Hotel Cityexpress Covadonga

It’s difficult to know where to begin the list of what’s wrong with this hotel, but it should probably start with the manageress that seems to be in charge. She may be a perfectly nice person under normal circumstances, but she should not be running a hotel. It was important to me that I be able the charge my stay to my American Express card, so I asked before checking to be sure it was accepted there, and she affirmed that it was. You know what’s coming… upon checking out and settling accounts, my card was ultimately not accepted. I was able to hear some of her conversation with the Ibercaja rep (the company they use to facilitate credit card charges) – my Spanish is not good enough to understand everything, but I did hear the phrase “no contratada” more than once from the rep, which I take to mean the hotel was not, in fact, set up to take AmEx, and this was confirmed by a Spanish business-owner friend. The upshot: whether intentionally or out of ignorance, she lied, and neither possibility speaks well of her. In the end, I was forced to go to an ATM to withdraw cash to pay the bill – with my luggage held hostage, naturally. Oh, if that were the only issue… Expecting any of the advertised amenities to actually be provided seems to be too much for these people. The first minibar/fridge in the room did not work, and it took three attempts to switch it out for one that did. I then had to leave for the day before connecting to wi-fi from the room, and returned late that night to discover – surprise! – that it did not. My room appeared to be out of range of the wi-fi system, so I asked to change rooms the next day (7 days with no wi-fi in the room would have been a real hardship), at which point the manageress literally screamed at me, saying I can’t change rooms every day – even though this was the first and only room change. Thank god the new room did have wi-fi (and the fridge even worked)… I hate to think of what sort of abuse I might have been subjected to had I dared to complain again. They also have an irritating habit of disappearing from the reception desk and leaving the front door locked, so one is unable to enter or – more importantly and annoyingly – leave until someone deigns to reappear. At the time, this was about the cheapest hotel in Oviedo. Do think twice as to whether all the trouble is worth saving a few euros. My biggest regret is that my Spanish is not good enough to insist on lodging a complaint in the libro de reclamaciones over the credit card thing. I’m told the conversation shifts immediately once that happens.