Hipotels Said

Wow what can i say getting to the hotel with a 6 yr grandson with T1 Diabetes we were a bit worried how we would cope however the ultra friendly staff made our family holiday from arriving and being checked in by Delia who everytime she saw us made us so welcome and always asked if we had any problems. We arrived the night before the world cup final so having a football mad grandson decided to watch the match and enjoyed it and even more with Bashir(SP)(entertainment manager) as my grandson said to us that Bashir looked lonely watching the game so when spain won went over and gave him a big hug and every time after that he and Bashir were always high fiving each other he made my grandsons holiday thank you Bashir , People commented about the bar staff but i honestly say they could not be any more friendly especially Ainara who instantly recognised that my grandson had a insulin moniters on his arm and immediately advised us on his drinks etc he really was happy to see her and was also so friendly every time she was on shift. In fact all the staff were 100%. The hotel throughout was spotless and was very close to the beach if needed which we didnt as the pool facilities were first class. The idea about pool beds and leaving towels on was 100% spot on as this is my pet peeve about holidays we did only see some brits come down about 9.30am and put towels on beds then go to the beach only to come back at about 3.30pm. So all in all we had a great holiday thank you.

Nice location, close enough to the beach and main srip etc. Room was spotless and well maintained, hotel is really clean and pool is well maintained compared to other hotels we have stayed in. Staff on reception, bars, restaurant and animation are excellent Food is the only real downside to the hotel, with many meals obviously recycled from one day to the next and every day was very similar to the previous day... i found myself walking round the hotplates saying "same, same, same !" maybe more diverse meals or theme nights would be good. overall the hotel is clean, tidy and staff are excellent.

I’ll start with the big one - the food The food generally is “fine”. It’s not amazing, it’s not bad, just somewhere in the middle where we wish it was better but could also be so much worse. Some days were great and we had lots of choice - others were the opposite and we struggled to find lots to eat, and none of us are fussy. The food was not cold! It’s only cold if you wander around with everything on your plate for ages, you can literally see everything is steaming hot when it’s out ready for you (top tip - get your cold food first then go and get the hot stuff). You will be absolutely fine if you love fish, as they have plenty of it in the afternoon and evenings. Not really enough choice of other meat such as fresh chicken, it’s cooked on the grill so can be a little chewy at times and not the most delicious. The red curry chicken is good though! Some strange options though, like chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks or potato wedges for breakfast??? If you have allergies I wouldn’t recommend this place for you. Labels can sometimes be poor and not tell you what it is, like some things are just left unlabelled. Desserts - extremely repetitive and have no idea what they are! The labels just say “assortment of cakes”. No idea what you’re actually eating, what’s in it or anything. Yet they can label the jelly, the ice cream, and the rice pudding but not the cakes! Considering it’s the same desserts every day you’d think they’d have labels by now, we stayed for 12 days and only saw one change when it was chocolate fountain night.

The drinks however were great - all those saying limited choice on all inclusive must want everything!! We had plenty of cocktails, plenty of spirits, soft drinks, everything you can think of and even iced coffee. You only had to pay for the “expensive” stuff such as Smirnoff, Malibu, (the normal cheap malibu is included). And some cocktails are chargeable but the free ones are great. We always enjoyed the drinks and actually found ourselves a little tipsy in the evening which proves they don’t water it down. There are so many things that make this hotel positive, but some really obvious tweaks needs to be made to make it perfect.

I will add some positives and finish with improvements that need to be made

To begin on arrival we got a welcome drink. A nice glass of cava. Free pool towels. Free safe. Perfect. Tourist tax €33 each for 12 night. In the room we were left a free bottle of wine again! The hotel and grounds itself is very clean. There is a little robot that goes around the pool every night cleaning the water which is cool. Everywhere spotless, the maids in the room are great too. We asked for clean sheets every 2-3 days and they did this for us. All the staff are polite and friendly, especially the bar staff. Big shoutout to all the bar staff, they are amazing and always had a good laugh with us and kept us topped up with drinks. The hotel location is excellent. 2 minute walk from the beach and the main strip of shops/bars. Also cala bona is only a 20/25 minute walk where you’ll find more. Every 2 sunbeds have an umbrella. It’s in the ground so no one can steal them off you and there are no umbrella wars. Really easy to get a sunbed too, you can sit and hold from 8 and then from 9 you can leave them unattended whilst you go and eat. We got our beds at around 8:45, came back around 10:30 after our walk and had no issue. The balcony has double glazed doors so you don’t get any noise from the outside so we found it pretty quiet when sleeping at night.

Negatives - these are realistically things that can easily be changed and didn’t ruin the holiday as such. Yes, the hotel is very German focused, but unfortunately, there is nothing anyone can do about the visitors. We did have to watch the England World Cup game in German though, which seemed strange considering most of the German guests could speak perfectly good English so the commentary wouldn’t have been an issue. We did find a good handful of English people turning up after a few days! The staff also speak very good English so you can freely speak in your own language. The hotel room only had one mirror - in the bathroom. Very awkward really when there’s a huge walkway before the beds that just has artwork on - can easily be swapped for a full length body mirror, plus you can’t use the mirror if someone else is in the bathroom/shower. Also no light over the shower so was a little dull - again easy improvement to be made. Not many plug sockets in the room just by each bed so I did have to unplug a lamp to make more room for electronics. No English sausages at breakfast - might be me just being picky but it’s mainly just frankfurters or chorizo. They could do with another pool really - it can get really crowded in the afternoon and end up swimming into everyone - an extra pool or bigger pool would be beneficial. Don’t hang your towel over the balcony - you get a letter saying to refrain from it because it “ruins the image of the hotel”, weird, because towels over a balcony have never put me off wanting to go somewhere? The entertainment at night is also hit and miss - sometimes it’s fine sometimes it’s awful - just take it or leave it!

All in all, it’s a 4* resort in terms of cleanliness, staff, drinks choice/quality, room quality (comfortable beds and a big TV), but the food really lets it down in our opinion, and the few obvious minor tweaks that could be made. Would I come back to this hotel? Personally no. Would I recommend this hotel? Yes, for everything in terms of location, staff kindness and cleanliness.