Evenia Olympic Garden

"We’re a family of four, with a five-year-old and a 4.5-month-old baby. I did a lot of research before booking this hotel and had read plenty of bad reviews. Against my better judgement, I decided to ignore them and thought, “How bad could it really be?” Well… we’re still here as I write this, but thankfully it’s our last day, and I genuinely cannot wait to get on that plane tomorrow! Rooms Our biggest issue started immediately. TUI had somehow booked us into a room that physically wasn’t big enough to fit a cot for our baby. We booked through a TUI store rather than online, so this wasn’t something we had arranged ourselves. Neither TUI nor the hotel initially seemed particularly concerned and essentially expected our 4.5-month-old baby to sleep in a double bed, despite the obvious safety concerns around unsafe sleep and SIDS. After going back and forth between reception and the TUI reps, we were eventually shown another room. Unfortunately, that room was dirty and we were told we couldn’t move into it until the following day anyway, so it still didn’t actually solve the problem. Eventually, the hotel manager stepped in and, after paying nearly €300, we were given a larger room that could accommodate a cot. Lucky us, I suppose. What makes this even more frustrating is that TUI have refused to refund the upgrade because apparently we “gladly accepted to pay for an upgrade”. No. We didn’t gladly pay for an upgrade — we paid because we didn’t want our baby sleeping in an unsafe situation. There is a huge difference. TUI have also said they spoke to the hotel regarding a refund for the room ‘upgrade’ and the hotel have basically told them we were just trying it on for a free upgrade, charming! Our first room also had dirty sheets, which I find completely unacceptable for a supposed 4-star hotel. The walls are incredibly thin too, and you can hear almost every person walking down the corridor. This wasn’t a huge issue for us personally as we use white noise for our baby and we’re fairly heavy sleepers, but it’s definitely something to be aware of. The phone in our room also didn’t appear to work, so if you needed anything from reception, you had to physically walk there and back. Food The food was, quite simply, awful. We are absolutely not picky eaters, and I completely understand what to expect from an all-inclusive resort during the school holidays. We weren’t expecting the Ritz. However, the quality of the food here was genuinely shocking. The meat was often grey, and a huge amount of the food was completely cold. I have never eaten so many cold scrambled eggs in my life! In the end, I basically lived off lukewarm chips for the week. I genuinely feel like I’ve lost weight because I’ve barely eaten — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s certainly not what I expect from an all-inclusive holiday. We even raised the food concerns with the manager, whose response was essentially to use a different restaurant if we weren’t happy. That really says it all. Toilets The toilets were another major disappointment. Many of the doors barely lock, most of the soap dispensers are broken, and the pool toilets in particular were absolutely filthy. Entertainment I genuinely cannot understand why the evening entertainment for a family/kids-focused hotel starts so late. The mini disco doesn’t start until around 9:00/9:30pm, followed by what feels like an eternity of handing out certificates from the day, and then the actual shows apparently start around 10pm. With a five-year-old and a 4.5-month-old, that simply isn’t realistic. Even with daytime naps, our children were never going to stay up that late, so we barely got to experience any of the evening entertainment. Pools The pools are genuinely brilliant and, in my opinion, are the only real positive thing about this hotel. However, the pools and bars don’t open until 10am. If you finish breakfast at 8:30am, you’re then left with an hour and a half where there really isn’t much to do, especially with young children. Staff We didn’t personally have any major issues with the staff. Most were pleasant enough, although the service at the bars can be incredibly slow. One thing we did notice was that certain guests seemed to receive a very different level of service, including drinks being brought directly to their sunbeds by one of the pool barmen. It was a little strange to watch, but ultimately not our biggest concern. Illness & Hygiene Thankfully, none of us became ill during our stay, which I was genuinely worried about after reading the reviews before coming. However, I can absolutely understand why people have concerns. I lost count of the number of people I watched leave the toilets without washing their hands and then head straight to the buffet. After seeing that, I was more than happy to stick to my plate of chips! Queues & Crowds Yes, the hotel is extremely busy. I completely appreciate that it’s August and one of the busiest times of the year, and we expected queues and crowds. However, for a hotel of this size, it simply doesn’t seem equipped to handle the number of guests. There are constant queues for food, drinks, ice cream and pretty much everything else. It was frustrating, although this was something we expected. Unfortunately, it was just one of many issues rather than the main problem for us. TUI We have spoken to TUI about everything mentioned above, but unfortunately they don’t seem particularly interested now they have nearly £4,000 of our money. Our complaint has essentially been dismissed, including the issue surrounding the room being unsuitable for our baby. That has been particularly disappointing and has completely changed my opinion of TUI. If this is what they consider a 4-star hotel, I certainly won’t be rushing to book another TUI hotel in the future. Overall We found the hotel to be very ‘smokes and mirrors’ yeah the pictures of the pool look fantastic! But in reality the hotel is dated and downright dirty (see pics attached) We absolutely would not return to this hotel and, based on our experience, we wouldn’t recommend it to others either. I actually have a friend due to stay here next month, and I have actively encouraged her to change hotels after telling her about our experience. We are genuinely not snobs. We knew we were travelling in August, we expected crowds, queues and a busy resort, and none of those things were unexpected. Our issue is that this hotel simply does not feel like a 4-star property, particularly when it comes to cleanliness, food, facilities and the way our concerns regarding our baby were handled. If you’re reading this because you’ve seen the bad reviews and are wondering whether you should ignore them like we did, my advice would be: don’t. I wish we had listened to the reviews and changed hotels before we came. It would have saved us a lot of stress, frustration and nearly €300 in additional costs. Management and TUI may not seem particularly interested in our experience, so hopefully this review will at least help someone else make a more informed decision before spending their hard-earned money here. For us, this was absolutely not a 4-star experience, and we definitely won’t be returning."

"Amazing hotel for families with kids of all ages ! Was very busy but still had a wonderful time with our Autistic son who also uses a wheelchair! Very wheelchair friendly 😊Staff are all so lovely, made to feel very welcome! They all work so very hard! Cleaners never stop ! Tui rep was amazing, he was so very helpful! Absolutely loved our stay at this hotel but unfortunately I did not like the surroundings areas,walk to beach is to far and it's absolutely crazy in town and along promenade in the evenings, just far to hectic for me 😊"

"Full review after a poor start! We booked this holiday just 10 days before travelling and paid around £3,200 for 2 adults and children aged 13 and 11, including Water World. We stayed at Olympic Park, the most basic of the four hotels within the Evenia Olympic complex. ✈️ Flights & transfer The flight was lovely and short, which was one of the main reasons we chose Lloret de Mar. Our transfer took around 1 hour 25 minutes as we were the second drop-off. The coach was modern and clean, although the air conditioning wasn’t great. Finding the pick-up point at the airport was slightly confusing, but we eventually found it — the rep could have explained the location more clearly. 🏨 Hotel & room The reception area was clean and gave a good first impression. Check-in was quick and easy, and staff spoke good English and explained everything we needed to know. Unfortunately, the room was the biggest disappointment. The photos online are, in my opinion, quite deceptive. The room was very dated and extremely small for a family of four, with barely enough space to walk around the beds. We ended up living out of our suitcases because there simply wasn’t enough room to unpack. There was a small wardrobe and some shelving, but storage was very limited. The room was clean enough, although definitely tired-looking. The bathroom was also dated, with painted-over tiles and peeling paintwork. On the plus side, the shower was always hot with good pressure, the beds were comfortable and towels were changed daily if required. The pillows were incredibly small, though, and we all ended up with neck ache! I would say the room felt more suited to a cheap 18–30s style holiday than a family holiday. Having stayed in plenty of similar rooms when I was younger, I wouldn’t have minded it then, but for a family holiday costing around £3,200 I expected more. 🍴 Food Buffet meals were themed and generally decent, with Mexican night being our favourite. There was also fish night, Chinese night and a sweets-themed evening, which was absolutely packed! Breakfast was roughly 8–10:30am, lunch 1–2:30pm and dinner 7–9:30pm. There are two poolside snack bars open roughly 10:30am–6:30pm serving things like chips, nuggets, burgers, calamari, fruit, yoghurt, cereal and pastries. There is plenty of seating, plus an ice cream van with Mini Magnums and Cornetto-style ice creams. The waffle afternoon (4–5pm) was very popular, as were the donuts on Tuesdays and Thursdays — get in the queue early! ⚠️ One warning: check the rice! I unfortunately broke a tooth on a piece of extremely hard/uncooked rice during dinner. 🏊 Pools & flumes This was definitely one of the highlights. There are four main pools and we spent most of our time around the flume pool. We never bothered getting up early to reserve sunbeds and always managed to find space on the artificial grass for our towels. The flumes were great fun and, even when busy, queues were generally short. There were plenty of lifeguards around. There were unfortunately two incidents involving faeces in the pool during our stay. On both occasions the pool was closed, cleaned/treated and reopened. My biggest hygiene concern was actually the toilets. There was frequently no hand soap available, particularly in the poolside toilets. This really needs addressing. I saw young children leaving without washing their hands and then going straight to the snack bars, touching serving utensils and food. The hotel needs to ensure soap is consistently available, and parents obviously need to reinforce basic hand hygiene too. 🎤 Entertainment The entertainment was genuinely brilliant and one of the things the hotel does really well. There were pool games throughout the day and evening entertainment including live music, shows and mini discos with great music. Our children played football, made friends and really enjoyed themselves. 🛍️ Market & beach The Tuesday morning market is easy to find — turn right out of Olympic Park reception, cross the road near the public play area and turn left. Lots of bargains, but take water as it gets very hot! The beach is around a 15-minute walk away. The main beach can be very busy, particularly at weekends. If you turn left and walk towards the beach near the castle, it’s a little quieter and the water was incredibly clear with lots of fish, so bring goggles! 🌊 Water World Water World is about a 15-minute walk away. We showed our booking reference and were given wristbands which were stamped each day we visited. We only went for two afternoons. There are some good flumes, but there is a lot of uphill walking and the ground gets extremely hot, so take plenty of water and water shoes. Some rides had long queues and, compared with Siam Park in Tenerife, which we visited last summer, we found Water World quite basic. The queues are mainly metal structures and stairs rather than landscaped areas, which would definitely improve the experience. 🌙 Lloret de Mar It is definitely a party area, but we went out as a family in the evenings and felt safe. The shops stay open late and there is plenty to do. As a woman on my own, though, I personally might have felt less comfortable due to the number of groups of men around. We also ordered a takeaway breakfast for our early departure, which was ready at reception at 6:30am. This included juice, fruit, pastries, a ham and cheese baguette and water — really useful for an early flight home. ⭐ Overall We had a very poor first impression, mainly because of the room, and I honestly wasn’t sure we were going to enjoy the holiday. However, we decided to make the most of the facilities rather than spend time in the room, and by the end we had a really enjoyable family holiday. The pools, flumes, entertainment and location are all great, and the complex itself is generally clean and well maintained. Would we return? Probably — but only if we could stay in one of the other onsite hotels, as the rooms there appeared much more modern and spacious. I wouldn’t choose Olympic Park again for a family of four. Ultimately, you make your own holiday, and despite the disappointing start, we made some great family memories and the kids had a brilliant time."