Lobios Caldaria Hotel Balneario

My partner and I booked this "all inclusive" package for a one week relaxing break. Booking was difficult, requiring documentation from our local town hall! Hoping to use public transport, we enquired how to reach the Balneario from Ourense (a local town 75 km away). Staff did not know! We decided to drive and enjoyed free (limited) parking, sometimes needing to park outside the Balneario car park. Check in was quick and easy and the duty manager very pleasant (as he was throughout our stay). Room was clean and basic with views to the rear over the river. Lacking the advertised mini bar (not that we minded). Food was basic and an unlimited self service buffet. First time I have suffered vending machine style coffee in a Spanish hotel (real coffee could be bought in the adjacent cafe). Orange juice was "made from concentrate" (to my mind the equivalent of a sugary drink with no nutritional value). I had encountered this once before, when the owner of a very modest inn was apologetic, as the orange squeezing machine had broken down. Jamon Serrano made a rare appearance (twice in a week) but the cheapest cooked meats were available daily. This was a theme for the quality of the food. It was difficult to select healthy options. On one occasion, some fish was freshly cooked for me upon request, when it had run out. Some dishes were recycled at the next meal. I'd like to think that they had not been out on the buffet but I'm not confident. Recycled, they were even less appealing. Vegetables were boiled to a pulp in traditional English style (granny putting the sprouts on for Christmas dinner in early November ; ) but that is the Spanish way. Treatment equipment was old, some of it in poor repair and working inadequately. I pointed out broken steps into a bath to the attendant (they came close to collapse under my modest weight), which was met with a shrug. Staff lacked any concept of customer service, single words being shouted, rather than any attempt at conversation. For example, "Temperature, temperature!" rather than asking, say "Is the temperature comfortable?". It is quite possible that the staff were unable to speak Spanish which is rather a handicap in a Spanish hotel. It was noticeable that the attitude of staff differed considerably dependent upon the supervisor on duty (there was an excellent gentleman who responded well to the television crew invasion of the pool). The pool was limited in size but adequate. Many of the power jets around the sides merely dribbled and there was a power jet from the pool side which served only to create. noise. Staff turned this off when bellowing at bathers to come for treatment, announcing room numbers and names. I could understand single females preferring not to have their room numbers announced so publicly. To reach the pool, we were required to wear masks and then switch to caps to enter the pool; outdoor shoes, naturally were forbidden. Alas, this did not apply to the television crew who en