Hotel Hacienda de Abajo - Adults Only in San Borondon

My wife and I stayed at three hotels during our recent visit to La Palma. Two were excellent; unfortunately, this— the most expensive— was by far the worst. On arrival we were shown a room that we found dark, despite having a small patio, as it looked directly onto a high wall. There was also a strong disinfectant smell. Given the cost of about £300 a night, we were surprised by the standard of the room. We asked to change rooms and were shown an alternative that was clearly better—brighter and without the smell—but were told this would cost an additional €75 for our stay of three nights. Given that we were already paying about £900, we declined. We were not offered a comparable room without an extra charge. After one night, we decided we could not stay in the original room and chose to check out early, even though we would lose money. It is worth noting that we had already informed the hotel that we intended to leave one day early due to the weather; however, this situation meant that we effectively lost the cost of an additional night as well. When we went to reception, the same member of staff reacted very strongly. She raised her voice and insisted that we must “find a solution”, even though the previous day the only “solution” offered had been for us to pay more money. We did not accept that position and chose to leave. In total, we paid around £900 and stayed for just one night. There were also smaller issues—for example, during heavy rain no umbrellas were available when we asked for them—which added to the sense that the hotel did not meet expectations for its price and rating. Overall, this was a genuinely unpleasant experience, because of the room itself, our considerable financial loss, and the way our concerns were handled.