A Stain on an Otherwise Great Trip

Always Gone May 11, 2009

Worst service I have ever experienced in Spain, and in Europe, probably third worst overall. This is the only completely ... negative review that I have ever written about a hotel (out of hundreds). The staff of this hotel live by hidden charges, false advertising, and poor customer service. The air conditioner did not work, and the WIFI never worked. The worst part of this experience is that we paid for two connecting single bed rooms, and were placed in one double room. We complained to the staff. First, they accused us of lying about booking connecting rooms! Then, after they found the booking in their own system, they tried to tell us that we had only booked one connecting room, essentially a room with an extra door. What? "Who books one connecting room? Do you think we have a door fetish or something?" Other hotels would have resolved this quickly. Their explanation of everything sounded so rehearsed that we soon realized what hustlers they were (Again, I have NEVER used such strong language to describe an experience in any review!). Dante has been struggling for years to keep up with other Barcelona hotels. It's location and lack of amenities makes it less competitive so their management has resorted to this hustle. They offer a deal that appears so sweet that people ignore the location and book. Subsequently, they play dumb upon arrival and give a rehearsed speech about their policies. If you press them, they pretend to not understand English. This way they can collect your money and still rent out connecting rooms at a premium to locals. Too bad for them, we were fluent in Spanish!Although they claim they had given us what we booked, they had not actually put us in a room with the connecting door. Of course not, because then they would lose the ability to collect the connecting room premium on two bedrooms. Well, we demanded a room with a door, and to our surprise they were prepared with an explanation that such a room would be smaller. I guess this turned most off, but not us. We explained that we had figured out their scam, and by their own interpretation that they either owed us a refund or a an extra door to nowhere. We got our door, and they lost a week's worth of premiums on two rooms. However, after this, as expected, they seemed to go out of their to make our experience hell (forgotten wake-up calls, bad directions, dirty sheets, etc.). I immediately contacted Orbitz customer service upon return asking for no compensation, only that they make this hotel remove this false claim of connecting rooms.[...]I must say in fairness, this is not typical of Spain or Barcelona. I'm regularly there as I am a huge FC Barcelona fan. Most of my experiences there have been wonderful, and the staffs of other hotels there have never treated me that way. Hotel Dante, and it's staff, is just the bad apple in the bunch.

nice enough but too small a room

Richard Oct 16, 2008

Perhaps I might have felt differently if I weren't traveling alone--in a smallish room with a smallish bed at the Best ... Western Dante. The Dante's breakfast was superior. I wouldn't stay again.