familyfun

I successfully booked travel from Barcelona to Seville on trenhotel. Now I am wondering if I need to reserve a bed or are my arrangements complete? We are booked in first class, some estrella fare, some general. Also, as there are children involved, will we be able to sleep near each other? It was necessary for me to book trenhotel individually and I noticed we have different plaza numbers.
Does a first class or tourist class ave ticket guarantee a seat?
Thank you for your assistance.

GeoffHamer

I don't understand the question.
A Trenhotel is an overnight train. If you book a ticket, you'll have a seat or berth of some sort. There is no such thing as a "general" ticket.
When you book, you'll be offered a choice of accommodation.
Why did you need to book "individually" ? If you want, say, a four-berth sleeping compartment, you need to specify this when booking. If four people book individually, the computer cannot guess that they want to be together.

PalenQ

What are your Plaza number, which i assume mean Place numbers - each berth or bed has a place number so if you have four different ones those are different berths/beds - they should be consecutive or like 1, 3 and 2, 4 for each side of say a 4-person compartment (31, 33, 30, 32, etc)

I'm not sure plaza number means place number however

Like Geoff says all tickets on these hotel trains are issued with berth or place numbers so you each do have a berth but where is the question.

There should also be a car number on your ticket to tell you which car, numbered on the outside or at the entrance you will find your berths in.

yk

There should be a coach # and a seat # on each ticket. Plaza # = seat #. Coche # = Coach #. So, hopefully all 4 of you are assigned the same coche, and the plaza # should be close to one another.

kenderina

Having children involved..you should have asked prior to booking.
Preferente or first class are for one or two people. Tourist class are four berth that as a family you can book in full for you, but if it doesn't show on the website it is because there are no one left.
There are no seats, only beds on that train , I think. And yes, you don't have to do anything else...unless there is something wrong in your booking.

NEDSIRELAND

I have traveled Barcelona-Sevilla on a 'Todo Preferente' Talgo Hotel Tren. My compartment had 2-berths, upper & lower, and a wash basin. A WC was at the end of the Carriage.

There are no Tourist Class accomodations on that particular train. If you don't book a sleeping compartment, then you don't ride that train.

I bought my ticket & reservation in Santander (Cantabria) because I was going to visit a cousin in Barcelona and wanted to be sure that everything was in order before heading for Sants station Sunday night. To answer your question: Yes, you do need reservations for the Hotel Tren and you should probably buy them several days in advance

lincasanova

it seems to me with the information given that perhaps, as kenderina said, there were not FOUR places together and they have you in different cars and different berths.

i would call to get this figured out.

familyfun

Thanks for the advice. The only reason I booked them individually is because that's the only way the quirky RENFE site would accept payment. After review, I have 4 seats in coche 2: plaza 15,16,23 and 3. The other 3 berths are in coche 1: 07,27 and 23. They are all preferente as this was all that was available. Do you think I would have any luck calling someone at Renfe prior to our departure? I realize that they are either single or double berth,but I would not want the kids sharing a car with a non family member.

On the Ave train, 5 of us are on one train and the other 2 are each on their own train. Is it likely a fellow passenger would swap a 1st class seaat for another 1st class seat?

kenderina

One or two people berth are never shared with a stranger. You always have to book the whole thing.

It is possible a passenger to change their seat if he/she's alone. But just don't count on that.
You are a big family group, you are probably entitled to discounts as a family and for children if they are young children.
Call Renfe and talk to them.

GeoffHamer

The RENFE website shows a range of fares for this train. In Preferente class, it's 90.50 euros in a seat, 101 euros in a double sleeping compartment and 145.40 euros in a single-berth sleeping compartment. There are also turista-class seats and sleeping compartments, and gran clase sleeping compartments (with shower and WC).

familyfun

On the opening page there was the pull down box, but once involved in the purchase I was not given a selection other than preferente. Is it possible that I do not have a berth? I will try to communicate with RENFE. I hope I haven't completely screwed up our arrangements.

familyfun

Important update.
I have just spoken to renfe internet support @ 011 34 902 15 7507. They were very helpful explaining the problem.
The Berths for trenhotel can NOT be booked online. Therefore I have seats only. I can cancel them and incur a 20% fee per ticket. She admitted that this issue is not described online. I will be able to fill out a complaint but have little hope to recoup my loss. To purchase a sleeping car I must now call 011 34 902 24 0202 where they can take phone ordes for trenhotel---I never saw this information online. At this time I will not be able to find the estrella fare.
So between 20% cancel fee, long distance calls to spain and having to pay full fare for the berths, I will probably spend more than it would have cost to purchase through a us booking service. Lesson learned.

familyfun

PS now that I am canceling the tickets online their site is telling me they "can not process your request at this time." My work is not finished.