Hotel Aro Palace

Stayed there last time in 1999, when it was the only decent hotel in town. September 2024 - horrible experience. It was impossible to sleep as there was a party at the 8th floor (my room was at the 5th floor). Had to leave the hotel at midnight. The place has good potential and great location, but it clearly lacks investment. Rooms are dated, carpet is old and does not look really clean.

This struck me as a fairly typical business operation, that provides comfortable accommodation without much local flavour. The restaurant on the 8th floor provided a pleasant lunch while we waited for our rooms to be available, and the breakfast was standard fare - hot and cold buffet choices. We ordered a bottle of wine in the nearly empty bar in the evening, which took an age to arrive. Car parking onsite is a plus.

We stayed in room 514. On the positive side, the rooms were very big, the bed comfortable and it was quiet at night. Generally, the hotel would benefit from refurbishment as many areas looked old and tired. The air conditioning worked well and the mini bar was quiet, unlike those of other hotels in which I've stayed. However, there were numerous negative points which need to be addressed. The most annoying was the shower - too small, screen too short and leaked, water taking 8 minutes (sadly I did time it as it happened every evening) to warm up in the evening. What a waste of water and a direct contradiction to the sign encouraging guests to re-use their towels. The basin struggled to fill up as its plug didn't work properly, then the remaining water was slow to empty, whilst making loud gurgling noises. Remind your staff to clean under the rim of the toilet (see photo). The drawers in the bedroom needed attention as they struggled to open and close. Despite hanging the label on the door, indicating that we'd like the room serviced (mainly a need for fresh towels from mopping up the leak), this was not done and it took 3 visits to reception to get said clean towels (1 from the tour guide and 2 from myself). I was told that rooms were got ready for new guests before existing guests' rooms. Preferential treatment for new customers whilst the old ones don't matter! Clearly the hotel was understaffed and they ran out of time. On the third morning of our 4 night stay; breakfast proved to be a real ordeal. Only one coffee machine working for the whole hotel, lack of food due to so many guests and the supply not meeting the demand. It would help if guests did not help themselves to breakfast provisions and make their lunch rolls from them!! Having addressed my concerns to the manager, I did not feel respected and valued.

A 5-star hotel with hourly paid parking - why? And to pay for this parking is a whole unpleasant adventure, you have to pay at the reception and within 5 minutes swiftly jump into the car with suitcases and children, because if you don't manage to do it, then you'll have to pay again for the next hour of parking. You understand that this is unfair. The staff is unfriendly and uncommunicative.