"Staying 24 October – 7 November 2026 | Half Board | Family Holiday
I'm writing this review on Thursday 29 October, while still staying at Port Benidorm with my wife and daughter. We're five days into a 14-night holiday, and quite frankly, I'm bitterly disappointed.
Before anyone dismisses this as someone who simply likes complaining, let me explain something.
Before becoming a bus driver, I worked in the corporate business travel industry and have visited hotels across the world, experiencing a wide range of accommodation and service standards. We've also travelled abroad extensively as a family for over 13 years.
I know the difference between reasonable expectations and unrealistic demands. I also understand that hotels in Spain cater for many different nationalities, tastes and preferences. Indeed, I enjoy Spanish food.
I don't complain for the sake of it. But when standards are this disappointing, I believe people have every right to speak out.
LET'S START WITH THE POSITIVES – BECAUSE THERE ARE SOME!
The hotel itself is beautiful. The décor is modern and attractive, the bedrooms are spacious and finished to a very high standard, and the entire property is spotlessly clean.
Our room attendant is absolutely brilliant, and the housekeeping team deserves enormous credit.
Clearly, considerable money has been invested in the building and its appearance.
Unfortunately, a beautiful building doesn't automatically make a good hotel, and it certainly doesn't guarantee a premium holiday experience.
THE FOOD – QUITE FRANKLY, APPALLING FOR A HOTEL OF THIS CLASSIFICATION
This is by far our biggest complaint.
We always arrive for meals when the restaurant first opens. We've done this for years, ever since we took all four of our children away on family holidays.
Despite arriving at the very beginning of service, the cooked food is consistently barely lukewarm.
I'm not talking about food that's cooled slightly. I'm talking about food that's scarcely warm enough to be enjoyable.
How long has it been standing under the heating equipment before the restaurant opens?
Why is food that's supposed to be served hot barely warm when the very first guests enter?
Yes, there are microwaves available. But why on earth should customers paying for a premium hotel have to reheat their own cooked meals?
Breakfast is a disappointment. Fried eggs are regularly overcooked underneath while remaining undercooked and slimy on top. Asking for an egg to be turned over appears to be an inconvenience.
The choice is poor compared with other four-star hotels we've visited in Benidorm. Items such as back bacon, black pudding, fried bread, hash browns and proper mushrooms are either absent or make only occasional appearances.
Even the coffee is lukewarm and thoroughly unpleasant.
DINNER IS EVEN WORSE!
The evening meal is where the hotel's catering standards really fall apart.
The hot food is again barely warm, the choice is very limited, and the quality of the meat is particularly poor.
The grill regularly serves fatty, gristly, chewy meat or chops with more bone than anything worth eating.
Where are the decent-quality freshly carved joints? Where is the variety and quality that customers should reasonably expect from a premium hotel?
On Wednesday evening, I tried some pork and beef stew. Both were barely warm, fatty and unpleasant.
I eventually resorted to a chip cob, pickled onions and a boiled egg.
A CHIP COB AND A BOILED EGG!
That was effectively my evening meal at a TUI Platinum hotel where I've paid for half-board accommodation.
I'm not expecting gourmet dining every evening, but I do expect to be able to put together a decent, enjoyable meal.
We've previously stayed at the Ambassador in Benidorm, another four-star hotel, and the comparison is frankly embarrassing for Port Benidorm.
Freshly carved meats, excellent ribs with plenty of meat, salmon fillets, a comprehensive breakfast selection and a much better standard of catering.
Port Benidorm isn't coming remotely close in our experience.
RESTAURANT OVERCROWDING – AN UNPLEASANT FREE-FOR-ALL
The hotel has expanded with an additional tower, but the restaurant arrangements simply don't appear capable of coping comfortably with the number of guests.
The queues when the restaurant opens are enormous. The dining room fills rapidly, and everyone is trying to access the same limited hot-food serving area.
It's an absolute free-for-all.
People pushing past one another, little organised queuing and a generally chaotic atmosphere.
Mealtimes should be something to look forward to, not something you dread.
For families who need a calmer, more predictable environment, this is particularly difficult.
I seriously question whether sufficient consideration has been given to restaurant capacity following the hotel's expansion.
HALF-BOARD GUESTS – ARE WE SECOND-CLASS CUSTOMERS?
This is another aspect of the hotel that has genuinely shocked me.
On our first evening, I joined a substantial queue at the restaurant bar, only to be told when I eventually reached the counter that it was exclusively for all-inclusive customers.
I wasn't permitted to PURCHASE a drink!
Instead, I was told half-board guests must use waiter service.
That might be perfectly reasonable if there were actually an efficient waiter service!
Unfortunately, nobody approaches our table to ask whether we'd like drinks. When we approach staff ourselves, the attitude can be distinctly unwelcoming.
We're not asking for free drinks. We're perfectly willing to pay for them!
Why should purchasing something as simple as a drink be made so unnecessarily difficult?
The same apparent preference for all-inclusive guests is noticeable at the indoor bar and pool bar.
There's even a poolside snack facility where all-inclusive guests can help themselves to food, but no obvious separate menu or clear arrangement for half-board guests wanting to buy something.
I've stayed in numerous hotels operating different board packages and have never felt quite so strongly that half-board customers are an afterthought.
Of course, all-inclusive customers have paid for additional entitlements. I fully understand that.
But they've not paid for a monopoly on decent customer service!
At the Ambassador, for example, you can purchase drinks at the restaurant bar whether you're paying by cash, card or using an all-inclusive entitlement. Staff also regularly approach tables to offer drinks.
That is hospitality.
Here, it feels as though the hotel would much rather everyone booked all-inclusive, and those who haven't are simply an inconvenience.
LACK OF INFORMATION AND ENTERTAINMENT
Daily restaurant menus don't appear to be readily available, so you have little idea what's being served until you enter.
The evening entertainment has also been disappointing, although I won't dwell too much on that because we enjoy going out into Benidorm in the evenings.
Nevertheless, when judging the hotel's overall facilities and entertainment offering, it should be mentioned.
TUI PLATINUM – WHAT EXACTLY ARE CUSTOMERS PAYING FOR?
This is where I become particularly annoyed.
We've travelled with TUI for approximately 13 years and currently have another five holidays booked.
Port Benidorm wasn't even our original holiday choice.
We initially booked a Platinum hotel in Bulgaria, departing from Birmingham. TUI subsequently changed the airport to Manchester, which wasn't practical for us, forcing us to reconsider our plans.
We then rebooked a Platinum hotel in Turkey following a booking incentive, only to be told later that the hotel had been removed from TUI's Platinum collection.
We changed our arrangements yet again and eventually chose Port Benidorm.
We specifically selected Platinum accommodation because we believed the classification represented a consistently higher standard of facilities, food, hospitality and service.
After all those changes, we thought we'd finally secured the quality holiday we wanted.
How wrong we appear to have been!
To compound matters, we've received no welcome information or representative details from TUI since arriving. I've seen a representative once, but nobody has introduced themselves to us or explained the support available.
For a company we've supported for so many years, this has been another disappointment.
WE CANNOT BE THE ONLY ONES EXPERIENCING THIS!
Having read other TripAdvisor reviews, it's concerning to see similar criticisms about food temperature, catering quality, overcrowding and service.
Of course, everyone's experience is different, and I'm pleased for anyone who has enjoyed their stay.
But when similar concerns are being raised by different guests, I believe hotel management and TUI should be asking some serious questions.
It's not enough to invest in attractive buildings while allowing other essential aspects of the holiday experience to fall short.
MY VERDICT – STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE
Port Benidorm looks impressive. Its cleanliness, bedrooms and housekeeping are genuinely excellent.
However, in my experience so far, the catering is poor, the restaurant is overcrowded, the customer service is inconsistent, and half-board guests appear to receive considerably less attention than those on all-inclusive packages.
A hotel should be judged on the complete guest experience, not simply how impressive its reception area and bedrooms look.
And I don't believe Port Benidorm is currently delivering anything approaching the overall standard I would expect from TUI's premium Platinum collection.
I also don't believe we've received value for money on our half-board holiday.
We still have more than a week remaining here, and I sincerely hope matters improve. But I won't pretend everything is wonderful simply because the building looks beautiful.
Would I recommend Port Benidorm to anyone booking half-board and expecting excellent food and attentive service? Based on our experience so far, absolutely not.
TUI and the hotel's management need to take a serious look at what's happening here.
Customers deserve better than this, particularly when they've deliberately chosen and paid for a holiday marketed as premium.
A beautiful hotel badly let down by its catering, restaurant arrangements and hospitality. What a wasted opportunity."
