"We stayed at this hotel 16/8-23/8. 2 adults and one child (14) and paid £4000 for the week to Jet2 for this advertised 4star hotel with mostly great reviews. We obviously had bad luck when we arrived and were allocated our room (1070) which, is an old/tired room in need of refurbishment. Arriving at 11pm on 16/8 we were the only arrivals at that time and had a "surly" welcome from the guy on reception who was very much going "through the motions" when checking us in. He asked if we would be using the safe in the room to which I responded "yes" (a lot of insurance policies won't pay out in the event of a room break in if you fail to safeguard valuables in an available safe). Completely astounded to be told that the use of the safe would cost €16 for the week! I have never had to pay for the use of a safe at any hotel I've stayed at (3-5*). Absolute joke to have to pay for something that costs the hotel 0 to provide.
We are told the hotel provide a buffet in the main restaurant for late arrivals so we can go there if we like.
It was the weirdest selection and clearly just cold leftovers - it included - curried cous cous, a huge bowl of chunks of raw salmon (!?) a big bowl of tinned mandarin segments, some very hard chewy ciabatta rolls, margarine, sliced turkey, some slimy chick peas, a small tuna salad, some weird olive chopped salad thing and a couple of other equally weird plates of stuff. This was a TERRIBLE first impression of food at the hotel and we were DREADING meal times as a result. They would have been far better off just offering made up rolls/sandwiches with some fruit rather than the weird concoctions. After we arrived into the dinner hall and sat down, around 20 more people arrived and it was amusing to see their confusion and comments on the food offerings too..!
We arrive to our room and it's is stuffy. I look at the very old temperature control on the wall and see it is on the highest fan setting and set around 20 degrees. I turn it down to the lowest 15 degrees setting but nothing changes. It was a very uncomfortable first night sleep. The view from the balcony is of a large tree and the outside seating area of the buffet restaurant. At this point I am regretting spending £4000 for this week away. The room is very basic/tired but we need to sleep so we get into bed. Mattress is very hard. Lumpy pillows that have seen better days! Matches the overall "tired neglected" feel of the room.
Following morning I alert reception to the lack of air con. I managed around 5 hours sleep as the bed was uncomfortable and the room was far too warm. They confirm maintenance will be sent up to look at the air con.
Later this day we return to the room to see a new facia fitted to the temp control but the room is no cooler. The fan in the air con appears to be working a bit harder though. First night you could only feel air coming out as a whisper if you put your hand up against the vent. Now you could feel the air come out as a soft blow if your hand was a foot away from the vent. The air was not cold though, despite it being at the "new" lower setting on the facia of 10 degrees.
By this time we had used the room a little. The sliding balcony doors were stiff, rattly and like they were about to come off the runners when you opened or closed them. My husband said he could see where they had stuffed pieces of cardboard in to try to keep the door from moving out of position/prevent it from falling out the frame..!
Bathroom tiles cracked, perished bathroom mirror in places, stained bath tub, drawers that fell off their runners when you opened them so they no longer closed, wardrobe door that was coming away from the hinges so it "caught" on the tiled floor as you opened it, making a terrible scraping noise... Curtains hanging off the rails in places.. overall - NOT a 4* room and not what I would have expected to receive after paying £4000 to Jet2 when booking.
I hear the refurb rooms are nicer... I raised the issues with Jet2 on the Monday evening (air con and room condition). I was told this was passed to the hotel and to the in resort rep.
Tuesday I receive confirmation maintenance will come up to the room for the air con. I am in the room when he arrives. Huge language barrier. He points up and says "air" and I invite him into the room. He waves his hand Infront of the air vent and says "is working". I say "it's not very cold, the room is too hot" he looks blankly at me. I say "can you make it colder?" Blank look with him waving his hand in the air again. I ask "are all rooms in the hotel this warm?" He nods and is about to leave. I show him the balcony doors being very noisy/rattly and like they're coming off the rails and he says "is working" ... And leaves!!
Weds, I go down to meet the Jet2 rep to explain my disappointment in spending such a large amount of money and feeling like I have not got value for my money. I had already sent the images and videos of the room issues to Jet2 via WhatsApp but I show the rep. She says she will speak to the hotel about us moving rooms but, it is busy, am I willing to PAY EXTRA for an upgrade? No. I absolutely will not be paying more money to receive what we should have had - a room in line with a 4* hotel.
Thursday, a slip is put through our door from the hotel asking us to call reception about a room change. No standard rooms left, they can offer an upgrade but we will need to pay (for 3 nights left of our holiday at this point). My husband says he will speak to me and I confirm we will not be paying anything extra and I had already told Jet2 this the day before. I go down to reception and explain we had issues with our room and had been offered an upgrade but at additional expense. I advise the receptionist that unfortunately we had paid a lot of money for a 4* room but had not received that and we would not be paying more money for a better room. I said that my issue was with Jet2 for selling us a holiday at a 4* hotel but then not delivering that to us. I showed reception the videos and photos of the room issues (she confirmed "guest relations" had been sent the information and it would have been their decision to offer the chargeable upgrade) and she seemed surprised and said she would get maintenance to attend...
It is worth pointing out that I had seen a review just a few days before this where someone had simply asked for a "pool view" and received a *free* upgraded room (and on our last day we were talking to a family who also received a free upgraded room). Upgrades are absolutely at a hotels discretion. I was not rude. I was understanding that this is a busy time of year, I was just disappointed that this was our experience here. The hotel absolutely could have done something to help us have a better experience here but chose not to.
The hotel itself is huge. Lots of big open spaces but absolutely no air con inside any of the communal spaces/bars. So it gets very uncomfortable sitting inside.
The coffee shop was a huge selling point in choosing to book this hotel. I was looking forward to having an iced coffee around the pool in the morning. However, the only place you are able to have a coffee is in the coffee shop. You are not allowed to take it to the pool area..! The coffee shop was uncomfortably warm so I declined and didn't have a single coffee the entire holiday.
The main restaurant gets busy but nothing unexpected in peak times. We found the food varied, fresh and good quality for mass produced food. We went out to eat 2 nights and the rest of the time ate at the buffet. We didn't book the Italian or Japanese restaurant. There was always fresh fish available, salad bar, 1 or 2 pasta dishes, a variety of veg and potatoes, cold salad type dishes, bread rolls, a selection of meat at the cooked fresh counter (very long queues here!) and always a large joint of meat (usually pork). Absolutely no complaints at all about the food at any time (breakfast lunch and dinner eaten here and occasionally no lunch but snack bar food for lunch instead) at the hotel. Occasionally no tables at all available as many are not cleared quickly but again, expected in peak times. Drinks service also slow, sometimes you only get one drink throughout dinner so order a big bottle of water too!
Pool area - large pool all connected together. Excellent small kids section (this hotel is ideal for young families with children up to about 10) however, the pool is not tiled. It has this weird liner in it which, gets bunched up in places and can be a trip hazard when walking through the water.
Sunbeds in good condition and there are plenty available however, not many umbrellas available so need to get down early if you want a bed with any shade option!
Pool bar - mostly quick service (lady working there was super quick, almost manic! 🤣) but the cocktails are SO disappointing. Only 2 available - Pina colada or mojito. They also have aperol spritz and then 2 no alcohol cocktails. The pina colada was undrinkable it was so bad! A pre-mix of mostly syrup. I moved to Malibu and pineapple juice instead which was much better.
There are water stations in the pool bars but this is not obvious so I had actually gone out and bought water from the shop opposite the hotel.
Good points - staff all friendly and polite.
Cleanliness - staff constantly cleaning and polishing around the hotel
Pool guy removing reserved beds! Yes!! More of this in other hotels is needed! If you go down early, put your towels and bags out and then go off to breakfast for a few hours/back to your room etc , you will come back and find all your stuff gone! Excellent policy which is actually enforced and I very much enjoyed the anger and confusion of people coming back to their "claimed beds" to find their stuff missing and other people occupying "their" beds. People obviously do not read the signs on every bed saying "no reserving". After 10am you can leave without fear of your stuff being taken.
Key cards on wrist band - loved this!! Never had to worry about forgetting the key.
Location - beautiful - opposite the beach, marina one direction and centre with lots of bars shops and restaurants in the other direction. 3 live music venues opposite (we went out every night)
Overall - would only recommend this hotel if you're a family with younger children. Or/and if you can stay for around £2000/2500. The hotel absolutely is NOT worth any more than this amount. Not a 4star , more like a 3star+ rating."
