Hotel Cal Ruiz

My friend and I stayed here for a week in March and really couldn’t fault it. We knew what to expect from the previously fairly good reviews and there were no surprises. Good value for money, extremely clean, decent food and lots of it - I can be a fairly picky eater and there wasn’t a day went by when my plate wasn’t full. The bar area is good, the staff were always on hand and were pleasant and friendly. Yes, we could hear noise through the walls but nothing worse than others hotels I’ve stayed at. I liked the location as I enjoyed the 5-10 minute walk to Pas 83 and the chairlifts in the morning, and window shopping on the way home. All in all, we enjoyed our stay and would definitely go back.

Good value, clean hotel, friendly staff, good food, very nice morning and evening buffet, only down sides were the beds are not the most comfortable and the rooms are like living in a sauna, even with the heating off and the windows partly open, not really conducive to a goods night sleep after hard days skiing and evening drinking.

So, I was among the group of 19 that have already commented on our experience at this hotel and I want to add a few more comments. My husband and I were so excited about this holiday as it was a reunion with some old friends and meeting of new ones. Yes we were a little noisy but as you would expect from a group of 19 happy excited friends. The Hotel knew we were a large group and so they should have declined the booking. The walls are very thin and you can hear everything...so make sure you whisper. I thought the rooms were clean and the breakfast was nice. We liked some of the evening food especially the puddings. We would have probably ignored some of the negatives had it not been for a couple of staff, one male and one female, who were so hostile. Other staff were quite nice. We loved Pas de la Casa and will return as wonderful skiing.

So where to begin... On first arrival at the *** Cal Ruiz hotel our 19-strong party consisting of family and friends were happy and eager to start our highly anticipated ski holiday. At first glance it seemed like a reasonably priced place all considering. Rooms tidy and spacious enough even with the wall paper resembling an elephant's ball bag. Day two arrives with slight unease. I leave my communal cell that's as hot as a griddled tuna, down the freshly mopped wet stairs (same mopping time everyday) to breakfast. The pungent odour of anemic sausage and garlic chorizo fills the air like the stale stench of a rotting flesh. Breakfast in all honesty wasn't too bad - good selection, but nothing labeled. A great day skiing followed by a bit of après in time to get back to the hotel for dinner, to be greeted by what one can only describe as a pudding troll, barking at me for my room number. All 19 of us sit around the long table in the dark, dated restaurant and one by one approach the offerings of the day. Tuna surprise (yet again), Offal delight, chicken dippers, questionable paella full of shell fish that looked like it had been sat around for days, potato croquets, cold meats, salad, cheese and a few other bits that had been thrown together from the remainder of breakfast. Day three in the Cal Ruiz institute. Yet again food mostly consisted of very repetitive options considering the chefs killer skills at turning out tuna dishes. One of our party got a mouthful from a member of staff who SHOULD NOT be working in hospitality. A tuna fish would have more social skills than this particular member of staff. If you're someone that doesn't mind a bit of noise from crying babies or a group of people having a chat then fine, however there was more screaming and banging during the second part of the week than would occur in a year in the red light district. Another day another tuna surprise - skiing on the other hand - INCREDIBLE! (After all that is what we had gone on the holiday for). And on the fifth day there was light - we ate out at a great steak house (top one on trip adviser for Pas - we had no problems) returned to clean rooms all round but strange attitudes from staff when walking through the bar to get to our rooms. By now we had learnt our lesson: day six; we ate out. Day seven: woke multiple times in the night with people knocking on the door and the howling of the wind from outside. By this point we all started to feel like we should have booked closer to the slopes as the walk to the locker room / slopes was starting to get to us. We ate out early but arrived back to the hotel bar to be refused service at 10:45pm, although there was another party all drinking at the bar being as loud as Katie Hopkins falling down the stairs in a K hole. Started to think the staff have some issue with the English? To sum up, if I could wish one thing on the Cal Ruiz "hotel" it would be a certain celebrity chef turn up to feature it in a certain TV series. Now that would be some entertainment, however far from entertaining staying there. To sign off I'll leave a delightful taste in your minds: Tuna surprise. Delicious.

On arrival the hotel seemed clean, tidy and a bit of a bargain. The food was of an ok standard considering the price we paid and the rooms weren't horrible. As a big group we of course planned on frequenting the hotel bar and having a laugh. Apparently this is unacceptable (for British tourists) and we were berated by the rudest staff member. He was argumentative and aggressive to myself and the rest of our group. He claimed he had told us 'at least 10 times' to be quiet (at 930pm) he called a member of our group a rude English girl and told us the bar was shut to us for the remainder of the week. Having tried to alleviate the situation we thought we were on ok terms, until our last night when some members of our group were told the bar was shut to them (at 22:45) and when questioned he again became argumentative and even went on to follow one of our group to their room, being threatening and abusive. Completely unacceptable from any person, let alone for a hotel staff member. To top it off when it came to checking out, 2 of the room deposits were refused because of our supposed behavior, despite the aggression being directed towards us, we will be contacting the hotel directly to get this sorted. I would advise everyone to AVOID this hotel and spend a little extra to stay closer to the slopes and avoid being abused by staff members for trying to enjoy your holiday.

Luckily to date I have normally only published positive reviews, however I felt I had to write this negative review about the Hotel Cal Ruiz. My partner and I travelled as part of a group of 19 friends and family, men and women, ages ranging between early 20's to 60's (over half the group were 40+). The hotel was booked as part of an organised Nielson Holidays Ski break - our abilities ranging from complete novices to expert skiers. We arrived into resort on the 4th March.  Each room had to pay a €20 deposit for the tv remote and in case of damages, which seemed to be reasonable. After sorting out our ski hire (some through Nielson's and some independently) we went back to the hotel and had some dinner - there was plenty of choice, ranging from cold meats and salad to a mixture of hot dishes and numerous desserts.  Unfortunately, none of the meals were labelled, so it was pot luck as to what you were eating at every meal.  There appeared also to be a lack of choice for vegetarians, unless you were happy to eat chips or similar at meal times - as there was often meat/fish(??) mixed in with the cooked vegetables.  After the meal we went to the bar area, the slip of paper that we were all provided with upon check in stated that the bar was open until 1am every evening - I don't think any of us expected to be in the bar until that time though as the plan was to hit the slopes early each day (we were all there for the skiing after all!). At about 9.15pm on the first evening the barman aggressively addressed a few of our party stating that the bar would be shut for us for the remainder of our stay - from what we could make out this was due our party being noisy - in my opinion though, we were no more noisy than a group of friends/family all excited on the first night of our holiday - 19 people talking will generate a bit of noise.  The barman said that there was children trying to sleep directly above the bar - the hotel had virtually no sound proofing (more about that later), so it was questionable as to why the hotel had placed this poor family there in the first place.  In my opinion the barman could of just spoken to one of us, after all we were all very reasonable people! Unfortunately, I did not catch the barman's name however he had quite a distinctive piercing in his nose. After this incident, we all went to our rooms to get an early night so that we'd be fresh for the slopes the next day - we all said that after our treatment by the hotel we would not drink in the bar for the remainder of our break.  Hotel Cal Ruiz was the furthest hotel from the slopes and the main part of the resort, however after our treatment we were more than happy to just use it as a base only. A couple of days after we arrived another group of just men checked in, from the outset they were far noisier than us - yet the bar stayed open.  After a very noisy night - doors slamming, people shouting - I went down to breakfast only to have to navigate vomit on the stairs and half a kebab!  I spoke to said barman to let him know - however I think he assumed that it was members of our party.  One positive point about the hotel was that the cleaning staff were fantastic, our rooms were spotless each day when we returned. One evening just my partner and I returned to the hotel at about 11pm, my partner need to use the gents quickly so I waited for him in the bar area - the barman on duty turned to me and said 'the bar is closed'...I hadn't even asked for a drink??? The only reason I was waiting there was due to the fact that we had to pass through the bar to get to our room. Each night was very noisy, luckily towards the end of the week I was so exhausted I slept ok (aided by earplugs though)! Back to the food....after a few days I thought I had altitude sickness so I ended up visiting a pharmacy who gave me some tablets to take - in hindsight though I don't think it was the altitude as we ate out on the final 2 evenings (Els Flocs and a steak restaurant) and I was completely fine!  At least with the breakfast that was provided you could opt for 'safer' options such as toast etc. We had to check out very early on the morning of the 11th, the night porter had been left notes not to return some of our deposits - despite the fact that we had caused no damage at all and had steered clear of the hotel for the majority of the week! I dare say others in our party will also be leaving reviews. The skiing conditions were brilliant all week, however as I said in the title great holiday....shame about the Hotel Cal Ruiz.

If you are British do not stay here. The bar staff are rude, argumentative and abusive. Our party have never experienced rudeness like it for no reason it seems apart from being British. They will look for any reason to have a problem and conveniently ‘lost’ our room deposit. It is worthwhile to pay slightly more and avoid these horrible people.

This is a basic hotel with basic food. If you are British I would definatly avoid it. The bar is supposed to be open until 1am but they have revised it to close at 11pm for our group only. The staff are unfriendly and argumentative. Lovely resort. Would come back ASAP but would not stay here. Also too far from the ski lifts and bars.

Stayed here at half term with.my family with two young kids. Hotel is at the bottom of resort and a 10 minute walk to the lifts. You wouldn't want to walk it in ski boots so worth keeping them at ski rental casa 83 who are excellent right by the side of he slopes. We had a four bed room on 3rd floor which was basic but roomy and clean. Towels and room cleaned daily. Water and room piping hot no complaints. As others had said noise can be a problem and we had rowdy 20 somethings next to us who were swearing and banging doors.not the fault of the hotel I might add but I had to confront them about the matter. Jacuzzi and sauna all good worked fine Food was buffet for breakfast and dinner and was actually very good whole family had no complaints at all. Staff were helpful and friendly and I would go back to this hotel and the whole ski area is awesome