Ayre Hotel Sevilla, Seville

The hotel is close to the train station and near the business district, not the historic area. The hotel rooms were well furnished, sparkling clean and as expected for any Occidental. Nice lobby, pool and bar area. The breakfast, which was included in our plan, was also excellent. The other formal resturant had wide menu choices and excellent. We observed many local business people and other local people dining there every time we visited. Having traveled extensively, I do not expect the cold air conditioning that we have in the States, but I do expect air conditioning at this class of hotel. The first afternoon we noticed that we had no air. Our traveling companions' room two doors down was frigid. We called the front desk, and a technician came. He removed a filter that was positively black!. We were told to give it 20 minutes. The fan seemed to work but no cold air. Luckily it was not extremely hot & humid (like the following day). The next day we again called and asked for it to be resolved or to be moved to another room -- there was no way to rest or sleep in the oven of a room. The technician, who was extremely polite at all times, again looked at the unit; the woman working the front desk asked us to "give it twenty minutes to cool down" and ignored our request to be moved. The poor technician admitted to us that the ac was broke and could not be repaired. When we again asked the woman in charge at the front desk to move us, she told us the entire hotel had had problems the day before (we heard no one else in our group complain about no air-- quite the opposite), we needed to give the room time to cool, and they were completely booked. She sent a porter up to translate with the technician who was sent up again. Both men were very polite and clearly had to do what they were told, but knew the air did not work and wouldn't work. We asked to speak to the hotel manager on duty and to be moved; she told us that there was no one else higher in authority, and the hotel was full. Later as I was heading back from the bar with two glasses of ice, a manager stopped me and offered us another room. I had the feeling he would not have done so if he had not seen me. He was polite but could not explain why we were told there was no other room or even offered a fan. Housekeeping arrived and started cleaning our room before the porter arrived to move our bags to a room with AC. Obviously they planned to rent it to someone else that evening knowing the AC would not work! This has not been my experience with any other Occidental where I have stayed. I doubt that I would stay here again!

Stayed here on group tour. Nice commercial hotel near main railroad station and major shopping mall. Not near the tourist area of the central city but a $4 cab ride away. Fabulous breakfast buffet.