Ranjan P.
Yelp
Hotel Casa 1800--A centrally located beautiful boutique hotel, walking distance to almost everything, we got a room with a private balcony on their uppermost floor with a sweeping view of the Seville Cathedral, felt close enough to reach out and touch--lights up at night, a glittering and incandescent magical feel, breathtaking and surreal, and no matter I went out there to gaze at it five nights in a row, it never got old, retained the charm and enchanting allure. As if the view alone wasn't enough, get this, we had a hot tub jacuzzi almost in front of the cathedral, a private oasis on our deck. Next to it, was a fully stocked refrigerator, with gratis drinks, day and night. A swimming pool and benches outside our room along with a fully closed gate and retractable awning for privacy. Downstairs adjacent to the lobby is a gorgeous, decadent grand space with cathedral ceilings and crystal chandeliers dripping with little bulbs, marble appointed everywhere, and there's yet another room off to the other side for a quieter, smaller venue for both tea time and breakfast. They had a 24 hour tea/coffee station, which churned out amazing beverages. I wasn't crazy about their Nespresso machine, but this is what they had to do to make it customer friendly, so everyone could operate it ... it's not as if they were gonna have a professional grade barista machine, so k-cups was the only way to go. Everything felt very personalized, and this is such a small thing I almost hesitate to mention it, but in their lobby every day, they'd make a pitcher of lemon lime water with zero sugar, super fresh and tangy citrusy, such a small gesture, but it became a highlight. A full breakfast and tea time included every imaginable tapas, tea, coffee, pastries and the like. The buffet included not only the usual suspects such as yogurts and cereals, cheeses and cold cuts, freshly baked breads, but also hot stuff like eggs and sausages, potatoes, etc. Amenities include the usual plus an anniversary "gift" with champagne and gelees. A daily free newspaper of our choice delivered every morning to our room ... I feel like a total spoiled diva for bringing this up, and feel free to slap me over cyberspace, but I have one huge complaint and it's a biggie: though they had 5 pillows on the bed, they each felt identical or very similar: lofty, thick, hard, and dense. Oddly, though they had some softness at the core, they were waaay too firm for me. Though I experimented, I had a tough time sleeping on them and asked for their thinnest option, they couldn't find one. Ultimately I slept with zero pillow because I was waking up with a crick in my neck every morning. I tried fashioning a pillow out of a towel and then with a tee shirt ... it would've been funny if we were only spending one night, but five nights was a literal pain in the neck. I'm sorry to be such a diva, but how about a "pillow menu," which we had at our other two hotels, or at least multiple pillows with different densities? This would've gone a very long way with me. Despite the glowing accolades, I'm giving it 4 stars for two reasons: the pillow situation and also upon check out, because our plane was leaving in the early afternoon, we asked for a late check-out, which we've readily gotten in other places (especially if they were luxury or boutique hotels), but here, they said we could leave our luggage there but would have to check-out at the designated time. Very poor customer service this is, and soured our experience. A very small gracious gesture, especially upon a guest leaving, is your last chance to make a positive impression and your final opportunity to make a good memory, but this was the opposite. We left with a bitter overtone. Btw, had they allowed us to check out later, they easily could've made other rooms and saved our room for last, especially because it would've been no more than a couple of hours maximum. Having hotel management experience, I know this is not a big deal, but for Casa, the customer experience was less key than blindly following their protocol.