IBEROSTAR Playa de Muro

We had wanted to try an Iberostar hotel for a long time and were genuinely excited about this stay. We chose the hotel expecting a high standard, especially because it is marketed as a family-friendly resort.

Unfortunately, while the hotel looks beautiful and impressive at first glance, once you start looking beyond the main areas, there are quite a few things that do not match the image or the price.

The good

Let me start with the positives.

We arrived around 12:00–12:30 on a Saturday, when there was a large number of guests checking out. Our room was not ready, which was completely understandable. The reception staff offered us drinks and chocolate while we waited, which was a nice touch.

The food was genuinely very good. Everything we tried was fresh, tasty and reasonably varied, and we had no complaints about the quality of the food.

The housekeeping team was also excellent. Our room was cleaned properly and on time, and when we asked for the room to be cleaned earlier because of our baby’s nap, the ladies were very accommodating. They deserve recognition.

Unfortunately, this is where most of the positives end.

Children’s facilities was the biggest disappointment

The hotel is advertised as a family resort with numerous children’s areas. There are indeed plenty of them, but the condition of these areas was shocking for a hotel of this standard.

Broken toys, dirty equipment, worn-out furniture and dirty carpets were common. The carpets in particular looked dirty and smelled unpleasant. The children’s club had exactly the same problem: old, tired and poorly maintained equipment.

We understand perfectly well that children’s areas get dirty and that toys can break. That is normal. What is not normal, in our opinion, is leaving them in that condition.

The contrast was particularly noticeable because the hotel clearly puts a lot of effort into cleaning the main public areas. Reception and other common areas were cleaned frequently, so it was difficult to understand why the children’s areas appeared to be almost forgotten.

And then came the most worrying incident.

We found pieces of broken glass inside the children’s area near the bar.

I immediately reported this to the staff. Nobody came to clean it, so we had to remove the glass ourselves because our child was playing in the area.

For us, this is not simply an issue of something looking old or untidy. Broken glass in an area specifically intended for children is a genuine safety concern.

I have attached photos so people can judge the condition of the children’s furniture and facilities for themselves.

The children’s water area was one of the things our little one actually enjoyed. However, even there we noticed poor cleaning. Cola was spilled on the tiles near the sun loungers on our first day, and four days later the same area was still visibly dirty and sticky.

The room upgrade was a mistake

Another major disappointment was our room.

When booking the holiday, I deliberately selected a room overlooking the interior/courtyard because we were travelling with a small child and wanted to avoid the noise from the evening entertainment.

At reception we were offered an upgrade to a sea-view room for €220 instead of €440, so 50% off. We asked specifically whether the room would be quiet, and we were assured that it was far enough away from the entertainment area.

It wasn’t.

Our room was directly facing the entertainment stage.

Every evening we had loud music and heavy bass coming into the room until around 10pm. On Saturday it continued until around 11pm. The noise was so loud that we could clearly hear the bass even with the windows closed.

This was particularly frustrating because we had specifically chosen our original room type to avoid exactly this situation.

We discovered the problem only in the evening, after unpacking and settling our baby down. At that point, with a small child and all our luggage already unpacked, we simply didn’t want to spend the evening arguing with reception and trying to move rooms.

The sea view itself was also rather underwhelming — the sea was partially visible through the trees.

So in hindsight, we would absolutely not pay for this upgrade again.

The room itself was surprisingly basic

For the price and the reputation of Iberostar, we expected something much better.

The room was quite ordinary and actually felt rather tired. Some of the furniture clearly needs refurbishment, and the bathroom and shower were also showing their age.

The bedding and towels were clean, but some had holes in them, which is simply not what we expected from a hotel of this category.

The bed was another problem. It consisted of two separate beds pushed together, and they constantly moved apart whenever we moved during the night. Not exactly the comfortable hotel experience we were expecting.

Overall

This is a hotel that looks much better in the photographs and at first glance than it does once you start paying attention to the details.

The main areas are attractive and well maintained, the food is good and the housekeeping team was excellent. But the condition and cleanliness of the children’s facilities, the broken glass incident, the lack of response from staff, the poor maintenance of parts of the room and the misleading information about the room location seriously affected our stay.

For us, the biggest issue is the gap between what we expected from Iberostar and what we actually experienced.

If this were a budget hotel, some of these things might be easier to overlook. But for the price we paid and the reputation of the Iberostar brand, we expected considerably more.

Would we return? Unfortunately, no.

If you are travelling without children, some of these issues may not affect you as much. But if you are choosing this hotel specifically because it is marketed as a family-friendly resort, I would strongly recommend taking a close look at the condition of the children’s facilities before booking.

Great hotel for families , good food , direct beach access ( which is a beautiful beach by the way ) , numerous pools , good location with good transport links. The standards that you associate with Iberostar. A solid 4 star hotel . I would definitely reccomend and would come again.