"We’ve just come back from a week here and, overall, we had a good stay.
I have to say, I think some of the reviews claiming the food is terrible are expecting Michelin-star quality from an all-inclusive holiday. Breakfast and lunch are fairly repetitive, but that's pretty standard for this type of hotel. Dinner, however, offered a good variety each evening, and we never found the food to be cold.
The rooms are a little dated, but they were perfectly fine for our stay as we didn't spend much time in them. We did have an issue with the air conditioning leaking across the floor one night, which meant we had to pack all our stuff and move rooms late at night.
We booked a family room, and our first room on the third floor felt a little cramped. It had two double beds, a small bathroom and no balcony, which was initially disappointing. In reality, though, we probably wouldn't have used a balcony much anyway, especially as they all seemed to be quite small. After we moved rooms, we were given a much larger family room on the first floor with a double bed, single bed, sofa bed and a much bigger bathroom. It still didn't have a balcony, but strangely it even had more TV channels than the first room!
The biggest downside of the hotel wasn't actually the hotel itself – it was the behaviour of some of the other guests. Judging by other reviews, this doesn't appear to be an isolated issue.
The pool doesn't open until 9am, and the staff are strict about removing towels left on sunbeds before then. Unfortunately, this simply creates chaos when the pool opens, with people rushing to reserve beds. It was honestly some of the most embarrassing behaviour I have ever witnessed at a hotel.
Large groups were claiming 10–14 sunbeds at a time, removing other people's towels, shouting and arguing over loungers and even women being threatened. During our week, the police were called to the hotel twice – once after a fight broke out between guests and another time due to a guest becoming extremely drunk and causing a disturbance. It created an unpleasant and, at times, intimidating atmosphere around the pool that completely spoiled what should have been a relaxing family holiday.
We eventually stopped using the pool altogether because we didn't want our children around that kind of behaviour. Instead, we spent a couple of days at the beach and another at Aquopolis, which ended up being one of the highlights of the holiday.
Everyone enjoys their holidays differently, and that's entirely their choice, but during our stay the hotel seemed to attract quite a few guests whose idea of a holiday was drinking all-inclusive alcohol from morning until night. That atmosphere just wasn't really for us.
The hotel is a little far from the main shopping and entertainment area of Salou, but once you've got your bearings it's easy enough to get around. Walking directly to the beach and then along the promenade takes around 30–40 minutes to reach the main strip. Alternatively, if you leave the hotel, turn left, then left again, and continue straight, you can get there in around 20 minutes.
The beach itself is fantastic and stretches for miles. The inflatable water park is great fun too. At the time of our visit it cost €20 for one hour or €45 for a full day.
Overall, this is a decent three-star hotel with clean facilities, helpful staff and perfectly acceptable food. Some members of staff came across as a little awkward at times, but never rude. If you're expecting four or five-star luxury, you'll probably leave disappointed.
That said, it's unlikely we'd return. The behaviour of some guests had a far bigger impact on our holiday than the hotel itself, and the atmosphere around the pool simply wasn't something we wanted our children exposed to. Combined with the lack of a balcony and the smaller family rooms, it just wouldn't be our first choice for another stay."
