Fawlty Towers (Aparthotel Internacional II)

Member Name: Alf Tupper

Product:	Aparthotel Internacional II
Date:	12/05/02 (714 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: central location

Disadvantages: grubby, ill equipped, noisy

After a very frightening flight arrived at this "Hotel" at 11.30 p.m. Upon entering the apartment (which was basically one room with a minute bathroom off it) we all nearly passed out at the overall grubbiness and age of the beds, table, worktops etc. I have thrown better furniture in the dustbin! I decided not to unpack it was so bad and to approach the Rep the next morning. My daughters, seeing my total despair at the thought of spending 14 days in this pit, encouraged me to make the most of it. I had suggested paying more money to be upgraded but my daughters felt we had been robbed enough (the cost for the three of us being £1,550!).

Its supposed to be self-catering but there were two cooking rings - no oven, no grill, kettle, etc - both of which only half worked. The fridge looked about 50 years old. My room had half a balcony with a rope strung across the railing to accommodate washing. As it was situated in a corner we could hear our neighbour's full conversations and vice versa. The view from the half balcony was the roof of the first floor rooms which was littered with stones, crusts of bread, cigarette ends and just general rubbish.

The electricity and water went off quite regularly - sometimes both at the same time (usually whenever it rained). Taking a shower was hit or miss - either scalded or breath knocked out with ice cold water - no happy medium at all.

On one particular day of heavy rain we had no option but to eat in the Restaurant. When I say eat, we looked at the food, decided it was completely inedible (bacon looked as if it had come from a frying pan used for the 50th time), paid and walked out.

The pool was so cloudy no one could see the bottom - I did comment to other people that it would be impossible to see if a child was in trouble in the pool never mind someone lying at the bottom - you could not see your own hand beneath the water!

In my view, the Internacional
II is on its last legs and is being run into the ground, hopefully, with a view to demolishing it in the very near future.

The reception staff (especially the Manageress) were very curt and unhelpful. After suffering a strong sewage smell in my room over a few days our Rep tried to get us moved to another room. He left me to deal with the Manageress. In my opinion, she was completely ignorant and condescending. I gave up trying to deal with her and rang the JMC Helpline. I was promised all sorts of things by them, i.e. visit by another Rep the next day, but nothing materialised.

Be warned - avoid this dump at all costs - especially if you have children (some as young as 12 and 13 being served alcohol by the bar staff). Security staff at night let any youths who happen to be hanging about have the run of Reception and the noise continues all through the night - I know people complained but nothing was ever done about it.

The accommodation provided in my opinion makes 75% of any holiday - somewhere pleasant to relax, eat, sleep etc.

Although I ensured we drank through straws at all times, my eldest daughter caught a throat infection and had to visit to Doctor (at a cost of course) and I had sores on my bottom lip.

All in all, I can say I will never go back to Salou - this visit has put me off mainland Spain altogether. In all honesty I will probably just stay at home in future as, having saved all year to be put in a place like this is just insulting. I am afraid to run the risk of the same thing happening again.

Summary: