Top 10 Parador de Aiguablava Hotels

Though there are many things to recommend this hotel and location—fantastic design and décor, stunning views from a panoramic pool and patio area, charming and crystal-clear Aiguablava beach just a short walk down a path from the hotel—my husband and I regretted our choice to stay here on our short, 3-night trip to the Costa Brava at the end of the summer. This was a disappointing stay in several small and easily remedied ways that, together, seemed like the guest experience was an afterthought at Parador de Aiguablava. For context: my husband and I are well-traveled, late 30-something Americans who go to Europe 2-4 times per year for work and holiday and stay in a range of 2-5 star accommodations. Here are the ways in which things fell a bit short, in our opinion: 1) Arrival, check-in, and information-sharing: The strangeness started at arrival, when we drove up the windy hillside road to the isolated hotel and arrived to a small and cramped parking lot with no bellhop or valet. My husband dropped me and our luggage off and I waited in front of the hotel while he carefully weaved his way through the tight lot—there were other cars parked in inappropriate places, in the absence of someone there to help with parking—and then drove about a ¼ mile down the hill to park the car along the road and then hiked back up. What about guests with mobility issues? If this was mid-pandemic, I could understand staff shortages, but not at a 4-star hotel in 2023. At check in, we were given a quick overview of the hotel services by friendly, English-speaking staff, but found ourselves short on information for the rest of our stay. There was no printed information (in any language, nor a QR code/ website) about hotel services, policies, and amenities in the room. This caused small inconveniences; for example: We got ready for the beach shortly after arriving, but it took us 20 minutes to find the path down to the beach when it should have taken us 3. This was in part because we expected a path leading directly from the pool area would go down to the beach, but only after walking a bit we realized that it was a path to the cliffs and did not connect to the beach. It easily could have had signs. We then recalled the check-in staff mentioning the beach was on the lower level and noticed a beach symbol in the elevator, but once getting down to the lower level it took us a moment to figure out we had to cross the lower-level parking lot to find the trail. This was a small thing, but it could have been a seamless experience (rather than a scavenger hunt) with a few more signs or a little more in-room information. 2) Room condition: There were several minor maintenance/cleaning issues in the lovely room that seemed like they could have easily been fixed: mildewy tile, a broken toilet paper holder, beat-up paint in a number of places, and a rusted vanity stool. 3) Coffee: This was, by far, the thing that annoyed us the most because it so easily could be fixed. As a relati

Firstly, this is not a 5 star hotel. It is a very good hotel, with some great amenities but far from 5 star standard at the moment. We enjoyed our stay and had a great holiday, it is that the hotel just did not meet our expectations and for the money we paid for a 5 star experience. The hotel is spotless, the rooms are small but good with large beds but let down by the pillows. Plenty of sunbeds and we always manged to get one even being at the height of the season. Adults only also made it a relaxing experience. I think the main issues was the serving staff, although they are pleasant the serving staff are very young and inexperienced without adequate training, there also seems to be no supervision. Basics are missing, like hello, goodbye and smiling, this starts to get you down after a few days. This is not what you expect at a 5 star hotel. The reception, the cleaners and the concierge are very good and can't understand why it doesn't extend to the serving staff. Breakfast was fine, but not great. We tried the restaurant twice and while good standard is let down by waiters which made us eat elsewhere and actually found better. Snack bar is what lets it down most, poor choose, expensive if you want to eat there over a two week stay. I'm now dubious of all the positive comments and one of the reasons we choose this hotel. They seem too similar and I can't be the only one with these observations. I hope my comments on training are taken constructively.

The hotel is wonderful, with a beautiful garden, the beaches near the hotel are magnificent, the food is very good. good cleanliness, but 2 people at the reception deeply disappointed me... Although I announced when I arrived at the reception that in 2 days it is my daughter's birthday and I would have liked them to prepare a small surprise in the room when we arrive, that is a the cake with a candle, and I received firm promises from the staff that they would prepare the surprise, but in the end they did not prepare anything.,...saying that they did not know how to decorate the cake...total disappointment