Though there are many things to recommend this hotel and location—fantastic design and décor, stunning views from a panoramic pool and patio area, charming and crystal-clear Aiguablava beach just a short walk down a path from the hotel—my husband and I regretted our choice to stay here on our short, 3-night trip to the Costa Brava at the end of the summer. This was a disappointing stay in several small and easily remedied ways that, together, seemed like the guest experience was an afterthought at Parador de Aiguablava. For context: my husband and I are well-traveled, late 30-something Americans who go to Europe 2-4 times per year for work and holiday and stay in a range of 2-5 star accommodations. Here are the ways in which things fell a bit short, in our opinion: 1) Arrival, check-in, and information-sharing: The strangeness started at arrival, when we drove up the windy hillside road to the isolated hotel and arrived to a small and cramped parking lot with no bellhop or valet. My husband dropped me and our luggage off and I waited in front of the hotel while he carefully weaved his way through the tight lot—there were other cars parked in inappropriate places, in the absence of someone there to help with parking—and then drove about a ¼ mile down the hill to park the car along the road and then hiked back up. What about guests with mobility issues? If this was mid-pandemic, I could understand staff shortages, but not at a 4-star hotel in 2023. At check in, we were given a quick overview of the hotel services by friendly, English-speaking staff, but found ourselves short on information for the rest of our stay. There was no printed information (in any language, nor a QR code/ website) about hotel services, policies, and amenities in the room. This caused small inconveniences; for example: We got ready for the beach shortly after arriving, but it took us 20 minutes to find the path down to the beach when it should have taken us 3. This was in part because we expected a path leading directly from the pool area would go down to the beach, but only after walking a bit we realized that it was a path to the cliffs and did not connect to the beach. It easily could have had signs. We then recalled the check-in staff mentioning the beach was on the lower level and noticed a beach symbol in the elevator, but once getting down to the lower level it took us a moment to figure out we had to cross the lower-level parking lot to find the trail. This was a small thing, but it could have been a seamless experience (rather than a scavenger hunt) with a few more signs or a little more in-room information. 2) Room condition: There were several minor maintenance/cleaning issues in the lovely room that seemed like they could have easily been fixed: mildewy tile, a broken toilet paper holder, beat-up paint in a number of places, and a rusted vanity stool. 3) Coffee: This was, by far, the thing that annoyed us the most because it so easily could be fixed. As a relati
