"Let’s get one thing out of the way. This hotel is never a 5 star hotel, absolutely not. Doesn’t have any wow factor whatsoever, is very average in every respect, don’t get me wrong, it’s not a BAD hotel but isn’t luxury in the slightest. They didn’t even offer to take our cases to our rooms, a common practice in any decent hotel.
We had a moderately upgraded family room, had a sliding door between the kids beds and the double bed, was handy and didn’t take up room. The room was clean, had 2 televisions as it kind of has 2 bedrooms, no bath but that’s fine, she shower could be doing with a bit more water though. It was clean, loads of towels and also they provide beach towels for everyone which is handy. Good sized balcony with table and chairs and pegs for handing your wet kit.
There’s a fair few facilities, a kids water park, a bigger kids selection of water slides, various pools for everyone but not in the water park and a really good play park for younger kids, strangely it gets locked shut at 9pm though. WiFi throughout the resort, quick enough but sometimes gets crowded out at showtime but that’s normal. The main pool has a shallow zone that goes down to 0.7m I think, suitable for younger kids. Just a note, the round pool by the water park no longer exists and has been replaced with a cheap astroturf island so everyone now uses the lazy river for not so lazy swimming. Overflowing bins around the pools, drinks machines not being refilled for days and speakers not working.
Food is mediocre, nothing to write home about, you won’t starve by any means but it’s the usual euro hotel fayre, nothing really truly offensive but nothing that tastes great either. A lot of it was lukewarm at best which doesn’t help. Very busy at breakfast time with the same old people piling plates high and elbowing in but food is not scarce so I don’t get the panic! Never mind, you can order room service, a staple of the 5 star hotel, well not in this one. No room service or 24 hour dining options for that matter. We did try the Asian and Grill restaurants, food is plentiful and cooked just in time so is hot and much better for it.
Drinks are fairly pathetic for a ‘5 star’ hotel. Branded drinks on display but more often than not the local version will go in your glass, be specific and ask for the brand. If you’re a beer drinker, there is nothing to see here, 2 local lagers which aren’t great and nothing else available. Staff at bars are limited too, only two on the main bar at peak times. Want a wee G&T whilst chilling as your kids play in the water park? Nope, not without a walk. Beer in your fridge? Not a chance, they’ll give you water but won’t even refill the soft drink cans in a ‘premium’ all inclusive. Even worse, only 2 bars will give you spirits, an absolute joke really.
Evening entertainment is let down mainly by an ill thought out mini amphitheater, too small and a good few seats can’t see the stage. The pirate show was genuinely one of the best shows I’d seen in a hotel, a mix of comedy, acrobatics and dancing. Didn’t take itself too seriously and was all the better for it. The other shows seem to be done for the performers own pleasure, my kids didn’t enjoy many of them. One of the things here is the way you’re kind of forced into your evening routine- play park finishes at 9pm for some reason, then you take your kids to the show but some shows aren’t really interesting for kids, then it’s the pool bar, what happened to choice?
Overall I would not return here, especially given the price of this place, premium price for an average experience, pretty poor value for money. It’s set up to make sure you can’t have any good value from your stay, particularly when it comes to alcoholic beverages, the supermarket prices are borderline offensive at times with some items costing 3x that of the U.K.! I’ve given it 3/5 but in truth if it were against actual 5 star hotels it would be 1/5. It’s a highly average Euro hotel, could be Greece, Spain, Portugal or anywhere.
The best bit is I spoke to the Jet2 rep about this and she told me ‘it’s not a luxury hotel’, funny how the hotel website states it’s a ‘premium’ hotel and Jet2 have it in their ‘Luxe’ collection. Feeling like I’ve been had here."
