AC Hotel Valencia by Marriott

I spent just one night at the AC Hotel Valencia as I was catching a 6:30 AM flight at the airport the following morning. The location of the hotel is ideal if you plan to visit the City of Arts & Sciences complex which is around 6 blocks away. It's an easy walk there. You will also find some shopping malls nearby and lots of restaurants in the area, so it's in a good central location. The hotel was clean and quiet, and the room was European-sized (tiny!) but comfortable. The hotel has a restaurant and a small bar in the lobby area if you need a bite to eat without leaving. I had a quick but pleasant stay, and my only problem was that I organized airport transportation in the evening for the next morning, and then when I was checking out at 4 AM, the person at the front desk couldn't find any record of what had been done, so apparently nothing was actually organized the first time around! That delayed my departure to the airport by 15 minutes, but I still made it to my flight on time.

On arrival there was no acknowledgment of our gold status and certainly no mention of any upgrades. The bath leaked quite badly as well.

There was no acknowledgement of our being Gold Members on arrival and certainly no mention of upgrades. The bath leaked quite badly as well uncon as well

We stayed at AC Hotel Valencia for 5 nights / 6 days and, unfortunately, our experience did not live up to what we would expect from a Marriott property or from other AC Hotels we have stayed in. The hotel is conveniently located, around a 10-minute walk from the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, which was one of the main reasons we chose it. There are also plenty of shops and food outlets nearby, including a large El Corte Inglés, which is very handy. The hotel has an underground car park at €16 per day, which is convenient in theory, but in practice it is very narrow, difficult to manoeuvre in, and often felt crowded, making it hard to get in and out. There also seems to be a fair amount of street parking around the hotel, which may actually be a better option. The rooms are very basic and in urgent need of a refresh. The bed and pillows were extremely uncomfortable. The mattress felt almost non-existent and made a lot of noise, and the pillows gave me neck ache after the first night. Thankfully, I was able to request a foam pillow, which helped. The room had a mini-fridge, but ours did not work properly and did not keep drinks cool. The coffee machine was fine. There is room service, but the menu was very limited and not particularly appealing. The bathroom was a decent size, but again quite dated and dark, and the bathtub was uncomfortable to use. Breakfast was acceptable and offered a bit of everything, but the main issue was how overcrowded it was every morning. It was always very busy, with very little room to sit, and the breakfast area felt hot, cramped and uncomfortable, as though guests were sitting on top of each other. Food items also ran out quickly, although to be fair they were replenished promptly. Most of the staff were friendly and helpful, but unfortunately the biggest issue during our stay was housekeeping. Our room was not serviced on three separate occasions. The first time, I called reception and was told housekeeping would come immediately. When we returned later, the room had still not been cleaned, towels were left on the floor, and important amenities such as toilet paper had not been replenished. I called again and someone brought supplies, but no apology was offered. The second time, we returned later in the afternoon to find the room had again not been cleaned. When I called reception, I was told there was a note saying we had the “do not disturb” sign on the door. I explained politely that while we had used it earlier, we had removed it before 1pm when we left the room. We had seen housekeeping still cleaning nearby rooms and assumed they would come back, as most hotels do. Again, no apology was offered, although fresh towels and shower gel were brought up as we had run out. The third time was even more frustrating. We returned to the room at around 3pm and saw housekeeping working next door, so we waited before calling reception. Shortly afterwards, a housekeeper came in while we were just heading out and told us in Spanish that she would return in 10 minutes. We thanked her, finished getting ready and left the room. When we came back after midnight, the room still had not been cleaned: bins had not been emptied, towels were still on the floor, and once again there was no toilet paper. I called reception, apologised for the late hour, and explained the situation. This time I did receive an apology and fresh towels and toilet paper were brought up. When we checked out the next day, I mentioned all of this to reception when asked how our stay had been. The staff member apologised, but quickly moved on with the check-out process. Overall, this hotel did not meet the standards we would expect from a Marriott property. This was our third visit to Valencia, and we have stayed in other hotels in the city that were far superior. We chose this hotel mainly because we needed to be in this area for an event and wanted to stay within walking distance. While the location is convenient, the outdated rooms, uncomfortable bed, overcrowded breakfast, and repeated housekeeping failures mean that we would probably not stay here again.

Overall average. Reviews have said breakfast very good but we found it limited compared to over hotel breakfasts. Good location. However we had a problem with people in the room next to us smoking despite it being a non smoking hotel. Smell came into our room and corridor was very smoky. We complained to staff and the smoking stopped but each time only temporarily. And the smell lingered in our room. Staff were quick to stop them each time but it was only a temporary fix. We requested to move rooms but were told they had solved the problem when they hadn’t.

Great value for location, price and overall experience.