Reviews of Internacional Hotel, Calella, Spain

Absolutely revolting! I've just...

Overall Rating:

1/10

Board Basis:

Bed & Breakfast

Date of Holiday:

Aug 2008

Tour Operator:

Personal Booking

Submitted By:

Miss C Mould

Comments:

Absolutely revolting! I've just returned from Calella with my partner. We stayed at the hotel just one night as we decided to stay in Calella an extra night. Our original hotel was fully booked and we needed to stay quite close to our original hotel for our airport transfer and so enquired at the International Hotel reception. The building itself looked pleasant and so did the reception area and the bar. We were going out for the day into Barcelona and so just checked in and purchased our room. As we left the reception area to go to our room thats were the pleasant remark stops. The corridors were dark and dingy and the room foisty and dirty. There were marks over the walls and ceiling. The weather was so hot and we had no air conditioning. We went out onto our balcony and the balcony of the hotel next door was virtually right on top of ours. We however didn't want to spoil our last day by checking other available hotels as it was peak season and most other hotels were fully booked so we dropped our bags off and went straight out. We arrived back at the hotel to lots of noise and shouting but we just got changed and went out for our last night.



The fun began on our return to the hotel at 12.30pm. In one of the rooms in our hotel a fellow guest had music blasting and there was lots of shouting from guests in our hotel to the hotel next door. They were a mixed group of people and it sounded like a rave. Eventually it died down only to be woken up again in the early hours by blasting music until 4.30/5 in the morning and more shouting from guest in our hotel to guests in the hotel next door. The hotel management did absolutely nothing about the disturbance. It went on for hours. We had 2 hours sleep before we had to get up for our airport transfer in a dirty, noisy, foisty, revolting room. Never again. Beware of this hotel!!!!!

Enjoyed my time in Calella. The...

Overall Rating:

7/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2007

Tour Operator:

Sunshine.co.uk

Submitted By:

Mr P Murphy

Comments:

Enjoyed my time in Calella. The Internacional Hotel was clean, welcoming and ideally situated, close to the beach and just far enough away from the town centre to avoid any problems with noise.



The hotel appeared to cater a lot for German tourists but the atmosphere and entertainment was suitable for all nationalities.



The staff were friendly and helpful and the food adequate. I would stay there again.

We flew to Gerona airport and...

Overall Rating:

7/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2007

Tour Operator:

Med Hotels

Submitted By:

Miss D Bendelow

Comments:

We flew to Gerona airport and the holiday didn’t start off too well. We landed at the airport and made our way to our coach as instructed, once we found the coach the driver ignored us for about half an hour while he had a cigarette and a cup of coffee, once on the bus it took 2.5 hours to get to the hotel, when it should have only took us about an hour as the driver kept getting lost.



Once at the hotel we were greeted by a very polite receptionist who was extremely helpful throughout our stay.



The rooms were clean, quite basic but adequate. The bathroom was a little awkward and smelt a bit foisty as there was no ventilation to it but again adequate. the linen is changed mid stay and the towels changed every day. We had no air conditioning and there are no fans to hire, but some rooms do have air conditioning on request for a charge.



It has a fairly small pool but there were never many people in it but we did find it hard pressed to get a sun lounger as they were either in the shade or occupied with Germans (there are only around 10 loungers in total).



One of the things we noticed is that there were not many English people there. we met one family and two brothers during our entire stay. But maybe that’s why it is called the Internacional. Meals at the hotel are targeted more to the Dutch but some of the food was lovely, the breakfast isn’t up to much though to be honest. we ate breakfast out most days.



The hotel is over the road from the beach (fake sand) but is separated by a train track which a train runs by every 30 minutes or so, at first I found this annoying but after a couple of days I didn’t even notice it.



The beach is lovely (apart from the fake sand) and the sea is the only sea I have dared to swim in it was gorgeous and clean. The weather was 27-31 degrees all week with 1 day of cloud while we were there.



The resort is clean and there are plenty of shops and restaurants right around the hotel.



Beware of getting ripped off though, we bought a beach towel and when we asked how much he said €25 we said no and got it for €15 but then saw the same towel for €6 in another shop, so do haggle!!! if they think you will pay it they will charge it!



There is a quaint little English bar about 300mtrs away called Alcatraz where they do bingo, killer pool and play great music for all ages.



we flew with Ryanair which aren’t the classiest air line, do not expect a luxury flight with good service the air hostesses have faces like slapped bottoms and are very rude and the planes make some funny noises. but it’s ok if you are just after a cheapy!



Overall the stay was enjoyable the hotel and resort are both really nice with plenty to do nearby i.e. marine land, Waterworld and Barcelona day trips etc. but the transfers and flights are a bit naff.



I would give it 7 out of 10 and would go again in a few years time.

This accommodation is fine and...

Overall Rating:

7/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2007

Tour Operator:

Booked IndependentlyBooked through onthebeach

Submitted By:

Mr C Webster

Comments:

This accommodation is fine and we'd use it again.



General comments:

Very short taxi-ride to train station for getting there or getting to Barcelona (about one hour) etc. Spar shop etc very close. Easy walk to shopping areas. Rooms were fairly clean (new towels each day, beds made when you're out) but have no air con. Two chairs and a small table on balcony. We had a great ocean view and could see the lighthouse. Very close to beach - location can be a little noisy at night. Pool not huge - and despite only 12 beds there were no "towel-bookings" - and it was never crowded. Most visitors appeared to be German and British but there were others. Breakfast adequate with nice coffee. Evening meal was fairly repetitive but healthy - and a reasonable choice (but couldn't see obvious veggie options - I ate fish). Terrific sweet course substance (don't know what it was) that came in a couple of flavours over our stay but the coconut one was outstanding.



Downsides:

Orange juice tasted like the dilute-to-taste stuff with sugar.

Lax on no-smoking rules (could be Spain rather than the hotel).

Might have to make a special effort for veggie diet.

Noticed restaurant staff member drop a fork on the floor and set it on the table without cleaning it. (I reckon this would have disappointed the very friendly guy who ran the restaurant)

Close to railway track so train noise might be a problem (wasn't for us).



Best features:

Two one-euro per game pool tables. Occasional entertainment such as flamenco dancers enjoyable (not just by the men . . .) with a predicable holiday-resort format.

Reception staff were terrific (Lotte was excellent). Room cleaning staff and bar staff OK too.



Zero-problem, well located, comfortable if basic, customer-friendly hotel with decent food.

We found this hotel after being...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Oct 2006

Tour Operator:

Booked Independently

Submitted By:

jingles

Comments:

We found this hotel after being let down by our tour operator who had booked us into another hotel in Calella that was well below what we had expected. (See review on Top Olympic).



We were greeted by a very nice Dutch receptionist who understood our concerns re the accommodation we were after. She gave us several room keys to see which suited us best. The first we looked at was on the 6th floor overlooking the beach and sea and was perfect. The room was very clean and well equipped. The balcony had 2 chairs and a table. The decoration looked new. We spoke to the receptionist re the board and she said the price foe the room was 22 euros each for b and b and for 5 euros extra one could have the evening meal. She also stated we could do what ever we wanted and if we decided to eat in let her know and the 5 euros would be added to the b&b price.



The hotel had a small pool which was ok for the size of the hotel it only having about 200 rooms. The hotel had mainly middle aged German guests with a few English thrown in. There was no rust to book beds by the pool as I seemed to be the one using it.



The first night we decided to eat in and the restaurant was not too crowded and no rush. There was no waiting to be served at the buffet style counter. There was a good variety of salads and main course dishes.



The breakfast was geared towards the continental clients in that there was a large selection of meats and cheeses but also there was cooked English style including eggs bacon and sausages.



There was a bar in the evening but no entertainment but as the hotel was near the main shopping area which stayed open till very late. Overall it was an enjoyable stay at this hotel.