Hôtel Villa España

My stay at Hotel Villa España was simply spectacular. From the very first moment, we felt right at home thanks to the warm and professional service of all the staff. I want to give a very special mention to Lara, the receptionist. Her service was impeccable: always friendly, smiling, quickly resolving any questions, and making our experience even better. It's wonderful to find people who enjoy their work so much and transmit that positive energy to the guests. She is undoubtedly one of the people who make all the difference at this hotel.

Excellent location and friendly service from the receptionist Paris, who very kindly advised me and helped me with my questions about the reservation.

Our stay started with what can only be described as an unacceptable check-in experience. We arrived late at night with a fully prepaid reservation of approximately €1,200 for three nights. The reservation was confirmed, paid in full, and visible in the hotel's system. Despite this, we were repeatedly told that no room was available. For hours we were given contradictory explanations. First, we were told that there were plenty of rooms and that staff simply needed to identify which room had been assigned to us. Later we were told that the hotel was completely full and that no room could be provided. After an exhausting evening and several phone calls to Booking.com, the situation suddenly changed once Booking.com intervened directly. Miraculously, the room we had fully paid for became available after all, and we finally entered it around 2:30 a.m. To this day, I do not understand why we were forced to spend hours in the lobby arguing over a reservation that was already confirmed and paid in full. Unfortunately, the rest of the stay did not justify either the price or the inconvenience. Despite paying around €400 per night for an all-inclusive stay, there seemed to be additional charges, deposits, restrictions, or procedures attached to almost everything. Towels required reservations and deposits. Reusable plastic mugs required deposits. Basic services involved unnecessary complexity. At one point, guests had to obtain items from reception several floors away in order to use facilities elsewhere in the hotel. The all-inclusive concept was particularly disappointing. Access to drinking water was far more complicated than in any all-inclusive hotel we have visited before. In a hot Mediterranean destination, this felt unreasonable and unnecessarily restrictive. The pool areas were much less impressive than expected. Some facilities were unavailable during our stay, and the advertised infinity pool was surprisingly small. Sunbeds required additional payment and were often reserved. Around the pool areas there were also large numbers of biting insects, making it difficult to relax outdoors. The hotel provided virtually no useful information regarding parking. Visitors arriving by car should be aware that parking in Benidorm can be extremely challenging and the hotel advertised vallet parking does not exist! We received no practical guidance and ended up with a €140 parking fine (one night). To be fair, the location is excellent and there was evening entertainment most nights. While not exceptional, it was appreciated and showed some effort by the hotel. However, what we remember most is spending hours fighting for a room we had already paid for and then feeling as though nearly every aspect of the stay involved another charge, another deposit, another reservation, or another inconvenience. The hotel does not have its own beach. The pictures attached are from the nearby public areas (with additional cost). We would not return, and we cannot recommend this hotel at its current price level.

Excellent location, friendly staff and very good restaurant service