MarBella Mar-Bella Collection

"Almost perfect. Beautiful location, stunning hotel and decor. Food great, especially buffet - a La cartes could be better. Cocktails great. Brilliant water park for kids and a stunning decking to swim from. Main issue is wasps - you can’t eat or drink anything outside without being swarmed. My husband was stung and we saw a lady get stung in the eye. If it wasn’t for wasps would definitely return."

"A lovely location and beautiful grounds but disappointing for the cost of the holiday. We travelled as two families with 5 children aged 1-7. There were some bits that we loved - the food and options of dining were great. The kids club and staff in it were great. The water sport options were great and the kids loved the water park. However, a lot of the frustrations outweighed these. Upon check-in, it was really slow and they went through some of the kids options and cruises etc, only to be told that they were full and we were put on a waiting list. After a lot of chasing they did find spots for the kids on the robotics and pottery, but only after we went daily to mention it. The kids cars were not available due to maintenance, one of the few things our toddler could have done. The daytime cruise was repeatedly cancelled due to issues with the boat so we didn’t get to do that. We only got a space on the sunset cruise on the final night with a lot of pestering and staff were just not very helpful. We found the customer service to be well below par for what you’d expect in this kind of hotel. We had a look on trip advisor and it seemed that we were not alone in this. There was an issue with our room upon arrival with a horrendous drainage issue smell. They came and cleared and then said we should keep ringing each day for them to put more chemicals down, again the onus on us to do that chasing. We also had a cockroach in our room and it involved a lot of chasing to get them to spray the room, and even then it was just an aerosol. The pools were quite cold and the lack of a toddler pool was a real negative. It made life with a 1 year old quite hard as there was nowhere he could stand up, meaning he was on the side of the pool a lot. Similarly, the sheer drop on the boardwalk was an area of anxiety, so the beach was often not a place I could take him safely. Also with there being no play area it meant we couldn’t just sit and watch them play when they’re contained. The evening entertainment was not that great, quite amateurish in comparison to other resorts and, as it was just on the beach, no lighting which meant you couldn’t really see the circus tricks for instance or allow the toddler to wander more than a metre away. There was also no lighting on the way down to the beach making it quite dangerous with the kids. You’d also have to sit on sun loungers to watch which wasn’t overly comfortable nor clean. It was also quite hard to reliably get a good drink. We would order cocktails in certain bars and it wouldn’t resemble anything we were expecting. Finally, the transfer on the way back had no air con which we felt was quite poor. We complained directly to the hotel who offered us a 10% discount on another booking which obviously we would never use and completely ignored by jet2. Overall, avoid this hotel, especially with young toddlers."

"Private transfer took around 25 minutes from airport. Hotel had arranged for us to €50 each way. Efficient transfer. Late for pick up but that was due to traffic. Hotel friendly and efficient on arrival. Room wasn’t ready but used faculties whilst waiting. Hotel spotless. Beautiful building and grounds. Lovely beach decking area and bar. Could have done with some comfy bar chairs in the sun, they are all in the shade. Pool area lovely. Food at beach and pool in day lovely. Buffet in evening was mediocre. We did an a la carte off site as part of hotel - it had an AI menu and wasn’t great; wouldn’t go back. Needed an adult only area in buffet. Felt at times we were sat in a crèche as so many young children in September. Room spotless and modern. Loved it. Boat trip included was a nice touch and we also hired our own boat which was lovely. Evening entertainment was almost non existent for adults. We were a bit bored in evenings - this would be a consideration for us in the future. We had a four day trip there which was perfect on the whole, just lacked a decent evening programme. Also no where for last day changing. Curtesy room full and no shower room. Hence 4 stars, but had many 5 star qualities."