Zafiro Palace Andratx

"The hotel sits in an elevated position at the back the the landscape overlooking the bay, we swam in the sea, clear water and fish! An early morning swim means there are very few other people around, perfect. The golf club is less than five minutes walk. Beautiful course, very helpful pro and great clubs to be hired! I believe the hotel is 5 years old but it looks like it opened yesterday….apart from the landscape which is well established . The sloping site has given opportunity to great very interesting outside spaces. Reception is light and airy, 4 receptionists and a on hand to help you. We were in block 4, a little to one side but with its own pool and outside space perfect for us. The bedroom and bathroom were just right, a sliding screen gave more privacy to the bed if you felt overlooked, we didn’t. Because we were with our son, wife and small child we tended to eat in the buffet restaurant. There is plenty of choice and all staff welcoming and helpful. The only à la carte restaurant we ate in was the stake restaurant which I would highly recommend. Our grandchild was treated very well by everyone which made us feel at home. Just one criticism, the lettuce with the Caesar salad was limp! We didnt use the spa or gym so have no comment other than that you could have happily spent the whole time on this holiday at the hotel. I felt the whole holiday booked via Jet2 was excellent value. The customer care shown by the hotel staff was matched by Jet 2!!!"

"We booked to stay at the Zafiro Palace Andratx for a week whilst we were getting married in Mallorca. As well as ourselves, we had invited a number of our friends and family to stay with us (c20) and the hotel were good to provide a small group discount code for our guests to use. The hotel itself is beautiful. The pool areas and their views are fantastic, and the rooms were spacious, modern and clean. The restaurants were really good, and the à la carte and buffet breakfasts were amazing. As a coeliac, it was great to have a separate gluten free station at the breakfast buffet. The location was great for us, a short walk into Camp de Mar, however it is quite a steep hill so those with limited mobility might struggle. As it was a special occasion, we booked a penthouse sea view suite, which came at a considerable cost. The first issue we faced was that ‘sea view’ was a generous description, ‘car park view’ would have been more accurate. After two days of being woken up early in the morning by lorries reversing around the car park that was right below our balcony, we requested to move rooms. We were offered to pay a further €300 a night for an upgrade, or a complimentary downgrade (how generous) - with no compensation. Given how much we had already spent on the week we couldn’t justify an additional €2000 so opted for the downgrade - although we weren’t aware it was a downgrade until we were given a form to sign as we were moving. On the whole service levels were patchy. Bar areas and in particular the breakfast buffet seemed understaffed, we often had to wait a long time for someone’s attention and staff were often quite short, and borderline rude on several occasions. Most mornings we had to order coffee multiple times to get the right order. There were a few other minor issues. When we checked in, we received a very rushed description of the hotel. There was no mention of the different activities that were on, or where to find any amenities. Just a quick flash of a map and we were sent on our way. The shower head in our first room was broken, and on our first in the second room the air con wasn’t working. On a couple of occasions our room wasn’t cleaned, we didn’t receive a call about taking our bags down at the end of our stay as the rest of our families did, and we had to request some of the items they had been provided in the their room that had been forgotten in ours, such as the beach bags. We weren’t expecting special treatment because we were getting married and had a brought a reasonably significant number of guests with us to stay in the hotel, however having read other people’s experiences it was strange that the hotel didn’t acknowledge we were there for such a special occasion at any point during our stay, despite the fact we had been emailing them about it in advance. The night before our wedding we had a big family dinner booked in one of the hotel restaurants, however we got stuck waiting for a cab at the Port for over an hour. I rang the concierge to advise them we were running late (but still before we were due to sit down) - after initially telling me we didn’t have a booking (which I had already checked that we didn’t when we checked in), once they found it they basically told me good luck hope you make it in time because we won’t hold the table for you. A bit of compassion here would have gone a long way given it was already a stressful situation. On the whole, a nice hotel but service levels are nowhere near 5 star, so if that is what you are after I would look elsewhere."

"I stayed for 7 nights, all inclusive in room 1215, junior suite side sea view. I was travelling with my elderly mother. Overall, excellent! Staff - The staff is the best standout aspect of the hotel. Staff makes a huge difference to any stay. We felt well looked after. Professional, welcoming and kind, and it felt genuine (in some hotel it can feel forced) The porters, receptionists, concierge, restaurant staff, pool attendants are all excellent. The restaurant staff can see that my mother is elderly and automatically bring her cushions and chat with her and made her feel special. Receptionists brought us welcoming drinks, as well as the porters giving a leaving drink(!) while we were waiting for taxi. Room - We stayed in a ‘junior suite side sea view’, we requested a room that can access the restaurants easily, and it does exactly that. Side sea view is more like a full sea view in this block. Room is spacious, bright and calm with balcony. The hot tub is great. We had both a king bed and a sofa bed. All fridge bar drinks and snacks are included. Bathroom is clean, one gripe complaint about the bathroom is…it can really do with a door! Adding a double door wouldn’t really distract from the open feel of the room. AC is good, you may have to turn it down at night as it is right over the sleeping area. Wifi is a bit patchy towards the balcony. Hotel - Beautiful, quiet grounds. Beautiful view of surrounding hills and bay.The multi-level layout of the hotel on the hill, and the fact the restaurant does not have signs, can be a bit confusing at first. But it actually makes a lot of sense. The pools are great, I mainly used the adult pool. Its really rare to have nice cabanas that you do not have to book and pay extra for! The hotel is tugged at top of hill, so its really the type of hotel that you need car/taxi or you just stay and don’t leave. The typical guests when we stayed there were mainly young couples with very young kids (which can get a bit loud in restaurants), or family with adult kids and a few retirees. Food - Mixed opinion. All inclusive is totally worth it, would not even consider anything else. Overall as a standard it is very good, but I would not say it is excellent for a 5 star. Unpopular opinion compared to what I have read in other reviews: I m not a big fan of the a la carte restaurants at this hotel. The booking system is a little baffling, it gets fully booked fast, they made us wait for our slot, but when we entered it was 30% full with sufficient staff, it seems a little unnecessary. The presentation of the food is stunning, however the quality of the ingredients is ok good but not 5 star. For example, all the bread feels stale, the fruits have been frozen. In particular for not good: BBQ ribs was boiled rather than BBQ’d; the lobster risotto’s lobster was good but the rice was super undercooked; steak has a lot of tendons. For really good: in general seafood dish is excellent, the lunch black rice at la Veranda is the best. We enjoyed far more the buffet. The freshly cook food counter at buffet for us was the best: the “omelette guy” in the morning and the “plancha/grill guy” in the evening are the best. There were 2 staff that always tried to rush us to our seat or to order, which is a little inappropriate considering there is an elderly, but otherwise every other staff has been exceptional. Clean - Generally very clean but some hit and misses. A dirty coffee cup from previous guest was left in the room. The room team sometimes miss restocking some towels and other items, and rushed making the bed that it looks a bit terrible. It just needs consistency. The team is always courteous. Overall - I would recommend Zafiro. I know the review is pointing out a lot of “first world problems” but that’s the standard I would expect at that price point. The thing that makes the biggest difference is the excellent staff working at this hotel. It was an excellent stay and I would love to stay there again."