Hotel Spring

Basically I liked this hotel; it's the sort of charming, independent hotel I like staying in. I'll admit the charm has faded somewhat, and the building is showing its age. A good interior paint job is needed. But I was pleased with what was on offer -- a spacious, Spanish-style building built around a central courtyard, with wide walkways providing nice lounge-like sitting areas; a decent breakfast (at a modest extra cost), served in a cafe that remains open until early afternoon; and a large room, with clean beddings and bathroom, and a comfortable bed. The hotel has character, and it's a comfortable, roomy place to hang out in when your waiting out the late-afternoon rains.

I've stayed at this hotel in the past and had a good experience but this time was very mixed. Firstly, they allow smoking despite "prohibido de fumar" signs all over the hotel. I found cigarette butts on the stairway leading to the second floor, and there was an older gentleman chain smoking in the patio. When I asked the front desk about this they told me that smoking was permitted in that specific area. I pointed out that there was a "prohibido de fumar" sign 10 feet from where the man was sitting and the front desk person just shrugged and did nothing. Since all the rooms open onto the patio, any smoking in any part of the patio reaches all the rooms (and makes the entire patio effectively a "smoking zone" since there is nowhere in the patio that one can sit and not be forced to inhale secondhand smoke). Secondly, on the second night of my stay, a large and boisterous group of men sat in the second floor lounge right outside the door of my room, drinking, talking very loudly, and playing music on their phones. This started around 8:30 and I was trying to work. Again I went to the desk, and asked politely how late guests were permitted to make a disturbance. The same staff person shrugged and said he didn't know, maybe 11? So I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the noise (impossible). At 11 I went down to the desk again and said, "Okay, this is enough, it's 11 and they have to stop." He spoke to them, but they didn't actually stop, they moved their "party" downstair to the patio. It was a little quieter for a while, but at midnight there were still about 8 of them crowded around a table in the patio, drinking and talking loudly. The rooms are not soundproof so the noise was clearly audible from my room. I don't know whether it was this specific staff person but I was very disappointed in their lack of consideration for the comfort of a guest and their allowing one group of guests to create a disturbance. The men also left a large collection of beer cans, bottles, and food wrappers on and around the table where they had been sitting. On a positive note, the room was spacious, the bed linens were new, the other personnel were very helpful, there is a microwave and a water dispenser that has hot water so I could make tea and coffee for myself. Not sure I will stay here again, however -- unless it's the only option available. I'll translate this into Spanish in a separate review so that it is accessible to everyone.