"We booked a family holiday at Hotel Es Club Talaial for myself, my partner and our three young children, aged 7, 3 and 2. We paid almost £4,000 for our stay and, unfortunately, the experience was extremely disappointing.
Before arriving, I contacted the hotel to explain that our 3 year old has reduced mobility and uses a pushchair, and that we also have a 2 year old who uses a pushchair. As the hotel has no lifts, I specifically asked if we could have a ground floor apartment with no steps. I also explained that our 7 year old has additional needs. The hotel told me they would do their best to accommodate us, which I appreciated.
When we arrived, reception told us we had been given a ground floor apartment. We were relieved, until we followed the directions and discovered that the apartment actually had around 6 steps leading down to it. This completely defeated the purpose of our request. We were then told that if we wanted to move rooms, we would have to ask again in three days. This was incredibly frustrating, particularly as we had explained our circumstances before arrival and there were clearly other apartments without steps.
Unfortunately, the room itself was also very disappointing.
The terrace was dirty and covered in ants, making it virtually impossible to sit outside. The photos when booking showed a terrace with a table and four chairs, ours had just two chairs and a small side table.
The “apartment” was also extremely basic and, in our opinion, not suitable for a family of five. There was a fridge, microwave and a very small table with two chairs. There was one double bed and three sofa beds, which were not made up when we arrived, we had to make them ourselves.
The bathroom had orange rust stains around the bath, the bedside tables were broken and there was a strong smell of urine coming from the bathroom.
Housekeeping was another disappointment. Our apartment was cleaned once without us requesting it, but we then had to request fresh towels and bed changes twice. For the price we paid, this was not what we expected.
Food-
The food was very basic with very little variety. For the children, it seemed to be the same chips, dry pizza and cheese pasta every evening. Some of the other food was okay, but there wasn’t much choice.
The restaurant itself was also dark and gloomy, with tables that felt sticky and weren’t properly set.
Pool area and lifeguard -
The pool area itself was okay and, thankfully, the children enjoyed the pools. However, there was a strong smell around the pool area which seemed to come from backed up drains.
What happened during our stay regarding the lifeguard was particularly concerning.
We arrived on the Saturday and, on the Tuesday, a young girl got into serious difficulty in the pool and appeared to have drowned. A man pulled her from the pool and my husband, along with other guests, immediately tried to help.
Numerous people were shouting for the lifeguard, yet she appeared completely unaware of what was happening. When she eventually came over, she simply stood looking at the girl while another woman was checking that the child had a pulse and the man who had pulled her from the pool was helping save her life.
I appreciate that we are guests and don’t know the exact qualifications or procedures of the staff, but witnessing this was extremely frightening, particularly as parents.
Treatment of our 7 year old -
Another incident really upset us.
Our 7 year old has additional needs and had removed his wristband the previous evening because wearing it was causing him significant distress. We understand there may be a hotel policy regarding wristbands, but we believe there should be some understanding and flexibility when dealing with a neurodivergent child.
My husband went to the bar to get cups for our children, and our son then asked if he could fill his own cup from the drinks machine. A male member of bar staff snatched the cup from our son’s hand and shouted at him because he wasn’t wearing his wristband.
Our son was simply trying to be independent and had done absolutely nothing wrong. He was already lacking confidence, and the way he was spoken to left him extremely upset and embarrassed. As parents, it was awful to witness.
The positives-
I don’t want to say that every member of staff was unpleasant because that wouldn’t be fair. The entertainment team and kids’ club staff were fantastic. They were friendly, welcoming and brilliant with the children, and they were one of the few highlights of our stay.
Overall -
Sadly, we would not return to Hotel Es Club Talaial and would not recommend it to other families.
For almost £4,000, we expected a clean, comfortable and family friendly holiday. Instead, we experienced a dated and poorly maintained apartment, an ant infested terrace, unpleasant smells, inadequate housekeeping, very basic food and situations that left us genuinely concerned about safety and how our child with additional needs was treated.
The biggest frustration is that we made our accessibility needs clear before we arrived, were told the hotel would do its best to accommodate us, and were then given a room with multiple steps despite there being other apartments without steps.
The children did enjoy the pools and the kids entertainment, and we appreciate the staff members who were kind to them. Unfortunately, those positives weren’t enough to outweigh the many problems we experienced.
We won’t be returning. Save your money and look elsewhere, especially if you are travelling with young children or have additional accessibility needs.
*inserted picture of our terrace as I found that the most crazy thing of the whole holiday, not one picture when booking showed this appalling sight - we have 3 young children who go to bed early we were hoping to spend some time in the evening on the terrace. It’s so bad it makes me laugh*"
