Beautiful location was the best feature

When we arrived at the hotel, we were impressed with the beautiful display of orchids, the palm trees, and the lobby interior. The young bellman was very friendly and helped us with our luggage. When it was our turn at reception, I handed Toni our 3 passports and said we were checking in. She asked if we just made reservations today and I said no and handed her the hotel reservation confirmation and the room details. She couldn’t find our reservation so she went into the office for a few minutes. Someone showed her our reservation. I gave her my American Express credit card and she tried to process it. She handed it back and said in a rather unfriendly tone that I can’t give her a credit card that doesn’t have a # on it. I showed her the # and read it off to her. There was definitely service with no smile from her. We were a family of 3 and booked a family room with adjoining rooms. Our rooms were spacious, a bit old, but on a clear day we could see the volcano. We could hear doves cooing in the morning as we sat on our balcony. The very small enclosed shower was odd and hard to use. We appreciated the refrigerator in the room. We had lunch at La Parilla and thought the croquettes were delicious but the seafood paella for two (50 euros) was just average in flavor. Our server was very attentive. In one of our rooms, the tv remote was not working and needed new batteries. My husband took the remote to reception and explained to Toni, the remote needed new batteries. She informed my husband she could not help him and he said you will help me and left the remote with her. This is not what a person expects at a 5 star hotel. A 5 star hotel staff aims to please the guest. We had cocktails in the lobby bar. I ordered a Singapore Sling and my daughter a Mai Tai. We have been to the Raffle Bar in Singapore where the drink originated. This bar’s version was terrible as was my daughter’s Mai Tai. We probably should have just ordered wine. My husband’s gin and tonic was fine. For dinner, my daughter made reservations at the Oriental restaurant and received the confirmation. When we arrived to check in, the woman said we did not have reservations and could not be seated. We asked her to check again and she said no reservation. My daughter showed her the confirmation and only after another staff member came over and pointed to our name on the reservation, were we allowed to be seated. It was not a good feeling basically telling us we were not truthful. I ordered the Phad Thai and thought it was average. Service was terribly slow and not personable. The complimentary breakfast buffet was plentiful with hot and cold choices. We stayed three nights and enjoyed the location and the view. When I checked out, I saw I was going to have Toni check me out so I told the family behind me to go ahead. Suso, who checked me out, was very courteous. We left our luggage for a short time while we visited the nearby botanical gardens. While we were collecting our luggage with the help of the bellman, Toni was watching us and started talking to woman behind the desk. Toni wanted to check to see that we paid our bill! We held up our bill and said,”YesToni, we paid our bill”. Frankly, we just glared at her. We have never met such an insolent person working at a hotel in all of our travels. She is the one of the causes for an average rating.