"I stayed at Ezra Mar towards the end of June. When booking the hotel with my friend stupidly we didn't read the reviews, after already booking we read the reviews and honestly they made me worry about staying here. The previous reviews make the hotel sound like it isn't welcoming to younger people (me and my friend are both under 20), the food sounded awful and the staff sounded rude. I can gladly say none of this was fitting with our stay.
The age range of guests is extremely varied, we met a group of people of similar age to us and families (no children obviously). If any younger people that are after a chilled hotel then this place is perfect. The entertainment on the nighttime isn't the most impressive but it's definitely a laugh (i think the sangria helped). The bar stays open till midnight meaning people are around until late, but staying on the second floor we couldn't hear anything until guests walked past our room. Noise doesn't carry around the hotel at all which is perfect (apart from the cleaners trolleys in the morning that sound like a train is right outside your door). The bar is basic but has more than enough to keep you refreshed throughout the days, we found that the alcohol didn't seem that strong but the staff made pretty much anything. The sangria was amazing with fresh fruit. Their cocktails come out a machine and I can't say they were my favourite. I had one and chose not to have any others but that may be down to personal preference. We found all the bar staff to be friendly, all the staff was including the cleaners.
The food is a difficult one for me. I enjoy a wide range of food and that's something the hotel didn't have. They had plenty of seafood but the food seemed repetitive the longer we were there. Breakfast was okay, basic just your typical breakfast foods. Lunch I found tricky as I found it difficult to make a meal out of the food available. Seafood seemed to be the main theme of lunch which was great but the type of food there was near impossible to put together. I found dinner to be the same. The food didn't seem to be made to pair with anything else so trying to make a meal out of what was available was difficult, we never found ourselves full after the meals and actually found ourselves feeling quite sickly. They used the same type of meat a lot meaning that by the end of the week we were sick of pork and squid as they seem to repeat recipes a lot. By about day 3 me and my friend decided to just start eating out, not great when we booked an all inclusive. But we found a restaurant around the corner "Cafetería The Trafalgar" that we loved, its cheap, jugs of cocktails, amazing staff, food, smoothies and more.
The room was clean and tidy, decorated in a modern style we had a room with a balcony looking out onto the street. The beds were so comfortable and had plenty of space. The only negative for me was the shower. I prefer a lukewarm shower when I'm on holiday and that was near enough impossible. Every time i turned the temperature up even slightly i could guarantee that after 2 seconds the water pressure would drop and the water would turn scalding hot then it would turn freezing cold. My friend had cold showers and she said she didn't have an issue so it's obviously just an issue when you add heat. The shower is also almost to the floor so unless you put a towel down and keep the door open please expect the bathroom floor to be a swimming pool. Other than that the room was perfect, there was more than enough room for two of us to share it, the wardrobes were a good size too. There is a safe but its 3 euros a day and a 20 euro deposit. You need to give the receipt and the key back at the end of the stay to get your 20 euros back. We used the fridge to store snacks, drinks and milk that we brought instead of paying to have what was out the fridge.
The reviews on here complain about the sunbeds and I do agree. There doesn't seem to be enough for the amount of people in the hotel. If you wish to get a sunbed around the pool then you need to be up at about 7am if not earlier. There are always some available later in the day but you just need to look out for them. The rooftop was our favourite, the view is amazing. There were always sunbeds up there along with daybeds. Its calm, the jacuzzies are there along with outdoor showers.
The hotel being right next to the ocean is perfect too. Outside the hotel is volcanic rock leading to the ocean that you can walk down but the waves are choppy and getting out the sea can be difficult unless you have great upper body strength. If you leave the hotel through the back gate by the infinity pool and turn right, follow the footpath and ocean round for about 10 minutes around the corner until you reach the harbour and the beach there is quiet, large and the sea is lovely to swim in.
Overall I think this hotel is great, its just the food that really lets it down. If the hotel was in another area I would come back. As 2 teenage girls we didn't feel safe in the area especially later in the day/into the night which honestly put me off the island. I'm not naive enough to think I should be safe at night but the amount of drug dealers in the area really put me off the entire place. We found them to be quite aggressive when we say no to their offer which put us on edge. They never come outside the hotel but its something to be aware of if you're walking back from being out for the day or are planning to go out on the nighttime."
