"If I wrote this as a purely negative review, it would sound as though we hated our stay. That simply isn’t true, so it’s only fair to start with the many positives.
We genuinely enjoyed our time at Las Rosas. The apartments are spacious, well-equipped and comfortable. The grounds are beautifully maintained, with the gardens watered daily and the plants regularly pruned, giving the whole complex a well-kept appearance.
The pool area and pool bar are also very good. The food is excellent for a pool bar, the frozen pint glasses are a nice touch, and the entire area is kept clean and tidy. Nerja is around a 20-minute walk away if you choose to walk, but there’s also a reliable bus service that runs every hour on the half hour for just €1. There are two large supermarkets nearby and a sports bar directly across the road. All the ingredients are there for a fantastic family holiday.
One thing worth mentioning, as it isn’t made particularly clear on either the hotel’s website or Booking.com, is that the complex is split into two sections by a small private road on a fairly steep hill. The larger pool and the pool bar are on one side, while the smaller pool is on the other. It’s not a major inconvenience, but the road surface is uneven in places and it’s something guests with young children, mobility issues or pushchairs may wish to be aware of before booking.
Unfortunately, where the accommodation falls down is the level of service and some avoidable shortcomings.
The biggest issue is reception. It only operates during normal business hours and is completely closed on Sundays. If you need assistance outside those times—or, as we did, arrive on a Sunday—you are entirely on your own. We managed, but other guests could easily find themselves in difficulty.
The lack of air conditioning in the bedrooms was another major drawback. Both bedrooms have ceiling fans, which were adequate in the rear bedroom. However, the front-facing bedroom remained unbearably hot, with the fan simply circulating warm air around the room. After a week we gave up and moved into the living room, sleeping on the air-conditioned sofa bed for the remainder of our holiday.
The hotel also provides no cleaning service during your stay. The beds are changed once a week, but in temperatures like these, sleeping in the same sweaty bed linen for seven nights isn’t ideal. There is no washing machine in the apartment either. Instead, there is just one washing machine for the entire complex, located in the public toilet block, costing €4 per load. While this was manageable most of the time, there were occasions when we had to wait for someone to finish using the toilet before we could access the machine. It’s also inconvenient that neither the pool bar nor the nearby supermarket was willing to provide the €1 coins needed to use it. Relocating the laundry facilities and introducing a token or card payment system instead of coins would be a simple but worthwhile improvement.
The pool bar service was frustratingly inconsistent. Everything seemed to depend on the manager’s mood. At times he was friendly and attentive, while at others he could be abrupt, refusing to serve customers at the bar and insisting they sit down for table service instead. Unfortunately, that table service was often slow or simply never arrived, leaving you to return to the bar anyway, where you risked being waved away or spoken to sharply.
The lack of shade around the main pool was another disappointment. There are only five fixed umbrellas for around eighteen heavy sunbeds. The beds are stacked away every evening, meaning guests have to carry them into position each morning, yet only a handful can actually be placed in the shade. We ended up buying our own umbrella simply to make spending time around the pool comfortable.
One final point worth mentioning is that several items of our pale swimwear and light-coloured clothing developed a noticeable yellow discolouration after repeated use in the pool. We can’t say with certainty what caused it, but it coincided with time spent in the water and may indicate that the pool’s chemical balance could benefit from closer monitoring. It’s something worth bearing in mind if you’re bringing expensive or light-coloured swimwear.
Since our stay, the complex has introduced a no-reservation policy for sunbeds rather than increasing the amount of shade or adding more umbrellas. While it’s understandable that management wants to prevent beds being left unused for long periods, the policy also means families can’t comfortably go out for lunch or spend time away from the pool without risking their towels being removed and losing their beds. It feels like the symptom has been addressed rather than the underlying problem.
Overall, Las Rosas has so much going for it. The apartments, grounds, facilities and location make it an excellent place for a family holiday. However, a few relatively simple improvements—extended reception hours, air conditioning in the bedrooms, a basic cleaning service, more practical laundry facilities, additional shade around the pool and more consistent customer service—would transform what is currently a good stay into an outstanding one. Until then, I’d happily return for the apartments and location, but with a clear understanding of the compromises involved."
