilities 20 Euros for two people to use the jacuzzi for half an hour Very poor standard of facilities, jacuzzi didn't heat up properly and there was rust on the ceiling and water dripping through the light fitting so the fuse blew when switched on. Bad drain smell in bathroom No balcony in bedroom

Overall: We were looking for a quiet hotel with good facilities to celebrate our engagement andget a few days skiing in. We paid 808 Euros for 5 days which we thought was expensive but we wanted to have a four star hotel with a bit of luxury, a jacuzzi and nice food which is why we chose the Maribel. First impressions were good with a nicely decorated and furnished room, although there was no balcony and the only window was very small. Unfortunatley we soon found we had to put up with a very bad smell of drains which came from the bathroom. The staff tried to sort this out by showing me how to run the bath until the yellow water turned clear, and they put extra air freshners in the bathroom but this did little to disguise the smell. The breakfast was initially nice from 8 until 11 but on our third day we arrived at breakfast at 10 to find only stale bread left. We asked for replenishment but were told there was nothing else left. This was disappointing seeing as our breakfast was paid for in the price. It would have been nice to know that the hotel is situated a lot higher than the main resort, with no restaurants/bars etc near it. The walk into and back from the resort was very tiring each evening, with hundreds of steps to climb and a good 15 minute walk away. Yiu were able to ski to the ski lift in the day but had to walk downthe steps and roads in the evening. The bar in the hotel was nice and quiet and relaxing, but closed early on a couple of evenings, so we found that on returning to the hotel in the evening we were unable to purchase any drinks. The bar times seemed to vary and they closed when they felt like it, which was dissapointing after climbing back from the main resort. The final straw was when we found out that it would cost 20 Euros to use the jacuzzi for half an hour, and more to use the sauna. We wanted to use this every evening but saved it to our last day due to the cost. I booked the spa for me and my fiancee, and arrived there 5 minutes before our slot. There were no staff there so we got changed and went over to the jacuzzi. The water was freezing. After a while I got changed again and went to reception to complain as we were already 10 minutes into our half hour slot. The receptionist came down and switched the jacuzzi on and left straight away, but after another 15 mins it still wasn't working so I had to get dressed again and go back to reception on the ground floor. After three attempts at this I gave up and told them not to bother. They did offer us free use of the spa later that evening, but when I saw the rust on the ceiling and water dripping from the light socket I decided against it. The light switch had also blown a fuse when we had switched it on, i expect due to the water. All in all I felt very let down by this hotel. There definatley wasn't the four star service that I expected, or the facilities they should have had. I am dissapointed we spent so much money on aless than acceptable quality of service. Whilst at the resort I saw several other hotels who had better facilities and appeared to have better service and they were 2 and 3 star and half the price of what we paid.  (97359680)

3.9 / 5 Anonymous on 08/02/2008 (Mature couple)

 (97816038)