Anyone know the e-mail address of this hotel please? Is there any way of booking these hotels without going through the booking agencies? Tried phoning from UK, costs a fortune, and they went off to try and find someone from reservations, I gave up in the end! I thought the e-mail address they gave me was "alixares@hotelestorcel.com" but I'm not sure, it was an awful line.
Thanks
Frank

First of all, I thank you for NOT going through the booking agencies. You know... (uh-oh. it's rant-time ) one only needs to do a search for THE website for a particular hotel only to find a hundred billion so-called "Discount Reservation Services". Oh-MAN they burn me up. Everyone scrambling to get an ever-shrinking piece of the "reservation-for-commission" pie. And in doing so, it only clutters the internet even more. Ugh.

Well. Okay. Here goes. My Google.com search yielded nothing but CRUD. So, I went to http://www.HotelSearch.com (they've totally renovated their website) and typed in the name and it seems the OFFICIAL Hotel Alixares website is @ http://www.hotelesporcel.com/alixares_esp1.htm (only in Spanish) and their email address is on there too. Seems to be part of the Hotel Esporcel "network". And while it's odd that they don't show any prices on their website, HotelSearch listed them as having rates in the 65 - 86 Euros range. Not bad.

Saludos, MadridMan

Many thanks. Yes, it's weird, very few sites I've loked at seem to give prices. The prices you quote seem fine, the one's I looked at through booking agencies seemed to be above 90 euros.
Thanks again,
Frank

I stayed at that hotel in 2002 and 2003. It is in a great loation. the alhambra is right across the street. The only thing is the hill that you have to walk down to get to the city(if you walk) where the nightlife is. There are busses that drop you off in the city center at plaza nueva. They are approximately 2 blocks from the hotel. Excellent choice.

Trouble is, I have e-mailed them 3 times to date, and still have not had a reply. Seems to happen very often in my experience, it's almost as if they don't want to let rooms. I realise this hotel is always going to be busy and they can be choosy, but with many other hotels I have struggled to get a reply from them.
Frank

I'm not sure when you started sending emails to the email address you listed in your first posting but these places can take up to a week to respond. It's the way it is. The ONLY faster way is to call them direct on the telephone and it seems you've tried that. Oftentimes the smaller establishments only check reservations/emails a few times a week. Maybe they figure if you're really anxious you'll call them by phone. Who knows. Problem is, if you don't speak Spanish there's a good chance whoever answers that phone won't speak English. I'm sure they'll respond to your email(s) in the order they were received. Good luck!

Also, would you be so kind as to give us your hotel review of this place - after the fact - should you decide to stay here? Thanks!

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks again! When you say smaller establishments, I think this hotel has in the region of 180 rooms! If I ever get to stay there, I'll certainly give you some feedback. I have stayed twice in this hotel in Ronda and would recommend it,it's a bit different to the run of the mill hotels. Nice people, nice food.
http://www.andalucia.com/alavera/.
You can also see some of my photos of it here, if you scroll down.
http://www.pbase.com/abwhitt/spain_october_2003

Frank

Thanks for offering us a review of the place should you stay there.

And guess what, I just spent the last 30 minutes looking over all your BEEEEEEEEEEAUTIFUL photos of many locations in Andalucía (and some of your others as well). Makes me want to scrape my money together and try to buy a little flat in one of those "white villages". If only I had enough to scrape!

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks very much for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed the photos. Ah! my dream would also to be able to afford a property in one of those villages. If I had the money, I would move out tomorrow. There are a few photos there of Vejer de la Frontera, Costa de la Luz, we went there for the first time last May, and again in October, and for me, es una maravilla. We should be in Spain next month and again in May, looking forward to it!
PS. No e-mail reply, as yet!
Saludos
Frank

I Think I know why they are not responding. This hotel is very popular with the tour groups. When I stayed there I stayed with a group 0f sixty the first time and a group of 150 the second time. Try some of the places by plaza nueva.