"This was our third stay in this area of Mallorca, but it was our first time at Club Cala Romani. The hotel has a lot of potential; it is well-presented, clean, and in a great location just 10 minutes walk from local shops and bars. There is a pleasant walk of about 15 minutes (gentle stroll), down a wild footpath which leads you down to small cove and beach / sea area which is great for sunbathing, paddling, and snorkelling around the rocks to see fish and other marine life.
The cleaning staff are lovely, the rooms are basic but perfectly adequate, and the restaurant and bar staff work incredibly hard and remain friendly and humorous under pressure.
Our room comprised of a double bed (made up from two singles), and a sofa-style bed for my son. The room had a bathroom with basin, toilet, and over-bath shower. The air conditioning was excellent and a greatly appreciated asset when the daily temperatures on our stay were in the high 30s to low 40s. The air conditioning appears to operate on a 'presence' system - if no movement is detected in the room for a period of time, the system goes into 'tickover' until it detects movement again. It still keeps the room pleasantly cool, even if you're out all day.
The pool area is attractive, comprising of three large pools, poolside snack bar, and drinks bar. A much smaller infant pool can be easily overlooked, located away from the main pool area near the children's playground (so there are actually FOUR pools - not three).
Unfortunately, the hotel is let down by a severe lack of rule enforcement, and the blame for this lies primarily with the behaviour of the guests - not the overworked staff or hotel management who shouldn't really be having to police those rules! The pools were regularly closed during our stay due to 'defecation incidents'. The main cause seemed to be that parents were allowing their children to enter the water in standard nappies instead of specific swim nappies with tight leg fittings to prevent 'accidents' getting into the pool, or parents suitably supervising their children leading to toileting accidents.
The bar, snack area, and restaurants all had signs saying children under 9 were not allowed to use any of the self-service facilities, but the I felt the staff were 'outnumbered' by the sheer number of guests' children openly ignoring them. Young children in the self-service drinks areas were filling containers of any description with soft drinks and juices, and in the restaurant there was a sign on the ice-cream machine showing that the small, provided glass jars were to be used. We witnessed children dispensing large quantities of ice-cream onto dinner plates, into bowls intended for the cakes / deserts, and on one occasion we even saw one child filling a drinks bottle with ice-cream. The staff were clearly overpowered and as I have already said, none of my criticism lies with them or the management. The sheer number of guests behaving like 'animals' at a free-for-all was my conclusion.
We stayed Sunday to Sunday, and on the Thursday, my entire family caught a 24-hour stomach bug which coincided with the first day all three of us entered the pool (after an earlier closure involving a defecation incident). We cannot say for certain this was the cause, but it was highly coincidental. My wife did the responsible thing and reported the occurrence to reception in the early morning and asked if we could source some bottled water as we were all heavily dehydrated after a full night of sickness. We were surprised to be effectively refused help, and to be told to get bottled water from the local supermarket, or the hotel shop which didn't open until 10am (which would have left us without drinking water for a further 3 hours)!
The restaurant was chaotic, loud, and repetitive, forcing us to eat out several times. The mix of food types was generally good provided that you aren't a fussy eater, but we felt that the level and frequency of rotation was insufficient which meant that some family members weren't getting a choice they liked, hence the decision to eat out at our expense.
One other suggestion is that there is no communal air conditioned area to escape the heat. We again acknowledge that the staff were doing their best, putting up signs clearly requesting that guests closed the doors to keep the cool in, but still guests were still ignoring them and leaving doors open, and opening windows in the reception lounge to either inconspicuously vape out of, or even climb through like a door!
We were regularly woken up by rowdy guests — including children running up and down the corridors in the early hours, drunken guests returning to their rooms at all ours, and a drunken neighbour singing at the top of his voice in the shower at 3am!
This may sound like a dig at the hotel and it's staff, but I assure you it isn't! For the large part we enjoyed our stay, and would definitely return if some of the issues could be sorted out. The problems are all being caused by the guests in the large part, but the management needs to more proactively staffing certain areas to more strictly enforce hygiene and behaviour rules. If that were possible then I think Club Cala Romani would flourish and evolve and potentially increase it's star rating. Nobody wants to police the fun and freedom of a holiday, but when unruly guests begin to impinge on other guests with their behaviour and ignorance of the rules, then it becomes a little unfair on those willing to adhere by the rules rightly put in place by the hotel."
