"Working in the Hospitality industry for a long time and staying in many places (including 4 & 5 star locations) there’s no way that I wouldn’t take the time to write a thorough review after this experience. Many guests rely on reviews to help make their decisions of where to stay, and management uses the information to improve their establishments. I hope this is the case in this scenario!
Coming here as a family with children, I can say that it was overall a 3 star experience and I would actually recommend this location, however, it was NOT five stars as the plaque at the entry states due to the following.
Check in was slow, and reception seemed overwhelmed. Hotel called a few days prior to confirm information, which I thought would speed up the check in process. This was not the case, because at check in we were asked to provide the same information. We ensured that we already gave our information and a few clicks on the computer, she agreed. No card was required for incidentals and I was very surprised by that. English was not efficient enough to explain thoroughly, even though on the website it states English, German and French are also spoken. Very defensive staff for asking if they spoke the other languages. Hotel provided an English phamplet, however it was really poorly written with grammatical errors, and it didn’t read well. To be a 5 star, you do need to provide your hotels information in other languages but be sure to have it corrected before sending it to the copy machine. (This also included the German translation in the rooms, as it was also incorrect).
Our room was prepared really nicely by the housekeeping staff. An extra bed was put in the room and prepared for our children. Air conditioning and lights were turned on before arrival which was greatly appreciated. Little goodies boxes were prepared for kids which was a really nice gesture. The selection of soaps, coffee, tea and complimentary water was really good. These points were 4 star status in my opinion.
We noticed that our lock on the balcony sliding door was broken, and the door didn’t shut properly. Also our keycard reader was not locking the door correctly. So we immediately went and notified the front desk who directly notified maintenance. At the same time, we requested a water cooker for our room. Informed that someone would arrive shortly, one of us stayed in the room and the other took the kids to the pools. The water cooker was brought very quickly, but no one showed up for the door. So, I went to notify the desk again and they apologised and contacted maintenance again. The front desk handled the situation well, but it was inconvenient to wait such a long time. (Especially when family is at the pool). A training tip to maintenance staff is to never tell the guest that “The hotel is safe and secure so you don’t need to worry, but if you want it fixed then we will fix it.” This is what was said to me when he arrived. Have them read the clause that the hotel is not responsible for stolen items. Every guest should feel comfortable knowing that their room is secure. The reason people pay and come to these places is so they can relax from their busy lives! In the end, our balcony door was fixed (even though they should have replaced the whole lock instead of a quick fix) and the maintenance man explained that you need to swipe and wait for the reader to turn red before shutting the door. The hotel should invest in a better system as this was not ideal for a resort. This was below 4 star status.
The hotel provides many activities during peak season, which is fun, however some information was not communicated clearly, nor did some start on time (magic show for example).
Other major issues were the cleanliness of the pools/bathrooms, and how the lifeguards do not enforce any rules. The pools had a grimy slime around the rim of the pool, and along the slides. The pool bathrooms had no soap and do not get cleaned often enough. We witnessed a child peeing into one of the outdoor showers near the pool, and another guest letting their child pee into the large pool. Many do not shower before going in the water, and some went into the pool with their flip flops on! Not one lifeguard did a thing, so I notified management and they assured they would talk to their staff. I truly hope they take this to heart in training their lifeguards, because the staff who try to keep things clean work really hard but obviously not catching guests doing these atrocities does not help! In the end, I didn’t go in the water anymore, it just felt really dirty. This felt like a motel 6 moment.
Overall, we enjoyed the breakfast and dinner buffet during our stay. We think they did a good job with the food selection and keeping up with the demand. You can tell the resort puts a lot of effort into this area. Dinner time is obviously when the hotel works to make money with drinks. We ordered a bottle of water each night, and a 5 star moment happened when the staff brought a bottle without us asking. Thank you! However, I didn’t appreciate being told that “it’s the soap they use to clean the dishes that leaves a film on the glasses” after showing the staff that I had a dirty glass. Just give the guest a new glass and consider improving the quality of cleaning your dishware.
There is free parking nearby which I recommend. You can walk to the beach, there are many walkways and even to skate paths, along with nearby restaurants within walking distance.
The pictures advertised for the hotel also include a couple of pictures from the neighboring hotel, so that’s misleading. The area of El Toyo and Almería is really beautiful and many things to see."
