After reading the negative reviews, my husband and I were apprehensive, to say the least, about our stay at the Melia Colon. We were pleasantly surprised when we stepped into the elegant circular lobby with its stained glass dome ceiling and period décor. Our room was enormous and featured lovely hardwood floors and two balconies offering panoramic views of Seville. The walls perhaps could have used a new coat of paint, and the furniture was a bit dated, but the room was clean, and the curtains and loveseat appeared to have been freshly covered in a cheerful blue and gold print.

The marble bathroom also was large, with a double sink, full bath/shower, and a separate room for the toilet and bidet. Towels were a bit stiff as others have noted, but the hotel provided plenty of toiletries, including bandages/plasters, toothbrush and mini shaving kit. Other amenities included English language television channels, 24-hour room service and a 'pillow menu.'

Service was in keeping with what we encountered throughout Spain – courteous but perfunctory. Though not solicitious, service was professional – bags were delivered within minutes, room service was prompt, and staff were knowledgeable and helpful.

The hotel enjoys an excellent location in Seville’s main shopping district – a good place to stroll with the locals on a Saturday afternoon or enjoy coffee and a pastry at the Confiteria La Campane – and just a 15-minute walk from the Cathedral and charming Santa Cruz area.

Breakfast was extensive, with plenty of fresh fruit, cold meats and cheeses, smoked salmon, breads, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs and hot foods, though at 20 EUR per person, it’s not the best value for those seeking a light breakfast.

No, the Melia Colon does not fit the average American's or Brit’s expectations of a five-star hotel, but the European rating system is rarely a good indicator of quality. Price is a much better indicator of what to expect, and you’ll have to spend much more than 200 EUR/night to stay at a true five-star such as Alfonso XIII.

That being said, I did feel the 275 EUR/night my husband and I paid was excessive, even during Holy Week, when hotel prices peak. We would return to the Melia Colon, but we’d wait for a promotional rate.

We arrived at the Melia Colon hotel on the 16th March 2007 (after going around the block several times, driving in 3 to 4 lanes of traffic and navigating policemen’s directions, we only found this hotel by myself jumping in a taxi which my husband then followed). We were pretty stressed by the time we go to the hotel.

The hotel front entrance was blocked with cars (only enough room for 2 cars anyway) so we had to park a little way around the corner, not more than 15 yards, from the hotel entrance. I went into the hotel and spoke to the concierge, the woman behind the counter was unhelpful and very direct in the way she spoke, she TOLD us to go around again and park outside the hotel, I tried to explain that we were not far away and we probably would loose our way again, but she was definitely not interested or really cared. When I returned to our car and told my husband what had happened he went back to the hotel and this time I spoke to the manager. Who was apologetic and got the valet to park the car for us in the hotel garage, (we were so grateful to the valet we gave 10 euro tip).

At reception, we were again talked to in a blunt fashion (a different receptionist this time), she ‘asked’ for our passports, I had left these in our safe at the hotel in Portugal (Balaia Atlantico aparthotel, fantastic hotel), I didn’t see the need for taking them as no boarders were crossed. I explained we only had our credit cards had drivers licence with us. She huffed at this and went on the phone, after speaking for several minutes and every now and again looking at us, it was agreed that these would be acceptable. She did tell us were our room were, where to find the restaurant for breakfast and restaurant times.

By this time we were starting to feel unwelcome in this hotel.

We got to our room, had a quick look over (curtains were half closed, I now know why) and went straight out.

We went out of the hotel for the rest of the afternoon and night, returning about 9.30pm. We very pretty exhausted by then.

On waking the following morning, I got up and opened the curtains to let the sunshine in.

I was MORTIFIED.

The room was filthy, there was a ring of 3 to 4 inches wide all around the room, of fluff, dirt and dust (white in colour). The settee had not been moved, the dust line showed this, also there was a foot stool on legs at the end of the set of drawers, this had never been moved as there as a layer of this white dust/dirt under it. You could visibly see where the Hoover had been and where it hadn’t.

The window ledge was grimy.

When I opened the mini fridge, to outside door was covered in filthy black finger marks.

The fridge door was also filthy and where the door seals were covered in smudgy black marks.

The settee was very very stained, unfortunately we had sat on this disgusting piece of furniture.

The set of drawers was covered in a thick layer of dust.

I didn’t not even check the bathroom, as I really did not want to know by now. But I will mention that when we first arrived the tap had been left running. The bath towels were grey in colour, they felt hard and were very frayed at the edges, on one large bath towel it was frayed all along the long side.

The room obviously not been properly cleaned for weeks/months.

I rang reception to complain, the receptionist and the head domestic supervisor came to the room to check out my complaint. I run my finger across the dirty white line to show them. I also showed them the rest of the filth. There was nothing they could say, and didn’t. They only explanation the receptionist gave was that the hotel was being refurbished at the end of July (I pity the people staying here for the rest of the time until the hotel shuts for this very needed refurbishment). I left my name and details with reception as I was promised the hotel director would be in touch. I’ve had no contact as yet, (it’s been just over 2 weeks now) so I am now going forward this information by email the hotel group, Sol Melia and to Travelrepublic who I booked with, they were interested in my findings. I will post an update as and when I receive one.

The hotel was very tired, everywhere you looked there was chipped paint work, thread bare carpets, and poor maintenance. In our room again chipped paint work, worn carpets and the skirting boards coming off the walls.

The breakfast was extensive, the cold choices were excellent, but we would like have seen cheeses, meats etc in a refrigerated unit and breads in containers that were covered. Unfortunately we could not say the same about the hot choices, not a lot of choice but what was there was cold. They were not even in units that were heated just fancy silver containers. Both the hot and cold choices were breaking the law. European hygiene regulations state that food must be over 65c and under 8c. Perhaps the hotel chain will address this when refurbishing.

This is supposed to be a 5 star hotel, but fell far below any expectable standards for any star rating hotel.

The hotel will probably be lovely when refurbished, but I have doubts that the cleaning standards will change.

Don’t let this hotel put you off Seville, it was lovely.

I was concerned about staying at this hotel considering some of the reviews below. I think some of the concernslisted herein are a bit exaggerated. Yes, the hotel is on the older side, but it's very classy and professionally run. Try to speak some Spanish with the front desk staff rather than simply assume that everyone speaks English. If you're concerned about street noise in the evenings, request an interior room, though keep in mind that you'll get a bit less sunlight. The hotel's main plus is that it's about fifteen minutes' walking from the hot spots, the cathedral, etc. I stayed two nights here, comfortably.

This hotel is billed as five-star, and no doubt it ticks all the tourist organisation boxes that need to be filled to justify that rating, but it really doesn’t warrant anything near that. Think 3-star and perhaps work round that, if you feel generous.

We booked through a local travel agent, based on the fact the hotel was of a five star rating, and reasonably priced [not too dear, but equally not so cheap you felt a con either way] and asked for a quiet non-smoking room on a high floor before leaving. When we arrived, the bellboy seemed far more interested in having a laugh with his mates than helping us with our bags up the dozen or so steps into the main reception area. Just as well the bags were quite light.

The lobby is impressive, a circular layout with a stained glass cupola in the centre, and loads of marble on the floor and in the columns.

The front-of-house staff all seemed to have the same approach to customer care as the bellboy. We were barked at by a female receptionist, and then herded to her area of the desk. With almost no niceties, it was ‘passport, credit card, accommodation voucher’. I pointed out the requests for the room type and position, and with no further comment, she spoke on the phone at some length, before allocating us a room card. No clarification of meal times or locations was given. When I asked for the room key, she merely pointed to the concierge’s section of the desk.

My wife and I took the key and went to the room on the third floor. As an aside, the front entrance carpet up the stairs is in reasonable condition, but within the hotel, the carpets and paintwork are well past their best, and to say threadbare would not be a long way from describing it. Back to the saga of the room. Horrors! A quiet room it may have been, but it had a window not much bigger than an arrow slot in a medieval castle, overlooking some kind of hexagonal space about three metres across. The room was clearly not in good condition, as my wife’s hand was coated in grime after having leant on the window frame.

A return to the reception desk resulted in us being allocated to another room. The aspect of this room was the side of an old church, and the siting was good. Unfortunately, the room was fitted out with old white melamine furniture, with stains and marks all over. The bedcovers [it was twin-bedded] had cigarette stains, and the walls were all marked and stained.

Another trip to the reception! This time they explained they could not put us on any higher floor than the third, as the other four floors were all being refurbished [Which hotel can afford to close off four floors in today’s fevered chase for capacity??]. This time we were shown a room on the front of the hotel, which, again was twin-bedded, smaller but with furnishings that didn’t resemble a cheap motel room in the backwoods of Louisiana. We thought this would be acceptable. How wrong we were!
The nightlife in Seville begins at about 10pm, and runs on past 3am. There are no compromises for those guests who are not used to such hours: no sound insulation, no external shutters, no internal shutters…just the reliance on the Sandman. He certainly didn’t seem in attendance during our stay.

While in the room, we noticed that lots of ‘ledges’ in the room had encrusted grime on them. I called in the senior housekeeper, and lifted a pinch of dust about 1/4” thick off one of the marble skirting lines in the bathroom. She didn’t seem particularly disconcerted, just mentioned it was ‘malo’. We also asked her to sort out the blackout curtains, clean the wooden floor [which felt as if your foot was sticking to it, although this may have been the varnish]. The grime was removed in a desultory way, but a glaring section remained in place for the remainder of our stay, so they obviously cleaned when we complained then left it.

The bed was quite comfortable, and the bedlinen was clean. The towels were the thin hard style, which seem to grate you dry. The bathroom fittings were well-worn, with the decorative coatings on the washbasin taps and plunger eroded back to brass in most of the cases. The bath faucet was poorly secured to the wall, and the backing ring was poorly aligned, with a clear route to the plumbing behind. The room was supposedly a non-smoking one, but the brown scorch marks of cigarettes having burnt into their resting place were reasonably well distributed. This suggested the need to refurbish or that illicit smoking was going on.

The breakfasts were well presented, and a good choice was available. The hot food was not so appetizing, especially the bacon and sausages. However, the cheeses and meats were fine, and the pastries and breads were all fresh and flavoursome. The coffee was good, although it often needed some prompting to refill the hot pots.

The refurbishment of the floors must have been some job, because the following morning, when we called the lift to go down, it arrived with a selection of people already inside. I don't think they were traveling up and down for the fun of it!

The hotel is well located, being about 10-15 minutes into the start of the historic part of Seville. It was a bit of a disappointment to see how much of a disruption the new tram system is causing during construction, but no doubt the Sevillians are looking forward to it being fully functional. The Alcazar and the Cathedral really are spectacular, and are a must for all visitors [but then you already knew that!]

We found the eateries very hit and miss. One place that was exceptional was Vesuvio, an Italian restaurant just off the main shopping street of Sierpes. Not too dear [€75 for a really excellent salmon and cream pasta, a superbly cooked full seabass [dorada], salad, coffee and wine], with really good service. The Ochoa tea room is cheap and cheerful, although you pay a premium for table service. Also try the chocolate drink in the bar with the green awnings on the corner of Sierpes by the square…Mmmmm!

When we left, again the bellboy was not interested in our luggage or calling a taxi. From start to finish, we felt the hotel staff felt we should be thankful they were deigning to show their presence, rather than aiming to make our stay a pleasant one. Nothing was done during our whole stay to make us feel comfortable – even the sofa in the room was there for effect rather than for comfortable relaxation.

While we enjoyed seeing the town, we were in a constant state of exhaustion due to the inability to sleep properly, so regrettably, Seville will not be remembered as one of our most engaging holidays, and the Melia chain will have to up their game considerably or offer some pretty significant enticements for us to stay in one of their hotels again. Seville is one of those places that you think you should stay for just that extra day, but having booked it, you then realise it probably wasn't worth it. However, don't let that put you off going...what is there is really worth the trip.