"My wife and myself had the pleasure of staying at the Agua Azul for 21 nights from the 18th of March until the 8th of April. Our stay was in room number one with a pool view. We are frequent travellers and visit Spain around 4 to 5 times per year. This was our third visit the the Agua Azul so parts of this review may repeat things said in previous reviews. My wife and myself like to visit Benidorm for a long stay once a year. Benidorm has beautiful walks, nice shops to visit and makes a welcome escape away from UK weather. We changed our hotel to the Agua Azul three years ago and still have no regrets in doing so. It does offer a superior product. The Azul is centrally located and excellent for visiting both the old and new town. Also very easy to get to the beach and enjoy walks there. It has to be said that the Agua Azul more than holds its own against other hotels we visit during the year and is better than most (many of which are more expensive).
Check in was fast, friendly and efficient. We were allocated room number one with a pool view and were in the room very quickly. The reception area is well managed, all staff we encountered were friendly, polite and efficient. Always dealing effectively with any queries we had. To be honest we did not have to use reception very much. Perhaps a couple of questions and changing pool towels. Pool towels can be obtained at reception for a 20 euro deposit, they can be changed and deposit returned at end of stay. Towels were good quality. For us it is the sign of a good hotel when you don't have to go to reception much as it indicates the hotel is running smoothly. We did pass by reception when it was very busy and extra staff members were helping out to bring the que down including the manager.
Our room was very nice overlooking the pool as we had requested. It got the sun in the afternoon so was lovely to sit there on the beds provided in the afternoon. Obviously with a beer! The room has everything you need. Good beds, decent storage for our stay, sofa, free safe, fridge. As stated in previous reviews I like the way the toilet and shower area is laid out. Yes it uses glass but it is modern, makes the best use of space and available light. There is absolutely no impact on privacy either in the shower or the toilet. The toilet is set well back from the door so no one can see you. The room was cleaned every day to a very high standard, clean towels and bedding changed frequently. I think the main cleaner for the room was Victoria who worked so hard, did an amazing job and was so friendly. She never failed to say hello and ask us how we were doing. She has very good customer service skills which did make a pleasant difference to our stay. Tea and coffee making facilities are provided in room. Not a fan of paper cups at all. Perhaps potential for accidents with boiling water?! Did not impact our enjoyment though. On positive side the coffee sachets provided in room were much better this year.
The hotel in general is kept extremely clean with public areas cleaned throughout the day and public toilets cleaned to a high standard. Enjoyed sitting in lounge area early evening and having a drink before dinner.
The all inclusive package at the hotel is a good one. The drinks provided are good quality with brands available. Beer in the package was fine for me and also enjoyed the cider. We both enjoyed the coffee available at the bar and there are a range of cocktails available as part of the package. My wife enjoyed these. All the way through our 3 week stay we never waited long to be served a drink and that includes busy times in the evening. Service by bar staff was always friendly and polite. It must be emphasised that the bar staff work extremely hard in providing an excellent service.
The restaurant is next to the bar and you can pick up drinks for your meal as you enter the restaurant. The system is well thought out, worked well for us and I would say works well for the hotel. Food is good quality with plenty of choices both Spanish and English. Food trays changed as required and we always found it hot. There is show cooking which has something different each evening. Decent quality food being cooked here, not long to wait and we used quite frequently. Plates are collected frequently so they do not stack up on your table. There are also plenty of cutlery stations to get knifes, forks etc. We always found food to eat and enjoyed our meals at the Azul. Food quality better than many hotels. Staff are trained to work both the restaurant and the bar which means they interchange. This is efficient and makes sure things flow smoothly in both bar and restaurant. Again it must be said that staff here are working very, very hard and are extremely polite and friendly even during busy times.
We never had a problem getting a sunbed when we were staying in either of the two areas. My wife and myself are both non smokers so in the main we used the non smoking area which is up a set of metal steps and has a number of beds and chairs. This area gets good sun until around 2pm which was fine for us. Annoyingly although there was a sign saying no smoking some smokers would still come to this area and light up or vape in the morning. Perhaps better signage emphasising that it is a no smoking area at the steps would help. Some enforcement of the rules would be good too. There were plenty of beds around the pool when we were there but if you did not smoke the area was full of people smoking and vaping. Could be quite overwhelming at times for a non smoker. Lots of smokers at the tables when you enter the pool area. In the evening the smell of smoke could become quite strong in the entertainment area as it would drift through the doors due to people smoking outside. We respect peoples right to smoke, realise that the hotel does have a lot of smokers as customers. However non smokers also have rights and the hotel does have a lot of guests who don't smoke paying money to use the hotel. Passive smoking is an issue especially if like my wife you have a lung condition. Just being honest and perhaps more thought has to be given here to managing this issue to be fair to all customers.
The pool itself is nice. We both used it on a few occasions. The hotel has a small gym. We always make a point of booking a hotel with gym area. Just what we like to do. The gym at the Azul is fine and all the equipment works. Couple of cardio machines, fixed weight machine with different options and decent set of free weights. We used most days and enjoyed the area. Fine for being on holiday especially with pool.
Never really score a hotel on entertainment or animation as very subjective. There was entertainment every night. Some of the acts on quite late so missed. We are not fans of animation games or quizzes but realise lots of people are. Must mention the young lady who was doing the animation and quizzes. She worked so hard and was so pleasant. Never failed to say hello and smile even though she was busy (apologies for not knowing her name). Even though we don't take part in animation we could appreciate her hard work and customer focused ethos. She was a credit to the hotel. To be honest I thought acts were better than last year. Have to mention the duo who play on a Sunday evening (Fenix I think). This duo were very professional and entertaining always good to listen and dance to. Hope they are here next year.
Brief mention of staff in general at the hotel. They all work very hard and any staff member we came across including maintenance staff made a point of smiling and saying hello. Many of the staff have been here on all of our previous visits.
This hotel is managed well and the systems set in place work well and allow the hotel to function smoothly and be a pleasant and relaxing place to stay. Management are also visible, always say hello and are approachable if you wish to speak. This is a good thing and is not the same in all hotels.
Overall the Agua Azul is a well managed, clean, pleasant and enjoyable hotel to stay at. Provides excellent value for money. The staff are extremely hard working with great customer focus. If the standard stays the same both my wife and myself will keep coming. We have already booked again for next year. Thanks for a nice and relaxing holiday.
Duncan and Linda"
