As you’ll have gathered from the title, my experience at the Alfonso XIII Hotel was very different from Bertrand’s a few months ago.
Reminder of my itinerary:
A look back at a… disastrous stay.
Booking
I’d been wanting to visit Seville for a long time, and Bertrand’s review on the city and the hotel confirmed my desire… So when we decided to reschedule our trip to the USA for a stay in Spain, the decision to visit Seville was a fast onethanks to the discovery of this open-jaw on Iberia in Business.
So I booked using a special rate, pricing the night at €186 including taxes, on the Marriott Bonvoy app.
I also use 4 Suite Night Awards to guarantee a room with a terrace. None of the suites, at least on the site, offer a terrace. This request is confirmed 5 days before arrival, as required by Marriott procedure.
Arrival
We arrive at the hotel in the early afternoon after a very average flight on Air Europa from Palma de Mallorca. At the airport, I used the Sixt MyDriver app to avoid any waiting and the driver was indeed waiting for us at the exit of the baggage area.
After a thirty-minute drive, we arrive in front of the hotel. Our driver is surprised to see no one to take charge of our luggage, and takes the initiative of going upstairs to ask reception to assist us. A very strange situation.
The hotel is undeniably magnificent. This is the city’s real historic hotel, a bit like the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, and all the prestige that’s supposed to go with it.
The receptionist will proceed with check-in. Despite my interactions in English after the initial greetings in Spanish, he continues to speak Spanish to me. It doesn’t bother me personally, but it’s a sign of disrespect for my wife, who doesn’t speak it, and to whom I have to translate everything.
He quickly explains the hotel’s various facilities and breakfast times, then escorts us to the elevator… And that’s it. I’d be surprised if the same receptionist took other guests on a tour of the hotel and accompanied them to their rooms.
Room
Our Grand Deluxe room was located on the 3rd and top floor of the property.
Even on the landings, the decoration is magnificent and shows the grandeur of the place in its past. But what you notice when you arrive are the reliefs of welcome or room service benefits lying around in the corridors. At this point, we’re thinking it’s temporary, probably due to a late breakfast (it’s just after 2pm).
Our room is located in the middle of a large corridor.
The entrance features a large closet, which contains the safe. It allows you to unpack for a few days.
To the right is the bathroom. While its decoration is typical, its equipment is fairly basic and it’s very small. Despite the double washbasin, it’s difficult for two people to use it together.
At Luxury Collection, we always appreciate the quality of our toiletries, not least because they don’t have that lemony or minty scent that sometimes puts women off using them.
The bathroom will have a chronic ventilation problem, forcing us to leave the door open when we shower.
Then there’s the room itself. A small, tall sideboard is on the right, along with the TV cabinet (whose door will be broken), and an empty minibar, containing only a few bottles of fresh water to complement those left at room temperature. A desk completes the space, along with an espresso machine. Capsules and paper cups are wrapped in plastic to certify that they have been disinfected.
To the right, a few armchairs and the king-size bed, which, apart from not being particularly comfortable, creaked every time I rolled over.
Bathrobes were placed on the bed, and are of excellent quality and supplied by Frette as always at Luxury Collection. Blue towels are also laid out on a small bench at the foot of the bed, presumably to use the deckchairs on the terrace.
The terrace is accessed via two small French windows (shutters are fitted to ensure complete darkness at night). It’s not particularly pleasant, the view is limited and the furniture is of rather average quality.
In short, disappointing, a bit disappointed to have used 4 Suite Night Award for this considering the value we can get out of it elsewhere….
To finish, a video tour:
Hotel facilities
The Alfonso XIII is a downtown hotel. Even so, it boasts a beautiful swimming pool and a nearby fitness center.
Gym
The fitness room (we had to find it and the elevator to it all by ourselves) is located on the first floor, next to the pool, in a small adjoining building. The equipment is practically new and plentiful, but there’s not enough room for cross-fit exercises, especially using free weights. We’ll have to use an outdoor area for our exercises.
Pool
The swimming pool is also located on the first floor of the hotel, behind the main entrance. It’s quite nice and pleasant... but it’s crowded from mid- to late afternoon, when it’s really hot.
En plus, the service is almost non-existent around themin 4 days, a waiter only came once just before closing time on the last day to ask if we wanted anything before the bar closed… Furthermore, the service staff are just rude and boorish. The slightest question or request seemed to upset the waiters to the utmost.
In addition, dirty towels were never removed from the deckchairs, or even from the pile left by customers at the pool entrance. So let’s not even dream about it: nobody helps or installs you on mattresses…
Food options
The catering is a real black spot for the hotel, and had already been pointed out by Bertrand during his stay. During mine, the Tapas restaurant was closed, only the San Fernando was open.
Restaurant San Fernando – Lunch service
Immediately after settling in, we opted for a light lunch at the San Fernando, the hotel’s main and supposedly gourmet restaurant. The interior patio, anyway, is magnificent, and many guests from outside the hotel come to enjoy it.
Our observation: the food is mediocre, overpriced, the cocktails and drinks poorly executed and, above all, the service very, very bad, carried out without soul, without a smile… We’re in a 5-star “Grand Luxe”, dammit! I find it very hard to understand the difference with our previous stays, all of which were perfect in terms of service. We won’t return except for breakfast
Restaurant San Fernando – Breakfast service
Breakfast is served in the same place, on the San Fernando patio. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the buffet is still present, but service is provided on demand, as at St. Regis Mallorca.
However, the selection is very limited, and the hot items are poorly cooked (overcooked). A shame too for a hotel of this standing.
Nota Bene: starting breakfast at 8am is far too late. I understand the Spanish way of life where everything is late, but 8am is a time that excludes early birds and people who have to catch an early flight. In fact, we won’t be able to have breakfast on the last day, as we have to leave the hotel at 7.30am for our flight to Paris shortly after 9am.
Overall service level and complaints
I was extremely disappointed from the very first day in the hotel. In addition to the problems mentioned in the previous paragraphs, the attention paid to customers is simply unacceptable.
Beyond the fact that the difference in treatment with Bertrand during his stay is flagrant, there are things that I find unacceptable, notably the very low level of English spoken by the staff, the prevailing sense of demotivation and, more worryingly, the rudeness (not responding to a greeting in Spanish, using a tone of voice or gestures that are inappropriate in such properties) is simply palpable. Worse still, I spoke to other customers at the pool who all confirmed their disappointment.
As a result, I e-mailed the General Manager and the Ambassador Marriott department to express my concern, with photos. One of the hotel managers wanted to meet me, and I agreed. Aside from the COVID excuse, this manager could only feel sorry for me. He offered me an upgrade, but I refused. I don’t want anything in return. Nevertheless, he also sent a bottle of champagne and a few sweets…
Nevertheless, absolutely nothing changed. So I guess nothing was done, and the staff may not even have been informed.
Departure
Departure formalities were quickly completed, and the invoice was correct. I note a particular over-attention at check-out, no doubt something must have appeared on the screen. A bit late.
Bottom line
I will definitely not return to this hotel. You can have the most beautiful hotel in the world, but if you get ibis service you have to pay ibis prices. And even at ibis, they’re more friendly with customers.
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