Gloria Palace San Agustin Thalasso and Hotel

All are bad. Very bad hôtel. Humidad.

Room was very nice 8th floor room with fantastic pool and sea views, cleaned daily . All staff were lovely and friendly , special mention to Daniel working the bars in tbe evening, always smiling and friendly . Food was nice and plenty of options but at peak times the main restaurant was too busy and not enough staff on hand to turn the tables around for the next diners. Often found ourselves circling the room for a free table . Bit of a canteen feel even in the evenings. No other restaurant options for evening meal . Pool side bar staff worked incredibly hard but the queues were often too long so more staff required at peak times in my opinion. This is a very busy hotel. We had a great holiday but it could have been so much better with simply more staff being on hand.

Not Quite a 4-Star Hotel

There is nothing massively wrong with this hotel, but there are a lot of little things that let it down. Unfortunately, when you add them all together, I would say the hotel currently feels much more like a 3-star than a 4-star property.

Check-In & Room

Check-in was easy, quick and well organised, which was a good start.

We stayed in a family annex. The bedrooms were a good size, the beds and pillows were comfortable, and we had a lovely large balcony. The shower was good and the hairdryer in the bathroom was adequate.

However, there were quite a few little things that should really be addressed in a 4-star hotel.

The bottled water supplied in the room needed a bottle opener. We didn’t have one initially, which meant we couldn’t actually drink the bottled water. Tea, coffee, milk etc. were also not replenished until we specifically asked.

The most frustrating issue was the toilet roll. We started the week with three rolls and, towards the end of our stay, we were nearly out. We eventually had to ring reception and ask for more. Surely this is something housekeeping should be monitoring and replacing without guests having to ask. It felt like poor service.

The room was technically “clean”, but don’t look too closely! It seemed to receive more of a quick wipe-around rather than a proper clean.

The air conditioning was another issue. It was set to 18°C, with seemingly no way for us to reduce the temperature any further. Twice I called reception because the room was hot and asked if someone could come and make it cooler, only to be told that it couldn’t be changed. This was particularly frustrating.

Pool Area

The pool area officially opens at 9:30am, although we saw people queuing from around 8am to claim a sunbed! 😂

That said, we travelled as a group of four and never struggled to get sunbeds during our stay.

The bigger issue is cleanliness. The pool area doesn’t appear to be properly cleaned throughout the day, and the floor was quite frankly pretty disgusting in places and desperately needed a good deep clean.

The pool itself is also very deep considering this is marketed as a family hotel, and it didn’t always feel particularly clean either. Personally, I’m not a fan of saltwater pools.

There were also quite a few broken tiles around the pool, and the floor became extremely slippery as the day went on. Regular cleaning and maintenance throughout the day would make a huge difference.

Food & Restaurant

Breakfast

Breakfast was fairly standard for an all-inclusive hotel. There was a good selection of the usual options, along with fresh omelettes, fried eggs and pancakes, so there was something for everyone.

Lunch

The main buffet was well catered and again offered a good variety.

The snack bar, however, was a different story. The service here was questionable, with some staff coming across as rude, unhelpful and clearly disinterested.

Dinner

Dinner offered a good selection of dishes and, again, there was something for everyone.

The biggest problem was the restaurant itself. It simply doesn’t seem big enough for the number of guests, and finding a table can become absolute chaos.

I think the hotel would benefit hugely from having staff organise and seat guests rather than leaving everyone to fend for themselves.

I also witnessed something concerning regarding food hygiene. Small children were using the same serving tongs and spoons across multiple dishes, moving from one dish to another. If someone had a serious allergy, this could potentially be very worrying.

Perhaps there should be some form of age restriction or closer supervision around the buffet area so that younger children aren’t left to serve themselves unattended.

Entertainment

This was, without a doubt, the biggest disappointment of the hotel.

Considering there isn’t a huge amount around the hotel, I would expect much better in-house entertainment.

Daytime Entertainment

For the first few days, we genuinely didn’t think there was any daytime entertainment apart from aqua gym.

The reason? Nobody seemed to walk around informing guests about the activities taking place.

The animation team also appeared very disengaged. There seemed to be a strong focus on the Spanish guests, rather than making everyone feel included.

One particular incident really stood out to me. I witnessed one of the female animation staff members tell a young child, probably around 10 or 11 years old, to go and find people to join a game. The child went off and, around 10 minutes later, returned with a few friends ready to play — only to find that the member of staff had disappeared.

The poor boy then spent time looking around trying to find her so that he and the friends he’d brought along could actually play.

I found this incredibly disappointing and was so unhappy about what I’d witnessed that I made a formal complaint to the hotel.

Evening Entertainment

Most evenings consisted of singers. Unfortunately, they weren’t particularly good, and many appeared to have very similar playlists.

There were two nights on the entertainment board that I was particularly looking forward to, but neither actually happened because the entertainment board was incorrect and hadn’t been updated.

It really isn’t difficult to keep an entertainment board updated and make sure guests have the correct information.

Overall, the entertainment is a major let-down and definitely not what I would expect from a 4-star family hotel.

Bars & Service

Pool Bar

The pool bar was much better.

The service was quick, and the lady with the red glasses was an absolute asset to the hotel. She remembered our drinks, always had a smile on her face and was happy to have a chat with guests.

Unfortunately, some of the other staff weren’t quite as helpful or friendly.

Evening Bar

The evening bar, next to the entertainment area, was extremely poorly organised.

Only two or three members of staff appeared to actually take drink orders, while everyone else seemed to be serving those drinks. The whole system just didn’t work efficiently.

A lot of the staff walked around looking unhappy and, at times, it was very obvious that they didn’t really want to be there.

There was, however, one young lad from Ibiza who was the shining star for us. He was bubbly, friendly, engaging and genuinely seemed to want to make guests happy.

I think this bar area desperately needs a rethink in terms of how it is managed, with stronger management presence and a much more efficient system for taking and serving orders.

Adults-Only Area

I also don’t believe the adults-only area should be outsourced and charged separately. In my opinion, this should form part of the hotel’s all-inclusive offering.

I also think the à la carte restaurant should be included at least once per stay.

These small additions would go a long way towards making the hotel feel more like the 4-star property it advertises itself as.

Overall

Unfortunately, despite there being plenty of positives, my family and I wouldn’t return to this hotel.

Throughout our week, it was clear that the hotel has a number of problems, particularly when it comes to staffing and the ability to cope when the hotel is fully booked.

I also felt that the hotel was geared more towards Spanish guests than other nationalities, which sometimes left other guests feeling less included.

The hotel would benefit enormously from a proper deep clean, both inside and outside, better maintenance around the pool, improved organisation in the restaurant and bars, and, most importantly, a major shake-up when it comes to staffing, management and entertainment.

There is definitely potential here. The hotel could be a very nice 4-star property, but at the moment, in my opinion, it falls well below those standards.

For us, the little things simply added up to too much.