SBH Costa Calma Palace

"You look at the hotel and it takes your breath away. You look closer and the breath comes back. Outdated to say the least. Plaster falling off walls, cracks in floors, the you go to your room, 1970’s are asking for their room back. Cleanish but the maintenance is terrible. The hotels location is right on the beach but if you leave the hotel to go exploring, good luck. Apart from a few restaurants and 2 spars, that’s pretty much it. Food 2* at most. Evening meals are a unorganised mess. Guests sitting at wrong tables and times are confusing. Pool area ok, a little unkept and dirty. Pool bar limited, staff rude. Beach is lovely. Soft sand and clean. Please be aware you will be charged for hotel loungers. Definitely for the Germans as this was 80% of their guests. Romantic hotel for the aged Evening entertainment boring I would say this hotel is perfect for 60+ couples who just want a quiet holiday with a low noise level. Enjoy"

"I’m a British female solo traveller. The first thing I will stress is please listen and understand what the check in employee tells you, if you don’t understand, tell him. There are rules and if you don’t follow them then tough. Ok, so basically, they speak Spanish and very broken English. You’ll be ok if you’re German, Dutch Spanish or polish! On my arrival, there wasn’t any English speaking staff so I had to try to make out what he was saying. They chuck a ribbon all inclusive band on your wrist and tighten it, make sure you decide how tight you want it! Gave me a card with my room number and some other numbers and sent me on my way. Let me explain what these numbers on your card mean. You have dinner reserved for you. They decide when you go for dinner. There are 2 sittings, if it says 1 in the top left corner, obvs that’s foray sitting. 6-7.30 Second is 8-9.30. The next number is your table number that you have to find. Now, I was given a table, when I found it, someone was already sitting there. They then gave me another table and the same happened again. The waiter was so rude, he made me feel like it was my fault that the whole experience was unorganised. On the forth time, they gave me a small table right at the top end of the restaurant! Second night, they switched the tables, so where my table was, was not the same number. Once located, I sat and sorted my dinner. I then was approached by another guest who told me it was his table. Basically, because of the rigmarole, I had gone into the second sitting. Ok, now here’s the unbelievable outcome. The waiter made such a drama, I felt so embarrassed as this was a full restaurant, he blamed me for coming in too late and just stood there. Not to cause anymore drama, I stood up and left, half eaten food, no ‘I’ll move you or suggesting to resit the other guest?? This was DAY 2! The worst thing is, I’m still here. I have 5 more days but after this experience, I just want to go home. The staff are so rude apart from the cleaners, who are lovely. Pool bar wouldn’t serve the customers unless they stood in a certain area. Advice, don’t go all inclusive, it’s really not worth it. They wouldn’t even make me an iced coffee, you have to pay for it at another area of the pool. I asked a staff member about the sunbeds on the beach. He told me they were part of the hotel so can be used. After I settled , I was approached by a man who charged me 18 euros for using the bed. This was not explained on arrival or by the staff member. I think this is enough for 2 days. I’m hoping nothing else will or could happen for the rest of my duration here. Would I recommend this… no. Would I come again…HELL NO!"

"I have been there four times now and it was the last time for a few years. I suspect cost-cutting at every turn. Unfortunately, the clientele has changed for the worse with the all-inclusive guests, as they simply throw their trash on the floor and leave it there. Furthermore, the lounge chairs are reserved early in the morning and are often not used. The food is cheap, unseasoned (especially the meat), rarely cooked vegetables (instead only fried ones with black spots), always similar, lots of variety without much variety (hard to describe, you have to see it for yourself). The bathroom is underwater after showering, the walls are cracking everywhere, a staircase in the foyer has already sunk (frightening), the pay-as-you-go lunch at the pool has mutated into a disaster and is far too expensive for the poor quality. Two examples: The chicken sandwich used to be topped with a juicy chicken salad. Now you get two versions: either a crispy, juicy chicken on toast or a dry slice of chicken sausage. You do not know beforehand what you will get. Also, the pasta with garlic and shrimp in sauce used to be in a white wine cream sauce (which was always seasoned differently back then). Now you no longer get any sauce, but only oil. I do not like that at all. One day, I was even served only a small, half-filled glass of latte macchiato for 4-5€ (I've attached a picture). For other guests, the glass was at least 3/4 filled with latte and not half with foam. In many rooms, the air conditioning has been replaced. The new one (same model as before) ran 24 hours a day for us and did not get the room cool (maximum setting). We changed rooms to an old air conditioning unit. There, we had to go down to level 1, only turn the AC on when we are in the room, and turn the temperature up because the room was otherwise too cold. I cannot recommend going there under any circumstances. I hope that changes again, as the place is otherwise beautiful."