We booked a five night stay at Hospes Amerigo through alpharooms.com as they offered the best rate - ?43.50 pppn room only. The hotel used to be an abbey or convent and upon entering its cool, high ceilinged interior we were impressed from the start. There's a high staff to guest ratio and they were delightful and professional. Our room was tastefully furnished to a high quality. Importantly, the beds were very comfortable and the room also featured a flat screen TV and DVD player. It also boasted an old-style small verandah overlooking a pedestrianised street. Breakfast cost 17 euros and was served to 10.30 am (11am at weekends) and was excellent. Cereals, fruits, quality fresh pastries and bread, cheeses, yoghurts and fresh fruit juice. Scrambled egg and bacon were the hot choices. The mezzanine restaurant was attractively laid out. The hotel has a spa which we didn't have time to try - it seemed quite expensive too for the massage treatments and it also features an unusual "sleep room" with two contoured chaises longues - good for an afternoon snooze if you've had to check out at noon but your flight is later in departing. We found Alicante to be a great weekend break. In July the tourist office ran some free guided walking tours and we went on one of these - it was really worthwhile. We also took the "tram" (more a modern electric train) to Denia. Although a 2 hour journey, you pass through some lovely hillside scenery. Denia is a beautiful small fairly upscale resort and worth a visit - even a stay. One street down from the Amerigo hotel is a bar called Tri Be Ca - we loved it, good music and some good German food like sausages and frankfurters. On the Rambla, a main street round the corner from Amerigo, you'll find a Tapas bar called LizArran - we went on Friday night at 10pm and they came round with platters of freshly made tapas. You take what you want and the cocktail sticks that remain after you've scoffed the delicious morsels indicate what you've had and the cost was something like 1.5 euros per item. We also ate in a couple of the more upmarket restaurants at the harbour. Oveall, a weekend to remember, made all the more special by a first class hotel.

My wife and I stayed here for 4 nights at the start of July, staying in a standard room. We booked direct with the hotel via their website and paid Eur 120 per night for the room. The hotel is in a perfect postion, two minutes from Plaza Espana and five minutes from a really nice beach. This was our first time in Alicante an we loved the city with numerous restaurants and cafe/bars. It really is a delight to go out and eat with so much choice and atmosphere. We can cerainly recommend the lunch time Menu del Dia, three courses and a bottle of good wine for Eur 9. Just walk into the small streets behind the hotel. We used the hotel as a base as we found it overly pretentious and the public areas almost empty. I think this is mainly due to the hotel prices which are way over the top. The bar was always empty and the attached tapas bar about three times the price of other better ones in town. The roof terrace is worth trying if you can find a lounger. It is very small with about 8 loungers which were always taken. The pool is tiny, however is nice and refreshing. The daft thing is that the terrace closes at 7pm when it would be ideal for an evening drink with great views over the city. The rooms are really nice, however, make sure you book one at the front or back as some look out onto a central ventilation shaft. The bathroom as has been said is different in set up, but we found it to be really good. The shower is great, but again has a tendency to flood the room if used for too long. Again, the hall carpets look awful, cream with dark stains, which should be replaced. The reception staff appear to think they are too important to assist the guests,however, the cleaners are always friendly and happy. Overall, I think this is probably the ideal hotel for a stay in Alicante, use it as a base and enjoy a fabulous city

What a great hotel. A five star chic building in the very heart of Alicante city, near to the town hall. 5 Mins from beaches and 1 minute from nightlife, bars and explanade and marina. The rooms are lovely and are almost like little suites .... settee and flat screen tv and dvd with a range of dvd?s to order. Lovely comfy beds. Elec blinds for window. Bathroom lovely two sinks and lots of delish toiletires. It?s the cleaness, cripsness and sheer indulgent comfort that you initially feel in the rooms, but on closer inspection it is the little details that make it even more special. Books on sleeping and dreaming, lovely chocolates on the table, the elegant furniture, the bathrobes, the organic soaps. We also went to the Senzone tapas bar which is part of the hotel, very chic and only 4 Euros for glasses of fizz cant be bad, but tapas quite expensive... and truly not that great, 5 euros for a small salmon open sarnie ... and a lamb kebab that was undercooked. Salad was fine ... pricey though all in all for the quality. Better at the marina for food I think, or other restaus in town. But the bar was nice and had a chic feel though lacked atmosphere really .. probablty cos all the clients were from the hotel, so felt a bit lacking.Went to the Barrio and to something called meson de something which was a pokey little bar which you get access to through a tiny wooden door .... fab jazz , chilled music, graffiti all over the walls , but there was something about the place, it was tiny downstairs but completely addictive ... all types of people in there from young 20?s to late 50?s. The mojitos out of the silver kettle with mint were the best I?ve ever tasted .... !!! well worth a visit.

Booked through a travel agent who found a very reasonable b&b rate. Stayed here a few weeks ago. First impressions are good. Centrally located, near plenty of shops, bars and the beach. A fantastic looking building with a large airy reception area. We arrived reasonably early at 11.30am and approached the reception to see if we could check in. We were told in no uncertain terms to come back at 3pm and our luggage was stored for us. On our return we were allowed to check in. The reception staff again were not what could be described as overly friendly. In fact the whole time during our stay it seemed like they would do their best to avoid any eye contact when walking through this area. On stepping out of the lift to the first floor the first thing that we noticed was rubbish in the ashtray (which remained for a further 3 days) and the filthy state of the cream carpets in the hallway. Our room was just like the pictures on the website. A large room with very stylish decor, plenty of wardrobe space, comfortable beds and seating area. The layout of the bathroom area is a little odd, being separated into two areas. 2 bathroom sinks outside the shower/toilet section is a nice touch but unless you like viewing your travel companion using the loo whilst using them this area is out of bounds until they have finished! This is due to the (very noisy) sliding glass door that divides the area. A bad case of ‘style over substance’ Breakfast was great and worth the extra. A good selection of hot and cold food buffet style and on our first day cooked to order. The one member of staff on duty was friendly and efficient despite being very overworked. Whilst we didn’t use the spa facilities the prices listed seemed very expensive for the services offered. The bar looked very nice but lacked any real atmosphere. During the four days we were in the hotel I don’t think we saw anyone in there, staff or customers. The rooftop pool area has a great view of the castle and was a good place to relax in the sunshine. To sum up it’s a beautiful looking contemporary style hotel, the rooms & public areas tastefully decorated and overall a very enjoyable stay. However the hotel is badly let down by the reception staff who were basically the same upon check out – very disinterested.

I stayed at this hotel around the Easter weekend, which meant they were charging higher prices for the rooms and the hotel was over crowded in my opinion. My room although nicely furnished and clean, was overlooking a busy street and builders in the opposite hostel could see right into our room and it was very very noisy - not the relaxing atmosphere I'd expect on a holiday. Do not pay extra for breakfast, the service is absolutely appalling, many a time I had to get up and attempt to get someone's attention as the waitresses simply ignored you until your table was overflowing with plates. The food was ok but they need to hire new waitresses as many were so grumpy you felt anxious about asking for anything. Another bad point was the upstairs pool, it was tiny and not clean or well maintained. The upstairs area in peak time was so overcrowded that people were sat on the floor as there were no sun loungers left. No one was working on the bar so you had to pay ridiculous room service prices if you wanted some food. The reception staff were nice and helpful and the hotel was in a convenient location but overall it was no way 5* service.