Htop Royal Sun

“Lovely location with great staff and a great price. But some upgrades needed.”

Ok, let’s start with the good things and mention the not so good things later. Firstly the Hotel location is excellent. It’s basically on the beach, with a pretty little promenade separating you from the sand and sea. It’s right in the middle of Santa Susanna which means you can get to the other Ho… more

Ok, let’s start with the good things and mention the not so good things later. Firstly the Hotel location is excellent. It’s basically on the beach, with a pretty little promenade separating you from the sand and sea. It’s right in the middle of Santa Susanna which means you can get to the other Hotels and restaurants very easily, take a short walk to Malgrat de Mar, catch a train to the centre of Barcelona from Santa Susanna station (1 hour 15 minutes journey time) or buy some tickets on the promenade just outside the Hotel for the little ferry that takes you up to Lloret de Mar and further. Hotel guests were a mix of Spanish, Dutch, German and English and all were relaxed. The little Hotel bar by the promenade is a pretty suntrap and they serve really good (and strong) strawberry mohitos. There’s waiter service and you can literally sit here for hours watching the world go by. The interior Hotel Bar is a bit basic but the drinks are cold, generous, cheap and they had entertainment on most nights that we were there. You can buy your drinks and take them up to your room as well and late in the evenings it was super lively with music and Spanish dancing. The breakfast buffet was also good with a good mix of food and plenty of it. The scrambled egg and chorizo sausages were a favourite and the fruit slices keep coming. The little pain au chocolats and croissants were a winner. Coffee is via a machine but actually really tasty (café con leche particularly) and finding a table was always easy. The pool was a bit small but there’s a lot of seating to the rear of it – however the Hotel building blocks the sun from early afternoon onwards so it's best to use it in the morning. There is also a little toilet and shower area downstairs that we used to get changed after checkout before heading to the airport and if you go up some steps there is another small pool. The bedroom was a good size, as was the bathroom and the TV had multiple channels from Spain and around the world. The staff were also very very nice. Some staff on Reception were very fluent in English and they were always helpful and friendly. The maids were also wonderful. The price was also really good – 58 euros per night for a couple with breakfast. We checked the prices of the Hotel next door and it was 150 euros. So there are many excellent things going on here I am pleased to say. There were a few issues. The Hotel looks a bit dated and needs some refurbishment – don’t expect a glitzy look to your room. However we could see some painting in progress when we were there. Not all the lifts were working and as you can see everything through the glass window, a spot of cable cleaning would be good. We decided on check in to go half board but they wanted too much money compared to if we had booked it on the website instead of on check in. So we didn't eat dinner in the Hotel at all - we actually had a full buffet meal in a rival Hotel just around the corner for less money with a bottle of wine thrown in. The airport transfer bus stop is 5 minutes walk away - however do not buy the tickets in the Hotel - they are cheaper online or directly from a kiosk by the roundabout at the entrance to Malgrat. Now for the most annoying thing. We booked via the HTop website where 2 room types are offered. We chose the sea view and there was a nice photo of a room with a balcony directly facing the beach. This is why we chose this Hotel and not another. However when we went to the room it didn’t face the sea directly. On speaking to reception it seems only rooms with 4 people staying in them are directly sea facing. Ours was a side sea view with a good view of the beach. But this difference wasn’t mentioned on the website and the picture shown was of a full beach view. We sadly felt a little tricked. Had we not paid in advance, we would have stayed one night only and moved on to another Hotel. This was a real pity as apart from this issue the Hotel stay itself was very nice. The question I will have next time is can I trust Htop Hotels n future and that is not a good question to have.

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