"We visited Alcudia Garden late August into early September. From the very start, it was clear that this is a 2- 3 star hotel only.
The rooms on arrival are very stark and functional. They are clean, but show obvious signs of age such as tiring sealant around the showers, dust on the AC outlet/grill. chipped furniture and floors, and general marks or chips on walls. Having said they they are functional and kept very clean by the cleaners who do a great job of room cleaning.
The cleaning quality did not appear to extend to the common areas more than once per day in the morning - quite often there was food or plastic cups left / spilled on floors or stairs left for the duration of the day. Of course, this also reflects on the clientele's willingness to clean up after themselves or children rather than leave mess for others.
We were disappointed by the pool surroundings - I've never experienced laminate flooring around a pool area before, and some of it is lifted and/or chipped further downgrading the perspective of quality. Furthermore, it somehow managed to highlight muddy footprints around the pool and pool bar area throughout the day which feels discouraging - I wouldn't want to walk in bare feet but you may be less squeamish than me about this. This is very much family & kids focused so the pool can get very noisy at times - please do not expect a quiet couples experience.
The dining area shows wear - all of the white painted furniture is chipped or worn in places to the bare wood making the area feel "tired". It gets very very noisy at busy times. It's also very crowded, making the eating experience one that you're glad to finish quickly at peak periods - if you are lucky you can get a table outside which relieves the noise. In addition, although there is plenty of choice the food is very bland, and the theme'd meals are very generic - Asian night sweet & sour sauce was virtually tasteless, and you'll be lucky to recognise a curry to be more than very mildly seasoned chicken.
The Bar areas are generally good, but I would ask that at the pool bar - please please stop being distracted by admin duties and allowing the wait / queues to grow or the bar to be left unattended - a customer first approach with admin done when it is not busy should be applied, or please have two people to share the duties so people have continuous service.
We had two requests which went unanswered. Twice we request additional pillows to our room from reception, and never received them. Secondly, I witnessed burger buns being dropped on the floor picked up and placed back on a tray - you can see into the kitchen from the evening bar area. I went straight to reception to request that this was addressed, with an ask for the chef/management to speak to the kitchen staff and ensure this never happens again. My room number and name was taken with a promise that the hotel manager would discuss this with me - I was never contacted.
Ok so, at this point this feels like a lot of moaning. However; the staff at the hotel are generally very good. We had great service and discussions with the bar staff, the restaurant staff and reception staff are very polite and helpful. The drinks are good, although the daytime bar snacks pretty poor quality. The hired entertainment is pretty typical of the Hotel circuit, but the staff shows are pretty good - they put a lot of appreciated effort into the performance.
Once we "managed" our meal times, worked out how to navigate the wetter/muddier areas of the pool area and settled into the rhythm of the hotel we enjoyed our - all inclusive - stay.
Alcudia Port at night is pretty fabulous, I'd recommended spending a few nights walking around the port, eating out, explaotring the stands, vendors and impressive boats in the port, and generally taking the time to have a few drinks / lunches and a couple of nights eating out in Alcudia. Equally a day or two out in Alcudia Old town withs a pause for lunch in one of the many local restaurants is well worth it - the Sunday & Tuesday market days are busy but an excellent experience, 5-10 mins from the hotel by bus or 20 minutes very easy walk, of which the walk was our choice for the second visit.
In summary - in my opinion Alcudia Garden Hotel needs maintenance and a bit of polish to bring it back to at least 3 star standard, and the pool area needs to be tiled, especially with its closeness to the Port area. It has so much potential, but its current standard lets it down. Whilst I appreciate the Hotel's need to sell out all the rooms and be busy, a suggestion of alerting people to "busy" restaurant times at peak holiday periods may help the dining room to avoid some of the congestion and noise we experienced.
I wouldn't go all inclusive again - and in fact I wouldn't do that for any hotel in Alcudia after experiencing the Port, you are going to have a much more enjoyable experience going for a very short - 5 mins - walk into the Port area and eating out, and using the hotel facilities during the day. If we returned to Alcudia (in any hotel actually) - we wouldn't go beyond half board for sure."
