In 2025 Benidorm recorded 11.6 million overnight stays in hotels and 2.56 million in tourist apartments, the second figure growing fastest. On a booking site, an apartment in an aparthotel and a privately let holiday flat can look almost identical: a kitchen, a balcony, a sea view. When something goes wrong with a door, they are two very different things.
An aparthotel is a hotel
An aparthotel is a hotel establishment whose rooms happen to be apartments. It has a reception desk, staff, and usually a maintenance team. Its locks, like a hotel’s, often use cards.
If a door fails, ring reception. They hold master access, they have somebody on duty or on call, and if they need a locksmith, they book one and take responsibility for the work. You should not have to organise anything, and you should not pay for a fault in their door.
A holiday flat is somebody’s home, let to you
A holiday flat (in Spain, a vivienda de uso turístico) is a private apartment rented out for short stays. There is no desk. There is an owner or a management company, and a phone number.
If a door fails, ring the host or manager. They know the lock, may have a spare nearby, and are the ones with the authority to let a locksmith in. If you ring a locksmith directly, the first thing you will be asked is to put the host on the phone, because a locksmith cannot open a private flat on a guest’s word alone.
How to tell which you have booked
- Is there a reception desk you walked past when you arrived? Aparthotel.
- Did you collect the keys from a lock box, an office down the road or a person who met you? Holiday flat.
- Does the booking name a hotel, with a star rating? Aparthotel. Does it name a person or a small agency? Holiday flat.
Who pays for what
A broken lock is the property’s problem, not yours, in both cases. Keys that you lost, or a door you shut with the keys inside, are generally yours. Ask before any work starts, and get the host’s or reception’s agreement in writing if you can: a WhatsApp message counts.
Save the number on the first day
The one thing that turns a night-time lockout in a holiday flat into a short delay is having the host’s number saved before you need it, not buried in an email you cannot open without the Wi-Fi you are now locked away from. For hotels and aparthotels, the hotel page explains how their side of it works.