"We stayed here from November 21st to December 1st.
Initial impressions were that it was quite unorganized and chaotic at check in as there seemed to be quite a few people arriving at once. We were told to take a seat and asked for our passports and given a form to be filled in with our contact details.
People were given a wristband but we weren’t as so busy we were overlooked, we went to the desk to ask if we could have ours.
We had contacted the hotel via their contact form prior to arriving to request a high floor quiet room away from the entertainment and elevators, unfortunately we were given a room right next to the elevator and directly above the atrium area where at the time of arriving there was quite a bit of noise and piano playing going on.
We went back to reception and asked for a room change and were dealt with in a rather than sympathetic tone but a slightly abrupt one which was unexpected and unnecessary, we explained the situation and were told we should have sent a request for this and he implied that there was no request on their system apart from one on Jet2 asking for a high floor.
We did change rooms and were still on the same floor but a much quieter location so all good.
It wasn’t the start we had hoped for but at least it was sorted, some reception staff could do with a better customer service attitude.
The rooms are lovely, bright and spacious with everything you could need, the walls are thin though so if you are a light sleeper you might benefit from earplugs. The beds are reasonably comfortable and plenty pillows. The hairdryer was excellent , I’d brought my own but didn’t have to use it, it was a full size hairdryer and the best one I’ve ever used from a hotel so far.
There was a selection of bottles of soap/body wash, body lotion and conditioner as well as shower cap/cotton buds etc.
The towels were great and the only issue was accessing the bath towels if you are short, I’m 5’3 and had to stretch quite a bit to reach them, it would have also been great to have wall mounted shower gel/soap in the shower instead of the little bottles provided.
The tv was quite small with a few British news channels, we brought our laptop and hard drive and HDMI lead with a few movies on it and also streamed a few shows from home as well, we sometimes prefer this to the evening entertainment so worked well for us and was able to keep up with I’m A Celebrity, not everyone’s idea of being on holiday, but each to their own.
The maid service was reliable and adequate as was the minibar service, there is a decent selection of soft drinks and 2 bottles of beer in fridge and still and sparkling water,if you needed anything else you could use the app to request it. There was a kettle with supplies replenishment daily, we brought our own 2 in1 sachets and just used them as we preferred them to the ones in room.
The safe was huge and there was no charge for using it, it has an electric socket inside so you can charge your devices when you’re not using them.
A lot of people seemed to have had issues with the length of waiting time for the lifts but we never had this issue ourselves, we were constantly amused by how many people used them to go just one floor, I get the fact that some people may have hidden disabilities but I’m sure it was mainly people not being bothered to walk up or down stairs.
Meal times were a bit of a hit or miss, like most all inclusive hotels they are very repetitive with food never being hot but there was a microwave provided if you needed it. Be careful about cups at breakfast time etc, unfortunately mine had someone else’s lipstick on it which the waiter didn’t seem to notice when he brought it over, I did bring it to the restaurant managers attention and he apologized but it did put me off drinking tea or coffee at breakfast, there was also an instance of dirty cutlery on the table even though it had been reset, just be mindful of things like that.
Practically ever mealtime was chaos in finding an unoccupied table, we were not the only ones, there was always people wandering about searching for a table, it didn’t help that there was a conference on for around 3days making it more difficult to find a table, that along with areas being cordoned off didn’t help a bit, there were so many tables for 4 and were occupied by couples like ourselves and not nearly enough tables for 2.
We never visited the restaurant at lunchtime as neither of us were hungry, we went to the patisserie bar and had a small cheese or chicken roll which was delicious and they had a really good selection of cakes, much better than the main restaurant.
We occasionally visited Starbucks, it got really busy at certain times but seemed much quieter in the afternoon. Be prepared for long queues at Starbucks as it gets really busy and it takes ages for a basic latte, the machines seem to be really slow but the coffee is lovely and hot.
We found the coffees in the Panorama bar were never that hot just lukewarm, we did ask for them to be extra hot but unless we were standing at the bar and asking directly to the person making them they were served lukewarm.
We never seen any entertainment as it was always packed and so we would just sit in our favorite place which was the Brassiere , basically the patisserie, you could still get a chicken or cheese roll there on an evening if needed, definitely our go to place for peace and quiet, really nice staff and lovely coffees, also decent selection of soft and alcoholic drinks including cocktails and mocktails.
We were never bothered about the amount of cats around the hotel as we are both cat lovers but they did seem to be a number of people put out by them.
There is an issue with flies in the hotel, or there was when we were there both in the morning and evening they were forever landing on food and drinks.
There was also an instance in the restaurant where I seen a teenager pick up the loose unpackaged butter with his hands, probably to see what it was then pit it back in the bowl, unsurprising how some people fall ill when you see things like this happening.
On our first few days at the hotel we seen many guests taking food out the restaurant at dinner time even though there was a sign saying it was not allowed, after a few days they stopped people doing this but I don’t know if it is down to the person greeting you at dinner, don’t personally see the problem with it myself as it is all inclusive.
On our last day we were able to gat rolls from the patisserie and take them for our flight home, we appreciated this as airport food extortionate prices and you can’t always guarantee what will be available on the flight.
To sum things up, overall a relaxing break but service and attitude from most staff needs to be addressed.
Hopefully this will have covered a lot of questions you may have, if at all helpful could you please click on like so I know it has been useful, happy travels whatever you do."
