"Santa Ponsa is a beautiful setting for a wedding- the location is stunning with picturesque grounds, perfect for a magical day. The food over the weekend was excellent (exceeded expectations after a bit of a rocky start which I will come to in a bit). Our guests enjoyed every meal. The F&B staff were fantastic, friendly and attentive. Particularly one lady for the morning breakfast service. On the wedding night some of the staff were dancing behind the bar which we greatly appreciated as they were getting involved in the celebratory spirit.
The disappointing areas for us came from further up- the management team. Theyl are rude and unnecessarily dismissive. By their own admission on a few emails prior to the wedding they were overwhelmed with weddings this year and couldn't manage the load.
As the newlyweds we had been given a room called "the casita" which is about a 10 minute walk from the reception. They had a buggy to transport people to and from. On the day of the wedding it was super hot and when the hair and make up girls arrived with all their equipment they were told to walk with all their heavy bags. When our 10 year old daughter asked for the buggy on our behalf the day of check out the lady behind the desk replied angrily "youve already asked for the buggy once today".
My son has a severe nut allergy. We flagged this to the hotel months before the wedding. Nauseatingly so that It felt like the hotel were sick of hearing it and told us that they had it under control. For the weekend we just didn't need to have nuts around and have that unnecessary worry. When they sent the food tasting menu two items on it were a walnut salad and a pistachio tart. We let them know again that this wasn't going to be able to be served. When my maid of honour flew to Menorca for the food tasting she was served those two items we had asked to be removed. They said on the day they would serve an alternative. It seemed such a waste of everyones time to serve it only to not be serving it. On arrival at the hotel the first day of the wedding there was a board of walnuts in our room and a tin of pistachios in my sons room. The manager just didn't reply when I flagged it to him.
Room access issues: Multiple guests struggled to access their rooms during their stay having key issues. On the night of the wedding, at 2am my 4 kids were locked out of their room. The girl behind the desk had no idea how to fix this after trying multiple different keys and the master key. She offered us 2 hotel rooms in their sister hotel which I appreciate was the only thing she knew how to do at the time but it was just all chaos. I asked to take the kids to our room, the casita, and she came back saying the buggy had broken down. Eventually some of the staff broke the lock on the door of their room to get them in.
Housekeeping: They didn't clean the Casita of the empty bottles and plates over the weekend. We asked please for it to be cleaned before we got back to the room on the wedding night but no. It wasn't cleared until after we checked out on the Monday.
The hotel felt grossly understaffed. They couldn't cope with the demands of a full house. The older lady at reception brought the most awful attitude to her work and Nicolas, the Manager just honestly couldn't have cared less about any of it. We had a discussion about the wedding night F&B 2 days before that once the open bar was done to let us know so we could decide how to move forward. No-one said anything to us, the party continued until 2am, drinks were then put on consumption to our master bill. That was a cost we hadn't really accounted for. Some communication would have been appreciated.
While we had a beautiful weekend and a wonderful ceremony, thanks to our wedding planner and the exceptional restaurant staff, the overall service from the hotel management was disappointing. The attitude of two of them, Nicolas and the older lady behind the desk, did not reflect the high standards you would expect from such an exclusive venue and when youre paying the prices you are paying over those 3 nights. This has left a negative impression for us.
So to summarize, Santa Ponsa offers a beautiful setting for a wedding but guests should temper their expectations regarding the quality and consistency of service from the hotel management. Guest care and staff attitude could use some significant improvement."
