Antic

There was no space in the parking lot, the food was rubbish, 30 euros in the trash, cave beds and mosquitoes to give and give away the towels full of dirt, You eat better in a prison, if you want to sleep worse than on the street, this is your hotel, greetings

The Hotel Antic is a shabby 1970s hotel located on the side of the road running along a river valley. The road is not too noisy/busy and the mountain views are good. There is a free ski bus to/from Arcalis but you really need your own transport since there is nothing else around the hotel. The old Manager claims it’s a “family” hotel which seems her justification to run the hotel for the benefit of the staff rather than the guests. An old dog has free rein so when it’s not laying down blocking the narrow corridors it’s on the only sofa sleeping, farting, snoring or barking. Not aggressive but it is a golden Labrador so it sheds hair continually adding to the overall grubbiness. The Antic has a long maintenance list suggesting years of underinvestment. Inside the bedrooms the furniture and fittings are old and decrepit. Blankets and sheets rather than a duvet cover rock hard mattresses. The sewer smells inside the upstairs corridors make you gag however you get little sympathy from the staff who simply shrug it off as country life in Andorra. The kitchen uses the cheapest and easiest to cook food ingredients. The Long-life bread products taste as stale on the first day as on the last. Few people in my group (53 adults and children) ate much because it was variously undercooked, overcooked or lacked a palatable taste or flavour. The nightly full food waste bin irritated the hotel staff who felt insulted the guests didn’t like their food. After being served sausages Wednesday night we were dismayed to be given the warmed up uneaten sausages again on Thursday. Later that evening we subsequently tried to organise a take-away pizza delivery but the hotel manager got very upset and offered us a nice meal the following night to make up for the sausages. We had no idea. The pièce de résistance was euphemistically called “burger and chips”. It consisted of a pink-grey slab of mechanically recovered meat by-product lurking in a bun and accompanied by a small packet of discount store crisps. (No deep fat fryer = no chips.) The vegetarians had a special treat too, a gruesome chickpea stew alternative. The less said about this the better. As we were preparing to leave (escape?) the hotel supervisor had a random and inexplicable rant about our group having “no respect for the rights of workers” before running off in tears into the kitchen. (Not eating up all their lovingly prepared food perhaps? Who would know?) The spectre of the Hotel Antic remained with us all the way home since a number in our party succumbed to a bout of sickness and diarrhoea on the coach in the middle of the night. That journey will not be forgotten in a hurry... Would I go there again? May 2019 a new hotel manager takes over so if the hotel is properly refurbished and new staff employed and trained then yes, why not? Andorra is a lovely country; it was just the diabolical food at the Antic that wrecked it for us.

When we first arrived at the Hotel, the staff could not have been more attentive and welcoming, and rooming were quickly allocated. We were part of a trip with a big group, and they went out of their way to make us very welcome. We were given Wi-fi. However, were warned to use it sparingly because it could crash at any moment. The issue was, it barely worked above the first floor. As soon as I got into the room, I was greeted with the most horrific stench in the bathroom that made me gag. I immediately went down and was offered another room. However, it smelt just as bad. When I queried the staff about this, they simply shrugged and said there was nothing they could do- and that they would put some spray in there (which they didn’t, and every morning to afternoon the place reeked). The decor was rustic at the very best, but outdated and a lot of cracks in tiles and rickety beds meant that we were not at ease at all. The floors were clearly not clean, as we were asked to wear slippers around the hotel. Mine were new, and by the end they were absolutely filthy. The water was temperamental for showers and the grout around the sides was very off-putting. The bar area was nice enough, and we spent most evenings in there. The only downside of this was that we were asked to move several times because the staff wanted to eat their meals. Now, I don’t begrudge the staff having food, but there were several other unused areas that they could eat in, yet decided to occupy an extremely populated area in the hotel. The biggest disappointment of all were the meals provided. The breakfast was repetitive and tiresome (there’s only so many coco pops and stale bread you can take). The first night was absolutely delightful, as there were delicious meatballs on offer. However, after our group had taken a disliking to a meal the third night, it was simply reheated and served up again- and when we complained, they seemed to take great offence. Overall, I wouldn’t choose to stay here again- there needs to be some serious refurbishment and some fresher food on the menu.