El Nogal Home

I arrived here at 18.00 on the day of my booking, to find a notice saying that you cannot check in after 16.00. 16.00????? What’s going on? Is that a joke? It turned out not. One of the residents told me that they would not be back until the next day. And that normally, they would contact you on the day, and if you can’t make the 16.00 deadline, they would leave a key in a key box next to the front door. So my question is…why did they not leave the key in the key box and send me the code. I actually sent a message the day before, to confirm I was coming, so it wasn’t like I might not turn up. So, from their info, you can only check in between 14.00 and 16.00. How can they run a hotel/hostel on that basis. They are clearly running it for their own benefit solely, and not for the benefit of the paying guests. They should be there when we need them to be there. It was fortunate that someone let me in, as my phone was about to die. And I managed to plug it in, inside the property. I called their number many times, texted, and emailed. They don’t answer or respond. What if there is an emergency, or a guest goes out without their key. What are they meant to do? There has to be an emergency number. So your flight is delayed, and you arrive after 16.00. Sorry, you can’t check in. Sleep in a bush or pay for somewhere else. I ended up on the phone to Expedia/Hotels, for nearly 2 hours. Even they could not contact the owners. And my call was to Arizona with them, so I dread to think what my phone bill will be. It might have been cheaper to rent a helicopter to pick me up and drop me at the most exclusive hotel in Malaga. We will see. BUT, they got me an alternative, the lovely Molina Lario, in the centre of town, which I would recommend highly. It was a nice respite from a horrific and stressful experience. There was also a girl there at the same time, who I suspect could not speak English or Spanish, in the same situation. After a girl told her the owner would not be there again until the next day (I think she could only speak French), she had to leave. Where was she going to go, if she couldn't afford to stay anywhere else? Finally, and this was the final insult, after Hotels had sorted me with an alternative, some people, who I took to be the owners, arrived and went into the reception. I introduced myself, and they completely ignored me, like I was a ghost. How ignorant. I think they are in the wrong business, and do not deserve our custom. If you want to be treated like dirt and ignored, this is the place for you.