Hotel La Casa del Maestro *

October/2014 Someone from London thinks:

• Overall rating: 9.1
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: The individuality and charm of the rooms and the building; also a good location near El Rinconcillo.
• Negative: No opportunity to make hot drinks. Too little soap in rooms.
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Couples, Classic style lovers
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 10
• Location: 10
• Common facilities and services: 5
• Staff: 7.5
• Quietness: 5
• Room: 7.5
• Value for money: 7.5

October/2014 Someone from Elche thinks:

• Overall rating: 6.3
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Hotel pequeño con encanto
• Negative: El ruido, mal insonorizadas las habitaciones
• I RECOMMEND it for...
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: 5
• Staff: 7.5
• Quietness: 2.5
• Room: 5
• Value for money: 5

September/2014 Someone from Fleet, Hampshire, England thinks:

• Overall rating: 0.0
• Would you recommend it? No
• Positive: Leaving, and never having to return
• Negative: Stayed here for three nights in September 2014. Paid €160 per night for a double room, having seen the delightful photos of the room on Expedia and on the hotel’s own website. I made it clear within the booking process that we would be on our honeymoon when we visited. On arrival at the hotel we found it to be locked, with no-one in attendance. There was a note on the door stating that the receptionist was at another nearby hotel, and would be back shortly. After two phone calls to her (one by ourselves and an earlier one by another couple who were also waiting to check in), she did eventually arrive some 15-20 minutes later – not quite the welcome we were expecting. Once the hotel had the grace to let us come inside we were asked to sign the reservation form, and were then shown our room. On first seeing it we assumed that there had been some mistake, April Fool’s Day having long passed. The room was quite clearly a single room, with no exterior windows. Although there were two windows facing onto the central interior courtyard, the curtains over both of these windows were transparent, affording no privacy whatsoever. The curtain covering the smaller of these two windows was, additionally, too short for the window it was intended to cover, meaning that other guests could quite easily see inside the room through the glass. On complaining about this to the receptionist she told us that there was nothing she could do about it. We were therefore forced to do something about it ourselves by hanging bath robes and towels over the windows to afford us some degree of privacy, and were left wondering why, when we were able to find a solution to the problem (albeit an unsatisfactory one which meant that neither of us had a bath robe and we both had to share a towel!), why couldn’t she make some effort to assist us? On further investigation, the fact that this was a single room became more evident. There was, for example, only one bath robe hanging in the wardrobe (a double room would have two). Further, the room was extremely small, with barely enough room for one person, let alone two. Whilst I did not measure it, I do not believe the bed was a standard size double bed either. There was insufficient floor space to open either of our suitcases without causing a trip hazard, and the entrance to the room was so small that we had to squeeze sideways between the wall and the table upon which the television was situated. We therefore had to place the television on the floor for fear of accidentally knocking it off the table, thus further reducing the already extremely limited floor space and meaning that we could not use the TV. The room was also intensely hot, the air conditioning not having been turned on in advance of our arrival. When, however, we turned on the (ancient-looking) air conditioning unit, we found it to be very noisy, so had to turn it off again to enable us to sleep. Thus we had a very poor night’s sleep in a room that felt like a sauna – a very unpleasant experience indeed. Further, my (Spanish) wife felt it necessary to sleep fully clothed in case one of the towels / bath robes that we had covered one of the windows with fell off. The door to the room did not function properly. On closing it one had to pull / push hard to close it properly, causing a noise that we felt would disturb the other guests, and on returning from an evening out in the early hours of the morning of Sunday 28th September, the key would not turn in the lock, so I was obliged to go back downstairs to ask the night porter to open it for us – the very last thing we needed after getting soaked to the skin in the rain. There we further problems with the bathroom. The wall-fitted shower head holder was too high for my wife to reach, and indeed I could only just reach it myself (I am 5 feet 8). Further, it was not fitted to the wall properly, meaning that the shower head would not stay in place during use. In addition to this, the shower cubicle was so small that if one turned around in it during use one either knocked the shower head out of its holder, or turned the water off, or both. The attention to detail in the room was also very poor, e.g: - There was an old, empty glass air freshener pot on one of the bedside units – this should either have been refilled or removed - There were only three coat hangers in the wardrobe - There were no glasses from which to drink water in the bathroom (although there was a single paper coaster for such a glass on the bathroom shelf – further evidence that this was a room intended for one person!!) - Despite the very limited storage space in the room (no chests of drawers) only one of the bedside units contained drawers, the other one being a very small table which provided no storage space whatsoever One of the reasons we chose this hotel over others available was that it advertised having free Wi-Fi. However, no Wi-Fi password was provided to us on check-in, nor was there a note of the Wi-Fi password anywhere in our room. Indeed, there was no information about the hotel whatsoever in the room. This was the first night of the Sevilla leg of our honeymoon. Casa del Maestro did a first class job of ruining the whole honeymoon. My wife was in tears, and wanted to return to England. On complaining to the receptionist she explained that this room is not normally used, and that we were only put in it because all other rooms were occupied. The fact remains, however, that we booked and paid €160 for a double room, and had a right to expect a room such as one of those shown on their website. Had we known that we would be put in a room such as this one there is absolutely no way that we would have made the booking. The excuse that this was the only room remaining is an extremely poor one. A hotel cannot accept payment for a double room, and then house two guests in a single room. At the very least they should have contacted us following the booking and made us aware that the room that we had been allocated was a single, windowless room, and given us the opportunity to cancel the booking. This stinks of complete greed, and borders on fraud. The fact that this room is rarely used by the hotel was also evident by the fact that there was no name or number on the door. We only knew that it was room 13 (the irony of which was not missed by us!) by looking at the key ring. It remains my firm belief that had we not complained so vociferously about “room 13”, the hotel would have been quite happy to take our money for a full three nights in the same room with no apology or offer to move us to another room. The fact that they did move us to another room (which, incidentally, was delightful) purely reflected the fact that we had made it clear to them how upset and distressed we were. No formal apology was made by anyone, and on checkout no mention was made of the incident, and nor was any offer of a full or even partial refund made. The only ‘compensation’ offered to us was free parking for the second and third nights for a hire car that we had already returned – no use to us whatsoever! On the basis that we were on our honeymoon and had deliberately chosen and spent money on an ‘upmarket’ boutique hotel we expected to receive exemplary treatment from this hotel, but nothing could have been further from the truth. We have both stayed in many different hotels in many different parts of the world during our lives, and this is without doubt the worst experience we have ever had. As a footnote to this review I sent a detailed letter of complaint to the hotel following our return to England, and gave them thirty days to respond. No response has been received, and I strongly suspect that my letter was thrown in the bin as soon as it was opened. If this is how this sham of a hotel treats its honeymooning guests, then God help those who are simply there on holiday or business. I wouldn’t spit on this place if it were on fire, and hope the management are thoroughly pleased with ruining what had, until our stay here, been a wonderful honeymoon.
• I RECOMMEND it for...
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples, Luxury, Peace seekers, Classic style lovers, Modern style lovers, Handicapped, Budget travelers, Business travelers, Travelers with a car, Healthy lifestyle
• Cleanliness: Not rated
• Location: Not rated
• Common facilities and services: Not rated
• Staff: Not rated
• Quietness: Not rated
• Room: Not rated
• Value for money: Not rated

September/2014 Someone from Ireland thinks:

• Overall rating: 4.6
• Would you recommend it? No
• Positive: Excellent location.
• Negative: The initial reception from the hotel was rude and offered no information about the hotel or Seville.
• I RECOMMEND it for...
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 10
• Common facilities and services: 5
• Staff: 7.5 Except for the man on reception when we arrived.
• Quietness: 7.5
• Room: 5
• Value for money: 2.5 Over priced, expected far more for the night rate they charge.

September/2014 Someone from Paris thinks:

• Overall rating: 9.6
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Le charme et la simplicité
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Families, Budget travelers
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: 10
• Staff: 10
• Quietness: 7.5
• Room: 10
• Value for money: 10

August/2014 Someone from Spain thinks:

• Overall rating: 7.8
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Breakfast
• Negative: The room was not ready with towels as we arrived.
• I RECOMMEND it for... Couples, Classic style lovers
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Older travelers
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 5
• Common facilities and services: 5
• Staff: 10
• Quietness: 7.5
• Room: 7.5
• Value for money: 7.5

June/2014 Someone from Barcelona thinks:

• Overall rating: 8.2
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: atmosphere and location
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples, Peace seekers, Classic style lovers, Budget travelers, Healthy lifestyle
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Handicapped, Business travelers
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: 7.5
• Staff: 10
• Quietness: 10
• Room: 7.5
• Value for money: 7.5

June/2014 Someone from Teruel thinks:

• Overall rating: 7.3
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Habitación muy acogedora
• Negative: Ruido de las campanas durante toda la noche cada hora
• I RECOMMEND it for... Couples
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Peace seekers, Handicapped
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 5
• Common facilities and services: 5
• Staff: 5
• Quietness: 2.5
• Room: 7.5
• Value for money: 7.5

May/2014 Someone from England thinks:

• Overall rating: 10
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: The staff
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for...
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 10
• Location: 10
• Common facilities and services: 10
• Staff: 10
• Quietness: 10
• Room: 10
• Value for money: 10

May/2014 Someone from The Netherlands thinks:

• Overall rating: 7.6
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Friendly staff and roof terras
• Negative: We booked a superior room, but it did not look like one. We did not have the couch and bathroom was limited for example.
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Couples, Classic style lovers
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Luxury
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: 5
• Staff: 10
• Quietness: 10
• Room: 5
• Value for money: 2.5 Did not look like superior