The Cook Book Gastro Boutique Hotel and Spa

Special Hotel in Calpe --Set a little bit away from the beach which lends itself to quietness All staff extremely helpful

First and last time staying here. Will start with the positives: a few of the members of staff went above and beyond, were compassionate and did their best to sort queries, and the pool area was pleasant (ignoring the hair around the broken parasol and the leaves in the pool that weren’t cleaned out). Other than that, nothing. Nowhere near a 4 star hotel, they are dreaming. Starting with the room. I first got a room with stairs, you walk into the room and immediately there’re stairs, we were not made aware of this and you would be stuffed if you had accessibility problems. The doors to the rooms do not close properly on their own. All of the furniture and skirting boards are chewed up, chipped or blown due to damp. No table to store the suitcase on, and the chair was filthy, covered with marks and bits. Then the ‘balcony’ was some steps going down to a small patio surrounded by a high wall, with air conditioning units and the back of the restaurant as a view. So I asked to move rooms and was able to. The next room was no better. Again, the door wouldn’t shut, furniture chewed, etc. No hairdryer in the bathroom, just the holes where there was one originally, black mould around the bath and green looking marks on the ceiling. Thought oh this is nice there is a window in the bathroom, opened it and found it opened out onto the neighbouring rooms balcony! Two of the lamps weren’t working in the room, socket on only one side of bed. Orange ceiling light that wouldn’t switch off and was really bright so didn’t get any sleep. The fridge was full of marks, as was all of the paintwork on the balcony. Wiped the table on the balcony after having some food and it was filthy, as was were the chairs. Hairs stuck under the door frames as if they’re just pushed around. I could go on. Next: breakfast. The first day there was a jar of corn flakes as a cereal, then no cereal for the rest of the holiday, yet 4 jars of nuts. Sometimes eggs and bacon, sometimes not, all kept under a warm light that did little to keep it warm. Artfully arranged shop bought croissants to make something out of nothing. Had to ask for black tea bags everyday, the hot water machine was also for coffee so everything tasted of coffee, wasn’t working on one day either. Ended up bringing my own breakfast from a shop. Overall, the worst hotel I have stayed in. You get to a point where you can’t ask for anything else to be rectified and give up. Never in a million years a 4 ⭐️, 2 or 3 at a push.