Comarquinal Bioresort Penedes

A beautiful location and property but don’t follow Google navigation to get there or you’ll end up off road across vineyards belonging to another property. Owner apologised on arrival but communication in advance would have avoided this. Pros: character place with excellent facilities for communal gathering (we were a group of 6 adults). This is required because the hotel is very remote so not particularly easy to visit restaurants for dinner in the evening. We took our own plates, silverware etc as this wasn’t provided. Three fridges and tea/coffee making equipment were appreciated. The rooms were clean and our bed was very comfortable. Cons: we chose this hotel from others that were available because it had a swimming pool and tennis court and allowed 2 dogs. However, we were not told in advance that the pool would be empty and the tennis court net was broken. We paid an additional amount for the dogs upfront but one of the group was charged a further €10 for their dog on the second day because the owner said it was bigger than he thought it would be(!). There was a lovely housekeeper who seemed to have to do everything on her own. She did her best but the overall experience was not in line with the prices we paid. The breakfast was croissants, sliced bread and a bowl of scrambled eggs. No fruit, nice bread, cereals etc. The suite we had (€305 for 2 nights in October) was not what we would describe as a suite. It was a bedroom with a spa bath in it (hand-held shower in the bath only) and a separate loo and bidet with little privacy (the door didn’t close without using a flimsy bolt and the net curtains meant anyone walking across the courtyard in the evening would get a full view of anyone using the loo). The room did have a nice private terrace but not much use to us because of the time of year. There was a problem with hot water on the first day but the owner quickly called in someone to fix it. However, it’s necessary to waste a lot of water to get the sink and shower to run hot - took a good few minutes. Once it did get through, the water was a good temperature though. Overall we all felt it was over-priced for what we got. Not really up to standard for the prices charged. This a shame because the hotel has a lot of potential to deliver a good experience.