EL RODAT HOTEL

I'm in my sixties and was looking at options for a holiday to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. I booked several options so I could give my husband a short list. Unfortunately, we selected a trip to Italy and failed to cancel El Rodat. Whilst we understand that the hotel is, strictly speaking, within their rights to claim the full cost of the weeks' stay booked, we did hope that they would look at the error sympathetically, especially as the hotel was far from full that week. We emailed them on two occasions but had no response - our third email received a formulaic response quoting terms and conditions. We had requested to reschedule our trip and were happy to accept the cost of 2 or 3 days accommodation to offset any administration costs. However, on the first day of the scheduled trip they, removed the £1300 from our bank account - not a small sum of money to us. We think this lack of understanding probably reflects issues other reviewers have had with the management.

This is not a luxury hotel. My room (136) smelled strongly of damp/mould, and the bathroom smelled disgusting like drains. I woke up with a headache. Every time people in the neighbouring rooms flushed their toilet, my toilet would gurgle in answer. The walls are super thin, so you can hear your neighbours talking and moving chairs all night. I was in the room for less than 5 minutes before a mosquito started feasting on me -- I know mozzies are a fact of life in Spain, but maybe they could have put some mosquito repellent in the room before I arrived. There's no porter so you have to carry heavy bags up and down the stairs to your room. I decided to get out of my stinky room and go for a swim, but the pool was green and looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a long time. So glad I'd only booked one night, but annoyed at the price and the potential.

Bedrooms are very grandly decorated with really comfy large beds. An interesting design of the hotel is that the rooms are in a separate building to the main reception and dining rooms, so it feels like you are in an apartment. Great parking near your rooms, but be prepared to walk up and down steep flights of stone steps which can be slippy if it has rained.

Have been returning to Javea for a few years now and this is the first time we have stayed in El Rodat and what a pleasant surprise it was. We had the garden room which was really nice. Did not have the views of the upper rooms but still very clean and tidy. Very large room. Great bathroom. Comfortable bed and pillows. Next time will go for the upper rooms which had some great views of Javea. The pool and pool area is fantastic with plenty of sun beds in the vast area. There are two pools both at different levels the upper one for children. The views from the pool are great. It was very peaceful but we did go before the kids had finished school for Summer so not sure if it gets any busier. You can order drinks from the pool attendant Patrick who was very helpful. Thanks Patrick. Did not have breakfast there as it was around €20 each but nice place to sit for morning tea. The receptionist were very friendly and made checking in and out very easy. Never had a problem ordering Taxis for us. On check out they would normally let you rent a room for a few hours but it was not possible for us so we showered in the Spa. Did not visit the Spa but it looked great. Javea is such a lovely place to visit with some great restaurants and bars. We will hopefully be going back to Hotel El Rodat in 2018.

Slow, slow and slow. Then they brought fried egg and chips, instead of steak, after an hour of waiting. The restaurant was almost empty. Lovely hotel, but if you stay here you'll starve to death. There is nowhere else to eat nearby. Shame. The restaurant is appalling.