Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

What;s it called?

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

No idea, walked past it this afternoon, down an alleway almost opposite M&S. The dressmaker I was visiting said he was spanish.

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

Cool, cheers.

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

I think the thing that rankled was that it was a coffee bought downstairs in their own restaurant, it wasn't as if I was bringing in polystyrene or cardboard cups from a McD or whatever down the road.
:(

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

At the moment I'm planning a trip to Boston, and the hotels I've been looking at advertise coffee makers and usually microwaves and fridges in the rooms regardless of the room price.

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

We'll be off in a hour or so for another few days in a nice 4* hotel, and this has
Last week, edge of Dartmoor, we actually stayed in a B&B for 3 nights, but even that was £75 a night, but worth every penny, life's too short for €3 MDD's, lentils and €1 cartons of plonk. ;-)

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

May I enquire where?

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

It's in Wales, are you interested in going there? We've stayed here before, we like to walk the coast path, some stunning scenery there. And the weather is good! Well for a few days!;)

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

I've noticed that. Even many of the cheap hotels in the US seem to offer as much or more than some 4* hotels over here. Same with car hires and restaurants, too. I can only reckon it's just another example of the American service culture... or perhaps better characterised as competition culture.

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

What a load of rubbish

Spanish people would actually be repelled by the terrible filter coffee you get in American hotels/restaurants, as indeed am I. I once stayed in the Hilton in Rome, never again! There are no kettles because people dont use kettles here, nor do they eat dinner by shoving something in the microwave

It's a different culture entirely

I find Spanish hotels to be good value and excellent qualty. The Melias are good as are the NHs, and they are way cheaper than hotels in London and with good food. The paradores can be a bit hit and miss but quite often you are paying for the historic building

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

Thank you for your opinion once again proving how everything not Spanish is crap.

Please, I can only assume you've never been. There are many, many restaurants serving great coffees (not filtered, but produced using Italian expresso machines) and I'm not sure whether Starbucks or any of the other coffee shops offer any kind of filtered coffee at all. (naturally, Starbucks is crap anyway - it's not Spanish). But I digress.

Back to the original debate: the facts still remain as stated. Many things you get in the US are indeed less expensive and come with better service, simply because it's a more competitive environment. If people aren't satisfied, they go elsewhere - and are afforded that luxury simply because there are a lot more choices available to them.

Supermarkets are another good example. Most offer a stock of products far beyond anything you'll find here (and many are open 24/7, so people don't have to fight mass crowds on Saturdays). I find it curious that most supermarkets carry a big selection of European wines, English teas, huge cheese selections, extensive selection of Asian foods, fresh fish, meats, you name it... and even HP sauce for ex-Brits like you who can't break out of their comfort zone and recognise the real world.

Try to buy a good California wine here. About the only thing you can get is some crappy cheapo stuff like Gallo, sold at 10x the price it sells for in the US (Gallo sells for pennies over there), which might help explain why you are about to tell me that all California wines are crap (since you've likely never had the opportunity to try a decent one).

I'd have to suspect that far lower operating costs, less government meddling and restrictions and lower taxation has something to do with their ability to offer such a wide variety of choices and better services and still stay in business, but it's probably just what Americans have come to expect - or they simply go elsewhere, because they can.

By the way, none of this is exactly a secret.

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

Starbucks, I have only been in one in Singapore, never again

Some of the hotels in USA seem to take pride in quoting the brand of coffee they offer, however they are unknown to me at present so I can not debate there quality.

Spain, we generally take a travel kettle with us, not to be cheap but for the convenience. I prefer to wash my daily medicines down with a coffee first thing in a morning, then deal with ablutions before heading down for breakfast. Non of this running up and down the hotel first thing.

However the fact that the rooms have these facilities does no mean you have to use them, the choice is yours, unlike Spain where generally there is no choice.

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

once again you are showing you live in a different world to the rest of us.
plain ordinary kettles seem to be selling better than most things in the big electricals except TV's

however, I also find in the real world that hotels here give value and quality, and as previously posted a 4* for €40 per room or even less with the currrent special offers it doesn't cost alot to holiday in the centre of this old city.

`

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

The only Spanish people who go to Starbucks are a few trendy wanabbees, the coffee is awful, normally describes as "agua sucia". No surprise that the few Starbucks in Spain are where the tourists are

California wine, you are joking right? :rofl:

Domino, how many Spanish flats and houses have you been in? I've been in plenty, never a kettle is sight

As for so much choice in the US, OK I've only been twice, but there is not much choice if you want meat that hasnt been injected with steroids or burgers that havent been washed with bleach. The quality of food is terrible. At the high end it is pretty good, as long as the restaurant has a European chef

OK its another US vs Spain contest. The problem is you guys know next to nothing about Spain because you don't socialise with Spanish people, eating and drinking what they do. So you are limited to the poor selection of establishments in long lost villages or holiday resorts

Re: How will La Crisis effect Spain in the long term?
 

so you are really in a different world.
watch my lips -plain ordinary kettles seem to be selling better than most things in the big electricals except TV's

don't blame me if you aren't visiting those houses that haven't brought themselves up to date.
not only do I socialise with Spaniards, but I also buy my food in their shops, sit next to them in their restaurants.
except they don't seem to mind me using their places instead of mine

and I wouldn't drink Californian nor Australian wines in the UK, so I am not doing anything different by drinking Rioja and Cava - but then they come from Sainsburys not from Spain
:rofl: